Machu Picchu

Wednesday January 3, 2018

Finally the day we had been waiting for had arrived. We set multiple alarms to make sure we wouldn’t oversleep and miss our train. We were up at 5:30 to get ready, grab a bite for breakfast, and then meet in the lobby at 6:20. We walked to the train station, which was only 5 minutes away, actually on the grounds of our resort. 

There were maybe another dozen guests or so with us as we boarded the lovely Peru Rail Vista Dome carriage, which we pretty much had to ourselves for the first hour until we reached the station at Ollantaytambo, where the train was flooded with passengers and filled to the brink. A young man traveling solo from Brazil sat with us who turned out to be a mechanical engineer working at Ford Motor Company, so he and Gavin had plenty to talk about. We arrived in Aguas Callientes around 9:30 in the morning, nearly three hours after we had boarded. This little village is at the base of Machu Picchu, and is the base where all tours of Machu Picchu begin. 

Our tour guide Adriana, who had taken us to Moras and Moray two days prior, met us at the train station and led us to the bus depot. There were hoards of other visitors, but we managed to board the 30 passenger bus quite quickly, and we were soon on our way up the mountain. The bus ride lasted about 25 minutes, and basically zigzagged up the mountain along a single lane (but two-way!) dirt road, driving precariously close to the edge (especially when having to pass other oncoming busses) of the road along such an impossibly steep slope. Finally we arrived at the top and joined the queues, first for the bathroom, and then for the passport control—yes they closely document all of their visitors. 

From there we began up an irregular, steep, stone staircase until we reached the first of many landings offering fantastic, overall views of the citadel. We fought past multitudes of selfie-stick wielding tourists to snap photos and just soak in the magnificence of the place. 

After we had our initial photo taking spree, Adriana sat us down in a quiet grassy area in the midst of peacefully grazing llamas, oblivious of the tourists trying to take selfies with them. There, she talked to us about the history place and to give us more background. There is so much mystery surrounding these ruins, and no one really knows for sure what this place was for, which I think is part of its appeal. 

For the next couple of hours we walked up and down stone stairway after stairway, marveling at new stunning views around every turn, admiring the unbelievable architecture and the sheer scale of this place, as well as the natural splendor of the mountains and valleys, with such dramatic slopes and breathtaking vistas. We had been worried that it would rain, as grey clouds loomed and mist clung to the peaks in the distance, but the weather held for the duration of our tour, the shades of grey in the skies contrasting with the deep green hues added more to the aura of mystery and magic. 

As you can see, I had a hard time narrowing down which photos to post, so forgive the abundance! 

We worked our way along the route of the whole complex, and reluctantly finished just after 1:00, knowing that we still had to eat lunch and take the bus back to Aguas Calientes in order to catch our 3:48 train (Adriana had warned us that the line for the busses would be long). We followed Adriana into the restaurant near the entrance, surprised it wasn’t more crowded, but she told us that it was only for certain agencies who had reservations, as she presented our vouchers. We went in and found an open table right away, then helped ourselves to the buffet, realizing that we were actually quite hungry after all that climbing! While we were in the restaurant, the sky opened up and the rain started coming down, so after lunch, we all donned ponchos and took our place at the end of the line which stretched waaaaaaay down the hill, with hundreds of people in front of us. 

We were nervous that our timing would be tight, and we were worried about missing our train. Luckily the busses came quickly, but we still waited a good 40 minutes before we were finally able to head back down that precarious zigzagging, dirt road, which was even scarier on the way down, especially because of the rain. Nevertheless we made it back to the train station with a half hour to spare. Conveniently, there was a colorful, touristy market with all kinds of Andean handcrafted goodies to peruse right next to the train station. We picked up a few souvenirs and then boarded our train.

I thought the ride back would be quiet, as we all would be so tired from the long day, but instead there was quite a festive atmosphere. The train service included snacks, followed by a performance by a dancing puma totem head to loud, upbeat Andean music, followed by a fashion show featuring fine, baby alpaca clothing. Once we stopped at Ollyantaytambo, however, the carriage completely emptied out and we were alone with just another friendly couple from Wisconsin. 

We got back to the hotel around 6:30, exhausted, but energized, our hearts full of joy and gratitude for having had the amazing opportunity to partake in this once in a lifetime experience! We enjoyed one last dinner in our awesome hotel’s restaurant, then crashed!