The train is pretty pricy, but it was well worth it. Our departure was at 6:50 in the morning and as usual we were insanely early. There was no problem getting our massive packs on board and we were quite happy with the seats we got (even if they were a little tight in the leg room department). To get out of Cuzco the train had to travel back and forth up a number of switchbacks. This gave us some great views of the mist enshrouded city.
There were so many stray doggies, a lot of them trotting around in packs.
As we made our way out of the beautifully restored centre of Cuzco, the poverty becomes more obvious. Clair spotted this tiny kitten on a blacony to nowhere.
It looked truly stunning from a distance the higher we got.
Our last look at Cuzco before we trundled off into the highlands.
It was a four hour journey to Agua Calientes (the nearest town to Machu Picchu), and we went through some amazing scenery. We both found it strange how flat it was between the mountains at either side. It was also odd to think that Cuzco is already at 3300m , so all these mountains were towering way up higher than that. Here we passed a small cattle ranch on the plain.
The cheerful kids from a Japanese family sat across from us offered to take our picture.
It was an epic feet of engineering to build this railway. I found it quite mad to think that it was completed in 1927.
Lots of people working away in the fields.
We crossed the Rio Urubamba many times on the journey.
There was lots of evidence of Inca inhabition along the way. These terraces are all Inca built (we couldn't help eavesdropping on various tour guides around us).
Here we first glimpsed some of the vast snow capped peaks in the distance.
The river picked up speed as we went along. Machu Picchu is actually at 2400m, so it was a long ride downhill from Cuzco once we had escaped the valley that that the city resides in.
We really enjoyed the train journey and it felt like a great way to travel. We soon arrived at Agua Calientes. The lonely planet describes it as 'The ugliest, most overpriced small town in Peru'. Bonus! We weren't too fussed as we didn't aim to spend much time there we just wanted somewhere to pitch our tent. We duly walked up to a reasonably nice sounding place that we were advised had camping spots as well as rooms. Sadly their camping spots had been turned it hideously overpriced quite rancid looking rooms. Bugger!
We traipsed off back into town through the endless tourist tat markets which for some reason you seemed to have to go through to get anywhere. After asking about it at the tourist info we decided we would put our trust in the municipal campsite (deserted with basic facilities, nice). We paid a small fee to leave our bags at a friendly hostel nearby by and headed for the bus up to Machu Picchu.
The road passed the campsite before heading up a massively steep road made of endless hairpin bends. You can just make out the campsite, where the grass has been mown next to a large green tent. We were really chuffed as it was right by the river and looked very pretty indeed. We swapped seats on the way up as Clair had mistakenly chosen the window seat!
The views were awe inspiring. I think it was at this point that poor Clairy started to have doubts about what she had let herself in for.
Once we had reached the top. We gobbled down the last of our food as we had been told that you were not allowed to take food or drink (including water) into the site. This was the case, but it didn't seem to be enforced at all. Us being good people though, just had to watch piles of other people scoffing and drinking whilst we approached dangerous levels of dehydration on this boiling hot sunny day.
One of the first pics I snapped off this vast drop directly after the entrance was a close up of the campsite below. At this point Clairy was glued to the opposite wall.
The location of the site is just incredible. Epic mountains all round.
Our first (well mine anyway) sight of the ruins below.
We immediately followed the long path which took us up some very steep steps to the top terraces.
Giving us a great view of the whole site below.
Looking towards the Rio Urubamba valley to the west.
Its ok for me to stand right next to the edge though.
This is a detail from the reconstructed House of the Funerary Caretaker.
Looking out of one of the windows from the same building.
Our Clairy, showing just how relaxed she was to be so close to multiple incredibly high drops.
Another great shot showing the whole site from above.
I got Clairy to take this shot and then couldn't resist so jumped of the edge. It looked like it was a massive drop, but there was a little ledge down below. Not a very nice thing to do all things considered. I did apologise.
Some of the beautiful Inca stonework. There are lots of clever little design details that mean the walls have stayed rock solid (pun thoroughly intended) despite being in a seriously earthquake-prone area. For instance, doors and windows are trapezoidal and tilt inward from bottom to top, corners are usually rounded, inside corners often incline slightly into the rooms, and L shaped blocks are often used to tie outside corners together. Walls do not rise straight from top to bottom but are offset slightly from row to row. This has meant the architecture has really stood the test of time.
Awell tidy doorway known as the city gate.
How brave is she! She was actually enjoying it!
Clairy's nice window shot. You can actually see our loverly campsite down below.
The scenery really was epic. Every now and again I would find myself gawping at the mountains.
Some of the rocks that had been used for the walls were truly colossal.
The ritual fountains which continue today to dribble a fresh supply, handy for washing our dust incrusted faces.
Beautiful stonework. There were various carved stone rods and holes indicating how the construction slotted together.
I loved the way the huge stones on the bottom here were carved to fit into the walls and provide foundations for the base of the room.
This is the Temple of the Sun. It shows particularly fine craftsmanship on the rounded wall inidcating some higher ceremonial use.
Underneath the temple of the Sun a mummy was found and this area was therefore named the Royal Tomb.
Looking towards the Prisoners Area.
Another huge drop.
At this point I left Clairy below so I could climb up to the sacred stone known as Intihuatana. You can just see her waving at me from way down below with the agricultural terraces stretching away in the background.
