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Published: February 5th 2009
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0650 and our train was pulling out of Cusco on the way to Aguas Calientes - the town at the last train stop and where we were to base ourselves for our visit to Machu Picchu. A little groggy but excited for our adventure ahead we gazed out of the windows at the beautiful scenery until we were rudely interupted by the ´host´of our carriage. He informed us that they were in the process of filming a documentary about Peru Rail and asked if we´d mind taking part! A little weary at first we began to decline, but our protests were drowned out by the eager reply from the Poles sitting next to us who were more than happy to help out! (The host had mistakenly thought that as we were 4 Europeans sitting together, that we actually knew each other!) So a little miffed we began to wonder what was in store! Luck was on our side and all they wanted to do was film the ´host´making cocktails of Pisco Sour for us and then to film us chinking glasses and saying "Salut!" Wow what a time to be drinking cocktails - and free ones at that!!
Dan -
Two skanky backpackers (my clothes are covered in holes & stains) drinking cocktails at 7.00am - a natural occurance in everday life???..........I don´t think so, we think it will look abit wierd on TV.
Nic - It proceeded to bucket down with rain all day, and so we caught up on a bit of rest in our room and planned a few more stops of our trip, before getting an early night for the day ahead - keeping our fingers tightly crossed that the weather would clear over night.
3.45am the next day.....What an unearthly time!
This isn´t right, we´re on holiday, what are we doing??!! Well, it was all a part of our "Masterplan B". Having sacked the idea of the Inca trail, the next best option was to tackle the infamous ruins of Machu Picchu on our own, which obviously meant we didn´t take the easy option!
Scrambling out of bed as the alarm threw us into a state of panic we threw our clothes on and tried to take in a bit of sustenance, ie. the eggs we boiled last night and a couple of bread rolls (This would explain the pic of
Dan looking like a caveman who had just woken from a 3 year hibernation, ravenous and tearing at the food in his hands like it was about to run away from him! - it´s a shame it wasn´t a leg of a beast that he was chewing at, it would´ve fitted much better!) and then scrambled out of the door into the pitch black.
Dan - What we are now faced with is a 2 hour ascent in the dark up to Machu Picchu in time for: A - Sunrise & B - to get there first and have a few moments with no other people or crowds. Huffing & puffing fighting our way to the top (making our way through a steady line of people, glad we chose not to do this for 4 days in a row) we arrived in just over an hour, to a crowd of Student Argentinians sitting on the steps waiting for the gates to open!!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaarrrrrrrrggghhhh BUT lucky for us when the gates opened they all decided that they wanted to run straight to a different area than we had planned to go to and so we scrambled up to the watch
tower and gazed down at the beautiful PEOPLE-LESS sight below and managed to snap a postcard perfect picture!! and it remained empty long enough for us to enjoy it on our own with only a few Llamas for company!!!! Mission accomplished........"HE WHO DARES RODDERS, HE WHO DARES!!!"
Nic - Our next mission was to make it to the other end of the complex, to the base of "Wayna Picchu" (The huge mountain that you see in the background of the main picture) in time to be one of the first 200 in the cue. We wanted to climb to the top to get an even better view of the ruins, but the authorities limit it to only 2 sets of 200 people each day. Nervous that all our efforts wouldn´t pay off, we stood in line and watched will people pushed in and then a few groups left - we really couldn´t work out if we´d made it within the 200! Eventually 7am came and the gates were opened, and surprisingly we were numbers 58 and 59!! Hhoorrraahhh! Another hour long slog and we made it to the top just as the sun was emerging from a thin layer
of cloud and the ruins suddenly lit up in the sunshine, it was really quite magical! I got talking to a local who was kind enough to offer me some Coca leaves to munch on......This is a speciality in the Andes and the leaves are chewed with a dab of sticky ash in order to combat altitude sickness, surpress the appetite, and generally get you through what needs to be done - their form of chewing gum (although I´ve never found any chewing gum that makes your cheeks and tongue go numb!!) The view was totally amazing and while we were resting at the top trying to catch our breath we spotted the most beautiful hummingbird, it was like petrol on water but green....I was very excited as Id always wanted to see one of those and it really didnt disappoint!
Dan - We eventually made it back down to Machu Picchu via a cave 2 1/2 hours away and spent the rest of our time there wondering around the ruins ear-wigging on english speaking guides giving there talks on the history & funtionality on the ancient city. (refuse to pay an extortionate sum for the priviledge!!) Apparantly we
We made it!!!............
..........No crowds.......!! were lucky that there weren´t as many crowds as usual because traditionally on Sundays the majority of package tourists are carted off to the surrounding markets! We also learned that Machu Picchu´s outstanding popularity is becoming it´s own downfall, and because so many people visit everyday the sides of the mountains are beginning to slip at a rate of approximately 1cm per MONTH - making a complete landslide probable at some point!
So the time came for us to waddle back down (legs very sniff & wobbly from all the climbing) to Aguas Calientes to catch our train back to Cusco..........Phew what a rewarding day, perfect weather, perfect views our efforts had paid off!!
From here we stop off in Nazca on route to Lima to catch our flight to Buenos Aires on the 7th
More soon
xxxxxxx
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Ry
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Wow, the pictures even took my breath away!! Looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing you soon!!