06/08/2019 – Machu Picchu, Peru

We got out of bed at 0500 and walked to the ‘Boulangerie de Paris’ a lonely planet café recommendation. It was dark outside, so since we also arrived in darkness yesterday, we still hadn’t really seen the surrounding mountains! The town was already alive and kicking as most people stay in Aguas Calientes overnight so as to have a headstart visiting Machu Picchu before it’s busiest times. We got ourselves takeaway coffee and croissants and went and stood in the queue for the buses. We had been told to start queueing at 0600. We arrived there in good time and there was already a long queue. Our passports and bus tickets and entrance tickets all got checked and stamped, it was a well polished system. I suppose with 1.2 million visitors a year it should be! We got onto the minibus and driven up the mountain and arrived at the entrance for Machu Picchu amongst the crowds just before our 0700 ticketed entrance. We shuffled in through the gates and started our visit with a few viewpoints. I knew Maccu Picchu was going to busy but I hadn’t imagined this many people, especially after visiting a near to empty Choquequiro the week before.

Nonetheless Machu Picchu was absolutely incredible. One girl next to us was so overwhelmed by the first viewpoint she started sobbing! Within the next hour or so the sun had risen and it was warm so coats were off and suncream was on. In the rush to beat the crowds we had missed the toilet stop, so I spent the next few hours absolutely desperate for a wee! The walls and buildings the Incas built are so neat, I am sure they would have been good at the game Tetris! We queued for a few viewpoints, walked down the narrow footpath to the Inca bridge (where we walked past a French couple who had just got engaged seconds before!) and then down into the main site.

Inca Bridge

There were tagged llamas grazing, and lots of trekkers finishing the Inca trail, sitting on the grass absorbing the sun. There were a group of young American Mormons (we think, with white cloth pinned to their hair and long dresses to the floor) which was intriguing, I don’t think I have ever come across a Mormon in real life that I know of! We spent a good few hours enjoying the Inca site, before exiting and finallyyyyyy getting that wee stop I had been desperate for! We hopped on a bus back down the mountain, Josh and I both had a quick doze, absolutely shattered. We woke up when we were back in Aguas Calientes. The tiredness of the trek, the night out mixed with a few early starts, seemed to hit us like a brick wall, we felt queasy with it. We found a café in the small square, had a coffee and a sit down in the shade. Then we walked around the town, stopping for an ice cream and to buy a Peru magnet from the handicrafts market. We sat down on a bench, and I fell asleep on our rucksacks whilst Josh took some photos of the incoming trains.

We went back to the café from this morning and had a bite to eat before heading to the train station. Luckily we already had our train tickets as the queue to buy them was huge. We travelled with Peru Rail this time, it was less luxurious but still spacious and comfortable. We left Aguas Calientes by 15:20 and were on our way to Cusco. We nodded off for half an hour almost immediately, then woke up to a beautiful river running alongside the train tracks and the mountains surrounding us. We pulled into Cusco Poroy station at about 19:00, hurried off the train and negotiated a taxi price with a taxi driver. We drove the 20 minutes into the main square of Cusco then went back to the Thai restaurant ‘Indigo’ from a few nights ago. We enjoyed a curry before walking back to our hostel. We went back into our room from our previous stay, unpacked a little, and had a shower before happily climbing into bed and falling asleep to some Greys Anatomy.