The Rio Urubamba.
More terraces.
And here is the sacred stone called Intihuatana. At midday on the summer and winter solstices the sun stands almost above the pillar creating no shadow at all. It is therefore believed to be an astronomic clock built by the Incas. In 2000 the advertising company JWT (a company whose UK branch I used to write software for at DDS...strangely) were filming a beer commercial and a crane fell on the rock chipping a lump off the corner. The crane had been smuggled in illegally after they had been advised that only lightweight equipment was to be used. The gits.
The Temple of the Three Windows.
And then...from afar, Clairy sighted what probably made the whole day for her...a herd of llamas!
They have such funny personalities.
We were sure this one was posing for piccies!
Oh hi!
This babe was suckling from its Moom.
What a pretty face.
'Oh yeah, just one more...this is definitely my good side'
'And maybe one from down below'
Clairy couldn't get over how they sat down. It seemd to involve some very bizarre reverse knee movement.
Which resulted in this quality rear view!
The view from the north end was stunning.
By this point we were flagging a bit. The fact that we didn't have any water definitely made it hard to stay much longer than the four or so hours we did. On our way out we spotted this strange building that we eventually decided was the llama bar, where they must come for some swift refreshment.
We had had a totally fab time though. It really was right up there with the top ruinations of our trip so far. After grabbing an insanely priced tiny bottle of water at the cafe just outside we got the bus back down to Agua Calientes. Here we retrieved our rucksacks, purchased some essential supplies (eggs, milk, nice cold beers etc), and set off for the 1km or so down to the municipal campsite.
On the way there were various cheerful doggies who trotted past us seemingly heading for town. One however immediately responded to Clair's use of Bendads patented international doggie language, and pegged it over seriously excited by a bit of attention. He then proceeded to accompany us all the way to the campsite. We thought we had made a friend for life. Here's a piccy of him.
But just as we got to the campsite, some other passing tourists petted him, and he pegged it off back in the direction we had just come with them. Fickle bugger!
It was ace getting the tent set up again. And the site was absolutely lovely. Very basic facilities, like super cold showers and pretty manky toilets, but it was dirt cheap and exactly what we fancied. The biting flies that had savaged us at Machu picchu were a bit of a pain, but we covered ourselves in deet and tried to ignore them.
I proceeded to make Clair an endless supply of beverages. We had our first cup of tea since we had last camped (made with my dwindling supply of Clipper fair trade tea) and it was amazing! Thats why we drink so much of the stuff. Then I kept feeding her beers which were eventually followed by one of my best hot choccies yet. I made it from some accidentally purchased Peruvian chocolate with no sugar in, plus lots of milk and lots of sugar. I wasn't sure if the choccy would actually melt, but it did and it was proper lush!
I love our Coleman stove.
We both slept really well. I got up and went for a shower while Clairy slept on. It was very serene. The sound of the river yards away was very soothing. The ambience was only occasionally punctured by the seemingly unecessary blasting of the tourist train horn as it approached the station at Agua Calientes. The sun took some time to peek round the mountains to reach us. This was actually quite a blessing as it was nice and cool up until that point, and absolutely boiling thereafter.
In the night I had heard another doggie around the tent and had worried that he might have been at our brekky. It turned out he just fancied a kip with some company and he was fast asleep a couple of yards away when I climbed out.
'MMMmmm...totally knackered'
The campsite looked even more lovely the next day.
Particularly these lovely red flowers in the trees.
At various points some hilariously noisy groups of parakeets would fly over shouting at each other. At one point they landed on the tree directly above us. The noise was unbelievable. Although obviously very social creatures, they often sound like they're arguing with each other. There's one in the middle of this pic.
I soon got the brekky underway. Fried egg sarnies with cheese and tomoatos from the Cuzco market. Oh god yeah!
While Clairy wandered off and got some nice piccies of the surroundings. Check out how totally dwarfed our tent is with this epic background.
The green plants on the rocks are bromeliads literally hanging on by the thousand. A vast vertical garden.
We watched a couple of ducks or wading birds fishing in the river. They seemed to have no problem swimming upstream against the strong current. They didn't want to be photographed though, and seemed to dive in as soon as we got the camera out.
Soon the eggs were ready and bloody lovely they were too!
After this we took our time packing up. Our return train wasn't until 5 in the afternoon. We moved everything into the shade, as the sun was boiling by this point, and eventually headed back into town. Here's a view of the river as we lugged our backpacks back up the hill to town.
The train back wasn't quite as exciting on the way back as it was dark soon after we left. However, the cheerful buffet boys on our carriage quickly headed down to our end of the carriage and announced that it was happy hour and asked if anyone would like a Pisco sour, the favourite local cocktail. We were the first ones to get our hands in the air, and bloody lovely it was too. Pisco is a kind of clear brandy, and it is mixed with sugar syrup, lemon juice, egg white and bitters. After this lovely experience, we both dozed and scratched our bites for most of the way. We were glad to get back to a nice hot shower at the Ninos hotel in Cuzco. I think we defo made the most of the short amount of time we could give to Machu Piccu and we totally loved it.
1 comment:
Bendad and I have just looked at this (2nd Sept!) What an amazing place, fantastic pics and you write so well. We thought we were with you, even those pesky flies! And the egg sarnies.
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