Hot Water

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Machu Pichu can work out pretty expensive if you take the tourist train or go on the inca trail hike. we decided to take the long way round or back route and just pay the entrance fee. this involved some special traveling antics of which i will describe here.

MP is pretty remote so the first step was to take a 6 hour bus overnight on an unpaved road prone to avalanches. I think we managed 1 minute 39 seconds sleep. Arriving in a dusty village at 3:20 am the next step is to wait for a small van to fill up for the next two hour stint. the collectivo must have left about 5 am. a collectivo is basically a transit sized bus with 23 seats for peruvian midgets. however if you tuck your kneecaps in your ears you cant hear the raggatone on the radio and you have a pleasent ride through the mountains. that is if the bus can get up the muddy hills, which ours couldnt. to be fair, it was nice to stretch the old legs.
one more town along the valley then you start to get close to the town that services MP, Aguas Calientes. From Santa Teresa you stand on the back of a truck for 20 mins where it takes you as far as the landslip allows. From there its a matter of walking across it and up to the railway line. From there you walk 2-3 hours along the tracks singing stand by me until you get to AC and shelter. 16 hours in all but costing 10 quid instead of 40 there and back....in fact the return journey was cheaper!!! We hiked back along the railway lines and took a van back to ST. from there it was difficult to get a direct bus to santa maria so we took one that went near, by that the driver meant that we had to cross fields by foot down into the town for 45 mins. by this time we had missed the 1pm bus to cusco and the next one was not until 8pm which meant a long wait and arriving in cusco in the small hours. there was also a french couple in the same pickle. after much misinformation, procrastination, banana eating and cke drinking we discovered that a truck was going to urubamba, kind of the right direction, and free. as we clambered aboard each of realised what sort of truck it was. A beer truck full of crates of empty bottles!!! So with a piece of oily cardbord and tarpaulin we made seating on what resembled a moving bed of nails. In fact it was pretty comfortable as you were able to lie down and stretch out!! That was ok, until it strarted getting cold in the mountains as we approached the sacred valley of the incas. for about 2 hours we all lay together for warmth listening to the rattle of the bottles as we bumped and twisted along. as we entered urubamba the driver misjudged a speed hump sending the rear of the vehicle up and dropping a load of bottles so hard they smashed in their cases. thats when the smell of hundreds of stale beer bottles started to waft our way. luckily it was time to hop off as he was going no further. from here we shared a 1 hour taxi to cusco and so arrived hours before the bus would have, and with this tale to tell.

oh yes. machu pichu........AWESOME!!!!

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Photos

Elmo
I cant think of anything to say for this pic, I think it speaks for itself.

Lovely inca stonework
Shame they didn't wallpaper!

Waynapicchu
That was one heck of an climb

Comments

[Rikard Van Der Magnum]

Yowzers
Top quality work...is it Chile in Peru ? Looks like it...Keep on trucking. I love you. X

[Candey]

Llama charmer??
Is he charming the llama or is the llama charming him? Nice travelling with you guys, see you in the pub, mines a pint of guiness.