The long and winding road to Machu Picchu

Alisa and I arrived into Cusco the morning of the 23 and went in search of our Servas host for the night. We had the address - a home on Avenida Camino Real and so we hopped in a taxi and asked to be taken there. A few minutes later, we´d arrived! Except for what should have been a house looked more like a hotel . . . it turns out we had the right street but the wrong city! The wrong Camino Real.

Uh . . . no problem . . . Two buses and 3 hours later we arrived at the correct Camino Real in the small and beautiful town of Urubamba. We had the privilege of staying with the wonderful Senor Yoyo, his incredible family, his three dogs, and his two talking parrots. They took us out to a delicious Peruvian lunch and we spent the evening sharing magic tricks and travel stories.



0800: There is a train that takes people directly to Machu Picchu but we decide to take the scenic (aka cheaper) route. We begin our journey by heading to the bus stop to catch a bus we think is coming at 8:30am.
1030: Our bus finally comes. We board.
1200: We watch rocks slide off the mountain and into the road.

1201: Our bus drives straight through the rock slide.

1209: We stop to fix the flat tire . . . who would have guessed??

1210: Someone in the back yells ¨We´re missing three people!¨

1212: Three out of breath people climb onto the bus.

1221: We stop again to fix the flat tire.

1630: After an incredibly twisty but beautiful drive through the sacred valley, we arrive Santa Maria.

1645: Us and 21 others squeeze ourselves into 12 passenger van.

1700: All 23 of us get out of the van and walk a particularly narrow part of the road . . . not sure why . . . something having to do with the van being too heavy . . .

1745: All 23 of us pile out and off the van again. This time just to take in the beautiful views.

1845: Two hours later we arrive in Santa Teresa and grab some cheese and avacado sandwiches to take with us in the next van. It is now down to just us and 10 boys from Chile. We realize the route we are on is nicknamed ¨The Chilean Route¨ for a reason.

1900: We arrive at the ¨hydroelectrico¨ and begin following the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, the town next to Machu Picchu. We have to cross a few rivers.2200: We finally make it to Aguas Calientes and go in search of a hostel. The Chileans go in search of a campsite (they ended up sleeping for free at the police station . . . if only we´d known).

0030: We finally get to sleep.

0500: We wake up to catch the first bus (5:30am) to Machu Picchu.

0600: 22 hours later, we finally make it to Machu Picchu. Alisa is so excited she tries to hug the llamas. We ran into some of the Chileans again and hike to the top Wayna Picchu. It was a really steep climb but we walked really slowly and absorbed lots of energy just like our guide told us to. It was really wet and cold but we were lucky to catch glimpses of Machu Picchu and the surrouding area when the clouds moved. (In this picture, the clouds have not moved.)

Really, really wet and dirty now, we walk back down to Aguas Calientes instead of taking the bus.

All in all, Machu Picchu was absolutely wonderful and half the fun was the adventure of getting there.