Rather than take the outrageously priced train, we reached the town at the base of Machu Picchu via busses, taxis, and a little hiking. At all points of the journey, many other backpackers had the same intentions. For less stories and more facts, read this post.

 

Day Three

After eliminating the spider that had infiltrated our stash of Clif bars, checking out of the guesthouse meant another awkward exchange. They tried to convince us the roads were impossibly dangerous and to leave our bags with them. Hell no. We hurried to the bus station and although all my prior research said to take a bus straight to Santa Maria, the locals said we had to take a collectivo to Ollantaytambo first. So we did, $.40, half an hour.

When doing this budget travel route to reach Machu Picchu, THIS IS WHERE YOU WATCH FOR SCAMS. I instantly recognized Ollan as having that cheesy central square lined with gringos sitting at cute cafes eating Western breakfast, while locals ate street food in the middle of the plaza.

A lady approached us and insisted that 40 soles ($11.50) would get us all the way to the hydroelectric plant, the drop-off point for walking along train tracks to Aguascalientes. AC is the town at the base of Machu Picchu, and the only way in is to take a $130 train ride, or do this.

After enjoying a bowl of warm potatoes, boiled egg, and mysterious green sauce, the bus showed at 9:30am. It was a small charter bus from Cusco, and apparently the price from Cusco is also 40 soles. Where we went wrong was paying the woman before we boarded, and received no receipt of any kind.

I endured the raging need to pee and the sketchy mountain roads as gushing water and broken cement splayed across the highway. Finally, after nearly four hours, we reached Santa Maria only to find that we still needed to transfer vehicles.. The views en route were of course beautiful.

The cutest German couple helped us argue with the collectivo drivers who wanted to charge us extra payments. Luka was fluent in Spanish, volunteering on a gap year in the jungle while her boyfriend, Till, was a second year medical school student. Will, Till, and I discussed differences in healthcare and medical school between Germany and America. It sounds nice to go straight from high school to performing physical exams on patients while taking biochemistry for the first time, involving no physics and minimal biochemistry.

Miles of potholes later, we were dumped at a broken bridge in the hot and sunny outskirts of Santa Teresa. We had now entered the South American jungle. A sort of zip line had been devised where one or two of us sat in a steel cart as we got shuttled across as the locals yanked on cables from each end. I saw several kids with school bags go. Then it was our turn.

On the other side it was unclear who was supposed to meet us and continue the drive, so we ended up taking a collectivo for $1.40 to the hydroelectric power plant, or hidrioelectrica, which meant we thankfully didn’t have to cough up the extra money that had been scammed of us.

And so began our 8-mile trek. There are several entry points onto the main railroad from the lower station, involving a brief hike on jungle trail. Turning left at the new tracks, we followed along until Aguascalientes. It was 2.5 hours of alternating between the smooth planks of the tracks and the large chunks of gravel that threatened to twist ankles. Although I was so sick of walking by the end, all of my Chinchero souvenirs and belongings made it.

Be prepared for some crazy scenery as the deadly rapids pummel alongside etched peaks. My favorite red steel bridge was rusting away by a marshy patch of river. A flock of macaws flew overhead. Tunnels dripped on us.

Street lamps came into view just as dusk was wrapping up. Town was a disgusting tourist trap. Restaurant after restaurant advertised pizzas and alpaca. French bakeries and coffee shops flanked a giant statue of Incan warrior that makes me cringe when I remember it.

Sweatier than I had prepared for, I learned that Supertramp hostel was another 10 minutes up hill. Our shoulders were freed of our bags in the lobby as the desk staff, very nice backpackers from Chile, oriented us.

Showers. Then food hunting. The five of us tried different fruits including granadias, a type of passion fruit, and pepinos, a yellow and purple fruit that looks just like a tomato and tastes like one too, except mixed with cantaloupe.

We quickly fell in love with the street banana bread, $.40 a slice. Then we stumbled something like Relish, only better. For under $2 we got salchita pollo sandwiches, which is actually a shredded chicken burger topped with fries, fried egg, fried cheese, tomato, lettuce, and all the sauces and condiments a heart could possibly desire. The lady was happy to serve us and I knew Quentin could easily live off that food stand for the rest of his life.

Full of greasy goodness we mentally prepared ourselves for tackling tomorrow’s World Wonder.

 

Each post from this trip includes this map that I intensively labored to create from how I saw the trip in my mind: