So going to Machu Picchu was a crazy adventure. The roads are less than comforting to drive on. Half of the trip I was praying we would get to Aguas Calientes safely. But despite the scary part of the ride, I did enjoy all of the landscapes, mountain into jungle, cold and dry, cloudy, to warm and humid, it was one crazy ride. After two and a half hours driving on just a dirt road on the side of a mountain, I got down from the bus, still vibrating. It reminded me of the dirt road to my grandmother´s house in Virgina. I love landscapes so I was not bored at all, but a little nervous.
We finally arrived in Hidroelectrica to take a train on Peru Rail, we watched little kids play on the side of the railroad tracks and laugh at the funny things they were doing to pass the time. One was pulling back the branches of a tree and laughing as the others were falling down. They chased each other made funny comments to each other like all kids do, and it was very entertaining. After an hour on the train, we arrived in Aguas Calientes. After dropping off our things in the hostel, we went over to the hot springs. It was a beautiful site with the sunset, and the hot springs nestled in the valley, with strings of lights. It reminded me of the Swiss Family Robinson house at Disney World. I was loving it. Susanne and I decided just to put our feet in the water, for safety reasons, but Renate, the Swiss girl we were with, decided to go in all the way. They were serving drinks at the side of the pool, so we all decided to share a pisco sour and enjoy the time that we had before dinner.
Dinner was nothing to write home about, it was simple chicken a la plancha, but the thing that I was thinking about, was one of my many moments of clarity in Peru. As I was eating my dinner, I was watching these people sit in a store across the street and over the train tracks. I felt bad for them that they had to live in this town, where people are constantly coming and going because basically the only reason Aguas Calientes is there is for the tourists to stay the night. So feeling this way, I thought to myself, if everyone traveled at the same time, we could not have any culture to visit. So sometimes, you have to stay home to give someone else a chance to see how your culture is. Not very profound, but an observation.
After dinner and a debriefing, we headed back to the hostel to sleep for a grand total of 3 hours. When 3:30 rolled around, we rolled out of bed and headed up the side of the mountain to see Machu Picchu. It was pitch black , but we had a blast all the same. All of my pictures go from dark to light, as the sun started to peak over the mountains. I was exhausted. The altitude and the idea that we had to walk up steps the whole way, after almost two hours we arrived at the entrance of Machu Picchu. Feeling accomplished, we walked into Machu Picchu with our tour guide, and when we finally climbed up to the mountain, I was in awe. Usually when you see something in Pictures and then you see it in real life, words are hard to come by to explain the feeling of actually witnessing it with your own eyes. This is one of those places where pictures cannot even begin to do it justice. There is a feeling you get being there in the peak of a mountain, surrounded by other mountains. Its like you are on top of the world, and even though there are tons of people with you, you feel like the only person there. How did they find this place? And on top of that, I am one of those people who loves landscapes. Painting landscapes has been my favorite,and I would have enjoyed nothing more than to sit there all afternoon and paint the scenes that were in front of me. Although it would be really hard to capture the amazing contrasts and depth, every corner was a new adventure, new perspective with an incredible view. This hidden city up in the clouds was so comforting because the mountains give the idea of protection, and somewhere to hide, the coziest place I have ever been to. Peru is incredible when it comes to the mountains. Its somewhere you can enjoy the beauty that God has made on Earth.
After a long, but awesome morning in Machu Picchu, we decided that driving home again for 10 hours on the side of a mountain was not very favorable. We decided to try to get a train back to Cusco. Luck was on our side because the lady in front of us was changing four of her tickets for the day after so we took three of her spots. There was nothing left and only because she was in front of us were we able to take the train back. Spending the day in Aguas Calientes was interesting. All we did was bounce back and forth from restaurant to restaurant even though we had no money because of the train tickets. But it was an interesting few hours. We watched our bored waitress falling asleep, and laughed at the funny things that her daughter was doing to pass the time. We also watched this little boy take a large plastic soda bottle, smash it in so that it was flat, and then since the streets were inclined, he used the bottle to slide down the street. It was a highly amusing afternoon.After the thrill was gone, we moved onto a new restaurant and had a great time drinking hot chocolate and being bit by the vicious mosquitoes . But at least we did not have the endure the 10 hour car ride home again.
Overall I loved Machu Picchu, It was such a precious and magical place. I hope that the conservation efforts work out, because it would be a shame if future generations would not be able to visit it.
