The Road to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a must see destination for most South American travellers - The mountaintop city of the Incas was a home away from home for the Inca elite, but was abandoned by the Inca on the arrival of the Spanish. Unlike most other Inca sites, the site was undiscovered, and hence not destroyed, by the Spanish. While the local Quechuas always knew about it, Machu Picchu remained unknown the the rest of the world until 1911.

Nowadays though the site has become so popular that it has of course become really expensive - the train to the site alone costs $150US, an incredible amount for Peru, where you can live comfortably for $10 a day. Although the officials will never tell you this, there is a cheap way to get there - its called walking the train tracks.

It only costs 8hrs and some stiff legs each way...




There were plenty of other cheap skates to enjoy the walk with... and it was a very scenic walk too.














At the end of the tracks - the town of Agua Calientes, which has sprung up to meet the demands of thousands of tourists a day.... It is in a fairly precarious position though (check that photo on the left...) 2 years ago a landslide killed eleven people. One of the days I was there, emergency sirens started blaring and then the locals started screaming and running up hill away from the river, with very genuine fear across their faces. I followed somewhat confused. This repeated itself three or four more times later over the next few hours. Turns out there had been a landslide slightly up river from the town and there were fears there would be a flash flood as a result. The river did rise, but not over it´s banks. Check the colour of the water in that other photo though... that´s not normal.

Above Agua Calientes there is a steep mountain you can climb (forget its name, but that's the one on the right) and get some pretty nice views of Machu Piccu - Albeit from a long way away.

Machu Piccu itself,as the early morning fog rises. (The big steep peak behind the ruins is called Huayna Picchu)

Some bloke and a Llama get their heads in the way of the view.

This is the view of the site from the top of Huayna Picchu....

There are various ruins scattered around (and on top of!) Huayna Picchu as well. Halfway down is a big cave, and inside the cave is the Temple of the Moon. Interestingly, the cave is totally protected from the rain and so the ruins there are in even better nick than most of the other spots.... so you can see just how great those Inca stone masons really were.