Maccu PicchU!

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
August 3rd 2011

Published: August 7th 2011

After packing my bag, I was asked by my room maters why I hadn't gone to drink with them earlier (I had said I would), so I assured them that I would join them for one or two beers. It turned out my fellow imbibers were students at Nottingham uni - i.e. they were big drinkers.

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At 6am my alarm went off, and I was on the 12 seater mini bus by 7 30. After a very pituresque couple of hours, we arrived at a snowy pass, where we were unloaded and mountain bikes given to each of us (yes, I opted for a treck that involved biking). At some point during the next 5 hours of cycling, I started to really feel the effects ofg the night . Turns out I still havn't fully learnt. But then I look at Dad and realize that expecting to have picked up that life skill is a stupiud expectation!

I made it however, to the first village where we were to stay in the most basic of hostals.

I had by this point become friends wityh a couple of English guys, Mike and Rich, who I gotr on with well and so speant most of the treck with them. Thgere was also a young German Couple, A Lithiuanian couple, an American English teacher and the first Japanease peron I had met - a girl called Yuka, named after the plant who's taste I despise.

The food was good, and the beds were relativly comfortable, and due to my state of distinct lack of sleep, I slept like a log for a good 12 hours untilthe next wake up call.

The second day was just trecking. It was actually a very nice treck though, passing along the vally bottom alongside a river, before ascending up a little to a slightly more agreeable (less hot
) temperature. We even passed a Mormon village, which was incredibly unexpected! Our guide, Guido was ever helpful, and in his toothy way constantly updated our knowledge of the history of the area.
We stopped for lunch, and had the most amazing guacamole, the recipe of which I have since aquired and will certainly reproduce - who knew avocado could be made to taste so good!
We also passed through a house on the hillside, which had home grown and home made coffee, chocolate, chicha, honey and passion fruit juice. I enjoyed the honey so much I decided to buy some - 500ml for 1pound20 ! Here the owners of this half way house had a pet bush pig, monkey, parrot and giant rodent thing - not as big as a Capibara, but it would have had a lot more meat on it than my guinea pig! The chocolate was good here too - first bit I had had in aaages!

We kept going, and some of the steep passes were actually very narrow and steep. Fortunatly I have not suffered from, heights in years, but for some of our group, this was a traumatic experience. This added a hilarious element for the rest of us.

Towards the end of the treck, we had to cross the surging river - and the bridge had been destroyed. , and the bridge had been simply washed away. How? I hear you cry - in the rainy season the river rises by as much as 5m - However, the locals had come up with a new method of crossing it. They had slung a cable between the two sides, and hung a cable car on this (a tray on rollers), which also had rope attsattached to it, so the ferry man (?) could pull you across for a small fee.
Guido and I crossed together, and he suggested we stand up on the tray. The swaying of the tray over the churning waters nearly unmanned me, and in hindsiught, I think this was a bad idea.
On the otherside though were hot springs, and so we pruned ourselves for a good hour before ascending to the next village for the night.

As we settled into our rooms, which were again very basic, we started to relax. Our cealing in this room, was a coconut sacking tarpaulin, under the tin corrugated metal roof. Presumably to keep the drafts minimal right? Then we heard a scuffle. Then we saw 4 distinct dimples, within about 6 inches of one another on the cealing. And it moved. So I whipped outr my pen knife and started japping in the general area. We didn't hear the rat again until Rich screamed (again) at some point in the night, which was really funny. The food that night was once again excellent, and I enjoyed a grilled trout with garlic sauce. tasty.

The final day of trecking saw us first do an optional zip-lining experience. 2.5km of bable, spread between 6 wires, from the top of a valley down to its bottom, so a descent of around 350m. I really enjoyed this, the views were spectacular - as I have said already, I have been well and truely spoiled by the views enjoyerd here - with the canopy spreading below, and snow capped peaks rising in the distance. I think that was probably my first zip-wireing experience, and from reviews of other people who have done it and others before, that was about as good as it gets!

The rest of the walk, to Aguas Calientes, the base town by Maccu Picchu, was following the train tracks. It was also through a protected area, so the jungle-ified scenery was breath taking - literally every bit was better than the last on this treck, absolutely stunning. I really domn't want to sound like a broken record regarding the scenery as I feel I must have written it about everyu place, but it is all so magnificent and awe-inspiring. Sadly I am not adept enough to articulate the infinite sincerity and majesty of the peaks that thrust up from my vantage point, tearing scars through the jungle and rising into the clouds.

At somepoint, I realized a good momento would be to squash a coin on the train tracks when a train came past. Great success!

We arrived at Aguas Calientes, and after the best meal yet (alpaca for me), settled in for a proper early night, as we had a 4 15 am start to Maccu Picchu in the morning.

We roused ourselves up, donned head tourches and made our way on our starry path straight up towards the sacred city. It was not an easy walk up the endless stair case, but we arrived by 6am, taking us just and hour from the hostal. Passing through the cloud we arrived at the entrance gate to our beaming guide who had taken the bus up. Lazy. Panting slightly, we were able to queue jump in, and take some great snaps of the lost city of the Incas before it was entierly overrun by tourists - before evern the sun had crested the eastern mountains.

It was magnificent. Now, most of the city is reconstructed in a fashion that resembles dry stone walls. But the original 1438 (when the city was built) bits, of which quite a lot remain, are unbelievable. The stones are cut to fit perfectly together, in a process that casn take months. The results are seembless joints. So seemless in facrt, they look fake, like the cladding you sometimes see on terraced houses. The scale was simply wonderfull, and we speant a good 3h touring the place before we wondered around on our own for a couple more hours, just soaking up the atmosphere and architecture. We were very hot by this point, so me and the two guys then descided to descend and go swim in the river.

This was a lot of fun, like playing in a stream when you are little, but on a bigger scale and with a little more white water (not in a dangerous way though). Sadly, I was savaged by sandflies and midges here. This was less good.

hen before I knew it, I was waiting on the platform for my train. First class doncha know. I had been forced to upgrade due to lack of seats, but the steep price was, I think, very much worth it.
First class in England ain't what it used to be.
Waistcoated waiters waited by the door, offering those persons of quality whom were lucky enough to have been seperated from the unwashed masses (I hadn't had a shower in a few days, but who's counting?) a glass of hot wine. This was folloed by a silver service three course meal, with red wine and white tea. Dreadfully civilized.

Far more so than the bus ride which carried me from the station to my hostasl, but I slept for most of that so it was just fine.

All in all, a fantastic 4 day trip, and well worth the money to see one of the worlds most amazing relics of a different civilization.

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