Matchu Pitchu

Trip Start Aug 13, 2010
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Trip End Aug 12, 2011


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Flag of Peru  , Sacred Valley,
Wednesday, November 17, 2010

We had reached it; our final destination, our goal of the last few months. After battling taxi drivers, touts and rip off merchants. After trekking through mountains, canyons and forests. After sleeping on buses, floors and stations we were finally there. The ancient and lost Inca city of Matchu Pitchu. Well about as ancient as ´Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem´ in Nottingham in which I´ve sat down in and had a very nice Sunday roast and English ale. Unfortunately I wasn´t able to find that at Matchu Pitchu. They have let all their buildings go to ruins, isnt this ment to be a world heritage site? Come on put some effort in Peru. Joking aside and onto the blog . . . After a nights sleep interrupted by trains running ten meters from our heads we got out of bed late thank you to the most unfriendly hotel owners you have ever met. Still, we managed to get a bus from Aguas Calientas to the base of Matchu Pitchu. It was early, very early. I was in desperate need of coffee and strangely freaked out by the amount of gringos (white people) that I was surrounded by
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As we walked towards Matchu Pitchu it was still covered in thick fog and deserted. We spent the best of the morning exploring the ancient lost city.  We covered about a third of the sight while playing Indiana Jones (well I was at least even if Adam wasn't). The place felt like a fantastic ancient mystical maze dumped on the top of a mountain. Unfortunately the fog lifted to reveal thousands of American tourists competing with each other with the size of their camera lenses, the amount of food they could consume and the number of chins they could attach to their faces. We took this as an opportune moment to get away from the crowds by heading up Matchu Pitchu Mountain. Many people spend hours queuing to go up Wayna Pitch only to walk the conga up to the top,  really not my style and luckily the same for Adam.  We found a spot with a post card like view and ate our packed lunch during which I sighted a llama that looked so fluffy I could help but give it a hug, it did smell a little.

Still aching from out trekking in Colca Canyon we started descending back to Aguas Calientas, I immediately started to feel the lead like pain returning to my legs. After many hundreds of steps down a steep jungle mountainside we arrived starving hungry and exhausted. This presented us with something of a problem being broke and bed less in a town designed to squeeze every inch from westerners. By this point we often found ourselves walking to every single restaurant in town to try to find the best value for money. Usually we found it to be 'Chifa’ in Peru, which is Chinese food cooked by Chinese immigrants. Its good, you can usually get three courses for about two or three US dollars. Aguas Calientas wasn’t any different in this respect.

After killing a few hours we got on a train to return to Cusco where we hoped that our bags would still be safe. I never did find my ale . . .
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