Machu Picchu

October 29th Machu Picchu

To use a well used football metaphor today was a day of two halfs. One sublime and the other damn right awful. The day began at 4am with my iphone waking me up (first time I used the alarm function) for my 4.40 rendezvous with the tour operator. I had only found out the arrangements the night before, delivered in a brown envelope to my hotel. I was duly picked up by taxi and taken to meet the bus in Cusco. Here I joined a bus load of other sightseers from around the globe. The bus took us to Ollantaytambo about 1hr 40 away. The day was stunning with hardly a cloud in the sky. From Ollantaytambo we boarded a train which took us to Agua Calientes, the track followed a river through the valley floor and took an hour and a half. We were served Inca Tea, which was lovely, it is a herbal tea with coca and other ingredients. Apparently it is good for settling upset stomachs and all manner of ailments. Athletes are warned to be careful of how much they drink, as it might register in any dope test. I should have drunk more, as the altitude and lack of fitness sees me wheezing at the mildest of exertions.

At the train station we were meant to be met by our guide Victor Hugo Wilson, but after 10 minutes of no show, myself and a couple of young Australian guys decided to go looking for him - one of the other guides phoned him and we were told to wait until 10am,by which time he would have finished his earlier tour. We then had to jump on another bus that took us 6km up the mountain to MP. This was a minor irritation as the sun was shining and warm and we had views of MP from below. Eventually he showed and we began our tour. It was crowded but not unpleasantly so and the one way system worked well. Victor Hugo made the two hours with him worthwhile as he was very informative. Here are some of the facts for your digestion:

The city was built in the early 1400's and took 80 years to complete 

It had about 700 inhabitants and was not a major city

It was rediscovered in 1911 by American Hiram Bingham (it was covered by jungle vegetation)

No one knows its original name and it was given the same name as the mountain overlooking it Machu Picchu (Old Mountain)

The Inca (name given to the king) would have had up to 300 wives spread across the empire - this enabled him to control a vast empire - a bit like McDonalds with franchises everywhere

Favoured meat was the Guinea Pig. 

The Quechua is the name of the tribe and Inca only refers to the king.

The Quechua were a small people, as can be evidenced by the size of the doors.

We had finished to tour by 12pm and my new antipodean friends decided to walk up to the Sun Gate (this is where most photos of MP are taken as it is high and overlooks the monument. This took us 40 minutes and on our way up we saw two people being stretchered off the mountain. It was hot and I could feel the sun sun burning the back of my neck. The views from the Sun Gate are stunning and it is truly an amazing setting, but also an amazing piece of architecture. The stone blocks on the temple which fit perfectly were all crafted using stone implements (they had no metal tools). Harder stones were used to fashion the granite pieces. 

After doing this walk we decided to jump on one of the buses going down the mountain to Aguas Calientes, but when we got to the entance the queue was about 400m long. We decided to walk down, as we reckoned it would take an hour  to walk and the queue was at least a 2 hour wait. We began walking the road which twisted and turned down the mountainside, evenually we found a path that cut off the bends and was more direct. It involved lots of steps though, which is never much fun for my old knees. After 50 mintes we were at the foot of the mountain and sitting having a beer, which was much appreciated. Unfortunately we had a long wait for our train which did not depart until 7pm, so we explored the many tourist stalls and found somewhere to have a bite to eat.

Sitting at the rail station for an hour or so was tedious, but the large numbers of people were quite interesting to watch and before long, we were on the train. I forgot to mention that sometime during the day I lost my tickets for the train and the bus. Fortunately Mike, had spare tickets which he had bought for a friend, who hadnt turned up. So for my train journey back to Ollantaytambo I was William Thompson an Aussie from Sydney. The Peruvians  are sticklers for checking every single ticket in detail, so I was grateful to my Aussie chums for helping me out.

By the time we got off the train, found our bus driver and waited for everyone to turn up, it was 9pm when the bus eventually left. It was dark and the roads were twisty and dangerous and we all began to notice that the bus driver was driving erratically. He was slowing to snails pace when oncoming vehicles approached and was not holding a straightline. I had been speaking to a French guy adjacent to me, who spoke good Spanish and I persuaded him to go and chat to the driver and see what was wrong. The driver was in denial, but it soon became obvious that he was nodding off. By this time, the whole coach were aware of the situation and were on tenterhooks, there was a highly charged state of anxiety with every turn in the road and drop off to the valley below. Our 1hr 40 coach trip back to Cusco, actually took 2hr 45minutes of nail biting agony. I have never been so relieved to reach my final destination. The bus all started clapping wnen the bus came to a stop - this was not in appreciation of the driver, but to give  thanks for the gift of life. Upon arrival in Cusco the heavens opened and the 15 minute walk back to my hotel was a very wet affair. I had to knock up the night porter to let me in.

Apart from the mini and major disasters, the day was great - stunning place, met great people and had all of my senses heightened. It is a must see place and well worth the hassle of trying to get there.

 Perfectly fitting  stones

 The terraced gardens and farm area

More terracing for agriculture