Updates from Peru and beyond.

If I may, a word about a gentleman named William.  Further down in the blog I wrote about my 4am wakeup call to go visit Machu Picchu.  (Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a morning person.  4am Peru time is about the time I generally go to bed on the West Coast.)  So I found myself at the crack of dawn, waiting in the sort of line you’d expect the morning Springsteen tickets go on sale.

Before hopping in line I saw a guy I met at the airport in a different line.  He asked if I already had my ticket, and I did.  So I skipped past his line and went directly to the bus line.   That’s where I struck up a conversation with a guy from Cusco named William.  Turns out he earns a living as a guide at Machu Picchu.  He was  really friendly from the get go… the sort of friendly that when you’re traveling, sometimes makes you skeptical, if only for a fleeting moment.  After a while the line started moving, and it was at that moment that I noticed everyone around me had a thin slip of paper. William said, “Do you have one of these?” I replied that I do not, I have my Machu Picchu ticket.  That’s all I need, right?  RIGHT?!  Nooooooo.  I needed a bus ticket as well.  And that was a separate line — the one the guy from the airport was in when I arrived.  Now, I needed to be one of the first 400 people up to the site to be able to climb Wayna Picchu.  So I dashed from the bus line… over to the bus ticket line.  I was 12 deep in what looked like a very slowing moving process.  Just then, my buddy William also sprinted over to the line.

As a guide, William knows people — in this case, the guy who was at the front of the line.  William waved me to the front of the pack, I handed over my $14.  (That’s correct.  Peruvian Soles were not accepted.  Only American dollars.)  Just like that, William and I were back in line.  I made the next bus.  And I climbed Wayna Picchu.  I owe this man a debt of gratitude.  What are the odds that I’d end up in line behind a well connected Machu Picchu guide.  If you don’t believe in fate, you might ponder it some more.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 6:11 pm and is filed under peru. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.