Cusco and Machu Picchu

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We arrived the next morning in Cusco at an elevation of 3400m.  We were going to trek to Machu Picchu on a 2 day trek with SAS tours.  First we had 2 days to settle in and acclimatize to the height as complaints of altitude sickness are common despite Machu Picchu being at 2400 - 2750 metres.

Our hostel was very well presented and felt more like a hotel, lots of wooden floors, smart clean rooms and run by an Italian family.

In Cusco we caught up with finances and tried to relax.  Cusco was great as a town / city, it was very smart and had plenty of restaurants and services as you would expect as a major tourist destination.  It also had a pleasant charm to it and we were glad to find a great japanese restaurant as well as a very good cake and tea shop!

On the 18th we were picked up by the tour agency and were joined by 4 other Aussies for our trek.  It seems so far all our tours have been in small sizes which has really allowed up to enjoy them more!

Our trek to Machu Picchu was to be across 2 days, somewhat easier than the 4 day trek and allowed us to stay in a hostel rather than tents.  Our first leg was to catch the train upto km 104, this took 3.5hrs to this part of the track.  On the way we were treated to some great scenery as the train made its steady progress.  At km 104 rather than a proper train stop we just stopped for approx a minute whilst our tour group jumped off onto the tracks.  This was quite good fun, we then made our way across a rope and wood river bridge that swayed quite a bit.  Here we had our tickets and ids checked before starting our first half of the trek to Machu Picchu which was in warm weather for 8 km´s.

During this trek we climbed up the side of the mountain, one of the Aussies in our group felt a bit rough as she had not eaten for 2 days before hand,  understandably  she had little energy and was thinking of heading back.  After a hydration pack she was ok to carry on, with our guide Justin keeping a close and caring eye on our group.  The ascent to the restaurant half way up was pretty sweaty and we had approx 5 breaks to take in the scenery which included sheer drops, waterfalls, jungle and couple very well preserved Inca  sites.  The engineering and effort that had gone into these sights was very impressive, all linked together communications wise as each sight could always see the next.  This allowed the Incas to light fires, blow Conch shell horns or use large copper mirrors for communicating. 

At approx 2pm we reached the lunch area and immediately encountered people staying at the campsite as part of the 4 day trek.  Some of these tents looked a bit cramped and we felt glad we were not camping as we were after all visiting in the rainy season.  After a good lunch that Justin had carried up on his back along with oxygen bottles and first aid kits plus his own gear (approx 18 kilos) we commenced our last section to the site, approx 6km.  This climbed to the Sun Gate through cooling jungle.  We arrived at the Sun Gate at approx 430pm.  This was our first view of Machu Picchu but was a little cloudy, we descended a few metres and were rewarded with bright sunshine views down onto the city which were fantastic.  I think we took quite a few photos!

We then made out way down the slightly slippy stone trail into the main site with great views and sunshine.  Here we looked down onto the site and got some more photos, we would be back the next morning to tour the full site as part of a 3 hour tour that Justin our guide would lead.  We stayed on the site until 530pm when it closed, we made out way to the bus that would take us to Aquas Calientes, a small town at the base of Machu Picchu, where we stayed overnight in a hostel with hot showers.

The next day we were up at 5am again, South America does feel like a constant stream of early get ups!, and caught the bus up to the main site.  Unfortunately it was tipping with rain so we were forced to don waterproofs as well as cheap ponchos to keep us and our gear dry.  The rain was pretty relentless and we were very glad to have seen the sight in the sun the day before.  We would have been pretty annoyed if we had done the 4 day trek only to arrive in the rain, thankfully the 2 day tour afforded us 2 visits to the site.

Our tour was very good and we were very impressed with the detail and advancement of the Inca´s.  We also visited the Llama´s local to the site which were familiar but dismissive of tourists!  After the tour we had 4 hours to ourselves so after some hot coffee and chocolate we found a dry spot and relaxed for an hour.  After that we did a small walk to the Inca Bridge which was impressive as it was dangerous with its massive drops into the valley below.

At 2pm we headed back to the hostal for lunch, bought some local handicrafts and caught the train back to Cusco.  We arrived at approx 930pm and were taken back to our hostal by SAS.  Needless to say we were quite tired!  The next couple of days we relaxed and ate at an Irish Bar (burgers, cottage pie plus beers and cocktails).  We also sorted out our next parts of the journey a bus to Puno (where we are now) and a hydrofoil tour of Lake Titicaca that will leave us in La Paz, Bolivia.