Chucky's Adventures: Macchu Picchu

Our overnight excursion to Macchu Picchu began at 6.30am, where we were picked up and delivered to the bus station. Our crazy driver made the 2 hour drive to Ollantaytambo in about 1.5 hours, arriving at the Train station nice and early.

Peru rail has a monopoly on transport and subsequently the prices are stiff… $40 USD for a 1.5hr train ride in a country where you can catch an 8 hour bus ride for about $10 USD.. Nether the less, the train ride was pleasant and quite spectacular.

Aguas Calientes (hot springs) town is the staging post for Macchu Picchu and is a total tourist trap, with countless restaurants, souvineer shops and hostals. The prices are twice or even three times Cusco, which is itself expensive by normal Peruvian standards..

Off the Train at Aguas Calientes

We spent our afternoon strolling the streets saying ´"No Gracias" countless times to all the restaurant touts and taking in the markets. Later on, we made a journey to the hot pools which were quite agreeable. Turns out Pisco Sours are quite tasty...

Next morning it was up at 4.40am to scoff breaky and meet our tour guide to catch one of the first busses up the hill. its an 8km 20minute ride up switchbacks to the entrance to the site. It felt a bit like Disney land, with recorded american voices telling us how to be careful and to enjoy our journey.. The crowds stalled at the entrance to the site taking photos by the dozen, but soon we found a little patch of grass to call our own and begin the tour.

Entering Macchu Picchu

No, its not photoshopped..

The tour lasted about 2 hours, and was rather interesting. Macchu Picchu is a pretty cool ruin, but the location is what really makes it. Perched precariously about 500m above the Rio Urubamba gorge, with steep Granite buttresses and pyramids in the valley and 5000m glaciated peaks behind.

The classic view of MP shows the Hill "Huaynapicchu" and we were lucky enough to get a ticket to climb to the top of the signature peak.

The track winds its way up the west face of the spire, occaisonally with exposure and often with cables in place. In one spot, you even have to crawl through a little cave! Other than the 700m or so of exposure in places, the most fascinating part is the houses, altars and terraces hanging precariously all around. This would not have been the place to go sleep walking....

Took about 35 minutes to climb the 230m to the summit, where we sat with the crowds, took photos and enjoyed the view. Flocks of butterflies wafted about the summit, making for a neat spectacle.

Crusing down after an hour or so, we stopped frequently to explore and to chill.