Day 13: AGUASCALIENTES - MACHU PICCHU - OLLANTAYTAMBO
It's 4 in the morning and the day has come when we will fulfill a dream. One of those dreams that we had seen in books and documentaries since we were children and that the time has finally come to see it with our own eyes, today we will have before us the city of Machu Picchu.
Last night we went to bed at La Pequena Casita Hotel at 10 p.m., with the background noise of the Aguascalientes river that we have right in front of our room. The river falls full and between stones so the noise is deafening and makes us feel, if possible, much closer to the icing that will crown this trip to Peru for free.
This morning I woke up several times perceiving a slight sound of rain. In the end, at 3.38 in the morning to be exact, I could not resist anymore and I went straight to the window.
What I have seen has left me the least thoughtful and somewhat nervous. It's raining. So making new plans for myself still raining today I go back to bed, unable to catch the dream.
I can't help thinking that today, that which always helps us with time, cannot fail us.
And so the minutes pass until at 4 o'clock the alarm sounds and we pull the bed straight towards the window: it has stopped raining. The smile on our face is a poem.
We will clean and fix the backpack that we will leave at the hostel until this afternoon that we return from our visit to the city of Machu Picchu in one day and take the train to Ollantaytambo.
Breakfast starts at 5, so it's time to have breakfast in turns to queue as soon as possible at the bus stop. bus that takes from Aguascalientes to the city of Machu Picchu, which yesterday when we arrived in Aguascalientes we took the tickets to advance time.
When it is 5.15 in the morning I go to the queue to make the change and there are so many people that the queue comes almost to the door of the hotel and Roger is almost at the beginning, so he says he prefers not to go to breakfast and wait for him to leave The first bus for a few minutes.
And in 5 minutes, at 5.20 in the morning we are mounted in the first bus that takes us direct to the city of Machu Picchu.
Remember that there is a limited number of tickets to see Machu Picchu and they sell out quickly, so you have to book as far in advance as possible. In addition, as it happened to us and many travelers have explained to us, buying them through the official website is often problematic, since non-Peruvian cards give payment errors. With this in mind, a good option is to reserve the official Ticket for the Lost Citadel of Machu Picchu here.
Bus from Aguascalientes to Machu Picchu city
The climb is incredible although the darkness and fog do not allow us to see where we are going, but perhaps that is what makes this incredible ascent.
Along the way, we meet a lot of people with their fronts that walk up and that certainly has to be an incredible experience.
We arrive at checkpoint of the city of Machu Picchu, where we have to show the passport and the entrance at 5.50 in the morning, ten minutes before they open and we are only a few meters away from a dream.
A few minutes before 6, the doors open and we pass the checkpoint, where passports and tickets look at us, but not the backpacks as we had read.
We begin the ascent, that everything must be said that at this time and with a few hours of sleep it tires a little and on top of that it has rained, the stones slide a lot, so we get tired a little more than expected.
We finally arrive at the guardian's house and see him: in front of us, covered in fog and only showing himself slightly, very slightly, almost invaluable.
The city of Machu Picchu hidden behind the fog
Is incredible. One of those sensations that we know we will never forget and that although it sounds topical, it leaves us totally in love with the place.
We took the opportunity to take some photos, trying to make a dent among people when it starts to rain again.
We can not believe it ourselves. It only gives us time to get back to the Cabin of the Guardian and protect ourselves waiting for the rain to subside and give us a truce.
And although it seems like a lie, we spend the next 2 and a half hours. The rain becomes intense and the fog covers everything. I think we are so surprised that we don't believe it at all.
When there are a few minutes to 9 in the morning and seeing that the rain has left its intensity to give way to drizzle Roger is encouraged and we decided to go down to visit the ruins.
Although we do not have the best weather we would have thought and the fog is not the best ally in the city of Machu Picchu, we decided that we must start to visit as much as possible in case the weather worsens.
The visit to The lost city of the Incas of Machu Picchu is the icing on any trip to Peru and even Latin America, which with a spectacular location becomes the best known archaeological site on the continent and perhaps in the world.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Peru
- How to get to Machu Picchu from Cusco
- 10 essential places to visit in Peru
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Peru
- The best travel insurance for Peru
This imposing city went unnoticed by the Spanish conquerors and was practically forgotten until the 20th century.
In high season, from the end of May to the beginning of September only a maximum of 2500 visitors are allowed per day, so we recommend that you get your tickets in advance so as not to run the risk of running out of them.
