Day 147 – The expensive train
The recent landslides in this part of Peru have severely affected the the train system and train is the only way of getting to Aguas Callientes (Machu Picchu Village). So instead of catching a train from Cusco or Ollantaytambo as we might have otherwise done, we instead hopped in a taxi from Cusco which connected with a bus in Ollantaytambo, that in turn took us to the improvised train station at Piscacucho, the end of the road.
A shrine on the roof of a house in Ollantaytambo.
Our train waiting at Piscacucho, where the road ends and the repaired section of train line begins.
Our train ticket was our first example of the money leeching machine that is Machu Picchu, our two hour journey cost US$43 each (similar to our flight to Rurrenabaque for example, or about 1,000km on a First Class Peruvian bus). Given the money being made from this service the speediness with which Peru Rail had managed to repair this section of track was unsurprising, but impressive nonetheless seeing the extent of the landslides.
Railway tracks in the river.
Ruins of Llactapata as seen from the train.
One of the many landslides.
Aguas Calientes perched over the river that threatens to wash it away.
For dinner we chose one of the same-same pizza/pasta restaurants and introduced Anna to our favourite cocktails, Pisco Sour and Caipirinha! It was the only way to keep her awake... still suffering from jet lag.
Day 148 – The Great Inca Citadel: Machu Picchu
We got up early to try and beat the crowds, got lost trying to find the ticket office for the bus up the hill, but still made it to Machu Picchu pretty early. When we got there the site was covered in cloud, giving the place a pretty eerie feel.
Ruins peeking out from the mist.
The Temple of the Sun, one of the site’s few round buildings.
Crowds arriving at the Hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock.
Huayna Picchu (that’s the hill) emerging.
Just before 8am we decided to climb Wayna Picchu (the bigger, steeper hill behind Huayna Picchu), well I decided to, I don’t think the girls really minded either way! It was a steep and sweaty climb (with added shortness of breath), but the cloud cleared as we reached the top giving us great view of the ruins on the mountain top and back over Machu Picchu.
Some very steep agricultural terracing on the side of Huayna Picchu.
One of the trickier sections of track.
The geography on Wayna Picchu gave some other tourists some serious vertigo problems.
About lunchtime we’d walked around the whole site and the crowds were starting to get pretty thick, so we got the bus back down the hill in an attempt to catch the one train a day that heads in the ‘cheap’ direction. While the girls went to retrieve our backpacks I rushed to get to the station to buy tickets by the ‘deadline’, only to discover the office empty. When someone finally did turn up it turned out there was no deadline, we could even have bought tickets on the train if we wanted, but at least we had seats, US$8 this time instead of US$43.
The train parked in the main street of Aguas Callientes.
From what we can gather this train is run primarily for the benefit of the locals, with one more expensive carriage tacked on the end for cheap backpackers. Instead of running back towards Cusco it heads in the other direction toward a hydroelectric station near the town of Santa Teresa. According to the information we had it was possible to go to the hydroelectric station, get in a truck to Santa Teresa and then catch public transport back to Cusco. The trip would be a few hours longer but about a third of the price of the way we had come.
At least that was the plan. When we made it to the hydroelectric station it became apparent that the road to Santa Teresa had been washed away in the recent landslides. So instead we started walking, following the other backpackers, hoping they knew what the go was.
Part of the repaired road cut into the landslip.
After about an hour of walking we worked out what the new procedure was. At the point where the old road became trafficable the locals had erected a cable crossing. Everyone else had been hurrying because they knew there would be a queue, we had not. We negotiated a ride with a driver back to Cusco and he tried to get us priority service over the river. I tried explaining to the people in front of us that there were seven other people waiting for us, and asking nicely if we could scoot in front, it would have added about 3 minutes to their day and saved everyone else in our car about an hour. But my politeness was met mostly with rudeness (quite extreme rudeness in some cases, except for a really nice French guy), so we waited in line.
Erin and Anna crossing the river, with our driver clinging to one side.
Now to put things in perspective!
When we finally made it to our vehicle an Argentine lady blasted the driver about soliciting passengers he couldn’t deliver in a prompt manner and a range of other issues. But when things finally calmed down we had quite a nice chat with our fellow passengers, the other Argentine lady even gave Anna her first taste of maté.
We finally made it back to Cusco around midnight, Pariwana Hostel was full (again), but we soon found somewhere else and collapsed after a very long day.
Day 149 – Chores
Anna hadn’t spent much time in Cusco the first time around so we stuck around one more day so the girls could do some shopping and we could get some other bits and pieces done, like finally choosing a Galapagos boat.
Researching Galapagos boats - the girls thought this was hilarious.
1 comment:
One thing I remember in my jet-lagged haze was our food being ordered in from another restaurant...at least the cocktails were yummy! Great blogging guys, will catch up with you soon!
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