En Peru: Machupicchu

Machupicchu, Machu Picchu, MachuPicchu. All three spellings seem to be used interchangeably; spelling variation is something I appreciate in a word.

It really is spectacular. I keep using that word to describe it, although I looked for others. Synonyms found: amazing, astonishing, astounding, breathtaking, daring, dazzling, dramatic, eye-catching, fabulous, fantastic, grand, impressive, magnificent, marked, marvelous, miraculous, prodigious, razzle-dazzle, remarkable, sensational, splendid, staggering, striking, stunning, stupendous, theatrical, thrilling, wondrous. They all fit (with the possible exception of razzle-dazzle, but I just couldn´t delete it) though all together they may be a bit over the top.

While I was planning this trip, I talked to a woman in my school, Amy, who is

also from San Francisco, and she said something about her ticket to Machupicchu. I asked her for more specifics, because nothing in my travel guide*, or online said anything about needing a ticket only about paying to take the bus up there. She said she didn´t know since she went through a tour company - I planned my own trip.

The bus up to the top is $12 roundtrip and takes about 20-25 minutes on a road that winds up the mountain, not really switchbacks, but serpentine. When I got there, I went through the checkpoint and there was a book that looked like a sign-in book and I asked if I need to sign and they said no. Guess Amy was suckered by a tour company! I spent a few hours there, took a LOT of pictures and really marvelled that they didn´t charge to get in. There were llamas grazing all around. And though there were a lot of people there, it was pretty easy to get nice shots without the crowds, it was just a matter of waiting.

I decided to go back the next day to do the big hike to Wayna (or Huayna) Picchu, which is at the top of the mountain that you see towering over Machupicchu. It´s an hour-long hike each way and the for the last part you have to crawl. It sounded like a whole day in itself, not something to add on and I had 6 hours the next day and that was leaving myself plenty of time to get lunch and go to the train station.

On the bus ride back down to Aguas Calientes, there was a boy in traditional dress who ran down the steps that go in a relatively straight line that crosses the road on the way down. He met us each time the steps and the road intersected. The was a group of kids on the bus who were thrilled with this! At the bottom of the mountain, but still a few minutes away from Aguas Calientes, he got on the bus for pictures (and payment).