The Road to Machu Picchu is Long

After a week in the rain forest, the official college class portion of my Peruvian trip had ended. I could have gone home, but that would have been way too boring and not nearly complicated enough. I decided to stay and take an extra trip to Machu Picchu, the site of an ancient Inca city and the number one tourist destination in South America. I felt that it would be pointless to go all the way to Peru and not visit Machu Picchu. Several of my classmates had the same idea, so a group of us headed off to Cusco, the main city used for a sojourn to Machu Picchu.

Getting to Cusco from Puerto Maldonado was no problem. It's a simple plane ride between cities. Surprise! It was only 60 degrees in Cusco which sits at an elevation of 10,000 feet. What a shock to the system after spending a week in the humid rain forest. Thankfully, I had a sweatshirt with me. I wore it the entire time I was in Cusco and Machu Picchu. I also bought a hat and gloves made from Alpaca fur to keep me warm because it was so cold.

Touring the Sacred Valley on the way to Machu Picchu

The next day we headed out for the trek to Machu Picchu. It started with a tour of the Sacred Valley, a collection of ancient Inca sights full of history. This part of Peru is mountainous, so these ancient cities are built into the sides of cliffs, hills, and mountains which meant there was plenty of walking and climbing. But, what a variety of breathtaking splendor awaited those who ventured out. I was amazed by the structures the Incas built with their own bare hands. Our tour guide provided us with a wealth of information, and by mid-afternoon when we hit the town of Ollantaytambo, my head swam with facts and new knowledge.  

My head was also swimming in Ollantaytambo because we found ourselves waiting to catch a bus which would take us to catch a train to Aguas Calientes, the small town at the base of Machu Picchu. Normally, travelers could take a train all the way from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, but a landside just four months earlier left the train system partially inaccessible. We felt confused during this wait because we didn't speak Spanish, and we were at the mercy of anyone who could translate for us and explain the situation. We weren’t with the tour group anymore, so this part of the adventure left us to find our own way.

After what seemed like an eternity, we boarded buses and took off for the train station. The bus ride had us on a one-way road where we sat in a traffic jam for part of the trip. Once we got moving, we flew! High speeds, hair-pin turns, and narrow roads left me white-knuckled and gripping my seat. The river was on the left side of the road, and it was a decent drop-off from the road down to the river. One wrong move, and we would've been dead! This journey was not for the faint of heart, for sure.

When we finally got to the train station, we had to wait some more. It was fun, but in an awkward kind of way. Again, we had the confusion of not understanding the situation. The representatives from Peru Rail were bilingual, and so we kept asking for assistance. A few times we just followed the crowd and hoped we were headed in the right direction. This was how we got down to the train platform. Then, we stood there and watched as they put the train together right there on the tracks at the station. No one seemed to be in a hurry, so we just watched and waited because there wasn’t anything else we could do.

After all this waiting, we finally got on the train bound for Aguas Calientes. This was the "Backpacker Express" train, and it was filled with young people and families. We sat across from a young Spanish man and an American missionary. This was a slow train, so we had plenty of time to talk, sleep, read, and take in the general atmosphere. Unfortunately, it was dark outside, so we didn't get to see any scenery. I was disappointed in that because I wanted to see the mountains.

When we arrived in Aguas Calientes, it was midnight. We hadn't had dinner, and we were starved. We stayed at a hostel, and they had food ready for us when we got there. It was delicious and exactly what we needed. The rooms at the hostel were basic, but clean. We hit the showers and then the beds to catch some shut eye for our exciting day at Machu Picchu. The wake up call would be coming at 4:00 a.m. Ay, yi, yi!