Trip to Machu Picchu and Cusco
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2006
1
163
178
Trip End
May 08, 2008
Cusco, Peru
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
I arrived into Cusco pretty early in the morning so it was a random guess in a taxi to head towards the Plaza de Armas and from here i wandered till i found a hotel to live in for a few days. I found the best hot chocolate in the world then for breakfast among some other stuff and checked out some of the town but as it started pissing rain i went for a kip as i hadnt slept at all the nite previous between waiting at the airport and the flight.
I used the afternoon to wander Cusco which is lovely it has loads of little cobbled streets and cafes and restaurants and its full of tourists... but the worst part is you literally cant walk or sit for a minute without a begger appraoching you, some dickhead tout trying to sell you a tour, a massage, a restaurant and if you say no to all that then the fuckers offer you Hash or Cocaine
corner stone
. So it doesnt take long to get pissed off here, get rid of all the shithead locals and it would be a place you could chill in bigtime.Sunday Morning i got up at 6 and took off to the train station to buy a ticket to Agua Calientes.. Anyway long story short i was last in line to buy a ticket and the trian was about to leave so i said if i cant make the train give me a ticket for monday instead.. so the bitch says plenty of time of course the train leaves and im left standing with a non-refundable 95 dollar return ticket in my hand.. so then you have to take a taxi to the next stop to catch the train. Anyway this train is so slow i was waiting at the station 40 minutes before it arrived... having a laugh with am australian girl who had a similiar problem to me. Machu Picchu is about 85km away from Cusco on the train but it takes 4 poxy hours to get there... But its bloddy scenic en-route.
Anyway upon arriving in Agua caliente you can see Machu Picchu way above on the mountain.. Entrance for the day into the ruins is about 45 dollars and to take the bus there and back from the village is 12 dollars... To be honest the train entrance and the bus are all a complete rip off but its a must do.. of course if your a local all the prices are half etc.
Thankfully the sun was out and a 20 minute bus ride later i had reached the entrance of Machu Picchu and in i went
julien and gunar
. Now the Incas built this place somewhere around the 13th century.. and it was lost to the western world for hundreds of years and was discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911. Now its kinda funny the Incas built this incredible place with incredible setting on the top of a mountain and to look around even now the mountains just look unpenatreble.. Almost look impossible to even walk over or around.. The Altitude is pretty dam high too and not a lot can grow or surrive up here.. So as gifted as the Incas were they were kinda dumb to build and try settle at the top of these mountains.Anyway between the train and wandering around the ruins itself i met Julien from france and Gunar from Germany so the three of us knocked around taking in the ruins and the mountains. Have to say as stunning as the ruins are what really makes the place is the view of the surrounding mountians and peaks, they are incredible. There is one walk from Machu Picchu up a the mountain that overlooks the ruins called WaynaPicchu... and they only let 400 people up a day... and my luck started changing as i was number 400 to go up for the day. Its a killer of a trek to the top but well worth the view from here it was an easy stroll downhill to the principal temple and a bus ride back to the village for dinner and a beer.
The 4 hour return trip to Cusco really sucked as the trian is so slow it was dark and you cant see shit.. but we had a good laugh with some costa ricans who were sat beside us for the journey. From there a pile of us went for dinner and drinks in town for the rest of the night. My last day in Cusco.. well i probably would have stayed longer to be honest but i was already well pissed off with just geting hasseled all the time, so i wandered the rest of the city and saw what i wanted and bought a bus ticket south for Puno on lake Titicaca...
