We wanted the trip to MP to be adventurous and inexpensive. We hadn't booked the Inka trek months in advance like everyone else who wanted to do it had, because we had no idea when we would be in Peru. The other trekking optiions seemed interesting but given the price to excitement ratio we thought better of doing it. That meant we either tkae the train which costs about $80 each at the very least or we find another local route. Naturally we picked the local route. This was going to be fun.
Early morning we took a cab to an area called Cemetario from where we caught a 11 seater collectivo minitaxi to Santa Maria. This was a 4 hour ride through some unbelievable terrain. The setting for this road is the most stunning I've ever been driven through. First we got a view of Ollantaytambu, a very important Inca religious spot in the sacred valley and then we climbed to over 4800m with the clouds below us. The jet black road divides the clouds into two. Waterfalls and rivulets dot the valley, while thick lush green vegetation calms the senses. These roads are fantastic for mountain biking.
3 hours into the ride the road ends abruptly, and the next hour is sheer torture on a bumpy pot hole and boulder filled excuse for a road. Thankfully this is partly because they are trying to tar this section of the road. By now we had come down low enough for the heat to get menacing. Finally we reached Santa Maria and jumped into another collectivo taxi to get to Santa Theresa.
The taxi had a deadline, as he said the shorter road to SM would shut at 1 pm and it was already 12.30. He raced along the next stretch as we held our hearts in our mouths. The road that we labelled The Peruvan death road is no wider that the car wth a couple of feet on either side. The drop ranges from 500 to at least 1500 feet or so we imagined. Naturally this is a 2 way street so cars come speeding down at each other. ah I forgot to mention that the road is gravel with tons of loose pebbles and the constant warnings that loose boulders may fall from the sheer walls on the side of the road. At one point I believe we had one wheel hanging of the road, as the car had to negotiate a boulder that had fallen on the road. Natalia choose to get out of the car and walk, a wise if somewhat cowardly decision she will never be able to live down.
Finally we reached Hidroelectric. From here we trekked alongside the railway line for the the next 2 hours covering 10 kms through the most beautiful terrain. Sheer mountians ran on both sides of the track. These magnificant walls of rock were truly awe inspiring. The stood sheer all the way to where the clouds covered them a wonderfully mystical aura. The tracks follow the sacred Urbamba river which was the life blood of the Inca civilisation.
Aguas Calintes, the town from which you base your mount to Machu Pichu was a disaster. The tourist office and the officer in charge were a revelation in how to be rude and inefficient. They screwed up on Yannick's name age and then refused to fix the problem. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise later. I brought the house down and finally managed to create enough trouble for the office to bring in their seniour most officer who promised to deal with our problem next morning.
Dinner, for the first time in Peru was a disaster, but Machu pichu beckoned next morning so nothing could ebb the excitement that we felt. We decided to take the bus up and trek down when we heard about how disastrous the climb normally was. Trekkers were trying to get in line first because only 400 people were allowed to climb Wayna Pichu. This meant man becomes animal, shoves, pushes , screams, does anything to get up before the others.
We woke at 5 and got to the bus stop at 5.15 only to find that we were probably 200 in the line. Add to that the 2 or 300 that had started trekking up at 3 am and wayna Pichu was clearly a distant dream, but the INCA gods were smiling down on us. We got to the gates and I walked up to the front of the line to find the officer who was supposed to sort Yannicks ticket out. As I got there, I heard someone screaming out asking if anyone was interested in climbing Wayna Pichu. I calmly walked up to him, called our bunch, got us all stamped in and suddenly we were in front of the wayna pichu queue. I have no idea why the rest of the people in line did not react to the screaming voice, but later I had people curse us when they realised they had waited since 4.30 am in vain!
Machu Pichu was breathtaking!!! The ruins are extremely well preserved and the setting of the city is indescribeable. Wayna pichu was a crazy crazy tough ridiculous climb. The path was never wide enough for 2 people and so precarious in places that often people , some rather big strong men, put their reputation on the line, sat on their butts and crawled up. Coming down was another problem all together. The view was worth the trouble and risk!
After coming down from WP we spent the entire day exploring and just enjoying Machu Pichu. Trekking back into Aguas calientes was a quiet affair given we realsied rather late that it was the centenery celebration of the discovery of Machu Pichu by Hiram Bingam!
That night for the first time I bargained a restaurant menu down!
