Machu Picchu

So up at 03:50 and we meet Alex right on time at 04:00 and start strolling to the start of the trail up the mountain. It's pitch dark of course, but all three of us have torches, but as we walk along we meet an American and a Canadian guy, neither of whom have torches! I know it's a terribly unfair cliche about Americans being a bit dim, but how on earth these guys thought they'd have any chance of hiking up a mountain at 4am without torches I'll never know.

Anyway, they were nice guys and so we let them tag along with us and all was going well until my torch suddenly turned itself off! This wouldn't have been a problem but at this stage we'd broken into two groups, with Sarah and the Canadian guy hiking at their own slower pace. This meant me, Alex and the American had only one torch between us, and it became awkward for me to see the light from Alex's torch if I was behind both him and the American guy. Anyway, we all managed well enough, and daylight was breaking as we all got to the top of the climb.

It turned out we'd seriously overestimated the time it would take us to hike up the mountain, and we arrived after only about an hour, at around 5am. The gates to the site don't open until 6am, so we had to wait around, but at least we could have a nice rest and we knew we'd be amongst the very first people into the site (a gang of 5 others were ahead of us as they'd actually camped half-way up the mountain the previous night). So just minutes before the gates opened the first tourist buses arrived from the town below, and it was funny to watch them all clambering to get into the queue behind us.

There is a famous hike within Machu Picchu itself that takes you up the stretched-dome-shaped mountain that you see in the background of the ruins in all the famous postcards, but they limit the number of people per day to 400. This was why it was important for us to get ahead of the queue, so that we could be sure of a ticket for this hike to Wayna Picchu.

So once the main gate opened we quickly made our way straight through all the famous ruins to the start of that hike, which is at the far side of the site. Here there is another gate, and this one doesn't open until 7am. So again we had to wait around, but again we were right at the top of the queue. Over the following hour the queue grew and grew, but we just relaxed and waited. The few people ahead of us in the queue all chose to get their tickets, but to hike the trail later in the morning (I don't really know why), but that meant that me, Sarah and Alex were literally the first three people through the gate and onto the trail. Every person has to register their details in a book at the gate, which must have meant lots more waiting around for the ones at the back of the queue, poor sods. For us it was simply a case of gates opening, signing the book and starting the hike.

It also meant that when we got to the top of the hike we had the entire place completely to ourselves for about 10 minutes before anyone else showed up (one other guy got ahead of us, as we thought we'd reached the top before I discovered a very narrow tunnel that lead further up the mountain). The peace and quite at the top was fantastic, and we could easily see the entire Machu Picchu site far below us, and the huge queue of people still waiting to get through the gate.

So we just relaxed on the rocks on the top of this climb for a couple of hours, gazing idly at the truly magnificent setting. We decided to hike down a different trail that lead right around the mountain to the Temple of the Moon, an Inca temple set into a natural cave. Not many people choose to do this extra hike, being the lazy sods they are, so again we had this place pretty much to ourselves, although we met a nice Australian girl (Michelle) and her boyfriend Roberto.

So then we hiked back to the main ruins themselves (myself and Sarah having lunch back at the gate while we waited for Alex, Michelle and Roberto), and then made our way to the spot where all those famous postcards are shot. We spent the next few hours strolling around the ruins themselves, which are in incredibly good shape, and far more extensive than I'd imagined. We also had a bit of a tour and an explanation from one of the officials who just wanted to practice his English, before making our way to the exit just before closing time at 5pm.

During the entire day there was a Bollywood film crew shooting scenes for a movie called 'Robot', and it was interesting to watch all the dancing and singing, although it looked really boring for all the crew and cast just sitting around most of the time.

So at closing time we hung around for a bit before heading back down the mountain trail, only taking us 25 minutes or so to get back down. The buses up and down the mountain charge a relative fortune for the 20 minute journey, it's a complete rip-off, as is pretty much everything to do with Machu Picchu, a complaint we heard from many backpackers. But of course if you bother your arse to check things out properly and are prepared to put a bit of work in you can pretty much avoid all the rip-offs - interestingly enough it was us who paid nothing beyond the fixed entrance price who were the first ones into the site and had the hike up the peak, and the peak itself of Wayna Picchu all to ourselves for a while, while it was the Epsilons who'd paid a fortune with tour groups who were the ones queuing for ages for a crowded hike to a crowded peak.

All in all we'd spent 11 hours on the site of Machu Picchu and it was a great day. Of course Machu Picchu is one of the most hyped tourist destinations on the planet (it's one of the 'New 7 Wonders of the World' of course), but like Iguasu Falls in Argentina I reckon that in reality it actually surpasses all that hype. Again for me, it's just a place that no description, nor any photo or video can ever do justice - you simply have to experience it in person yourself.

Anyway back at the town we showered and then all met up for dinner that night (me, Sarah, Alex, Michelle and Roberto). We were all so tired that we didn't stay out late, and beside Alex wanted to get up at 5am the next morning!