We had a lovely midnight rest at our cosy hostel in Pisac. Since it seems to be low season right now we were the only ones staying there. Peace & quiet. Again the weather was stunning. We strolled down to the main market for a healthy breakfast with fresh fruit, yoghurt, granola and of coarse, a mango smoothie. After our shopping rage, well, mainly my shopping range, where we ‘scored’ gorgeous typical Peruvian ethnic accessories we we ready to head towards the Sacret Valley, namely, the ‘Machu Picchu’.
Before we would arrive there we still had to travel quite a bit. We took a local bus to Ollantaytambo of about 1.5h ride. Once arrived in Ollantaytambo which seems to be a beautiful village, we found out that we had forgotten our ‘cool professional tourist hiking shoes’ in the bus… Damn… Ok, this is not the end of the world, is it? We would just buy some ethnic Peruvian climbing shoes in Machu Picchu, we’ll find a way! But our bad luck didn’t end there…
Ready to catch the Peru rail to Machu Picchu, I apparently booked the retour ticket the other way around… Yes, I am a blondie! Thank god the very lovely lady behind the desk fixed us new tickets without extra costs. What a service! Tickets, check! Now, run! We only had 1min to catch the train… And so we did! And we had the best seats in the entire waggon, nice! The train ride is absolutely stunning. So peaceful! Seems like you are in a movie. Be careful not to fall a sleep… It’s so relaxing that you might, and you really do not want to wake up having missed everything! So keep your eyes open!
After a 1,5h train ride from Ollantaytambo we arrived in Machu Picchu… Hordes of tourist and a very fake, quite aggressive, atmosphere… We already started to miss our peace and quite in Pisac… But ok, stay positive! We’re staying at very basic hostel somewhere up the hill. The people at the reception are very friendly, but the rooms are fairly dirty and the shower water is, yes really, brown.
Hmm, Machu Picchu doesn’t seem to like us it seems… But still, try to keep our heads up high! Let’s go for dinner since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We were in doubt to go to the ‘Tree House’ which is recommended in the Rough Guide, or some fancier place downtown. We chose the second since we wanted to sit outside. Let’s go crazy and have a descent dinner! We deserved it after so much crap. So we went lose and a fresh Sauvignon Blanc and a tuna salad for LN and a vegetarian pasta for Griet. The wine was extremely overpriced and the glass was only filled for a third. On top of that the food was absolutely disgusting. We had 1 bite and that was it.
Now it is certain, Machu Picchu really is not fond of us… but we are willing to give it a second chance! So tomorrow we will wake up at 5 AM in order to take the first bus up to Machu Picchu. We are praying for nice weather. Hopefully Macho Machu Picchu will treat us well since we have a fairly heavy day ahead! Will be traveling to Puno tomorrow night by night bus. It will take us approx. 8 hours. So knackered we will be. We’re hoping to find beautiful Peru’s warmth back as soon as possible. You’re already being missed.
Now off to bed, empty,
LN
6 comments
Holy Crap! Sounds like you ended up right in the middle of the hell… But, don´t worry girls, you will find Peru´s warmth back pretty soon. That´s for sure!
Marco Palacios, The really friendly local Peruvian guy.
Dear Ellen, I feel so sorry you have had so bad experience in Aguas Calientes. Please let me explain you something: The town that is laying just exactly at the bottom of the hill where Macchu Picchu, the sacred city is located, is named Aguas Calientes. It is more a village than a city and considering it is the ONLY point from which you can take buses for going up to the “ciudadela” -named Machu Picchu- some silly locals try to take advantage of the hundreds of tourists who come to Peru for visiting one of the new seven wonders of the world, That is frustrating and upsetting but it is something that we, as a society, still can not deal with.
Then as a peruvian, I only can apologize for the pretty bad feelings you two had last night, and I would suggest to you to mention the names of the places in Aguas Calientes where both of you slept and ate, so other people who could read this, can be pretty warned and do not suffer the same bad experience.
Kisses,
hope today’s journey is better
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I have loved reading these posts about Peru. I love that train ride to Machu Pichu and just all of the culture in that area and in Lima and in Cusco. Your posts are amazing! Thank you so much for bringing back awesome memories!
Just returned from what may be viewed as a “white table cloth” tour of Peru. My wife and I are from the US in our mid 60’s. We have traveled outside the US often and try and see the real ??????” where ever we go. We decided Peru would not be possible for us on our own after doing the research. Our group (12 people) was lead by what we consider probably the best guide we have ever encountered. I assume you are the younger person shown in open air taxi picture. We applaud your spirit of adventure by deciding to “rough it”. We spent two days at Machu Pichu becuase it was the center point of the tour. This allowed us more time at this modern wonder of the world. Make sure you spend some quite time to think and meditate about the views in front of you, your place in the world, what it took to build the place or any other thoughts that come into you mind about you, the world and mankind. That is what we felt about why we wanted to go there and experience. Because of bad weather on the second day we did not get to go up to the Sun Gate. The view from there is one of the best. But of course the best views are from Mt. Machu Pichu or Huyana(SP?) Pichu. One last comment on you trials and tribulations, what did you expect? Peru is a very lovely country but is also a very poor country. Our generation at your ages popularized “roughing it” by backpacking through Europe guided by books like “Europe” on $10 per day”. If you are simply stating facts the OK. But if you are in some way complaining then we have to consider you like most indusrialized nation residents who expect “normal” conditions and prices when they travel. That is simply never the case in poor countries or the rual parts of some “industiralized” countries, e.g. China, Greece or India. Just found your blog by accident so do not know, but suggest you go to Puno on Lake Titicaca if you have not been there yet.
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