Machu Picchu
To catch the train, you need to get to the “Ollantaytambo” station 70 km from Cusco. From here there are three types of trains, the cheapest only for locals, then Voyager and 360 Bimodal train + bus to Machu Picchu (168 + 32 dollars round trip). +32 $. An entrance ticket to the Machu Picchu park with a visit to the mountain costs 200 (children 118) $. All tickets were bought in advance on the direct official website of Machu Picchu.
The road to “Aguas Calientes” is very picturesque, the jungle gives way to settlements and mountains. The whole route runs along the river. Panoramic windows of the train give a great view, there is also a separate place without windows where you can take photos and shoot videos.
On the train, you can taste coca tea and the local fruit “Granadilla”, which tastes like mango, looks like pomegranate.
Aguas Calientes is a village at an altitude of 2040 m above sea level, from the street itself, where all the hotels are located, next to them there is a bus stop, from which buses leave one by one.
MACCHU PICCHU
Early rise, breakfast. And we are already at the bus stop. There are a lot of people, the bus is small, we already have a ticket. In order to preserve, a limited number of people are allowed on Machu Picchu, no more than 2500 per day, even fewer up the mountain, not more than 400. To go 6 km, the bus goes along the serpentine, right along the edge of the cliff. It is better not to sit by the window impressive. The views are breathtaking. I saw a tourist, overcoming this path on foot. The bus rises to an altitude of 2400 m.
The original trail of the Incas along the river has also been preserved, the hike along which takes several days.
At the entrance, many guides offer their services, shops with souvenirs, cafes. The entrance is strictly according to the passport, whose details are indicated on the ticket. Passing on someone else’s ticket will not work. And now we are inside. The heart freezes with emotions. At such a height, in the mountains, to build The slopes of the mountains are lined with terraces, apparently something was grown there. And the terraces did not allow the mountains to crumble. Below are the ruins of the city. The remains of the walls, a well. Alpacas and llamas graze here everywhere. It is noteworthy that in no other part of the world alpacas did not take root.
Machu Picchu was built in the 15th century by Pachacutec, the 9th ruler of the Inca Empire, as an imperial residence. Supposedly there were no more than 1200 people who worshiped the sun god and cultivated the earth. The Spanish conquistadors did not reach it. More than 400 years he remained in desolation until it was discovered by an American explorer in 1911, after the pilots saw it from an airplane. Neither the time of its construction, nor the purpose, nor the number of inhabitants, nor its real name are known. After the collapse of the Inca Empire, the city lost its significance and the inhabitants left it forever.
The Incas did not know wheels and all the roads are stepped.
Following the sign – “the place where the sun is”, we go out onto a stepped path that rises up the mountain. My daughter refused to go, and I left her below. After 40 minutes of a steep climb (the water had run out long ago), I was terribly thirsty and I I already doubted the possibility of overcoming this path, the trail did not end, but the people descending towards us made it clear that we would overcome the path. The views from the height were stunning. On the one hand, there is a steep cliff overgrown with jungle, on the other, a mountain along which this serpentine wound Apparently, moving to the top. If it were not for the daughter left below, I would have overcome this rise, I really wanted to see that at the end and see the breathtaking views from above, but a lot of time passed and I began to worry. Deciding to go back down the road I I met my daughter crawling towards me, she decided that something had already happened to me,since it has not been shown for so long)
Machu Picchu left indelible impressions. I imagined how they lived here, sat on some mountain, looking from a height, listening to the silence, what were they thinking about? How was their time?
It’s time to return.
The same bus to Aguas Calientes, train and transfer to Cusco. Everything is included in the price of one ticket. There was no time left for an evening walk around Cusco, in the morning there was an early flight to Santiago, and my head was just splitting from the elevation difference.
