Day off Machu Picchu 17.6.12

It has been about a 25-year wait for me to finally get to Machu Picchu. I can't remember the exact date that I first heard about this ancient ruin, however it was an article in the National Geographic sometime in the mid-80s, that captured my imagination and it went on the to-do list at that point. So it was with some excitement that I woke at 4.30 this morning with a knock on the door with the early morning wake-up call, followed by a shower, breakfast, and a walk down to the train station at 5:30 AM. I had hoped we would be to get up onto Machu Picchu before sunrise, and more importantly, before the tourists flood the place, however this was not to happen with this only being possible if you stay at the small town of Aqua Calientes. We had not thought to pre-organise this, and everything was booked well in advance. Nevertheless we were on the train ready to roll at 6 AM. It started to feel like a bit of the Disney ride, as there was an announcement in numerous languages including English talking about the Inca Trail and the ride to Machu Picchu. There were numerous tourists on the train.

The train ride was one of the slowest I have ever had. They drove the train as fast as they could safely, I suspect however this was not very fast as the track is far from straight, or smooth. We enjoyed the view out the window as the train followed the river, which seem to be a constant tumbling cascade of rapids, which I could not help but wonder how you could kayak down. There was trap after trap in the rapids that we could see. As the journey continued the country became more and more steep and eventually showed signs of being a rain forest also. After about 2 hours the train pulled into Aqua Calientes, and we quickly exited and made our way to the buses that take you up to Machu Picchu. We tried to select a driver that looked sober and not too badly affected by coca leaves. The bus bounced down a rough road and eventually crossed the torrent of a river before mounting the zigzagging track that climbed up the sheer cliffs of this valley. The location really is very spectacular with high sheer cliffs rising straight from the riverbed on both sides. This is a very tight valley and there is no sign of Machu Picchu from the valley floor. The bus winding its way up the series of switchbacks, on a relatively good road. It was impossible to ignore the precipitous drop that the bus was driving very close to. It was particularly difficult ignore this drop when 2 buses were passing.

The bus pulled into the final stretch of road and stopped at the main entrance. Because there are no toilets and Machu Picchu and are not allowed to take food or water, our 1st priority was to visit the toilet in a pre-emptive strike to prevent the need to exit early off the site. This is a typical tourist trap and the cost for using the toilet was one solas. Fully prepared we entered the site and walked up through the paved paths into the Inca sanctuary.

Machu Picchu was built sometime during the Inca rein which was relatively short, lasting only around 100 years between the mid 14 hundreds and the mid-15 hundreds. Machu Picchu was built sometime during this period, and then abandoned. There is not very much known about it, as the Incas did not have a written history, as they had no written language. A lot of stories have developed over the years however and you can hire a guide to tell you all about the place. Our feeling was that it was most likely fictional and that we could make up our own minds as we went round as to what, and how things were. We wandered up to get the picture postcard that most people think of when viewing Machu Picchu. Then wandered across the site to the entrance to a very steep climb up onto another level at Wayna Picchu. This is a climb that approximately 400 people do per day, however not all of them return with approximately 10 people falling from this path per year. If you fall from anywhere on Machu Picchu and in particular Wayna Picchu, then you will be falling for the rest of your life. Hax was the only one keen to do this walk. He pretended to be very disappointed when he discovered that his ticket would not allow him to go at this level. I also pretend to be disappointed, as I have the same ticket (but no one bought this). We spent an hour or 2 wandering around the various locations in Machu Picchu and marveling at the dry stonewall construction. There are numerous grades of stone wall construction with some blocks being smoothed, shaped, and then fitted together, and that other areas of rocks fitted together in their more natural form. There were a large number of tourists on site, however it is such a big site that we still felt able to look at things fairly uninterrupted. Almost all of the tourists were posing for photos with the ruins in the background, generally striking a pose of quiet contemplation and reflection, however this pose was only maintained for a few seconds while the photo was taken, then they were back to their same state of rushing around. Others were posing like professional models. I thought I saw Derek Zoolander doing blue steel at one point. We decided to take a more “3 Amigos” approach to our posing, including holding the walls up, leaning against the walls in a lackadaisical manner, and of course planking. Unfortunately I discovered that my core strength has not been improved by 2 weeks on a motorcycle, which led to some fairly non-straight planks.

After we'd had our full of looking up and around the main Machu Picchu ruins we decided to go for a walk along the Inca Trail to the main entrance to this part of the valley. The Inca Trail was paved with stones that have been placed together and walls that had been created against the steep country once again to make a very smooth gradient up to the saddle. It was hot and we were all getting very thirsty. After a bit of time looking back at the ruins from this main entrance, we wandered back down and had an ice cream and a drink, before taking the bus back down the road. We were sitting in the back seat of the bus on the way down and this led to a very bumpy, bouncy and exciting ride, with the driver seeming in one hell of a rush.

We enjoyed a stone grilled pizza for a late lunch, and then went for a soak in the hot pools. These pools looked very dubious with the water being very murky, and pretty smelly. After being in the water approximate 20 min we noticed a sign in Spanish that seemed to describe small fish in the water that Senor's should be aware of, that can swim into your bladder. Why these fish only pick on men, I have no clue, and why the sign is beside the pool rather than at the entrance to the pool, before you bought a ticket I also do not understand. At this point we decided we had had enough and we got up and showered and then headed back to town for a wander around the trinket shops etc.

Another slow train ride back to Ollantaytambo in a train that was much larger than this morning's train and absolutely full. I was sitting next to a young man who fell asleep and ended up with his head on my shoulder, which his friends thought, was a great laugh. Harry took photo and e-mailed it to them who no doubt will get great mileage out of this. A couple of beers on the way home and to bed particularly exhausted and satisfied with a good day out. Good to finally tick this one off the list. (The list is still pretty long though)