Discovering the lost city of the Incas

Of course, Machu Picchu can hardly be considered lost anymore, rather the expensive city of the Incas.  There is no direct road between Cusco and Aguas Calientes (the town closest to Machu Picchu) which means getting there is either difficult or expensive or both.  You can pay $500 to walk there, $60 to catch a train or we met a few real budget travelers who were taking multiple buses probably over a few days then walking a few hours to get there.   After paying $60 for the 1 and a half hour train journey we arrived in Aguas Calientes which is described as a horrible overpriced small town by the guidebooks.  Surprisingly we liked it and didn't actually find it that overpriced (double room with private bathroom for $13).  It is in a valley surrounded by mountains with a beautiful river filled with huge boulders.   We then paid an extortionate amount for our entrance tickets ($40 each) and a totally ridiculous amount for the 20 minute bus ride up to the actual site ($14 each).   

The actual day didn't get off to the best start.  We woke up at 4:45am to make it to the bus stop by 5am where we got in line behind the 100 or so people who had been lining up since 4am to get on the first bus at 5:30am.   At the top we joined the line to get into Machu Picchu which opens at 6am.  There are a whole host of rules for entering Machu Picchu - the problem is some of them are so ridiculous you know they can't be enforced and it's impossible to know where the line will be drawn.  You are not allowed: water bottles, walking sticks, food, backpacks over 20 litres and the list goes on.  Jason went to the bag storage section to store our food and checked that our bag would be allowed in, he was told it would be fine.  But the guy on the gate was not having a good day.  Not only did our backpack get rejected but so did bags clearly labelled 18 litres, 14 litres and some that could not have been over 10 litres.  Whilst Jason tried to argue his bag through and then went to join the growing line of those checking their bags in I did not see him let a single backpack into the ruins.  People argued, cried, cajolled, attempted bribes but nothing worked, he was in a shitty mood and determined to spread his mood around the visitors.  Part of the reason that this was all quite so distressing is that most people arrive that early to obtain one of the 400 tickets to climb Waynapicchu.   After finally getting into the ruins with a water bottle, wishing we had grabbed the food bag (most people carried in a plastic bag with food) we sprinted to the other side of the ruins to get in line for Waynapicchu.  We were about 230th in the line, but luckily 150 people wanted to climb at 10am so we were able to climb at 7am.  

On the hike up Waynapicchu we bonded with the other climbers as we struggled directly up hill, on steps with a cliff face plunging to the valley below.  The views were absolutely spectacular though and we marvelled at the workers that had originally trekked up the hill carrying the stones to build the grain storage at the top of the hill.  After drinking in the view of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains we returned to the bottom for a closer look at the ruins.  We didn't have our own guide but with the multitude of tour groups wandering around the ruins we would have been hard pressed to avoid hearing bits and pieces from various different tour groups.   The site is quite spectacular, both for the actual ruins but more for the location.