The Big MP

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So, Machu Picchu. Wonder of the world. Highlight of the continent. Getting there was quite the pain in the arse. Not to mention unbelievably expensive. The only options are to trek for four days, or get a train. We chose train. There is just the one company running this service, so even on a ‘backpacker’ ticket, at the most inconvenient time, caught from the most inconvenient location to make the ticket as cheap as possible... it’s still by far the most expensive journey in the country. On the way to the station, bizarrely, our taxi got stopped by a copper who was trying to extort a bribe from our driver on the pretext that we are tourists and so should be on a 'licensed tourist bus'. The driver pretty much told him to piss off, and all was well. The train runs to Aguas Calientas, still a good long way below the big MP. Most people spend the night here and get a bus up first thing. I say night, we got up at 4am. I actually resent paying for a hostel room for four hours. We were still a little tired and groggy from our mystery febrile illness, so this early morning rising was no easy task. We shuffled to the ticket office to pay our entrance fee. Useful money saving hint - the people at the ticket office in Aguas can’t tell the difference between a student card and a driving license.

The queue for the bus was a wonder of the world in itself.

Seriously. There were hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of people in front of us. The buses kept coming one after another but they barely made a dent in the line. Looking back at it now, it is laughable that we thought we would get near the front of the queue. Oh we’ll get up early and get the first bus, NO ONE ELSE WILL HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT. It’s just nothing else I’ve experienced in South America or, to be honest, THE WORLD, even comes close to matching this level of queuing. Maybe Disneyland.

Obviously, the situation didn’t improve when we got there. The sight and the setting was undeniably stunningly beautiful, I don’t need to describe it, everybody knows what I’m talking about, but there was no getting away from the fact that there were a billion other people there. I could not help but think back to Kuelap, where we had been the only four people watching the sun rise. Just us and the llamas.

You could very much see the difference between people who had trekked up and those who had got the bus and the train. Some looked genuinely elated, others just a bit pissed off. I did feel somewhat like we’d cheated, we hadn’t earned it and weren’t enjoying it as much because of that. Then I remembered how furious I was after I spent 12 hours climbing a holy mountain in China and realised there was a cable car to the top. I am glad we did our camping and trekking trip in the Cordillera Blanca instead because it was cheaper, much less touristy and, I thought, just as beautiful.

So we sat and admired the sunrise, which could be more accurately described as a ‘mist dispersal’, then had a wander around the upper levels. Kit chased some llamas. I took some photos. The sun started to get fierce. We trekked all the way back down to the entrance to find the toilets, bought a disgustingly expensive sandwich, which we split between us, and hid from the sun. We were tired and hot and hungry. We tried to hire a guide to show us round the site itself, but we couldn’t find another group to split the cost with. We waited. We seriously discussed the idea of sacking it off and going to bed. This is despite the fact we had barely been into the actual site itself. We made a secret pact that we would pretend we saw Machu Pichu and it was awesome. We would never admit to a living soul that we chose the prospect of bed and pizza over globally significant ancient monument. Just as we were about to do one, a guide we’d been haggling with came over and said he’d take us at the price we wanted. I am glad I didn’t leave. It requires some effort to imagine away the hoards of tourists, but there is something quite magical about the place. It’s not even that old, the ruins themselves are nice but it’s the uniquely spectacular setting that makes it worthwhile. A guide is a good investment, you enjoy it more if you can make sense of the place, though I am almost certain he was making up half of what he said.



‘This is the rock that is in shape of an... EAGLE’
Really?

To be honest I don’t think much truth is known about the place and it’s as much fun making things up yourself.

My advice to anyone reading this would be to go in LOW SEASON people, can’t stress this enough. Not August. Just... don’t. And go on a ‘quieter’ day of the week. We were supposed to be going on a Sunday, which I’d heard would be best because a lot of tour groups go to Pisac Sunday Market. Mystery illness pushed our plans back a day and we ended up there on a Monday, which I later discovered is the worst day for tour group invasion. I would also consider walking up from Aguas instead of taking the buses, and I would be at the front of the queue, even if that meant getting up so early I actually travel backwards in time.

If this it not an option I would suggest anyone who ends up in the same position as us should stay the night after in Aguas instead of the night before, go late not early and attempt to be the last one there rather than the first. Even if this results in you missing the last bus and having to walk back down, at least it’s down not up and you’re in no hurry. I would happily have walked had I not been still a bit ill, and I know people who did so. Take a torch. I have nothing on which to base this advice since we most definitely did not stick around till the end, but it makes sense that it would be quieter later since almost everyone, certainly all the tour groups, are aiming to get the last train back to Cuzco.

Reading this back at a later date, I just want to say I didn't mean it to sound so negative. When you spend time traveling it's easy to lose all sense of proportion and become accustomed to getting so much for so little. I obviously don't resent paying the entrance fee for the sight, which theoretically at least a portion of should go towards preservation, but the monopoly on transport, which made traveling the few kilometers from Cuzco to MP more expensive than flying the length of the country... that pissed me off. And when you get there they make you PAY to use the toilets. But anyway... it was always going to be expensive and touristy, but you can't not go. You just can't. It is what it is. I should have just accepted that and not tried to compare it to other things. My mistake.

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Photos

Tourists
Get out of my shot.

Comments

[Home and Away]

Machu Pichu is at the top of our list to visit next...
so thanks for your advice. I'm not a morning person, so getting up at 4 am to be part of a crowd is not for me. Getting up or arriving later and seeing MP after everyone has gone...now that's great advice! P.S. I've just discovered your blogs, and love your wicked sense of humor so will be Following you...just keep blogging Africa.