Machu Picchu

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Tim Version:
* Found my way to Aguas Calientes through Santa Maria, Santa Teresa and some railway tracks walking.
* Saw Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu and wow! Location, location, location...

The version with sore legs but one the best views you could have from the top of Wayna Picchu:

Getting to Machu Picchu. It can be done a multitude of ways from hikes that range from usually 2 to 7 days, by train, by car, bus and train, or by bus and walking. I originally planned on doing the Inca Trail or one of the many substitute trails but in the end opted to do the cheapy route.

Leaving Cusco on a 7am bus bound for Ollyantambo I got off at Santa Maria, which took about 5 or 6 hours. From there I got a taxi with a couple of other travellers (as it turned out to be cheaper than the colectivo) over to Santa Teresa about an hour away. The two combined give you travel and views from Cusco, out through the Sacred Valley, up over the mountain ranges into the altiplano region with those ice capped mountains right above your head, then twisting down into the valleys into jungle like regions. From there its around the side of more mountain ranges on a hell of a road that is reasonably new, unpaved, and sits right on the edge of cliffs the whole way along to Santa Teresa.

Now if you wanted to stop somewhere then Santa Teresa would be my advice as it is much nicer and a bit larger than Santa Maria. From there we caugh a colectivo to the Hydro Electric power plant that I originally planned to walk but hey, when theres a colectivo and its so cheap why not! There you have the option, should you wish, of using the train that goes once a day to Aguas Calientes. It is however still reasonably expensive and the walk to Aguas Calientes is beautiful, so I opted for that and started walking along the tracks. A piece of advice at the start of the tracks - it starts, then almost immediately switches back on itself, then does this one more time I think before going in a straight line to Aguas Calientes. The easiest way is to walk along the tracks straight ahead from the start, then when you see train tracks doubling back on themselves take the "emergency exit" which will take you up hill through some coffee trees and some other plants. You emerge back in the train tracks a bit higher at which point you turn left, which will take you all the way to Aguas Calientes.

Walking along the tracks both at the first bridge and later on near a warning sign if you look up towards the mountains you can see Machu Picchu sticking out off the side of the mountain! My photos from Machu Picchu down towards the hydro electric plant should hopefully make this more clear. The walk is very peaceful through jungle like areas with a couple of houses along the way selling some drinks and so forth. Its a good 2 hours walk, more like 2 1/2 if you take a slower pace. You take the train tracks until you come to a station with a name along the lines of "Puentes Ruinas". This is about 20 minutes short of Aguas Calientes but this is where you exit the train tracks. On the right hand side is the entry both for buses and for the walk up to Machu Picchu over the other side of the bridges. For Aguas Calientes you walk down from the tracks along the road, which goes in the same direction as the tracks, and follow it for about 20 minutes. For whatever reason there are no signs at all for Aguas Calientes, or there wasn't when I went, its a bit retarded. That will take you into Aguas Calientes =) The whole day took me about 12 hours to complete and was actually a really nice day, and although people whinge that Aguas Calientes is expencive you can still get a nice private room with bathroom for 20 soles or even less if you bargain hard, and there are 5-10 soles Menu Completo meals to be found with entree soup and main meal so its no budget buster there.

I was pretty knackered from the travel so turned in at about 10pm though really should have earlier as I was back up and out of the hotel by 4am to walk up to Machu Picchu! For that you walk back to the Puentes Ruinas train station area, over the bridge and where the road goes left you go right and keep your eye out for the trail up the mountain. It breaks over the road half a dozen times on the way up but there are arrows showing you where the next part of the path is located. TAKE A LIGHT! Heh I had my headlight but I straight away bumped intoa group of 6 doing the walk up and not one had a light! Moonlight really wont help you here as the foliage is too thick so you NEED a light! I got talking to a few on the way up the walk and there was everyone from 40 year old western couples to GAP year travellers to those who had hiked in on the various organised hikes all doing the walk. Its a tiring walk, all up hill, and I took a fair few breaks. Walks like that are always so much harder so damn early in the morning!! At the top after passing a fair few people on the way I arrived at the entrance pretty soaked in sweat, but was like the 20th person there so it was perfect! By the time the first bus arrived there was probably 60 or so of us waiting for entry.

