Machu Picchu, Peru

Today we were up and packed and finished breakfast by 10am, then made are way on foot the short distance to where our bus was piccking us up. First we drove from Cuzco to Olanta y Tambo which took us about and hour and a half. In Olanta y Tambo we found a little place for lunch and then made our way to the train station for the further hour and a half to Aguas Calientes (so named because of the thermal springs located there). Somehow our seats on the train we not together, but with the assistance of the conductor luckily some other people were able to reshuffle about so we did get seats together in the end. The train ride was very scenic along the river with very steep cliffs and snow covered mountains all around.

In Aguas Calientes we quickly located the person who had come from the hostel to meet us and followed her on foot up the hill to our new accommodation. This little town which exists almost entirely to service tourists visiting Machu Picchu had been described to us as a tourist trap nightmare, though Sandra and I both agreed that was a bit harsh and that the place is actually not at all without its own charm. After dropping our bags we took a short walk around town and picked up our Machu Picchu entrance tickets for tomorrow as well as purchasing bus tickets for the trip between the town and Machu Picchu proper. Since we were only in town for one night, we decided to go to dinner at the slightly upmarket Indio Feliz which provided a very reasonably priced three course dinner which was just what we needed. We decided to aim for a 6.30am start tomorrow to try to beat the crowd (well some of the crowd) so after dinner it was an early night to try and get some rest.

We were up about 6.30am and after breakfast and checking out we made it to the bus pickup by about 7.15 and were up the mountain and got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu about 7.30. The sun was just rising over the mountains, the skies were clear and the sight of the extensive and well preserved Inca archicture was truly spectacular.

Just behind the ruins themselves is another peak, Warnapicchu (Huanpicchu) which we were hoping to climb, but the number of climbers is stricly limited to two groups of 200 people per day. We had heard and read that to score a spot you would need to be up by 3.00am and queing for the bus for two hours so we had skipped that but were still no without hope despite two different tour guides on the bus telling us we were dreaming. After briefly taking in the main photo opportunity spot on arrival, we quickly made our way to the other side of the site to the entrance gate to Warnapicchu. There was a queue of about 25 people to the gate and we soon discovered that all 400 places for the day had already been allocated and that this queue was for the desparate few who were hoping that some of those first group of 200 lucky people did not show up on time and they would be able to take up the empty spaces. We waited there from 8am to about 8.30 not at all optimistic of our chances, but at long last they started to let people in. Slowly the queue moved forwards and we waited anxiously. A ranger appeared counted down the queue and stopped a few spots ahead of us and declared that was the limit for the day. We had missed out! The guy in front of us gave up and walked away but we stayed there in denial...and then after some sweet talking by Sandra in Spanish miraculously we managed to get in! Amazingly as we signed the registry book we realised we were numbers 199 and 200 and that if the guy in front of us had not left his position we would have missed out! Awesome luck and we were both ecstatic. The climb was steep but amazing and a sure highlight. We spent the next 4 hours of so climbing up and down and then taking our times to explore the ruins up close. By 2.30pm we were exhausted and starving so took the bus back to Aguas Calientes and grabbed some lunch. It was an amazing expereince with exception weather and exceptional good luck. We even heard other people saying they'd queued from 5am and missed out! In the late afternoon we had a beer and overlooked the centary of Machu Picchu's 'discovery' in the Plaza de Armas from a balcony and then back on the train to Olanta y Tambo about 6.30 follwed by a bus to Cuzco where we ariived about 10.30pm. What a long, exhausting but exhilirating day - a true highlight of South America for both Sandra and I.