In Part One of my adventures in Peru post, I showed you the amazing cities of Qorikancha, Saqsayhuaman, Tambomachay and Q’enqo. In this post, you’ll see my adventure to Machu Picchu and the Mountain and everything else in between.
I have to admit, I think about this trip almost daily. It really was the cliche trip of a lifetime.
Enough of that. Let’s dive in.
Tuesday night in Ollaytaytambo
After exploring the amazing town of Ollaytaytambo, we headed towards the bottom of the mountain village to catch the train, Perurail.
Unfortuantely, we only booked our Machu Picchu tickets ahead of time so we ended up having to catch the last train at 9PM.
There are only two trains that run the main routes in Peru: Perurail and Inca Rail, so your options are limited.
Perurail is the company that’s been around the longest but is a little more pricey; Inca Rail is newer and much more affordable. We traveled on Perurail due to lack of options, but it was a good experience and I would still recommend it.
I say unfortunately because we were told by several travelers that we met just how amazing the views were. By traveling at night, we missed all of this.
If you’re reading this and considering a trip over to Peru, I’d recommend purchasing this ticket well in advance so you don’t miss that opportunity like I did.
Here are few photos of our 4 hour layover at the train station.
Our view for this fabulous restaurant where Eric enjoyed this massive Alpaca burger while I sipped on the best Lemongrass tea.
Since our train arrived around 10:30PM, it was pitch black in the town of Aguas Calientes, or town of “hot springs.”
Our Airbnb host was waiting for us with a sign that had our names on it.
As soon as two other guests were accounted for, she quickly whisked us through the dark and hilly town. We walked over a huge bridge and could hear the sound of rushing water as it flowed down from the mountain, and saw restaurants and stores on both sides of us.
This is actually what we heard but could not see at night:
Our check in process took less than two minutes and we were then escorted up two flights of stairs to our room.
At the time, we paid $50USD for the room.
We had a private bathroom and DirecTV on the TV which was the first time we had cable the whole trip, and two nice sized beds. The room was clean and quaint.
Within minutes of settling in, we heard a knock on our door. It was our tour guide for Machu Picchu. He briefed us on what to expect and how to prepare.
The morning of Machu Picchu
With about four hours of sleep, we woke up around 4:30AM to get ready for Machu Picchu. Our hostel provided us with a small breakfast and gave us directions on where to get our bus tickets and where to catch the bus.
From there, I have never seen anything like this.
In the darkness of morning, giant tour buses lined the streets as eager Machu Picchu adventurers waited on the curbs. We met an awesome family in line from San Francisco who had gone the day before. They gave us some helpful tips on where to go once we got in and we used their advice to a T.
Machu Picchu doesn’t open until 6AM so the buses didn’t start until then.
Since we were there so early, we were about the third or fourth bus to take off for the mountain.
The ride is about 25 minutes long, and it’s a cobblestone road with barely enough room for one tour bus. The trip up the mountain was bumpy and breathtaking. As we climbed up higher, we were greeted with the gorgeous morning views of the mountains surrounding Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu “Facebook Shot”
As soon as we got in, we followed the advice of our line buddies and headed up to the guard gate to take that “Facebook Shot” as our tour guide called it.
He was right. At 6:30AM in the morning, the crowds have not yet filled the area and there is a certain calmness that made the whole thing unreal.
(As you can see, there’s hardly anyone down there. As a fun, little note, if you turn your head sideways, you can see a face with the highest point as the nose)
Eric and I stayed up here for another thirty minutes or so before heading down to the ruins below.
Our tour didn’t start until 8AM so we had about an hour and a half to kill. We spent that time wandering the ruins and getting these amazing photos before the place was too crowded.
We were told that in season, Machu Picchu sees as many as 5,000 tourists in one day. We went during the off season which sees around 3,000 people.
These are some photos from what we saw on our tour.
(If you look closely, you’ll find a cute little Chinchilla hiding in one of the openings)
(Yes, he’s real, and no, he’s not on a leash or tied down. The animals roam freely in Machu Picchu)
Everything looks just as fake and postcard-like in person too.