The reason for the early entrance is Wayna Picchu, the area where only 400 per day get to go in, and it is well worth it!! The gates opened and we all ran in, making a b-line for the Wayna Picchu entrance, though really we needn't rush quite so much!! They let 200 people in at 7am and 200 people in at 10am. The reason for getting there early is that you get a little ticket attached to your ticket that will get you in when you choose. I chose 10am so I didn't have to wait around. Wandering the rest of the sight its a pretty incredible sight, though quick to walk around as it is all together. Besides the central sight I walked up to the sun gate (with your back to WaynaPicchu it is on your left up the path) which is beautiful to see along with all the other sights on the way, and also to the Inka Bridge which is less spectacular but a nice 10 minute walk (with your back to WaynaPicchu it is on your right from a path at the highest point of the ruins). There are llamas wandering the ruins up the top near the sun gate path (they live at the ruins, have tagged ears n stuff) to see and pat if you wish, and getting there early really does make it muchmore enjoyable without the crowds.

Now while Machu Picchu is incredible, the walk or hike in parts up Wayna Picchu is just as incredible! From the entrance (located at the far right hand corner if you face Wayna Picchu) its a very steep climb up paths and rock steps to the top, but the views are very very worth it. I'd leave 1 1/2 to 2 hours to climb up there and have time to appreciate the view. You also need to climb through a rather confined space at one point so keep this in mind. I saw everyone up the top from super fit to people I didn't think would make it, but obviously the time it took people varied greatly. There are various ruins and buildings up there to check out which are crazy considering their positions and how hard they would have been to build due to their location. Coming back down near the entrance there is also another path to the Grand Cavern. This one is a bit of a maybe.... its another 20 minutes downhill, not close, then maybe 1 hour back if you've already been up Wayna Picchu as I was pretty tired by that stage. While its beautiful and cool to see, it wasn't so much what I came for... having said if you have the time then you'd be crazy to miss it =)

Machu Picchu truly is an incredible set of ruins, partially because of the ruins itself but largely to me because of its incredble location and the natural beauty surrounding it! To build such a large scale place to live in such ancient times in its location is one hell of a feat, and if you go look at the Inka Bridge and view from there along the almost near vertical cliff faces where the Incas used to have paths barely wide enough for a person to walk along with a vertical clliff on one side of you and a long deep vertical fall to your other side it gives you a real appreciation of the place. If you came here for carvings you will be sorely disappointed... when it comes to intricately built buildings and temples with carvings, Machu Picchu is near the bottom of the list in my book and most ruins in Central America are far far better for that, especially Copas Ruinas in Honduras. Between Copas Ruinas, Tikal and Macchu Picchu you get to see 3 very different styles of ruins and all have their own appeal and really none are competition for each other as they are so vastly different.

Getting back to Cusco I just repeated the same route starting at about 2pm after I had finished seeing Machu Picchu, although my taxi from Santa Teresa to Santa Maria took forever as we picked up other people and kept getting sidetracked along the way (the cost of only wanting to pay the cheap fare when there wasn't enough people to pay it really) but I did get to speak lots with the taxi driver and some others and learnt the meaning of some words in Quechua such as Pachamama (mother earth, or mother of the earth), learnt about their crops, population sizes, and a few other things like that so it was very interesting. Unfortunately it meant no bus tickets were available that night in Santa Maria so I slept there until 4am when I caught the first bus to Cusco. If you want to see a scary sight then ask for the public toilets in Santa Maria, some of the worst I've ever seen in my life,possibly the worst!

Overall its a wicked trip and I loved doing it the way I did it, and was glad I didn't hike in. Thats me finished with big ruins for a while I think and there is only one other small set I wanna check out near Puno then Im done with ruins this trip =)

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Photos

Looks almost glacial
High in the hills before Santa Maria

Descending to the jungle
Heading down to Santa Maria

Machu Picchu, though you cant see it
A view from the first bridge of Machu Picchu, though I didn't even know it when I took the photograph

Comments

[Princesa Zapoteka]

wowo.. Machu Picchu !!
It's an awesome place... i want to visit this place.. i hope so...=)