The Trail Less Traveled

Another day, another border crossing. Lake Titicaca straddles the Bolivian/Peruvian border and we had purchased a bus ticket which would fist take us to the boarder crossing and then to a second bus that would drive us through the night to the city of Cusco, Peru. Upon arriving we were told that the upgraded seat we had purchased (upgraded in the fact that it reclines) was not available and that no refund would be given for the difference in prices we had paid. I ended up exiting the bus to argue with the bus agent while Colleen kept an eye on our seats and bags and received a small refund but had to cut my losses as the bus was beginning to pull away without me. We crossed the border with no hassles in a torrential downpour but were told that the bus company now needed additional money for the second bus, a bus we had already paid in full, due to a ‘strike’ among the bus drivers. Of course this was a load of crap and a scam but what choice do you have, either pay up or get off the bus in the middle of nowhere at midnight in a thunderstorm.

We arrived prior to sunrise in Cusco and waited for some daylight before sharing a cab with 2 German girls to a local hostel. Cusco is a beautiful town. It is famously known to most travelers as the staging point for trips to the ruins of Machu Picchu but it is also a sight in itself. It is said to be the longest continually inhabited city (and the head of the Inka Empire) in the Americas and offers wide plazas to compliment narrow cobblestone streets, centuries old churches and the backpacker comforts of cheap markets and corner pubs.

We had a couple main tasks at hand in Cusco. First, we wanted to pick up sleeping bags and a tent to do some camping over the last couple months of the trip, namely in Chile and Argentina. We had read Chile is quite pricey and limited on selection when it comes to equipment so we decided with all the tour operators in Cusco that we should take advantage of the selection. We ended up picking up two new North Face sleeping bags (absolutely fake but the agent insisted they were real) along with a high end used 2 person mountaineering tent at very respectable prices.

The second task at hand, of course, was to search out when/where/how we could reach Manchu Picchu. There are three main options when it comes to reaching this wonder of the world. The most well known option is to hike the historical Inka trail, 33 kilometers over 4 days at a staggering cost of $430 per person all inclusive. Option 2 is to take one of the available ‘side trails’ with a tour company and guide and pay around $250 for the experience. The third option is to go at it alone without a guide or company. For this final option, you must decide on which ‘side trail’ you wish to trek as the famous ‘Inka Trail’ has hiker quotas and permits required. Given the trails are well marked, our respectable experience trekking and finding our own way numerous times on this trip, we decided to go at it alone. Why would we pay several hundred dollars each just to have a guide show us to the nearest restaurant or hotel and point us in the general direction of the trail?

We settled on what is known as the ‘back door’ to Machu Picchu. The route is not highly advertised or mentioned in guidebooks but is a well known path for tour operators who sell the route to travelers on a tighter budget. We headed out on a 7-hour early morning bus to essentially circumnavigate the mountain range thus reaching the start of the ‘backdoor’ route. We crossed mountain passes nearing 15,000 ft and arrived at the dusty town of Santa Maria from where we caught an hour long taxi with a bunch of school kids using the taxi as a bus service to the village of Santa Teresa and our accommodation for the night. We awoke early the next morning, grabbed some local cheese empanadas to-go for breakfast and began our hike. The first leg of the hike had us descending down a cliff out of the village and across a small suspension bridge to a dirt path across the valley. From there is was a 2 hour hike following the river until we reached a hydroelectric damn. To the side of the hydroelectric damn we found the set of railroad tracks we were looking for and knew we were on the right track. We then followed the railroad for about three hours, twisting and turning our way up canyons, crisscrossing bridges and walking through multiple tunnels.

After a total of 5 hours and just over 20 kilometers of hiking, the village of Aguas Calientes came into sight around a bend,. We had spent $9 each on public transit to reach our destination and enjoyed the adventure of a lightly used path. The small community is only accessible by hiking trail or railroad and acts as the launching point for day treks to/from Machu Picchu. We quickly found accommodation for the evening in one of the numerous guesthouses and headed to the market for some much needed food.

Machu Picchu is perched on a mountaintop high above Aguas Calientes and is accessible either by a costly minibus or by way of a steep 6 kilometer hiking trail. Of course we opted for the hiking trail and found ourselves up before dawn the following day and hitting the trail with our headlamps. The trail was quite steep and midway up the mountain a storm moved in and a massive downpour began. Now we were wet, cold and could not see through the dense clouds how close we were to our destination. We trudged on upward through switchback after switchback and just as daylight was beginning to show we reached the ticket counter but were told Machu Picchu did not open for another 30 minutes. So we waited exhausted, soaked and shaking as the first busload of fresh, dry and cheery tourists appeared up the road. We must have been quite the site to them huddled in our wet clothes munching on some day old bread! Finally, the gates opened and we squished through the fog and into Machu Picchu…