Planes, Trains, and Buses, Oh my! May 26

What an astonishing day this has been!  At 8:20 this morning we were given a finely detailed itinerary for our trip to Machu Picchu and as soon as we got to the airport at 9:00 am, it was totally irrelevant.

Airport Chaos

Our group had been given our boarding passes for a 9:30 flight to Cusco but as soon as we saw all of our tour guides huddled at the ticket counter at the airport, we got our first inkling that things were not as they should be.  Our guide came over to let us know that our flight had been cancelled and they were scrambling to get 50 of us on any and all flights to Cusco today and it was not going well.  

The first group of four were given tickets and told to run to the gate as fast as possible because they were holding the plane for them.  Anne and I were in the second group of eight and had about ½ hour to get to the gate.  We arrived in Cusco at noon and met up with the first set of people.  Rather than wait for anymore groups, we were hastily led to a bus, had a delicious box lunch tossed at us, and then we jettisoned out of the parking lot as quickly as possible.  Apparently, our next leg of the journey was a crucial one.  We had exactly 1 ½ hours to drive to a little town called Ollantaytambo to catch the only train that could take us to Aguas Calientes – the primary conduit to Machu Picchu.  Mind you there were multiple trains going to Aguas Calientes but we only had tickets for the 1:30 train and it was sold out for the remainder of the afternoon, and it was imperative that we be on that train.  So, it was noon and we were facing a 1 ½ hour drive to catch a 1:30 train.  Not good, dear, not good.

The Andes Mountains

The bus driver was epic!  We went whizzing through the Andes Mountains passing buses, cars, bicycles, and pedestrians, while negotiating hair pin turns and traversing up and down mountains.  It was so exciting!  The scenery was gorgeous too.  I later learned that the bus driver was being tracked by the company’s GPS so he had to keep his speed under 85 km otherwise I think he would have gone faster.  Ay caramba!

We pulled into the town of Ollantaytambo at exactly 1:31!  Our tour guide, Jose, had been in communication with somebody who let him know we had missed the train by one minute so rather than stopping in the town, we zoomed through and continue down the road – which soon turned into a dirt road.  Not that this deterred the bus driver at all.  He continued to go the same speed as when on pavement.  I can’t imagine what this did for the suspension on the bus but he had a mission!

Apparently, the train we were trying to catch was a very slow tourist train and we had a chance of beating it to the next station.  I have never experienced anything like this in my life!  As we crossed over the railroad track at one point, we could see the train in back of us and the bus driver was driving for all he was worth.  As we continued down the dirt road, the train caught up with us and we were side by side for about a ¼ of a mile.  Jose was gesturing wildly to the train driver and we got the international “OK” sign from him that he would wait for us at the next station.  Success!  In the meantime, all of the passengers on the train were taking pictures of the crazy bus racing the train.  Apparently, we were more interesting than the scenery at that point.

The train pulled ahead of us and we kept barreling down the road until we came upon the stopped train.  We all applauded the bus driver and gave him the tip that we had quickly collected for him.  Jose was encouraging us to be as quick as possible transferring to the train.  We tossed our carry-on luggage towards a train attendant (or whatever they are called) while two more helped us onto the bottom step of the train which was a good 3 ½ feet from the ground.  A couple of the older women had to be hoisted up rather indelicately but they were on!  We all collapsed in any available seat and took a moment to gather our composure.  What a ride!

When we eventually started to look around, we were surrounded by mountains as we followed the Urubamba River towards our final destination of the day – Aguas Calientes.  It’s a small town whose sole purpose is to transport tourists to Machu Picchu.  As a result, there are a lot of hostels, restaurants, and markets that sell trinkets to said tourists.

The View from our room

When we arrived 2 hours later, we walked a short distance to our luxury hotel , Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel.  It was so beautiful!  After such a stressful journey, we desperately needed this respite.  We were led to our cabin in the woods and Anne and I could barely stop ourselves from saying “wow” every ten seconds.  We were in heaven.  

The market

After inspecting our quarters and surrounding area, Anne and I went back into the town to give the local economy a boost, a.k.a. shop.  We leisurely strolled through the aisles, buying things every once in a while, not really trying to haggle so the shop keepers loved us.  Eventually though, fatigue caught up with us and retreated to our haven for a quick nap before dinner.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner in the hotel around 7:00 but by 9:00 we could barely keep our eyes open despite our brief nap.

The second half of our group still hadn’t arrived but we were told their arrival was imminent.  We all speculated how their day had gone and were pretty confident that they didn’t have a great story like ours.  Tomorrow we get up at 4:00 am for a very early journey to Machu Picchu.  Stay tuned.