The next day we were ready to do the trek back,death road and 5 hour drive back to Cusco. It was a little less eventful than when we did it last but it was fun. We had beaten the system and done the road to Machu ichu and back for under $35 each!!!
Early morning we took a cab to an area called Cemetario from where we caught a 11 seater collectivo minitaxi to Santa Maria. This was a 4 hour ride through some unbelievable terrain. The setting for this road is the most stunning I've ever been driven through. First we got a view of Ollantaytambu, a very important Inca religious spot in the sacred valley and then we climbed to over 4800m with the clouds below us. The jet black road divides the clouds into two. Waterfalls and rivulets dot the valley, while thick lush green vegetation calms the senses. These roads are fantastic for mountain biking.
3 hours into the ride the road ends abruptly, and the next hour is sheer torture on a bumpy pot hole and boulder filled excuse for a road. Thankfully this is partly because they are trying to tar this section of the road. By now we had come down low enough for the heat to get menacing. Finally we reached Santa Maria and jumped into another collectivo taxi to get to Santa Theresa.
The taxi had a deadline, as he said the shorter road to SM would shut at 1 pm and it was already 12.30. He raced along the next stretch as we held our hearts in our mouths. The road that we labelled The Peruvan death road is no wider that the car wth a couple of feet on either side. The drop ranges from 500 to at least 1500 feet or so we imagined. Naturally this is a 2 way street so cars come speeding down at each other. ah I forgot to mention that the road is gravel with tons of loose pebbles and the constant warnings that loose boulders may fall from the sheer walls on the side of the road. At one point I believe we had one wheel hanging of the road, as the car had to negotiate a boulder that had fallen on the road. Natalia choose to get out of the car and walk, a wise if somewhat cowardly decision she will never be able to live down.
Finally we reached Hidroelectric. From here we trekked alongside the railway line for the the next 2 hours covering 10 kms through the most beautiful terrain. Sheer mountians ran on both sides of the track. These magnificant walls of rock were truly awe inspiring. The stood sheer all the way to where the clouds covered them a wonderfully mystical aura. The tracks follow the sacred Urbamba river which was the life blood of the Inca civilisation.
Aguas Calintes, the town from which you base your mount to Machu Pichu was a disaster. The tourist office and the officer in charge were a revelation in how to be rude and inefficient. They screwed up on Yannick's name age and then refused to fix the problem. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise later. I brought the house down and finally managed to create enough trouble for the office to bring in their seniour most officer who promised to deal with our problem next morning.
Dinner, for the first time in Peru was a disaster, but Machu pichu beckoned next morning so nothing could ebb the excitement that we felt. We decided to take the bus up and trek down when we heard about how disastrous the climb normally was. Trekkers were trying to get in line first because only 400 people were allowed to climb Wayna Pichu. This meant man becomes animal, shoves, pushes , screams, does anything to get up before the others.
We woke at 5 and got to the bus stop at 5.15 only to find that we were probably 200 in the line. Add to that the 2 or 300 that had started trekking up at 3 am and wayna Pichu was clearly a distant dream, but the INCA gods were smiling down on us. We got to the gates and I walked up to the front of the line to find the officer who was supposed to sort Yannicks ticket out. As I got there, I heard someone screaming out asking if anyone was interested in climbing Wayna Pichu. I calmly walked up to him, called our bunch, got us all stamped in and suddenly we were in front of the wayna pichu queue. I have no idea why the rest of the people in line did not react to the screaming voice, but later I had people curse us when they realised they had waited since 4.30 am in vain!
Machu Pichu was breathtaking!!! The ruins are extremely well preserved and the setting of the city is indescribeable. Wayna pichu was a crazy crazy tough ridiculous climb. The path was never wide enough for 2 people and so precarious in places that often people , some rather big strong men, put their reputation on the line, sat on their butts and crawled up. Coming down was another problem all together. The view was worth the trouble and risk!
After coming down from WP we spent the entire day exploring and just enjoying Machu Pichu. Trekking back into Aguas calientes was a quiet affair given we realsied rather late that it was the centenery celebration of the discovery of Machu Pichu by Hiram Bingam!
That night for the first time I bargained a restaurant menu down!
The next day we were ready to do the trek back,death road and 5 hour drive back to Cusco. It was a little less eventful than when we did it last but it was fun. We had beaten the system and done the road to Machu ichu and back for under $35 each!!!
I'm rather ill just reading about the narrow road and footpath -- were your stomachs doing flips?? So glad you had such a breathtaking experience. (Just booked my flight to dallas sept 1-5!)
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