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Published: November 11th 2010
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Waaaaaiting fro departure
Here, at Hydroelectrica, we had to wait a long time for the train to leave!
And, the mosquitos Aaahhh, what are they good for - absolutely nothing huh! You can't leave Peru without having paid a visit to one of the worlds most famous ruins.
So, we spent our first day in Cusco searching for the best budget tour.
We stayed at Loki hostel, and they had a tour for app. 200$. Right next door we found a little shack were they sold us a tour for half of this price!
But, instead of going by train we had to take a route which was a lot longer, and also really sketchy!
Besides constantly looking down cliff sides, the driver was playing really loud music, and the little minivan (or bus as the tour operator called it) was packed full of people. To say mildly, the tour up there was not very pleasant!
Our car stopped at a place called "Hydroelectrica", and from here we had to take a train up to Aguas Calientes.
This is normal routine for everybody going this way, as there are no roads all the way up to Aguas.
We were so exhausted after spending the whole day in the bumpy cramped car, and when we finally got to the train we had to wait for two hours!
When the train was ready to
Finally!!
And, in the background you can see the over excited high on life chick Thomas hoped would encounter a branch! be boarded, we actually saw how many people that were going up to the little town.
And, I must say.. I really don't understand how some people think that everybody want's to participate in their enthusiasm for traveling!
There was a really crazy loud Brazilian group in the front of our coupe, and in the back some "hyped up on life" trekking chicks going at it with singing praise to the life songs!! What's up with that?!
And this one gal just couldn't get enough room for her voice, so she decided to hang out of the window (just behind OUR EARS) while screaming from the top of her lungs.
At that time I was about to explode!! That's were Thomas comes in.. He said, this is where we can hope for a branch hanging close to the window.. It's impossible not to smile at such a phrase!
Anyways, we had to spend the night in Aguas and our guide told us to get up early if we wanted to get into Machu Picchu before it got overcrowded.
If you want to have some nice pictures of the ruins without dozens of tourists in them, you really should try to
Tons of tourists
You're never alone up here! get up there before sunrise!
So, we got up at 4 a.m, and when we got to the place were the buses were leaving from there were already a huge line of people.
Thomas stood in the line for buying tickets to the bus, while I stood in the line for the buses.
A good idea is to buy the bus tickets a day in advance.
There is a possibility to climb up to Machu Picchu from Aguas also, but we were still a bit sore after doing the Colca trek..
We knew there was gonna be a lot of people heading for this place, but still it surprised me how many who actually was visiting!
The thing about Machu Picchu, is that nobody really knows what's been up there.. The Inkas living there in the ancient times had died out long before it was discovered.
So, a lot of the "history" about the place is based on assumptions and integration of the rest of Perus' known Inka culture.
Still, it was quite cool to listen to our guide tell us the story. By this I mean, get a guide!
There are no toilets inside, so we had
to leave the group for a while. When we got out, we met another person from our group, a slightly obese American.
He said he was done with the sightseeing, this because he was exhausted of all the walking and that he felt it was dangerous walking around on the ruins. Quote: "There are no railings, and the stairs are all uneven"!!
Seriously?! Of course there are no railings!
The beauty of the place is that there are no garbage cans, no toilets or signs of any kind.
After the guided tour, we were able to either climb the Huana Picchu or walk up to the sun gate.
Still sore, I was given the decision.. Sun gate!
The walk up to here is not easy either, because of lack of breath due to the high altitude.
We arrived at the top 45 minutes later, and from here we got the "postcard" view of the area.
While sitting up there, we also saw all the busses heading for the top. We counted 10 buses.
We spent half a day at Machu Picchu, which was enough for us. We has also decided not to go back with the same company. We
just couldn't bare another day in that cramped horrible vehicle.
Sometimes while backpacking, you just have to splurge a little bit.
We got ourselves some train tickets for the next day, and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the little town of Aguas Calientes.
The more upscale tourists, the ones staying at hotels and traveling with suitcases, takes the 1st class trains...We felt a bit out of place..
During this 1,5 hours train ride we experienced something really weird!
Suddenly there was a voice announcing over the speakers: "This is the Pacha Mama fashion show"
Loud music came on, and we saw that the train personal were working as "models" as well. The whole thing was really embarrassing!
But, a lot of the upscale (older) tourists bought some of their clothes. So, apparently there's a market for it.
From the train station, we took a bus into Cusco (around one hour), don't pay more than 20 Soles for this!
On the bus, we met an American that told us that he had tried to get onto a train to Aguas. But, the problem was that the farmers in the area had just decided to go on strike.
Which meant that the trains were unable to leave from Aguas.
Apparently we were really lucky!
You never know what to expect when traveling in these countries. There's always a strike going on.
When we got back to Cusco, afraid that the strike would expand to here, we bought a ticket straight to Ika and the oasis of Huacachina.
See next..
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