Peru - Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu - The Peruvian Gold Mine

Train between Cusco-Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo) = $48USD each way
Bus between Aguas Calientes-Machu Picchu site = $7USD each way
Entry fee to Machu Picchu = $13USD (and thats the student price, $23 for regular entry)
Bottle of water = $5USD

Now multiply that by a thousand visitors a day. I think I know how Peru sustains its economy.

But still, you cant go to Peru and NOT go to Machu Picchu. Since its the wet season and the Inca Trail, the most popular 4 day hike into the area, is closed for February, there werent nearly as many tourists as there might have been. We managed to catch a 7am bus up the mountain. And as hideously expensive as it is, Machu Picchu is really cool. And HUGE. I really didnt have any sense of how big it was from its pictures. It sprawls across three summits and quite a few Incas would have lived there.



I had deep respect for the snowbird seniors making their way around the site with their walking sticks, as I was huffing and puffing and watching my step on some precarious rock staircases. The huffing and puffing actually yielded the benefit of stopping frequently to ´admire the scenery´(by which I mean catch my breath), otherwise my most clear memories of these ruins would be staring at the stairs beneath my feet the whole time!

Mick had brought me around on attempting to hike Huayna Picchu, the neighbouring peak, as the views were said to be spectacular. However, apparently other people had heard this rumour and beat us to the punch. Turns out they only let 400 people per day hike that trail to protect it and by 930 am, the mountain was already closed. Although genuinely disappointed, I was also just the teensiest bit relieved... the Andes are rather steep cliff faces near the tops. Not easy hikes.

And maybe the Canadian Rockies have spoiled me, but I didnt find the train ride through the Andes nearly as magnificent as Lonely Planet had led me to believe. The Andes are cool in their own way, since theyve eroded in really interesting shapes and so are still nice to look at, but the landscape in Peru is very brown. Lima was desert brown where we landed, the river Urubamba here in the mountains is brown with dirt, and the Andes are brown at the summits. I like a good snow cap on a mountain myself.

One other point where I diverge with the Lonely Planet... they slammed Aguas Calientes as a really awful tourist trap. Granted I would never shop at their markets, which were triple the prices of Cusco. It is certainly overpriced and not the prettiest town with all the construction, but it was still nice enough with the river running through the center of town, lots of walking promenades and nestled right in between some lush forested Andean mountains. Too harsh, LP, too harsh.