The train to Machu Pichhu has got to be one of the biggest money makers in the country - about £30 one way to the village next to the famous Inca site, Aguas Calientes. And thats for the cheapo version. For the ultra Orient Express version, you're looking at closer to £150 for the 3 hour journey, which admittedly goes through some stunning scenery, and also smugly past some struggling trekkers. Its a monopoly, but even more frustrating as we later find out, the company that runs the trains is British, so the majority of the money that us tourists spend doesnt even stay in Peru! Who says that the colonies are dead - we're still out there raping and pillaging and sending it all back for king and country!
Anyway the village of Aguas Calientes is as you would expect, there to get as much cash from gringo tourists as possible, but since we want to get to Machu Picchu early so that we can climb Huayna Picchu (aka Wayne Picchu) we have to spend the night prior.
We're up at dawns crack to catch one of the endless mini busses that climb up the final few kms to Machu Picchu, and get in line at 7am for one of the precious 400 daily passes to climb Wayne. Its not long until we're told that actually we are in position 406 and 407, so we shant be mounting Wayne today, but we can come back tomorrow and queue. Thanks. Still we're in Machu Picchu so mustn't grumble, even though we've obeyed the rules and havent brought in any plastic bottles of water or food to keep us going, and there are people all around us glugging down their coca-cola and enjoying a picnic breakfast. Hmph.
Besides those two negatives, we do enjoy MP. Its an amazing place, another one of those temples around the world that makes you think. Why would you build this here in the most inhospitable geography possible? And how, 500 years ago did you manage to get all the materials up this enormous hill? Its small though, much smaller than Angkor Wat or Petra, and by 930am we've seen most of the highlights, and taken the majority of the required photos. To make up for the lack of climbing Wayne, we do find a smaller trek out to the Inca bridge, along which we are accompanied by Pedro the perro, who proves to be an able guide, if a little quiet. Back in the main site and approaching midday, we're starting to feel the lack of liquid and manage only half an hour or so more wandering about the residential side of the site, before heading back outside the main entrance to find something to drink. Its a grand place Machu Picchu, but we cant help feeling a little short changed as its hard not to compare it to some of the other, much more impressive sites that we have visited over the last 10 months. We imagine that actually doing the Inca trail makes the arrival there after 4 nights under the stars all the more satisfying, but chatting to people who had completed the trek, we are sure that we made the correct choice as it sounds in parts, pretty hard work, and for sure, by the time that you get there, you're in no mood to climb Wayne, or to trek back down to Aguas Calientes like we do.
We stay another night in Aguas as there were no cheap trains back down that day, and the next day it is throwing down, so at least we can feel pleased that we visited under glorious blue skies. We see a couple of British girls who had camped the night before, trekked up the hill that morning, spent about 90mins there, and then feeling miserable cold and wet got the bus back to the station, the only dry place they could think of, where they would wait for their afternoon train. Bless. They are drenched through, but it true British style still have a smile on their faces.
Once back in Cuzco with our big bags intact, we head off to find the no1 restaurant which we missed on our earlier visit to Cuzco, only to find that its closed on a Sunday. Darn. There are plenty of other places to try out, and we've decided that we should try the local speciality guinea pig. He comes prostrate on a plate, and although looks enticing, is bloody disgusting, and not to be recommended. What looks like crunchy crackling-y skin is rubbery gelatinous goo, and there isnt a great deal of meat. All the innards are still there though, and the head is still complete with teeth and brain. Hey ho, you have to try these things, and I never thought that I would have found something that I enjoyed eating less than the sheep's brains we had in Marrakech some years ago. As they say, travel broadens the mind...
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