Ruins of the city of Machu Picchu
If we go directly to the ruins from the direct access and not through the cabin of the Funeral Rock Guardian a large terrace is crossed to a beautiful complex formed by 16 ceremonial baths connected, which cascade, are distributed among the ruins accompanied by flights of stairs.
Ceremonial baths in the city of Machu Picchu
Just above the bathrooms you see the only circular construction of the city of Machu Picchu, the Temple of the Sun, a curved tower that narrows to the apex and houses some of the most beautiful stonework in Machu Picchu. Apparently it was used for astronomical purposes.
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish from Cuzco by travelers:
- Excursion to Machu Picchu
- 2-day route along the Inca Trail
- Great 4-day route along the Inca Trail
- Excursion to the Sacred Valley of the Incas- Many more excursions and tours here
Inside there is an altar and a trapezoidal window, curiously perforated, overlooking the site.
You cannot enter the temple but you can see it from above, from the stairs that go down and that are to the left of the Guardian's cabin.
Temple of the Sun in Macchu Picchu
Under the Sun Temple there is a cave of natural rock that is quite hidden and in which the Inca stonecutters carefully carved a stepped altar and sacred niches. It is known as the Royal Tomb, although no body was found here.
Royal Tomb in the city of Machu Picchu
Going up the stairs that remain above the ceremonial baths you reach an embankment with scattered rocks that were once used as a quarry. At the end of the stairs turning right and after passing the quarry you reach the home run Sacred Square.
Square square in Machu Picchu
On the far side there is a small viewpoint, with a semicircular wall that offers spectacular views of the Vilcabamba mountain range and the Urubamba river at the foot.
The other three sides of the sacred square are surrounded by important buildings.
The Temple of the Three Windows It offers stunning views of the square through the three huge trapezoidal windows that give this building its name.
On the right you can see the Main Temple, whose name comes from the solidity and perfection of its construction. In the back corner of the temple there is a crack caused because the land has yielded and not because of the inefficiency of the builders of Machu Picchu.
Macchu Picchu
Main Temple of Machu Picchu with some cracks caused by the ceding of the land
In front of the Main Temple we will find the house of the High Priest. Behind, but connected with the Main Temple is the little sacristy with numerous beautifully finished niches, which they apparently used for the storage of ceremonial objects, as well as a carved stone bench.
Machu Picchu ruins
Behind the Sacristy there is a staircase that climbs a small mound up to the most famous sanctuary of Machu Picchu, the Intihuatana, translated as "mooring post of the sun" and refers to the carved stone pillar that has often been confused with a sundial and that stands on top of the Intihuatana hill.
Inca astronomers were able to predict solstices using the angles of this pillar.
Intihuatana or sun mooring post
At the back of the Intihuatana there is another staircase that goes down to the Central Square, which separates the ceremonial sector of Machu Picchu from the industrial and residential sectors, not as well finished as the rest of the constructions we have seen so far.
At the lower end of the Central Square we will find an area called the Prisons group, which is a complex of cells and passages, located both above and below ground.
Among the constructions of Machu Picchu
The most valued piece of this set is the Temple of the Condor that shows a sculpture of a condor and a background of natural rocks that look like extended wings.
Macchu Picchu
After always traveling under the fog and in some moments a light rain the most important and known areas of the city of Machu Picchu we go towards Control Center to ascend the Huayna Picchu.
Checkpoint to climb the Huayna Picchu
Here we have to say that despite having the tickets purchased in advance at the same time that we bought the one that gave us access to Machu Picchu, today they confirm that it is not the most appropriate day to do it since because of the rain the ascent is not safe and with the fog that is there, probably once up there we see nothing.
Apart from the fact that we were not too convinced to do so, we have only lacked this comment from the person at the box office to leave this "icing" for another occasion.
Views of the people who, despite the recommendations, ascend to Huayna Picchu
After this and when it is almost 1 noon we decide that it is time to go out to eat something, rest and go to the bathroom.
We bring something to eat in the backpacks, but it must be said, although it sounds the weirdest thing in the world, we are premiered by all organized groups and people who are at this time visiting Machu Picchu, so we need a break and rest even if they are A few minutes outside the enclosure.
Eating in the only restaurant / bar, other than the hotel, outside the Machu Picchu compound
After eating a couple of sandwiches with potatoes for 51 soles and adding 10 soles for coffee, without drinks that we already brought them we go back to the Machu Picchu enclosure around 2 noon hoping to enjoy this incredible place a little more .
And when we started to ascend again and we see that there are almost no people and that the sky is quite clear we reconcile with that Machu Picchu that we saw this morning full of people and organized groups that had left us a bad taste despite Looking forward to enjoying it to the fullest.
