After Abancay we set off
towards Machu Picchu. Actually, you can
drive to the town of Ollantaytambo (O’ yay tay tam bo), I know it’s a mouth
full but you can’t drive to Machu Picchu.
But on the way we found ourselves dodging a little bit of the scenic
roadside debris. This is not uncommon in
this part of the country.
Here is a video of Chuck riding through some of the canyon. Canyon from Abancay to Ollantaytambo The roads are like this for hundreds of miles, with very little traffic.
We also decided to also
stop at a little roadside store for a coke and a snack for lunch. While here I was bitten by these little flies
on both elbows. As of this writing about
six days later they still itch. Worse
than any mosquito bites I have ever had!
Again the
weather has been so variable. First
starting it was cool, then we ran into rain, and by the time the picture above
was taken it was over 90 degrees F. It
is really hard to plan on what to wear.
Chuck bought jacket and pants that are water proof. I on the other hand, felt we would know what
to wear each day. At this point Chuck
made the right choice. I find I have to
stop at least once a day to add or remove rain gear.
We
arrived at Ollantaytambo and began the ritual of looking for the Hotel we had
planned to stay at. This has been a
theme, the hotels are never where Mapsource or Google says they are. So Chuck stayed with the bikes while I hiked
around the city. Finally, I found it across
towns and down an alley. That’s our
bikes parked at the end of the alley at the Hotel Casa del Mama Valle.
It was Ollantaytambo’s
125th anniversary. They had
plenty celebration planned, children’s bands, speaches and in the evening a
band. Chuck and I had perfect seats to
hear the band and the music was honestly pretty good. The view however was sometimes blocked by
semi-tractor trailers waiting in the middle of the concert crowd to go through
a narrow one vehicle wide entrance on the other side. Imagine that, having a concert in the plaza
while traffic is still passing.
Crazy stuff, you would never see in the US.
We bought round trip tickets
for the train that night down this road.
Notice all the flowers. November
and December is the prime blossoming time, flowers were blossoming everywhere.
So we traveled by train from
Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu City, which is also known as Aguas Caliente
because of the hot spring. The train
ride was very picturesque, but only if you sat on the side away from the train
station. The other side was mostly
looking at the side of the wall.
In Aguas Caliente, we
expected to find not much in the way of a city.
Were we wrong? The city was
bustling, lots of shops, a market square and plenty of restaurants and
bars. Everyone you past had a hawker
trying to bring you in. Chuck met a hawker who had a deal for a hostel. We followed
her to her place and it was perfect for the night and the price was right,
about $30.
We woke up the next
morning BEFORE the crack of dawn and were down at the bus station before
5:30a. Chuck had read that only the
first 400 of the day got to visit the temple of the high priest and we wanted
to do that. We rode the bus up to the
entrance gate. You can hike up but it is
about 3.5 km, and we saw some who did walk up, and I am glad we rode the
bus.
So here is where things
got a little off. We got in line with the
collective and began to notice they all had tickets to get into Machu Picchu.
We began to ask
ourselves if we needed tickets, could we buy tickets here? Finally I asked a gate agent at the top
of the stairs. She told me we needed
tickets and could not buy tickets there, we had to go back down. Or, maybe one of the guides could help
us. I actually asked the guide closest
to the us sort in the left center of the picture. She called, got our information and ordered
some tickets to be delivered, but it took an extra hour and half. Chuck was pretty bummed that he had missed
the requirement for tickets to be pre-purchased.
Ultimately it all worked
out for the best. I don’t think we were prepared to make the trek to the temple of the high priest. It was a very long climb up a narrow path to
the top of Wayna Picchu, the peak overlooking Machu Picchu. The path and stairs we climbed to the overlook on the other end of Machu Piccu was work enough.
Here is the standard picture of Machu Piccu with me in it! J Wayna Picchu is the prominent peak in the
middle and the Temple is near the top, although it is difficult to make out. The Wayna Picchu trail runs along the ridge where the
shadow is.
Here is Ruth, our guide, at the same point.
There were lots of
pictures taken but I won’t post them here.
It will have to wait until I have a better connection. But here is one I found quite funny. At first on the camera it looked
perfect. The Llama had been munching on
the grass all the time I walked by. When
I turned she raised her head and I took the shot. When I finally looked at it on the computer I
noticed an added character on the lower right.
I really don’t know what Chuck was taking a picture of, but may be that’s
why the Llama raised her head J
After traveling with the
guide for about 2 ½ hours and hearing about Machu Picchu, it was time for us to
leave.
So, here is a piece of
advice if you are planning on visiting Machu Picchu, you must take the train. Ollantaytambo is the furthest you can drive. You will be tempted to buy a round trip
ticket at the Ollantaytambo station, BUT DON’T!
Buy only the one way. When you
decide to leave from the other end, at Aquas Caliente, you can buy the return
ticket then. The line to purchase there
is non-existent.
Chuck and I wanted to
leave Aguas Calientes a little early since we were finished at Machu Picchu. And even though the early return train was
empty and the later train we were scheduled to take was practically full, they
would not exchange tickets. “Sorry sir,
my system only allows me to sell tickets. I must have twenty four hour advanced notice
to exchange.” Argggh! We sat around, drank beer, ate pizza, slept
on the park bench and basically became derelict. I guess it could have been worse.
So here are some
observations, from sitting around. These
folks are industrious. I hear there is plenty
of laziness but from watching I didn’t see much. I guess if the salary is structured correctly
you will get what you need. I suspect
they get paid for every load they deliver.
Here a person pulls a
full trolley of drinks up to perspective stores, bars or restaurants. We calculated these things must weigh around 300
lbs and it is up a very steep incline.
These
indigenous woman carry the loads on their back. I don’t know how much they
weigh but they are large. We watched as
she made at least 3 trips up and back this long incline carrying these bags.
Latter, Chuck was
talking with an engineer from Korea managing a power project in the area. The engineer said getting locals to work was
difficult, everything seemed to be “manjana”!
Here is a definition I took from the Urban dictionary: “To take it slow;
relax. Hey man, where were you? It's noon and we had an appointment at 9
o'clock sharp! Manjana, manjana!”
I guess, we should not expect to bring western (or eastern for that
matter) cultural expectations to another culture and expect them to work. Getting paid on an hourly basis in this
society apparently leads to unexpected results.
We finally got back to
Casa del Mama, spent the night and the next day we were up and on our way to
Puno, Peru.