The Machu Picchu Saga

People who knows me know that I am not a very organised person. In fact, sometimes there’s so many clothes on my bed that I can barely see it. I already gave up from trying to fix my office. My living room… it’s relatively messy, ok?!

But ask to organise a trip and you’ll see how precise I can be.

Well, I planned everything to go to Machu Picchu. People that went there gave me top-rated tips, and I wrote down on my notebook. This is the result of some of them:

“Sleep in Águas Calientes before climbing to Machu Picchu”

Aguas Calientes is a village at the bottom of the mountain where Machu Picchu is located. Normally, people kill each other to get on the first train in Cuzco (another historical city) and, after that, take a bus in Águas Calientes to go up. They finally get to the archeological site at 10AM, when is already full of tourists.

I was advised to NOT to do this. In fact, to da half of the way on the previous night.

“Sleep in Águas Calientes e get the first bus of the day, at 5.30AM”, the say… And that’s what I did. I figured out a family housing (very nice place, by the way) where I was nicely treated. The place is not a 3-star hotel, but is clean and everybody were extremely kind to me. Yep, there’s free wi-fi! :D

I woke up at 4AM thinking I was the queen of the night and the first one getting to the bus line…

I was completely wrong…

I had so many people in front of me that I got on the third bus (yes, I said third). And, on top of that, it was June, the most competed month of the trail and there was this cold weather that I would never imagine in this part of the world.

I got a seat at the front row of the bus by a miracle… We arrived at the gates before they were even open. Guiding myself by some tips I read here and there (and everywhere), I finally arrived at the “Doors-keeper House” (or something like that in English) and sat on the floor to see the sunrise.

Machu Picchu is so enormous that you have a feeling of being alone there, because not a lot of people have the guts to be there at this time of the day.

Don’t even dare to question me if was worth it…

“Wayna Picchu is marvellous! You’ll love it!”

If absolute truths exists, this up-sentence is one of them. Simply, there are no words to describe what you see from the top of the mountain.

But there are words that describe HOW it is to get there…

“Suffocating”, “despairing”, “weariness”, “fear”. It’s a not-so-nice list of sensations and feelings that go through your mind while you are walking.

Wayna Picchu is that “pirate’s parrot” mountain in 98% of the pictures of Machu Picchu. It’s a dangerous area and, for this reason, only 400 people are admitted daily (while in Machu Picchu 2,500 guest can entry everyday). I bought one of the last 2 tickets for the day I went. The first 200 people have entry permission from 8AM to 9AM, and the following from 10AM to 11AM. Everybody must sign a huge book with their time-entrance, and you can stay inside for up to 3 hours. It is another way for them to know if there’s someone lost (or worst) in the trail.

Machu Picchu is just like this: a sensation of mystery. You hear what the tourguides tell you, but you just can’t imagine how people really lived there. Because of all the fuzzy about this place, you feel like one of ‘few” people in the world who could actually see or touch it.

At last, is really a “saga” to get there. I call it that way because it was something really unique for me, and a moment when I could test myself.

I hope this article awaken the “adventure spirit” within everyone of you.

Marq’ay! — “hugs” in quechua :)

AngelinaCosta.