Machu Picchu (Amy’s version)

Amy and Greg had separate tours of Machu Picchu. Due to overtourism, the Peruvian government has put a lot of restrictions on visiting Machu Picchu. There are only 5000 tickets per day. Tickets are a timed entry. There are three circuits and each ticket has a specified time and circuit. Amy’s group had an 8 AM entry with circuit 2B- the most popular circuit.

There is a list of 32 rules when visiting Machu Picchu. Most are obvious - be respectful. There was one rule that we thought was odd that it had to be stated: no nude photos. There was a discussion in the group because that rule exists because of someone’s bad behavior.

We had to line up for the bus at 7 AM. There was a half hour wait for the bus. The drivers were amazing. They were able to turn around the buses on narrow roads while dodging pedestrians and backing up so that they almost but not quite hit the line of waiting passengers. The road from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu was windy switchbacks with only one lane. If another bus came in the other direction, a bus would need to back up on the narrow road. We made it up and back safely.

The first hour of our visit was spent taking photos. We had vista after vista with breathtaking views of Machu Picchu. Our guide Daniel was amazing at posing us for our photos!

Once we finished with our pictures, we continued on the circuit and were able to get closer to the structures (we were told they aren’t ruins because they weren’t destroyed.)

Many of the rooms were named by Hiram Bingham after he “discovered” Machu Picchu. Later research challenged his assumptions about the uses of the rooms but the names of the rooms were based on his original assumptions. For example, the Temple of three windows actually has five windows.

There were some well known structure. The semi-circular structure is the Temple of the Sun. It is designed, like other Incan temples to show a stream of light during the solstice.

We also saw some small animals. Daniel knew that there was a chinchilla sunbathing on the structure without looking because it’s always near the same spot. We also saw a few lizards hanging out.

By 11 it was getting warm! We were getting tired from the busy day. At the end of the circuit we ran into Greg’s group!

We rode the bus back to Aguas Calientes together. There we had a group lunch and planned to take the train back to Ollantaytambo and then a bus to Cusco. Things didn’t go as planned. There was a fire at the train tracks and the trains stopped running. There are only two ways to get in or out of Aguas Calientes, by train or by hiking! We spent 5 hours at the train station with little information. Our guides were amazing. They had figured out backup plans in case the train was cancelled for the night. We managed to get on the last train of the night, but didn’t get back to Cusco until after midnight. We had to pack our bags and get ready for an early morning flight. We checked into our room and started sorting our bags when the front desk called because they gave us the wrong room. We managed to get everything straightened out and got a short night’s sleep.