What is often the defining moment of a travelers trip to South America started out as a disaster for me. The farmers strike meant I couldn´t see the mountain in one day, as many do, but that I would have to hike. We were told by the tour company that we would leave at 2am, but I recieved a call at the hostel at 11pm informing me that we wouldn´t leave til 6. The bus left at 5. I was picked up at 5.30am and rushed in a taxi to the next town where the bus had been waiting for more than half an hour.
After we (a group of about 20) encountered several road blocks (smashed glass, felled trees, rocks, bonfires) the bus driver decided to take an alternative route - up the side of a mountain. We got about 20 minutes along this road before we all decided it was too dangerous, and got out to walk. After about a half hour of walking the bus still wasn´t with us, and we were told to wait. Our ´guide´ informed us that the bus couldn´t continue along the road and that we should walk back down the mountain (not the road) to wait for it. It didn´t come. We spent 7 hours walking to Ollantaytambo, a decision we made ourselves, and were all sufficiently pissed off when we arrived. The day meant we had to find alternative places to eat and sleep, and that we missed out completely on the mountain biking.
The majority of people in our group were only supposed to be on a two day tour to Machu Picchu, and they all cancelled their trip that night. The 8 of us that were on a four day trek were told it was possible to continue the next day as the police were clearing the roads, and that we would be able to leave as soon as they gave us the go ahead. We were informed that we would get our money back for the first day. I was too tired to care, but they weren´t making it easy for us to stay calm with them.
We were told that we could leave at 11pm in a different bus, but the driver turned out to be drunk. Great.
After getting a few hours rest in a dodgy hostel, our bus arrived in town at 4am. We were woken up and continued past half cleared road blocks and angry farmers to the town where we were supposed to have slept the night before. We had breakfast and began our trek.
The rest of the time we spent getting to Machu Picchu was relatively normal. The trek was beautiful, we walked through extremely diverse landscapes, saw some amazing natural flora and fauna (even if some of it was tethered to a post) and had a lot of fun. We visited hot springs at the end of the firt day´s trek which were amazing and very relaxing. The second day´s trekking was relatively boring, along roads and train tracks, but we were all glad to arrive in Aguas Calientes (the town near Machu Picchu) and have a nice dinner and a good sleep.
We woke at four, threw our clothes on and practically ran the 2000 or so steps up to Machu Picchu. When we arrived there was still a hefty line before we could get in. We shovelled down our breakfast in the line and then we entered.
It was spectacular. Machu Picchu is basically a city built by the Incas sometime in the 1500´s or a little before. It wasn´t completely finished before the Spanish arrived, but smart thinking from a particular Inca (he destroyed part of the inca trail on both sides of the mountain after telling the inhabitants to evacuate) meant that it remained untouched for several centuries until it´s discovery in the early 1900´s by an American. It is said that Machu Picchu was a city of gold and an important and sacred city for the Incas (They worshiped Pachamama - Mother Earth - and the sun) but the incas took most of the gold with them when they left. The rest of the gold, along with other artefacts, was taken by the American who re-discovered the city shortly after he found it.
Today all that is left is the amazing stone structures (houses, temples, the school) that the Incas lived in. The area is beautifully preserved (some structures are being restored) and the grass is maintained by a healthy population of llamas. We climbed the second mountain - Wayna Picchu - which was difficult but definitely worth it. There were more ruins up there and a great view of Machu Picchu. An older man had broken his ankle and some medics pratically ran past us carrying a sretcher. The walk back down (I had heard something about an alternative route) turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. It took us half an hour of walking straight down stairs and ladders before we came across the great cave, which is supposed to be the point of this walk, but by the time we got there we were so sick of walking that we didn´t even care and kept hiking back to the entrance. It took almost another 2 hours of walking straight up and straight down before we arrived back at Machu Picchu, where we drank some ridiculously overpriced water before walking the same way back down to Aguas Calientes. We were all absolutely knackered and happy to sit down and have a burger and coke.
It´s easy to become disenchanted by the sheer amount of tourists (so many Americans) at the site, but for me it was a highlight. And I did it all in my flat-soled-no-laces Converse shoes. Maybe I´ll buy some hiking boots before my next trek.
We went as a group to get our money back the next day (after cerlebratory drinks the night before) and got nowhere. The agencies work together to book a company to take the tourists, and no one would accept the blame for the events of the first day. After being called stupid tourists by one company owner and arguing for half an hour with one lady who told us that we should call the police if we wanted our money back (because the police are so amazingly helpful here) the lady took us two blocks away to the owner of the company.
She was a woman in her 50´s who was about the size of a whale who had the temper of a caged lion. A bohemoth, if you will. She was sitting behind her desk and yelling at us in Spanish from the moment we arrived and it was clear that the other lady had taken us there so we would be intimidated. At one point she/he/it stood up and started screaming at me face to face. I yelled back at her in English to sit down, shut up and listen to us (We had at least one Spanish speaker with us, a calm negotiator) which she did for about 10 seconds before she started yelling again. She went on to blame me for the events of the first day and say that she had a piece of paper (conveniently in another town... It didn´t exist) with our signatures on it stating that we wished to continue the tour despite the events of the first day and didn´t expect money back. She called our guide on speaker phone, blaming him, and then started screaming at him too. I told her what I thought as well as I could in Spanish and she replied something a little bit too vulgar for me to write here. We decided it wasn´t worth any more of our time and left - Our opinion of Peru and as a country and it´s people changed for the worse.
We chatted over a few bottles of wine that night and ended up laughing about the events of the past few days. It was an experience that not everyone gets, and at least we saw Machu Picchu in the end.
I am now in Arequipa, Peru, enjoying the sunshine and reading books while not really caring too much for anything touristy that the town (Or country) has to offer. I will be back in Chile in a few days (I heard there´s a nice beach in Arica, Northern Chile) and am looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back to Australia. I fly out of Santiago on the 4th of June.
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