The Journey to Machu Picchu

by Andrea · January 15, 2013

Hello from Aguas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu town), aptly named for the hot springs nearby (agua= water, caliente=hot, for all you non-Spanish speakers). This is the home base for travelers not hiking the Inca Trail to get to Machu Picchu.

I took the train up here.

Peru Rail runs the train from Cusco to Machu Picchu town. The train before me was delayed due to a mudslide since there has been so much rain.

Remember I went white water rafting yesterday.

Scary!

My train pulled into the station right on time. It was a pretty sweet ride. There are windows in the roof so you can see the mountains surrounding the train.

Traveler tip: I am not loving Aguas Calientes. There is no internet here, the ATMs don’t work, nice to mean people ratio is pretty even, and everything is more expensive. Skip spending any time in this town and head directly to Machu Picchu.

A 20 minute bus ride up a windy mountain road and you are here!

Rediscovered by a bunch of other people first and then by:

We made it! Squinty-eyed foggy group picture:

It was super-foggy when we first arrived (much worse than in this photo) but it cleared off just a bit.

Machu Picchu picture overload:

Fun fact: Only 25% of the Machu Picchu is restored, 75% is original. The Mother Earth temple (below) is not restored. How cool is it that it lasted this long?!?!

Squinty-eyed photo:

Llama or alpaca- I’m bad at guessing:

It is a long way down:

Machu PIcchu was very cool. I wish it would have been a little less foggy so I could see the surrounding mountains a little better. Also, a little less rainy would have been nice. My humid hair and and wet shoes were fun but that’s what you get when you go during rainy season.