Day 11: Getting Into Hot Water....

Beautiful scenery en route to the train station

Day 6: Official itinerary: Lucmabamba - Aguas Calientes.  The day's trek starts out uphill for 2-3 hours towards Llactapata pass (2,736 m/8,974 ft) where we come upon a distant but very unique view of Machu Picchu from the recently restored Llactapata ruins.  Lunch is provided at the observatory, in view of Machu Picchu.  We then descend to the Hydroelectric train station where we take a train to Aguas Calientes, the town of Machu Picchu, and check into our hotel for the night.  Hot lunch en route, dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 6: Unofficial itinerary: Day off chillaxing and feeling not in the least guilty about not doing the hike.

I think it was a brilliant call to take the private van transfer to the train “station” instead of going on the monster hike this morning.  We heard everyone else get up at 6am, ready for a 7am departure and toyed with the idea of getting up too, to wave them off and wish them good luck, but we decided on a few more minutes sleep instead.  We had to be up fairly soon after, though, as we needed to leave our bags outside our room at 8am and have breakfasted and vacated our rooms by 8.30am.  Looking out of the window at the heavy mist and rain that had descended over the lodge made us very very glad we’d made the call yesterday not to do the hike today.  That extra moisture in the air would have made what was already going to have been a challenging hike even more treacherous, so we were both still feeling 100% comfortable with our decision the day before. 

After breakfast, we then had a couple of hours of just chilling out and relaxing on the couches in the living room.  Lisa was entertaining the kids of the lodge with her iPad and I was (as usual) catching up on some blogging.  Its been such a frenetic, hectic week, it just felt really nice to take a bit of a breather and reflect on what’s been an amazing trip so far. 

At 10.40am, it was time to leave the lodge and take the short walk back down to the road where we would be meeting our private transfer.  Johann had stayed behind with us, so he looked after us until it was time to drop us off at the meeting point where we’d rejoin the rest of the group.  The drive was spectacular, with stunning views of the verdant green mountains and river valley.  We passed a few waterfalls, including one that was enormous – until Johann explained that it was the unused water from the hydroelectric dam a short way away.   Again, the drive reminded me of my time in Bhutan, with the narrow dirt roads, the blind corners and the sheer drop-offs just a few inches to the left or right of the van’s tires! 

Bag jam at the train station

But, we made it in one piece and Johann walked us over to the restaurant where we were to wait for a couple of hours until the rest of our group (hopefully all intact) re-joined us after Monster Hike.  The restaurant didn’t seem to serve any other food except for sweets, ice-cream and potato chips.  That, plus the remnants of our Snack Bags, and we were in for a very carb-laden lunch!

But there was lots to look at and people watching from our balcony up in the restaurant.  All lining the rail tracks were little shacks selling the usual collection of bodegas bounty – candy, water, bread, fried things, plantains and, strangely enough, cell phones.  As well as all the vendors running up and down the tracks, there were piles and piles of traveler luggage heaped in the middle between the two train lines, all wrapped up in brightly colored plastic sacks (with varying degrees of thoroughness).  Obviously we were getting a behind the scenes look at the logistics end of shipping many many sweaty trekkers from hike to hike.

Peru Rail

At 1.30pm, we finally spotted Top Brit and Top Banana walking along the train tracks heading towards us.  We were very relieved to see them in one piece as we’d been a bit worried about how slippy and steep the descent was going to have been, given the morning rain.  About 20 mins later the rest of the group came into view – everyone was very tired (it had been a very challenging trek) but very happy they had done it.  My 100% certainty rating probably slipped to about 90%, but I still think it was the right call.  Apparently Machu Picchu tomorrow is actually quite a hike to get round the city so I’d rather save my energy (and my knees!) for that.

Lots of standing around trying to figure out
where we should go!

After the group re-joined, we had about another 45mins or so until it was time to board the train to Aguas Calientes.  Liz had all our tickets and we all had assigned seats, so you’d think it would have been a fairly straightforward process.  But, no.  It was all rather chaotic with lots of people milling about, porters dragging carts through the crowds and some very sweaty backpackers looking rather grumpy.  The sense of collective confusion was enhanced by the minor detail that no-one knew which carriage corresponded to which letter!   Apparently they are only assigned about 10 mins before departure time so once they got announced, there was a mad scramble for the carriages.  Our bags had been brought to the rail tracks for us by the porters from the lodge, so all we had to do was make sure our bag had made it onto the train and then go and take our surprisingly comfortable seats!  

  

The trip was about an hour long and followed the path of the river through the valley before terminating in Aguas Calientes.  Aguas Calientes is probably exactly how you’d imagine it – a tourist town, stuffed full to the brim of souvenir shops selling all the MP tat you could ever possibly need, plus lots of tourist-oriented restaurants (“4 for 1 Pisco Sours!”) and a crush of people and noise that we’d become quite gloriously unaccustomed to over the last week.  It really was a bit of an assault on the senses.  Our hotel was a short 10min walk away from the train station, through the market, then along the side of the river before arriving at the Hotel Inkaterra, our base for the night.  It was a lovely hotel in absolutely beautiful grounds stuffed full of orchids, butterflies, hummingbirds and other assorted exotic things.  We were met by one of the staff who gave us a map (which, as we found out later, was definitely needed!) and explained where things were and what time/where we needed to go for breakfast, dinner etc.

The surprisingly luxurious train carriage to
Aguas Calientes

By this time it was about 4pm and dinner wasn’t until 7.30pm, so theoretically we had a couple of hours to chill out and enjoy the hotel.  However, Lisa and I were both running low on cash, so had to be brave and walk back into town and find the ATM which we did with surprisingly little drama (also successfully navigating the temptation of vastly oversized “alpaca” hats and psychotically colored floppy sunhats in the market).  After getting cash out (which took a while due to some slow-of-thinking 20-something American guys in front of us (I think it might have been the first time they’d ever used an ATM)), I just HAD to go find something to eat as I was starving, so Lisa and I ended up in a little café restaurant just outside the market.  It looked nice enough but, to be honest, the food was really rather crap but I was so hungry I didn’t really care.  The service took aaaaaaaaaages, so it was starting to get dark by the time we walked back to the hotel and tried to find our room again.   A little trickier this time!  The beautiful grounds in twilight turned into an impenetrable maze but we did manage to find our room again eventually!  It was a good size, all rustically furnished, but it did smell a bit damp and forest-y. 

Our restaurant for the evening was very nice,
despite being on the wrong side of the tracks....

Dinner was good but it was a bit late by the time it was finished, as we didn’t leave the restaurant til 9pm.  Tomorrow is another early start, as we have to be up and checked out ready to leave for Machu Picchu at 6am.  I know MP is supposed to be the highlight of this trip but, to be honest, I’ve already seen so many amazing sights that I’m actually feeling a bit ambiguous about it.  I’m not sure how anything could top the majesty of the Salkantay glacier pass and the surrounding mountain peaks, so we shall see.  And, of course, tomorrow also happens to be my birthday so its going to be a pretty damn good day no matter what!!  3 years ago I rang in my 40^th birthday with my good friend Dom Perignon, sitting on the terrace of a stunning hotel in Thimpu, Bhutan.  I have a feeling that this year’s celebration is going to be just as memorable!