Machu Picchu! at long last :-)

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  Aguas Calientes, Sacred Valley, Peru
Thursday, July 17, 2008

17th July - 20th July 2008

Well as alot of you know I've wanted to see Machu Picchu since I was 6 years old and a couple of guys came to my infant school to do a talk on the Incas, they had been out in Peru working and showed us a slide show which included Machu Picchu and since then I've wanted to come here, well...I'm finally here nearly 20 years later but here all the same! We got to the train station about 5.30 so sat and chilled over a coffee as the train wasn't until 6am, it was then as I was looking over the tickets that Bushy asked me where the other one was! I said right here although it turns out that I'd only picked one set up thinking the return ticket was the 2nd ticket......aagggrrrhh! lol 10 mins to go and no where near enough time to go back to the hotel where it must be. Luckily they were very helpful and managed to print a replacement off at the last minute which was a huge relief although at the cost of $35!

Well, safe and sound on the train now, we'd booked tickets on the Vistadome train which was a bit more expensive than the regular backpacker train but well worth the extra as it had windows around the edges of the roof which gave a much better view of the scenery on the way and it also includes breakfast! bonus! The scenery the whole way was spectacular especially the last couple of hours, The whole train journey to Aguas Calientes takes about 4 hours and once you pass Ollantaytambo the only way to get there is by train or trekking.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes to beautiful sunshine and a fair few mosquitos, we were greated at the station by a crowd of people trying to sell usthings and hotel guys, we spotted a fella holding a Gringo Bills sign which is a hostal that we had heard of and went to find out if there were any rooms available. Thankfully there was a room free because I don't think there's a huge a choice in Aguas Calientes. It turns out that Gringo Bills was one of the bigger hostals with a bar, restaraunt, little pool and jacuzzi. The rooms are very nice with ensuite and ours had a tiny balcony as well, very posh, lol! Once we'd settled in we went for a wander, I think Aguas Calientes is one of my favourite towns so far the fact that there was no motor vehicles whatsoever, no cars or bikes or anything made it seem very peacful, plenty of shops and restaurants and lots of people just milling about in the main square.

Since we had got there fairly early we still had the day to kill so at the suggestion of the receptionist at Gringo Bills we set of on what we were told was an hour walk to a Mirador (view point) where you can see Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes from up high at a distance, the walk was called Putucusi, now we had heard nothing about this walk so started of blissfully unaware that it was no normal walk...It's an Inca Trail that has only recently been discovered and cleared and involves ascending some pretty hair-raising vertical ladders along the way. The trail starts only 10 minutes walk outside Aguas Calientes (along the tracks in the opposite direction to Cusco). You'll see a sign on the right hand side marking the trail start. You will come to the most difficult section after only 15 minutes. Here you can decide to turn back (as do 75% of people) or climb the long wooden ladder scaling the rock face! We both at this point decided to turn back there was no way in hell I was going up there! see pic, not a chance (i could probably if I pushed myself climb it but I'd have to live up there as there would be no way I could come back down it!!! not so bad in the dry season but maybe a bit miserable in the wet season...) So after wussing out on that trail we went back to the town for a beer. Once we'd chilled it was off to sort out the tickets for Machu Picchu!!! The entrance fee was about £20 and then the bus ticket to get there was about £4 after buying them we grabbed some food at a chinese restraunt/internet shop then back to the hostal for an early night.

We woke the next day bright and early as the first buses for Machu Picchu leave at 5.30am and the gates open at 6am. Even though we got to the bus stop just before 5.30 there was such a big queue that we ended up on the 3rd bus anyway. The road up is basically a zig zag road climbing to the top where there is the Sanctuary lodge, a posh hotek right next to the entrance, and the entrance itself. Although we were one of the first bus loads up, there was already a queue of about 100-150 people waiting for the gates to open. Once they did it was a mad rush to get a good spot for the sunrise. We took a left just inside the entrance to go up for the overall view of the site rather than actually going in it, this is quite hard going as it zig zags up with a stone walkway and steps but once there you can look down on the whole site, amazing!! I couldn't speak for quite sometime it was quite surreal finally seeing something in front of me that I'd looked at in pictures for so many years. Well we sat and chilled for a while just waiting for the sun to come up properly and took way too many photos, we then walked a bit further up and took the track leading to the Inca bridge, the path on its own was pretty cool and it ended at the bridge that was built against the cliff face (see the pic) you used to be able to walk accross it until someone fell to there death off of it, we were shocked that tourists were allowed accross it in the first place its not even a foot wide and has an incredible drop of the edge. Well after that little detour we headed back to the site where we followed the map around to see all the major places. It took most of the day and once the sun was at its highest it was sweltering. For those that don't know much about the site here's a little info. It's an Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level. It's situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 km northwest of Cusco. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It was built around the year 1450, but abandoned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Forgotten for centuries, the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction and is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

We sat outside the entrance for a while having a drink and deciding wether to go back in or go back to Aguas Calientes, I was having a moment where I didn't want to leave it lol sad I know but hey I'd waited 20 years to see the place! Anyway we went back to town once I'd reasoned with myself that there was no point in going back in, and went for a few beers! which ended up in a local club drinking jack daniels and chatting and dancing with a couple of Cusqueno's (guys from Cusco) Caeser and Herman, we had a right laugh but unfortunatley altitude and that many drinks don't work with me and I felt as rough as you like the following day, luckily we had no plans so we just chilled and had a look round the town, did a bit of shopping and then got the early train back the next day, we could only get as far as Ollantaytambo because the tickets were all sold, so we had a look around the town which was really nice then jumped in a cab back to Cusco which was quite a hair raising drive over the mountains!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Aguas Caliente	The mad ladder !	Aguas Caliente from Putacusi walk	girls dancing in parade
sunrays at MP	Me and Bushy at MP	first view	first view 2
view from on the way out	as it was discovered	valley way down below	Inca Bridge
MP	Royal apartments	sacred stone	Agriculture section
Main entrance way	Llamas at MP	Aguas Calientes 2	Bus to MP

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