TravelMole’s Silvia Garcia Cusco Adventure – Part Three

Early in the morning we walk to the PeruRail train station, the only operating carrier with final destination Aguas Calientes aka Macchu Picchu town.

Our backpacker carriage has clean and decorated interiors, comfortable seats, and even a small cafe service, obviously POA. With the latter a good option after boarding the 9am train.

This three-hour ride on the Peruvian ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ wouldn’t be the same without the rocking and rattling of the carriages, which date back to the 60’s. 

The train route,  parallel to the Gorje river, submerges into cloud forest mountain range, which inspires passengers to pretend being first explorers at site. 

In backpacker style, we descend on Aguas Calientes’s train station, situated on a deep valley below the Macchu Picchu ruins, and enclosed by towering walls of stone and luscious vegetation.

For many, the atmosphere of this town breathes unorganized tourism development and construction. On the other side of a travellers tale, it offers comfortable accomodation and restaurants for overnight stay to catch the first morning bus to Machu Picchu.

This way you avoid being engulfed by the hordes of daytrippers arriving directly  from Cusco everyday.

To get to our hotel from the station, we pass through a colorfoul market, and walk across the street, in which the road is the PeruRail line.

“Don’t worry girls, trains stop passing at 10.30pm”, says the receptionist as she hands the key of our street-facing room.

Xenia and I are relieved considering our following day’s 5am start. The Intrepid gang settles in and heads for lunch, while Xenia and I take a short arvo nap.

As soon as we close the windows and curtains for a dark setting, the first-class train carriage, ‘The Hiram Bingham’ (named after Machu Picchu’s discoverer), transits in front of our noses.

A nap is good to reenergize for the soon high impact Machu Picchu  expedition.

After an energy buffet breakfast at dawn, we take the 6am bus. It’s a 20 minute ride up a mountain of green fresh flora landscape.

The windows drip down non-polluted water vapour, a humidity so pleasant to admire, as it is never found in the big cities. The bus drives through turbulence of low and condensed clouds, proper to the wet season, and many worry about the time it will take clearing to start producing those postcard photos.

Finally, we are at the Machu Picchu checkpoint, and everyone must sign in to enter. [Pictured right a boy at the entrance]

It was built between the 15th and 16th centuries A.D. There are many theories to the origins and social structure of this Inca civilization and the reason the Spaniards never found it during the conquest.

The ruins are nestled between the Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu mountains, from Quechua meaning, ‘young’ and ‘old’, respectively.

It’s sorrounded by a landscape of hills and sacred snow-capped mountains, far above the Urubamba river that forms an entrenched meander around it.

The river flows eastward, reproducing the course of the sun, which is of great significance in Andean ideology.

In 1911, American Yale scholar, Hiram Bingham accidently stumbled on it on the way to his research expedition to the last stronghold of the Incas, the ruins of Vilcabamba.

Vilcabamba was the site Manco Inca retreated and later murdered after the battle with the Spaniards at Ollantaytambo in 1536.

Since the discovery, Peru has increased in toursism, along with further studies of the findings. In 1983, UNESCO approved it as a ‘Cultural and Natural World Heritage Site’. Today,  Julio our tour leader, is just a traveller and with us, is also going to be guided by Juanita, the local tour conossieur.

Next TravelMole and Intrepid bring you the complete guide to exploring Machu Picchu.

Getting there

Fly to Lima with Lan Chile via Auckland and Santiago. See www.lan.com or call 1800 221 572.

For further information on the Intrepid ‘Peruvian Pathways’, and other tours to Peru, see: www.intrepidtravel.com or call 1300 364 512

For information on Peru, see www.peru.info/perueng.asp

Silvia Garcia reporting on location from Peru for TravelMole with Intrepid Travel