Sunday, November 19, 2017
Machu Picchu is not an easy place to get to. From Cusco, the only option is to walk (the Inca Trail or the Salcantay Trail, the latter of which David had hiked in July) or take a train. We didn’t have time on this trip to walk, so train it was. This was no hardship, for sure. We took the medium-priced Vistadome (pricier than the cheapo train but not as luxurious as the top of the line Hiram Bingham).
The train leaves from Poroy, about a half hour cab ride from Cusco (why no train station in Cusco? a mystery). The scenery started with a wide valley…
…but eventually the valley narrowed to become the Sacred Valley, the mountains got steeper, and the train tracks closely hugged the Urubamba River.
Here we are, a little out of focus, photographed by our new friends Steve and Leo from Santa Fe, who sat across from us. One cool feature of the train ride was the “zig zag section,” in which the train backed up onto another track, then moved forward again, in order to drastically reduce grade. Machu Picchu is at a much lower elevation than Cusco, so this is a clever solution.
Throughout the week I was struck by the poverty in Peru. Here an older woman was trying to sell flowers to passengers when the train stopped.
Below, if i’m not misremembering, is the beginning of the Inca Trail (the bridge). If you squint you can see the tiny hikers setting off.
After stopping in just one town (Ollantaytambo) and a few times to let trains pass in the other direction, the journey ended in Machu Picchu Pueblo, the town below the famous ruins, which used to be called Aguas Calientas. We checked into our hotel (the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo) and were pleased to have gotten a sweet upgrade to a villa. I don’t often post hotel room photos, but this was pretty awesome. Mind you, we had booked a single room (an expensive one, but still just a room). Instead we got a whole house:
The living room and the SECOND living room
The backyard and hot tub:
The bedroom:
And finally, the bathroom and outdoor shower, which I’m only showing part of and which was larger than most hotel rooms:
The benefits of going in the off-season! After checking in, we met with a guy to discuss our activities for the less-than-24 hours that we would be there. The only part of this trip that I hadn’t fully booked in advance was the actual Machu Picchu part, because we weren’t sure which day we’d go up and had decided to wing it based on the weather. (This had me a little stressed: What if we got all the way there and couldn’t actually go to Machu Picchu? The online registration numbers suggested that it wouldn’t be an issue, but still.) The weather was pretty good when we arrived in town (meaning it wasn’t pouring rain); the bad news, however, was that you can’t hike Machu Picchu Mountain in the afternoon — you can only go to the archaeological site. So we asked for a guide the next day to hike MP Mountain and tour the ruins. The activities guy expressed some alarm: “Are you sure you want to hike the Mountain? It’s very difficult. Harder than Huayna Picchu.” That probably should have set off some red flags for me, but no, we said that sure we were sure.
After making these arrangements we walked into town to check it out. While certainly touristy, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. The whole town is crammed into a very narrow valley:
I tried to bargain for a silver bracelet for Grace, but Dave blew it by immediately pulling out a wad of cash and saying that the price sounded fine. He doesn’t get the haggling thing. It’s a nice bracelet; we just paid too much for it.
Peruvian women have amazing braids and interesting hats.
We got lunch at a faux-French bistro, where we ran into Steve and Leo from Santa Fe again. They told us they were planning to hike BOTH Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain the next day. Now that we’ve been there, we understand that plan is completely insane. There is zero chance they hiked both. I sat with them for 3.5 hours on the train, and Steve (the dad) was not in significantly better shape than I am.
At 3:00 we met a guide and one other hotel guest for a nature walk through the hotel property, which is substantial. The Inkaterra is at the far end of town, with trails that stretch into the forest.
We saw A LOT of birds on this trip. This is one of my favorites, the Andean Motmot. Its tail swings back and forth like a clock pendulum.
Dinner at the hotel was included with the room, so it was a no-brainer deciding where to eat. It was lovely, and the dining room was practically empty, driving home the fact that we were there in the off-season. After dinner Dave built a fire and I drank some Pisco neat (thoughtfully provided at our villa) while reading my book. Then to bed because we had a big day the next day — Machu Picchu!
