The unconventional way- following the tracks to Machu Pichu
Where to start? Machu Picchu is one of those places you can´t not visit when in Peru, possibly even South America. Photos are plastered everywhere, every angle, every kind of light. You think you know exactly what to expect, what will meet you when you first get a top that mountain, yet the experience could not be further removed from what is imagined. No photo, video or description can really do justice to this beautiful, magical and sacred place. Having said all that, I will do my best to tell of my recent adventures and perhaps you can feel as though you have walked along a few tracks with me!
There are several different options to get to Machu Picchu. Perhaps the most famous is the Inca trail, a hike which can only be done with a guide and is usually booked out a year in advance. Apart from that slight problem, it takes 5 days, something I could not do over a weekend and get back to work in time. The next most popular option is to catch a tourist train into Aguas Caliente, the town of Machu Picchu at the foot of the mountain. This is rediculously expensive, as Peru Rail has an absolute monopoly as there are no roads leading into the town and no cars are allowed anywhere. Apart from that, we felt it was hardly satisfying enough to just go with the crowds, the easy and comfortable way. Somehow we all had the feeling we needed to work to deserve the sights that would meet us at the top.
There is one other way to get to our final destination, and it would take us all day to do this. Armed with lonely planet guides and instructions written out by seasoned volunteer Chris who had already taken the same trip, Sidsil, Marina, Marianne and myself set out early on saturday the 19th of September.
Originally planning to take a 4 and a half hour bus to Santa Maria, this changed when we found out you couldnt buy tickets, therefore meaning we would most likely be standing the whole way, as well as the fact that they couldnt tell us when the next bus would stop by. We decided to take a taxi/car for a little bit more and enjoyed this part of the trip in style. The taxi wound up impossibly steep and narrow roads out of the valley. The landscape changed dramatically as we drove on. Higher and higher we went, driving past snow peaks and glaciers grinding their own mark in the harsh Andean stone. At a certain point we literally reached the clouds, seeing nothing for quite some time. We stopped at the hightest point here, 4316 metres, shivering as we took the obligatory photos. It was intensly cold, the landscape and climate very unforgiving to the few locals we saw, clambering up steep mountain paths and tending to a few pigs tied up outside. We drove on and once again descended into another valley. The contrast could not have been more stark. The climate changed to a balmy, hot and humid jungle. We drove onward through banana plantations and probably many other kinds of plantations hidden in the jungle. The people looked different too. They lived their lives at a different pace and for a different cause than those clasping onto whatever they could salvage, including any warmth they could find, in the Andean highlands. Here in the valley there was no shortage of heat.
We followed the valley to Santa Maria, from there taking another car to Santa Theresa. We again went up out of the valley along the most treacherous little dirt road I have ever been on. It was a little dirt road carved into the side of the mountain. They had only scraped away the bare minimum to allow one car to fit. On one side mountain, on the other side dropping away straight into valley, a river curling around through it, the white waters kindly reminding us of our potential fate. I thought this was sketchy enough until we encountered a bus. I still dont know how we managed to pass this bus, but im still here to write about it so something must have worked. At that point my eyes were firmly clasped closed. (For those of you who know my driveway, imagine the width of that, take away the little edge where people walk up, add a cliff probably a kilometre deep to that side and then imagine 2 cars/busses passing each other) It goes without saying that I was very glad to reach Santa Theresa.
From Santa Theresa we followed a similar road to the ´Hydroelectrica´ a place at the river where an old (apparently defunct) train track carves around the mountain to Aguas Caliente, or Machu Picchu town. On this bus trip I was wooed by a charming (OR NOT) character who introduced himself as Fernando. He began to sing and dance for me and told me he loved me, while making not so pleasant actions to go with his affections. I was not impressed. We told him I had a boyfriend (shhhh….. that little lie always works well) but that seemed to only make him more keen to prove that he was a better catch. He tried to follow us but we finally got rid of him.
We arrived late in the afternoon and began the walk down the old rain tracks. It was amazingly beautiful. Lush jungle, the air was damp bùt still pleasant to breathe. There was hardly a path to walk on, so we spent most of the time stepping on the actual tracks. As fun as this can be for a short time, doing it for two hours is very frustrating, because you have to always watch where you are stepping. Dizzy and almost hypnotised we finally stumbled into the final destination of Aguas Caliente. Tired and so full of images and impressions, it was hard to believe that all we had seen had only happened in one day.
We found a hostel, some dinner and went to be early so we could manage the early morning start up the mountain to Machu Picchu itself. Tired, itchy and rather sweaty we fell into our beds, the thought of Machu Picchu so close feeling rather surreal.
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