If there was one trip in Peru I had to make it was to Machu Picchu.
Anyone who knows me even a little will not be surprised to hear that I decided not to trek there at altitude along the Inca trail - I was panting just climbing the stairs to get to the viewing terrace. Instead, I went by train and what an experience that was. On Saturday 14 April I was at the station bright and early ready to get the Backpacker Express to Aquas Calientes - the town at the foot of Machu Picchu which is a bit of a touristy dump. I had heard some horror stories about this train but it was fine. To my great joy, we set off on time but after about 5 minutes we started to go backwards. I was a bit worried but the guard reassured us this was normal and indeed, for the next hour, we went forwards then backwards as we crawled up the hill, following the switchback track.
The next incident was slightly more alarming. The train suddenly gave an almighty judder. As I was in the first carriage, I got up to have a look and found that the train had become detached from the engine which was happily chugging onwards. Thankfully, this did not happen on an uphill leg. Anyway, the efficient Peruvian railwaymen soon had us reconnected and we were on our way.
What can I say about Machu Picchu? It more than lives up to all those iconic photos everyone has seen. It is absolutely breathtaking (quite literally given the altitude). I have decided that the most stunning sights in the world are where you get a combination of stunning natural setting and human ingenuity. In this age of digital cameras, everyone was snapping away furiously, but I am sure that very few will be discarded as every vista was stunning.
To everyone´s amusement, our guide kept exhorting us to go slowly and sit down while he gave his spiel, leading me to suspect that one of his group must have succumbed to the rigours of the climb on an earlier occasion.
I wanted to add one of my photos here, but the girl in this Internet cafe tells me it will take four minutes to upload every single photo and I have about 52 so I think that will have to wait for another day (well, that´s my excuse and I´m sticking to it!)
That has to go down as my best Saturday of 2007 so far, although the train journey home was pretty tiring. Now I have to work out how to top that this weekend when I take another well earned break from my studies, but I am planning to book this trip in Spanish so God knows where I´ll end up!
