Day Six: To Machu Picchu Village

The next morning, we were picked up in the middle of the night by Celia. Well, I exaggerate slightly, but it was very, very early. Our train left at six am, so I believe we were picked up at 5:15. We got on the train with no trouble, and found ourselves seated amidst a pack of Brazilians. This turned out to be a good thing, as they played tirelessly with Joffre throughout the long, uncomfortable ride. The first hour or so was spent switchbacking up out of Cusco. Then we took roughly 1.5 more hours to get to Ollantaytambo, and another hour and twenty minutes or so on to Aguas Calientes, or Machu Picchu Pueblo.

MP (as I will call it from here on in) Pueblo is interesting. It's built in a gorge, and at a significantly lower altitude than Cusco, or even Arequipa. It's rainforesty, and hilly, and except for the endless stream of buses hauling tourists up to the ruins, it is vehicle free. So, the entire village is pedestrian, with steep sidewalks and stairs everywhere. The town also appears to exist entirely for the tourists, with cheap restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops stretching off in all directions. In a strange way, it reminded me of Banff or Whistler. Our bags were brought from the train station by porters with a sort of wheelbarrow luggage cart, and we checked into our hotel. Then we had a bite of lunch across the street, and rested for a while before making the long, slow trek up to the hot springs at the far end of town.

The MP hot springs are large pools of water ranging from bathtub warm to unpleasantly lukewarm, and they are pretty murky. However, they are pleasant enough and I certainly felt relaxed after a good soak. We hit a tourist restaurant for supper, and had an early night.