Planes, trains and collectivos...We made it to Machu Picchu!

So with Jack´s arrival in S.A and only a month to get to Buenos Aires we had to start moving pretty quickly, which unfortunately for Jack meant flying from Lima to Cusco..his fourth plane in 2 days..pretty heavy for someone who doesn´t like flying! The flight was amazing though, quite low the whole way so we could see the tops of the andes. We flew with TACA who turned out to be a pretty efficient airline, bags all ready on our arrival and welcomed into the airport by a peruvian band..nice. We made our first faux pas by deciding to get a local bus into the city wavering the 8 soles taxi ride for a 2 soles but totally round the houses tour of outer cusco. We got to our hotel eventually though, Pirwa in the San Blas..a nice traditional place with the worlds cutest in-house-kitten (cue Jack dissapearing for hours on end). San Blas is a nice neighbourhood - less people pestering you for photos/massages/shoe polishing - but if you want to be near restaurants and bars then San Francisco is much better and less hills to lug your bags up.
Our first day in Cusco was lovely, the city is soo beautiful and fairytale like (if you ignore the usual gaggle of peruvian hustlers). At one point Jack got so fed-up of women offering him massages he actually began to give one of the women one..ive never seen a street-seller so freaked out (i think she thought he was going to strangle her though!) I made my first big purchase of the trip - investing in a pair of suede boots tailor made to fit by a Peruvian dude, so lush (and less than 30 quid)! Unfortunately the relaxing couldnt last for me as towards the end of the afternoon i started to get really sick, then i spent the night vomiting and feeling generally rubbish. Surprisingly Jack was absolutely fine, I thought my time in Quito would have at least prepared me a little better for the altitude of Cusco (around 3900m), but it´s like they say - you never know who is going to be affected by altitude sickness. Luckily it was only me though as it meant at least one of us was useful for sorting our machu picchu trip out.
The next day a ton of coca tea and some drugs my dad had kindly supplied me with before i´d left managed to get me sorted out enough to get a collectivo (shared taxi) to Ollantaytambo. We decided that although we weren´t doing the inca trek we at least wanted to see a bit more of the Sacred Valley than most and I´m glad we chose Ollanyant (as the locals call it). It is a beautifl inca site on a litle river, very small but loomed over by an impressive inca temple. Not even the most bare boned hostel and the world´s worst waitress could detract from the magic of the place. Unfortunately my altitude sickness wast too much fun but the excitement of our early hours trip to Machu Picchu helped alot.
We got the train from Ollantaytambo to aguas calientes at 4am..after having a load of hassle over our internet bought tickets..you´d think that something as touristy as the Machu Picchu train would at least have a clue about ticketing..not at all. Luckily we managed to persuade them our e-tickets were for real (only to have the same problem on our return journey!) and i lucked in when they accepted my out of date student card for our entrance ticket to MP..meaning i only paid half price! MP is by far the most money grabbing attraction of my trip so far, be prepared to stick your hand in your wallet at every possible occassion. The organised all inclusive trips actually aren´t too bad a deal when you factor in all of the little costs for getting to the site itself.
However, it is more than worth it...from the minute you round the corner of Machu Picchu mountain the views are breathtaking, exactly what every postcard/t.v. programme/poster makes you expect. But there really is no substitute, the mountains all around are amazing and the geometry of the buildings gives the settlement an almost mystical appearance. We spent the day exploring and eavesdropping on tour groups when it sounded interesting enough, we got some great photos but once again im in an internet cafe which wont let me upload so you´ll just have to use your imaginations..
After a bit of time in Aguas Calientes, where Jack got into a fight with a waitress who assumed we should be giving her some kind of 50% tip for bringing us raw food, we got the flashy vistadome train back. The views would have been incredible but by this point my altitude sickness had reached new heights and I spent most of the journey attempting to sleep it off. As soon as we got back to Cusco I slept for 14 hours straight (Jack had some quality time wth the kitten..we named her cusquena) and by the morning was feeling a lot brighter. Thankfully I got at least one day of feeling well in Cusco, which had a street festival on celebrating indigenous independence so enjoyed that and then headed out to catch our nght bus to Puno on Lake Titicaca.

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Part of trip: South American Adventure

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