Miss Maps Goes Solo

After white water rafting we checked into and out of our hostel at the same time. I hate doing that, but you have to when leaving at 5.30 the next morning. The train from Cusco takes 4 hours to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Machu Picchu. It´s actually not that far but it spends a long time zig-zagging backwards and fowards to get up the hill out of Cusco so you see the same thing over and over. Aguas is a funny town, part tourist trap, part shanty town. It´s clearly still getting used to the influx of tourists it receives since the train service started. About that, the train is $70 and entrance to Picchu is $60 if you don´t have a student card (I now have a fake one, apparently I study in Santiago de Goethe, wherever that is). It´s gone up something ridiculous like 300% in 5 years. The trains are owned and run by British Rail and some bad president sold off Machu Picchu to Chile! So not only can most Peruvians not afford to see it, it doesn´t even belong to them! Unbelievable.

Still, I guess I supported this ridiculous set up so I can´t talk.

Aguas Calientes literally translates to hot water because of the natural hot springs. I´d never been in one before so that was pretty cool, especially with the mountainous backdrop. I tried to ignore the scent of urine though, hoping it was just the minerals.

The next morning Pip and I headed to Picchu, we were so excited at finally seeing such a famous place. We had some time before meeting our guide so we wandered up to the site, apart from we couldn´t see it. Everyone was trying to work out where we should go when the clouds parted and we stood right in front of the famous ruins with the steep mountains in the background, magic. The view was only to last for a couple of minutes though.

Our guide was excellent, my favourite fact is that the Spanish never knew about this place. Seeing what they´d done to Cusco, the Incas kept it a complete secret. The city was abandoned for some unknown reason but it was never destroyed by the Spanish invaders like everywhere else.

We met up with Justine who had just done the 4 day trek, limping but very happy.

Apart from that brief moment earlier, the whole site had been covered in cloud and we were almost ready to go home when it totally cleared up and we climbed up to one of the highest points and sat staring at it for ages.

I must admit Machu Picchu wasn´t really on my list of things to do. I didn´t fancy the trek and I felt that I´d seen so many pictures that it might be a let down. I was so wrong, it´s the most awe-inspiring site I´ve ever seen.

We got back to Cusco late on Friday and went for dinner. By the time we got home food poisoning had set in. Now to most backpackers this would be no big deal but this doesn´t generally happen to me. The last time I threw up I was 14 when I drank a bottle of sherry, snogged the cutest boy in my year then threw up on his shoes. I just don´t have these problems. So I spent the night vomiting, how disgusting is that?! I swear I never ate anything that looked like that. Anyway, I spent Saturday in bed with a serious fever, I must admit that malaria crossed my mind, I might start back on those horrible tablets.

Much better now though, thank god, as we´ll be on a bus from 8pm tonight to 9am tomorrow. The next stop is Ica, on the coast, for a spot of sandboarding and dunebuggying, as you do. Oh, here are a couple of photos from the rafting and Machu Picchu, loads more under the my photos link.

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