The Mountain (Machu Picchu)
When we went to book our Machu Picchu tickets, we had the option to choose from three tickets:
1. Machu Picchu Ticket
2. Machu Picchu Ticket + The Mountain (Tallest point in photo)
3. Machu Picchu Ticket + Huayan Mountain (Tallest point in photo)
We researched the difference between the tickets and knew this much:
1. Huayan mountain would be a steeper trek, but only takes about an hour to complete one way.
2. The mountain was higher in elevation that Huayan, but was not as steep and could take the average person about two hours to go up.
So before we left the states, we chose the second option: The Mountain.
During our two hour tour, we learned that most people, including me, don’t realize that Machu Picchu is actually the mountain, and the ruins down below, or the famous photos of Machu Picchu, are really the lost city.
The Mountain also had a window from 7-11AM for which you could enter. After that, the ticket was useless.
Our tour ended at 10:30 so we grabbed food and ate it as fast as we could, and then made it to the entrance at 10:55AM.
After climbing two flights of stairs, we checked in at a gate where we signed our names, ages, nationalities and the time of day.
It was that ridiculous.
We turn the corner and realize that the entire climb up there is a combination of hand-laid stones ranging in sizes, shapes and heights.
Some parts of the stairs were so narrow that you could only have one foot on there at a time.
On my left side, the mountain’s edge with nothing to keep you from slipping over.
Tourists were coming back from the climb and would tell us how far it is or how hard it gets, but how worth it the view was, so we climbed, and climbed and climbed.
Due to the high altitude, we had to take several breaks to catch our breaths and eventually caught up with others doing the same.
There was no way to tell what was around the corner sometimes and you could never tell how far the top was. All we kept doing was saying somehow, we’re almost there.
Almost there took an hour and forty five minutes one way.
As soon as you realize it’s the top, you forget about the thousands of stairs you just trekked.
Nothing else was on my mind.
(I was too scared to take a picture on the edge since this is about 1,300 feet ABOVE the base of Machu Picchu)
I saw clouds just as high as I was. The surrounding mountains seemed within arm’s reach and the view from the top was unimaginable.
At the very top, there was a tiki hut with a large seating area for people to rest and a guard keeping everything trash free.
Branching off of this tiki hut was a tiny path that I called “the plank.” It was a narrow stretch that extended from the tiki hut to the very edge of the mountain.
Sure, there was a tiny rope telling you not to go further (see in photo above), but nothing to keep you from falling over.
Eric was brave enough to go there and take pictures while I stayed back. I was so nervous for him because there are other people taking photos and using their selfie sticks at the same time. If someone bumps into you, there’s nothing preventing you from falling off.
It was that crazy.
Since the mountain was closing, the guard at the top kept telling everyone that it was time to start heading back.
The trek down was only slightly easier because it wasn’t as hard to breathe, but it was so steep and scary at times.
(Our trek down from the very top. You can see the edge and narrow stairs ahead)
It rained on the way up which was a nice way to cool down, but it made our journey that much harder going back.
We were exhausted and ready to never see a stair again.
This only took about an hour to get down.
By the time we got back to the base of Machu Picchu, we realized we had been hiking for 8 hours in about 76 degree weather.
Needless to stay, our legs were shot for the next two days and we slept like babies that night.
Last two days in Cusco
The day after Machu, we took it super easy since our legs felt like jello. We explored the main square of Cusco and these are some of the photos:
On our last day in Cusco, we took one more tour to the cities of Moras y Moray and explored some surrounding ruins.
We were absolutely exhausted and starving by the time this one was done.
Walking through the high altitude makes you sleepy and burns a ton of calories so you end up starving by the end.
After reading some reviews, we knew we had to stop at Greens.
Look at how amazing this food was.
Once our food coma settled in, we headed back to our hostel and called it an early night since we had to fly out around 7AM.
You can check out how our Spirit flight home went via this article.
Peru takeaways
- Peru was amazing
- The food was organic and delicious
- I miss it every day
- The culture of Cusco and the surrounding mountains is unlike anything else
- We felt safe at all times
- Fly Spirit to save money, but keep your expectations lower than low
- Go visit Peru
Have any questions about my trip? Feel free to reach out to me at any time.