Machu Picchu views
In front of one of the wonders of the world, Machu Picchu
We have about 2 and a half hours until 4 in the afternoon or so that we have to return to the checkpoint to take the bus that returns us to Aguascalientes to catch the train from which we already have the tickets at 17.27 to Ollantaytambo, the place where we will stay today, so we do not waste time and we intend to dedicate this time to enjoy the landscape and the views with a much clearer sky.
Macchu Picchu
The sky begins to clear in Machu Picchu
These 2 and a half hours fly by going back up to the Guardian's Hut and back to tour the ruins of the upper part of Machu Picchu.
At this time we had to decide if we did the way to the Inca Bridge or Inka Punt or we went back to tour the most important parts that this morning we had not finished enjoying and we chose this last option and now seeing it from a distance we believe that we have not been wrong at all.
Immortalizing Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu among the fog
After this reconciliation and what it represents for us, which is to see things positively, we can say that we have had the great luck of being here and living Machu Picchu wrapped in a fog and in an environment that we probably would not have lived on a sunny day.
You have to look at the positive side of everything, right? And more when we are traveling.
And so we spend these last hours until 4 in the afternoon that we take the bus again and undo the road walked this morning at 5.30 a.m. in the rain and return to Aguascalientes.
Aguascalientes Town
We pick up the backpack of La Pequena Casita Hotel and the minutes we have left until our train from Aguascalientes to Ollantaytambo We take the opportunity to walk around the market and the streets of a town that seems to be a result of the tourist need of Machu Picchu.
Aguascalientes Market
It is 17.27 when our train leaves on time and today, with some daylight we can enjoy the first part of the trip seeing ourselves surrounded by incredible landscapes.
Train from Aguascalientes to Ollantaytambo
And on top of an Andean background music that makes the journey a delight, not like yesterday that we played as background music the shouts of a group of students 😉
When we have been traveling for half an hour, a costumed boy comes out dancing and taking people out to dance traditional dances in the middle of the train car. Although it is not something that we especially like, it gives an original touch to this journey that we already do under the darkness.
We arrive at Ollantaytambo at 7 pm and just look at the roof of the train, which is made of glass, we see that a flood is falling. It is clear that today is our special day in Peru and that we will not get rid of the rain or to end a day like today.
As soon as they leave, they offer us a taxi to Cuzco from Ollantaytambo and we take the opportunity to ask for prices to go tomorrow in taxi from Ollantaytambo to Salineras de Maras, Chinchero and Moray ending in Cuzco, which are the places we still have to visit.
They start asking us for 180 soles that we managed to lower to 150 after a little haggling. This has been the only place in Peru where we have been able to haggle a taxi.
This same guy with whom we are dealing with tomorrow's excursion brings us closer to the hotel for 5 soles and when we go to pay him he tells us that he has no change, so we tell him that we are going to the Tikawasi Valley hotel and he makes us the comment that we ask hotel to confirm that 150 soles per go from Ollantaytambo to Salineras de Maras, Chinchero and Moray ending in Cuzco With a duration of about 4 or 5 hours is a good price.
He has put the candy in his mouth, so we do that and when we ask in the Tikawasi Valley where we will stay tonight, they give us a price of 140 soles for 6 hours of tour, leaving us a lower price than the taxi driver.
So when we are going to pay the boy we tell him and although he drops us to 140 soles, we tell him that we are sorry but we have already closed with the hotel to see that he gave us a better price.
Night comes to Ollantaytambo
And between check in and rest of a few minutes they give us 8 at night, so we went to a pizzeria that is almost next to the hotel and is recommended among the best restaurants in Ollantaytambo where we ordered a pizza, a meat dish, beer more coke for 61 soles.
And when it's almost 10 at night it's time to go to sleep after an incredible day.
Today it is clear that we will dream. It will be with Machu Picchu.
Amazing Machu Picchu
In the ruins of Machu Picchu
"Dreams only die if the dreamer dies"
After this day and this visit to Machu Picchu and although we can not but say that it is an incredible and special place, we also want to emphasize some things that we think after having known what it is and what surrounds the city of Machu Picchu:
Peru is much more than Machu Picchu without a doubt.
For a Machu Picchu without guides or organized groups and with more limited access.
For a Machu Picchu with minimum services according to the place and the price of the tickets
Day 14 - OLLANTAYTAMBO - SALINERAS DE MARAS - MORAY - CHINCHERO - CUZCO
