I woke up at 5:00 am today, and at first I was skeptical of
whether or not it would be worth getting up that early. The sun had not yet
risen as I made my way to the train station, tired as ever even though I had
gotten around 7.5 hours of sleep. On top of that, I got an aisle seat on the
side of the train that was close to the mountain and was not able to take
pictures of most of the gorgeous scenery on the other side of the train.
I was also very worried about the trip. Yes, I had booked
through a travel agency that seemed legit and had an office in Miraflores, Lima and
website, but who knows? I had the PeruRail train tickets and that was it. Luckily,
though, everything actually went swimmingly well. First, I got off the train at
the city at the base on Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes, and met a nice lady with
a sign of my name. She took me to claim my Machu Picchu ticket and bought me
the bus ticket I needed to get to the top/entrance without having to walk. I
was put on the bus and shipped up the mountainside, which was gorgeous as well!
I was told my guide would be at the entrance waiting for me
at 8:45, and sure enough, there was some guy saying my name. As I waited for
some of the other people on the tour, I got to know a nice New Zealand woman on
vacation with her cousin who would also be on the tour. Once we got into Machu
Picchu, I simply loved it. The site is called one of the great Wonders of the
World for a reason – it’s majestic and breathtaking. You first walk into an
area that looks just like any stone path on the mountainside, but when you see
the iconic steps/ledges for the first time, that’s when you get it.
Our tour guide was great as well, and I loved that he was
unafraid to be blunt about the history of Machu Picchu. For example, we look at
it in awe today, but it more than likely was not meant to be that breathtaking,
at least in relation to other Inca structures. It was built starting around
1450 and worked on for about 100 years before being abandoned for reasons not
yet known, but according to the availability of water, probably could not hold
any more than 1000 people. At this time, the total Inca population was probably
close to around 8 million, if I remember correctly. Clearly, a very small
percentage of the population was meant to live there. Furthermore, since we
have no written records of Machu Picchu, we know neither its purpose nor its
original name. Machu Picchu means something like “old mountain” in the
traditional Quechua language, given to it by Hiram Bingham, the Yale professor
who first recorded its existence. Even though it’s not as impressive as other
sites most likely were, it’s this incredible Wonder of the World because it’s
been preserved and was untouched by the Spanish conquest that destroyed
everything else. It’s really quite sad.
Our tour guide talked about Machu Picchu’s construction
process, which modern people now suspect was done mostly by indigenous
populations that were controlled by the Inca. They were able to gain the power
by controlling religion – punishing the people’s gods and idols rather than the
people themselves. He compared the situation to the power that the Vatican City
has today – the smallest country in the world can influence millions of people
and has billions on billions of dollars at its disposal because it controls religion. Woah.
Also, near the Aguas Calientes region is apparently the
oldest city/settlement still preserved today, called Caral. It’s very remote,
which explains its preservation, but it’s awesome to think that there’s so much
history in the region!
Halfway through the tour it started to rain like crazy,
which was a shame. Luckily, I brought a poncho specifically for this situation
and was able to put it to good use.
After the tour, I was able to talk to a nice Singaporean
lady from Houston who was in Peru for travel. She had the weekend off and
decided to check out Machu Picchu before heading back. She was really nice, and
we went to explore the area a little. I wanted to walk to the Inca Bridge, but
she wanted to play it safe and be down to the bus station a little early, so
ended up parting from there. I kept walking to the bridge, and the path there
was beautiful. It lacked the iconic steps of Machu Picchu along the mountain,
but had instead a gorgeous view. The bridge itself, though, was severely
underwhelming. It was this tiny little structure that we couldn’t even walk
across because it was made of wooden planks covering a space in the path.
When I got back from that, I still had a good amount of time
and decided to walk the other way towards the sun gate. I had been told it
would take about 40 minutes to get there, but I was skeptical and started
walking anyway. Along the way, I met a nice nursing student from Little Rock,
Arkansas who was taking the weekend off from volunteering with Maximo, the same
organization Olivia was working for. We ended up walking together, and had some
cool conversation (venturing to history, education, and racism in the US at one
point) along the way. The sun gate, when we got there, was worth it. It was
awesome to see how far we had walked from the central Machu Picchu area, and by
then the rain had cleared and we could get some great pictures.
It was getting pretty close to the time I needed to be at
the bus station by then, so I parted with the nursing student and met a nice
older couple on the bus back down the mountain towards Aguas Calientes. They
were from London and had just finished the Inca Trek, along the way staying
with local families and getting a more genuine taste of culture. It was really
cool, and they were super sweet.
From there, I explored the tiny city a little before getting
on the train back to Poroy, which is the station right outside Cusco. I called
my parents to wish them a happy anniversary! I believe this year is 23. I was
nervous again because this was the last piece of the tour puzzle – the shuttle
service back to my hostel. Luckily, it worked out really well o nce again. I
met a nice guy with my name on a sign once again, and he led me to a mini bus
with just me. In the 30 or so minutes that it took to get back to my hostel, we
talked about everything from Peruvians who speak English (apparently people can
study tourism, and English is a crucial part of that) to education to
vegetarianism. He was super sweet, and I had no problems getting to my hostel
from there!
Overall, fantastic day. I spent $260 on the tour agency
(about $200 was the root cost of the train, bus, and entrance ticket) – but
they made everything work out great! They planned everything and it was all as
I had expected. I met some great people, and even though I was on my feet from
7+ hours and walked up and downhill a good portion of the time, my feet didn’t
hurt as much as I expected. Plus, Machu Picchu!! It’s definitely worth it. Hit
me up if you ever need information about visiting!
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