There aren't enough words to describe Macchu Picchu - incredible, amazing, stupendous, fascinating ..... choose your own superlative!
I left my hotel at 6.30am to catch the bus up the mountain to Macchu Picchu. The queue was long, but not as long as peak season, I believe, and the buses left every couple of minutes, so we moved along quickly.
The bus trip up is windy, bumpy and narrow, so I was glad the driver had done it plenty of times before.
When we got there, we went through an entrance gate, and then you were on your own to investigate and wander at will. I'd picked up another guide in the morning, who stayed with me for 2 hours explaining and showing me everything, and then I was on my own for as long as I wanted, except that I had to be back down the mountain to catch my return train by 2pm.
You need to go to Macchu Picchu while you are relatively fit and your knees and back are able to cope. It's a gruelling experience, not only because of the altitude, but the size of the site and the fact that the Incas didn't seem to have any concept of uniformity of step rises. Some were comfortable, but some were uncomfortably high and all were rocky and uneven.
I didn't have any problem with altitude sickness, but there were many people, old and young, who were huffing and puffing and looking pale. They were really suffering from the exertion needed to negotiate the site.
I was surprised at just how big the site is, and the fact that the terracing goes down the mountain on both sides. It was certainly an amazing building feat.
