I booked transport to Hidroelectrica with the travel agency of my first host Chalex (I am staying with my second host now as Chalex got a 4-day job in the mountains). In Cusco everyone has a travel agency, tourism is the main source of income for the town.
The minibus picked me up at 7.30 am on Monday. It was full and I was too sleepy to start a conversation with the people. However, at one point the discussion between guys turned to my favourite subject: Colombian politics, and this was the moment when I had my say. We all introduced ourselves. There was a guy from Ecuador (a "walking encyclopedia"), a guy from Colombia, 3 guys from Argentina, 2 girls from England and 2 girls from France. All of them very nice. We talked about politics, economy, religion, food, sex, marriage and many other subjects - no taboo existed. All the conversations were in Spanish :)
The landscape was breathtaking. High mountains, waterfalls, wooden bridges. I just can't describe how beautiful it was. Well, dangerous too as there were small mountain roads right by the very steep slopes. I felt a little bit sick on the altitude of 5000 meters above the sea level.
We arrived in Hidroelectrica. Some of the people wanted to take train to Aguas Calientes where our hostel was, others wanted to walk (I wanted to walk for experience and it was free). It appeared that the train ticket price rose from 8 to 18 dollars on that day (120% increase!!!!! - with no warning or any information given out !!). Everyone decided to walk to save money. The walk was fantastic - it took us 2.5 hours to get to Aguas Calientes but it was worth it. Who takes the train, misses a lot !!
We arrived in Aguas at 7 pm. I managed to get a room in the same hostel that the Ecuadorian and Colombian guys, and Laura from London. What's more, we were sharing a huge room which was great fun. I had a long conversation with the Colombian guy about Colombia again, then we had dinner and we walked around the beautiful but very small town. We got to bed at 11 pm, laughing all the time.
We woke up at 3.30 am and started walking with our torches at 4 am. The entrance gate to Machu Picchu (translation: Old Peak) opened at 5 am. It was 1-hour climb, very tough because the mountain was very steep, it had steep steps all the way up. I was struggling. I couldn't get air in my lungs and I felt very sick few times, which was unusual for me. It must have been either the altitude sickness or the fact that I just recovered from flu. I tried to be as fast as possible as only first 400 people a day who enter MP can climb Wana Picchu (Young Peak), a mountain next to MP (in the picture, behind me).
When I eventually made it to the top, I entered the Machu Picchu area, had a walk around, listened to a guide for a while and I climbed Wana Picchu. Again, I felt sick but I really wanted to climb the second mountain - it was part of my experience. When I got to the top of Wana Picchu, it started raining violently and the way down was very dangerous. Apparently, every year 5 people fell down the mountain and die.
Machu Picchu was not magic for me. Neither for my friends (it was a proof that I am not the only strange one). We all admitted that MP is just a big name and you have to visit it to "tick the box" in Peru. For me it was another bunch of ruins and stones, however very beautiful and mystic. You can only admire what Incas built 600 years ago on the altitude of 2450 meters. There are beautiful mountains surrounding MP - just breathtaking. I think this is the real reason why people say that the place is magic.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/south/sites/machu_picchu.html
Laura and I left MP at midday and we took the early bus down the mountain. We decided to walk from Aguas Calientes to Hidroelectrica to save 18 dollars each. The walk took us 2 hours and it was fantastic. The nature was great and we talked non-stop, all the way back.
We arrived in Hidroelectrica at 2.30 pm, found our minibus, waited 30 minutes for the people to arrive by train and we left for Cusco. We were all extremely tired and struggling on the minibus as it was impossible to sleep. The bus was jumping and swinging on the mountain roads. We were so exhausted that we even couldn't talk any more.
At one point our minibus picked up a girl and a guy from Ecuador. The girl remembered me, she interviewed me in Quito for a local newspaper. Small world...
We arrived in Cusco at 10 pm where we said goodby to each other (so sad !!). I got to my host Jhoel's flat, had a chat with him, took a very hot shower, went to bed and slept for 13 hours. I am going to have a good rest in Cusco today and tomorrow I am leaving for Lake Titicaca.
The 2-day trip to Machu Picchu cost:
100 soles (23 pounds) return trip by minibus
20 soles (4.50 pounds) hostel
126 soles (29 pounds) entrance to Machu Picchu
20 soles bus from MP down the mountain to Aguas Calientes
35 soles (8 pounds) all the food
Total: 69 pounds. It may sound not too expensive for English conditions but for the people travelling long time, those used to Peruvian prices in other towns or those from Eastern Europe for exmple, it is very expensive.
You can only save 20 soles if you have time to walk down to Aguas Calientes, otherwise you can't get this trip cheaper. If you don't look around and if you don't get a proper price information, you will pay double or even more (ripping off travel agencies).
