Peru - MachuPicchu Pueblo (Aguas Calientes)

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Suzanne here...

Originally we'd planned to do the Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu. But the more we looked into it, the more we went off the idea. It seemed like hard work, and very basic accommodation. Yes, we had the same thing on the Inle trek in Burma. But there the trek itself was the whole point. Whereas here, visiting Machu Picchu was the main event. In the end we decided that a visit to MP after a decent nights sleep in a hotel sounded nicer than visiting after a three day trek.

The train journey from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes was stunning. Expensive though, at £85 each for a 60k round trip (our last journey of a similar distance had cost £2.50). We'd read that the Vistadome train was worth the extra money, but that was a bit rich for our budget. In fact, in my opinion it just isn't necessary. Admittedly I've not tried the Vistadome for comparison. But I only have one pair of eyes and can only take in so much at a time. The Peru Rail Expedition train was fine for us. It was comfy, big windows (plus windows in the roof) and we got a free coffee and cookie.

They also played a pan-pipe music throughout the trip. Being an expert, I helpfully informed David of the name of each track. For some reason he seemed less than impressed, even insinuating that I was making it up. I thought this was a bit rude. Anyway, the train took us through some amazing scenery. We love train travel anyway, but this was something special. The journey took about an hour and twenty minutes, but we didn't want it to end.

The town of Aguas Calientes exists because of Machu Picchu. It's now called Machu Picchu Pueblo, although I've yet to hear anyone actually call it that. It looked a bit ramshackle when we arrived, and we were a little confused by the layout. But we soon found our hostel - Cusi Q'oyllor. Reviews had been pretty good but it was cheap (for the area) so I was relieved to discover our room actually looked like the photos and was clean and comfortable.

Our first job was to find a laundry service, which we did. Next was to buy bus tickets, the guy in our hostel advised us to do it that night to avoid queues in the morning. Proved to be good advice. We already had our Machu Picchu tickets, it's wise not to leave that until the last minute, and you can't buy them on the gate. We did check to see how many were left though. About 2/3 had been sold, which meant it wouldn't be as crowded for us as it gets in high season.

We then explored the town. It didn't take long, it's not very big. I'd expected to hate it. But even though it is totally geared towards tourism, and restaurants and massage places tout you every other minute, it is still a vibrant and interesting town and there was something about it that we liked. The natural landscape helps. It's surrounded by mountains and next to the Urubama river, with another smaller river running through the centre. It even has hot springs, although we'd not heard great reports about them so didn't bother. Underneath all the tourism you can see a real, working town.

We knew that the majority of restaurants were aimed at tourists, which doesn't often mean the best value or the best food. So we asked the guy at our hotel for a recommendation. He told us to go to a nearby Chifa (Peruvian / Chinese resturants popular across the country) called Amazonas. Well, he was right in that it was cheap and not touristy. But it wasn't the best of meals. David's pork and vegetables was nice, luckily for me he shared. My chicken in tamarind was way too sweet, like chicken in jam. Neither main came with rice, which we'd failed to realise. Finally our starter (!) of wantons turned up. But they had no filling and came with the same tamarind 'jam'. The worst of it was, everyone else's looked really nice! Oh well, at least it was cheap. We bought a chocolate bar each to make up for it and ate it in the square before going back to the hotel.

The next day was the one we'd been waiting for - Machu Picchu day! We heard some people going down for breakfast at 4.30am (it didn't occur to them that people might be sleeping). The done thing seems to be to get to MP for the sunrise. But you know what? We've done sunrises. They are nice enough but tend to be, inconveniently, in the morning. Not my best time of day. Plus for popular places like MP you get to experience the 'magical moments' with hundreds of other people. Also it's weather dependant so you might not even see a proper sunrise. Nah, we decided to skip it and get up at a more civilized hour.

After a basic breakfast we got to the bus stop at about 8.15. As we had our tickets already we could just jump straight aboard. The journey up was amazing, such lovely scenery. Then we rounded a corner and I got my first glimpse of MP. I know 'jaw dropping' is an overused phrase, but my jaw really did literally drop. It was just such an amazing sight. We couldn't wait to get inside and start exploring.

From the first moments we loved the place. The ruins themselves are fascinating. The surrounding scenery is just out of this world. All around the site are rich, green forested mountains. Below is the Urubamba river. I honestly can't think of a more impressive setting. We couldn't look around fast enough to take it all in. After about half an hour the clouds descended and we were surrounded by a wall of white. But even this was not an issue as it just made the place feel even more mysterious.

We spent a good few hours exploring the ruins, which are fascinating. It did start to drizzle, but we are British, we've trained our whole lives to cope with drizzle. Then a one way system and a jobsworth security guard meant we had to exit much sooner than planned. Thank God you can re-enter, which is what we did. We knew we'd missed a corner, so that's where we headed.

Turned out the 'corner' was an hour trek up to the Sun Gate. The whole way up we were surrounded by a wall of cloud. This is the one and only time the weather got me down as I really wanted to see MP from above. We got to the top but of course couldn't see a thing. We waited around for a while, before beginning to head back down. After a few meters the rain stopped. The cloud cleared. And there below us was Machu Picchu. It's hard to describe the feeling. A massive shiver ran down my spine and I got goosebumps all over. It was an incredible sight. I think the impact would have been way less if we'd seen it all the way up. It was the sudden reveal that made it so powerful. So yeah, we'd have liked a sunny day, but really can't complain. We spent a while longer wandering around. In the end we were there for seven hours, and I still didn't want to leave. Initially I'd wondered if MP could possibly live up to the hype, but it did. A truly magical place.

For dinner that night we went to Mapacho Craft Beer. David had lomo saltado and I had a creamy yellow chicken stew called aji de gallina. It was best food we have had in Peru so far. David had a couple of craft beers which were expensive but he really enjoyed them. An endearing quirk of Aguas Calientes is the train track running through the town. There was something very cute about sitting in the resturant as a train came to a halt inches away from the door. Then it was back to the hotel. We had an earlyish train the next day. In any case, check out was at 9am, which is crazy but seems to be the norm here.

We slept ok. Once again we were awoken at 4.30 by another couple heading out for the sunrise, this time shouting and laughing loudly. At 4.30am. Now, I know we moan a lot about other people and probably sound very grumpy. But ask yourself this. If you were up in a hotel at 4.30am what would you do? Keep the noise down so people could sleep? Or not give a toss and be as loud as you liked? If it is the latter, have a bloody word with yourself.

After a quick breakfast we said our goodbyes and walked down to the station. Once again the train journey was stunning. We'd declined the chance to take the train directly to our next destination. Not only was the time terrible (one train in the evening) but it cost $125 dollars. Instead we got off at Ollantaytambo and jumped straight onto a collectivo, which would take us to Urubamba for a fraction of the cost. Five soles (£1.25) each in fact. It faffed around trying to get as many fares as possible. But after a while we were on our way and 30 minutes later, at just before noon, we were in Urubamba.

Machu Picchu marks roughly the halfway point of our travels. It seems such a long time ago that we left the UK for Germany. So far we are absolutely loving South America. Peru's Sacred Valley in particular is such a special part of the world, and Machu Picchu has been the highlight we hoped it would be.

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Comments

[Mr B]

Have you lost your razor Mr B?
Loving all the photos. Looks like you are having an ace time.

[SuzanneandDavid]

I'll have you know Mr B that I shaved specially for that day. My Mum would've killed me if I turned up at Machu Picchu scruffy lookin'. Having a great time, Peru is amazing!