As I Journeyed through the Valley

Tuesday 27 April
Cusco – Machu Picchu

So today I was finally off to Machu Picchu. There was a bus that was supposed to pick me up at the hostel at a certain time. There was some confusion about this and eventually a person spoke to me on the reception phone. I was given directions to go and wait around the corner on the pavement. It seemed a bit random and confusing. Lots of taxis stopped to help me out, but I wasn’t waiting for them. Thankfully the bus eventually turned up and I boarded.

It was a small minibus and we started to wind our way over the Andes surrounding Cusco, occasionally picking up and dropping people off seemingly at random. There were some interesting views and landscapes before we came to the edge of a massive valley. As we came over the top I saw the small town of Ollantaytambo spread out across the valley floor with huge vertical mountains rising up the other side.

We drove to Ollantaytambo, changed buses and went on to another stop called Piscacucho via a single lane road with lots of stopping to allow buses past in the opposite direction. We waited there in the dark for a short while and then we were called to our train. Eventually after some shunting around and various confusions we boarded the train. Off we set for a short journey. Unfortunately it was dark, so I couldn’t see any of the landscape that we were travelling through.

Finally we arrived in Machu Picchu, and though it was dark I could see a massive hill shooting up beside the train station. This was my first taste at close quarters of the truly amazing landscape of this area.

I met up with the person from the hotel and we walked into town. We crossed the stream that runs through the town over a small, bouncy suspension bridge. We arrived at the hotel which was perfectly adequate, and not feeling hungry I went to bed sooner rather than later, in preparation of the early start tomorrow.