Marisol's South American Adventure: Machu Picchu

I've been away for a while...sorry been spending my time on the beach in Rio de Janeiro. More info to come soon about that...but here's the rest of my Peru trip first.

Ok, so this is the way one should do Machu Picchu: DO NOT do the Inca trail and go in February.

When I was first planning out this trip, I didn't realize that in February they close the Inca Trail for maintainence. I was super bummed when I found out about that. Obviously, the famous Inca Trail is what everyone does when they go to Machu Picchu, and not to do it, is totally not cool. Of course, I didnt realize that until a few weeks before my trip, and I had already booked and paid for everything. I guess I should have planned it a little better. Or at least read the fine print. You can still go and visit Machu Picchu, but you can't do the famous Inca trail hike up there. No wonder everything is cheaper in February. In any case, as it always does, it worked out :)

So, if youre not going to do the Inca trail hike, you have two other options on getting to Machu Picchu. Actually, its just one option, but theres two ways of doing it. Now, here is important information... pay attention becuase it is not listed anywhere else on the vast www; trust me, I looked for it, and these tips do not exsist anywhere else but here on Marisol's South American Adventure Bloggism.

So, here it is: You will make your first stop in Cuzco and enjoy that city for a day or so before you actually get to Machu Picchu. refer to my previous blog. You gotta get used to the altitude and stuff. From Cuzco one catches a train to Aguas Calientes (not to be confused with the one in Mexico- bad joke, I know, I'm filled with them). The train is called the Perurail. The Perurail is the ONLY way to get to Aguas Calientes, and therefore, Machu Picchu, if youre not gonna hike up there. Perurail is a monopoly, and therefore, has inflated prices, but what can you do? Well, I guess you could hike, but not in February.

So, from Cuzco, get on the Perurail to Aguas Calientes. Now, here are your 2 options: first, you can take the train to Aguas Calientes/Machu Picchu, explore MP that same day and go back to Cuzco in the evening. DON'T do that. Its a waste of time and does not give you the opportunity to explore Machu Picchu. The train ride to Aguas Calientes/MP is about 4 hours, so by the time you get there its mid-day and a waste, like I said.

Second option, the one I did and recommend, is take the train to Aguas Calientes, stay the night in a hostel (Las Rocas is a good one), and the next morning get up at 4am and make your way to magical Machu Picchu. Then, come back to Cuzco that evening. No need to stay in Aguas Calientes any longer, theres not much to see.

4am? yes. because, as Mary, my first peruvian friend I met during my 14 hour stay in Lima's airport (refer back to my 14 hours in Lima's airport blog), had advised me, the best feature of Machu Picchu is Wayna Picchu. Sounds similar, right? thats bc they are, ha! (I'm full of it) ok, so Machu Picchu city is on top of a mounatain called Machu Picchu, which means young mountain. Wayna Picchu is another mountain, right next to it, and Wayna Picchu means old mountain, in Inca talk. The coolest thing to see when one is visiting Machu Picchu is to see it from the top of Wayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu is taller, therefore, you get a bird's eye view of the ruins at Machu Picchu.

So, going back to the 4am topic...you have to get up super early to be one of the first persons inside machu picchu to get the golden ticket to hike Wayna Picchu. You can only get Wayna Picchu tickets from inside Machu Picchu. They only let 400 people a day hike that mountain, so its important to be there early in order to get in line to receive that ticket. Now, the only thing I can't advise you on is how to find where they actaully issue the tickets to Wayna Picchu. It's at the foot of the mountain, on the other side of Machu Picchu. Thats all I can describle. People literally run once they get inside Machu Picchu to find where ever they issue tickets. Its a hot commodity. Somehow, I found it, easily. I think it was my Inca blood that led the way. There are 2 little signs that point the way, but other than that, its kinda hard to find. plus, at that time in the morning, everything is covered in cloud. You'll walk/run for about 15 minutes to get there. its literally on the other side of the park. We were 3rd in line!!!!

Here is a picture of us starting our hike

A pic from the top of Wayna Picchu (my favorite)

There are 2 groups of 200 allowed to hike the mountain. Go with the second group. The first group has a time constraint, bc they all have to come down in order for the second group to go up. The 2nd group can stay up there all day. It takes about 1 hour to hike up the mountain. You hike up it using steps the incas made hundreds of years ago. Its the same way they made it up the mountain. Its not hard, just steep, so you'll definitly take lots of breaks. Its super hot. People think its cold there bc Cuzco is cold. Its not. Do not bring a jacket, it'll only weigh you down.

Me climbing on the deadly Inca steps, literally it was super dangerous, one false move and I could have ended up in the river Urumbamba below.

Here is a view from the top of Wayna Picchu.

We had lunch up there. Oh ya, another tip (thanks mary) bring food and water! they do not sell food there. the one place that does sell snacks is far and over priced.

It was so special to see Machu Picchu from up there. One can appreciate the magnitude and glory that was once the Inca empire.

The view of the Andes Mountains is extraordinary. I honestly felt something inside my heart when I looked out at the green mountains. They are so imense! i just chilled up there for a while, by myself, contemplating the meaning of life. ha! no, honestly, its a spectacular view, and not to be missed while at MP.

I'm not trying to downplay the ruins at MP by not writing as much as I wrote about hiking up Wayna Picchu. Yes, they are awesome: here are some pics of the awesome ruins in MP

There are llamas that live in Machu Picchu

Terraces in the morning

In any case, my mistake turned out to be a miracle. Not only did everything work out perfectly, in retrospect, I am glad I did not do the the Inca Trail. First of all, walking for 4 days to Machu Picchu, sounds good at first, but once you walk around Cuzco all day long and do all the other walking tours of all the other little cities in the Sacred Valley; you get tired. So, its actually better to stay the night in Aguas Calientes and sleep in a comfy bed before you head out for the day to Machu Picchu.

One thing you DON'T want to do is go the the thermal baths in Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes translates to "hot waters" and I assume that the thermal baths in the town are what gives it its' name. I repeat, do not spend your 8 soles on these thermal baths. We all went thinking, "oh ya, this is gonna be nice...we'll relax our muscles in the baths and be all fresh for Mahcu Picchu the next day" but once we dipped inside the pool, we quickly changed our minds. It felt like we were inside a hot pot of chicken stock, literally. It smelled of chicken soup and the water had the same color. Now, I've been the thermal baths before, and my previous experiences were not anything like this one. There were about 4-5 tiled pools in this area; they were just like swimming pools. I'm not sure how the water got circulated in and out of each pool, so that was kinda gross to begin with. It seemed like everyone from the town was there that evening...including all the locals and hippies passing through. I have nothing against locals and I consider myself a hippie at times. But, there was no elbow room and my brother swears that there was a couple doing it 3 meters from us. so, ya, it was pretty gross. don't go!

Something really cool to see while in Aguas Calientes is this hidden waterfall. Its called Los Jardines de Mandor Cataratas.