Machu Picchu

November 5th – Machu Picchu
After an evening meal in the Inkaterra Hotel in Aguas Calientes (lovely hotel but the town is a bit like a cross between a shanty town and a town from the wild west) we boarded the bus at 7.45am to visit the ruins of Machu Picchu. Most people know the traditional view of the site and it is just like that in real life, an amazing situation surrounded by mountain peaks. Most of the city (about 60%) has been rebuilt since its discovery by Hiram Bingham in 1911. We spent around 3 hours wandering the ruins, with the ever informative and philosophical Dalmiro (whose pre-dinner “briefings” had become a regular feature of the trek and were as much lectures about local history and culture as information about the next day’s walk) leading us.

There was also an optional excursion to climb the peak of Wayna Picchu (visible at the back of the traditional picture of MP and rising dramatically above the main site) which much to S’s disapproval R and his fellow Brit Tim decided to do on pain of being late for the train returning us to Cusco (“ I am getting the train whether or not you are back from the climb!”). Tim’s wife (the other S) and S caught the bus back down to the town and started lunch in the appointed place, and were amazed to see only about half an hour later R and Tim getting off the bus having ascended the peak in 40 minutes! They confirmed that the ladies had made the right decision not to take part in this as it was a hairy climb involving very steep and high steps and scrambling through a tunnel at one point and with nothing between the precarious summit and the rocks below (no health and safety here!!) but the views from the top were spectacular. (Tim’s suggestion to go to another restaurant for lunch and to arrive 1 minute before the cut-off point for boarding the train was applauded for its nerve but immediately shelved on the grounds of 2 inevitable sets of divorce proceedings). WP was an exhausting but very rewarding addition to the visit to MP, which we could see was filling up with more tourists, as the morning wore on. (In the Galapagos we met an American couple who did the “classic” Inca trail, getting up on the final day at 3.30am to get to the Sun Gate and to arrive at MP when it opened but who were unable to climb WP because there were already too many people ahead of them in the queue!)

We boarded the train to Ollantaytambo shortly before 3.30pm having said goodbye to two of our fellow trekkers who were spending an extra night in Aguas Calientes and after a short journey were picked up by car to continue our way back to Cusco, Dalmiro stopped for a chicha break fetching a jug of the local corn beer for us to try in a village in the Sacred Valley and then we were deposited back at our original hotel in Cusco after yet more goodbyes – the end of a wonderful trip with many happy memories which will live with us for years to come – Machu Picchu was a wonderful site to visit but in many respects it was its setting that was the most memorable and the journey there that was the most enjoyable part of the week.
Next stop the jungle – a very different environment!