Machu Picchu... Tourist Trap Hell of my Life

Machu Picchu... Tourist Trap Hell of my Life

This was, by far, my least favorite part of my entire trip. Again, I felt obliged to do this since I was going to be in Perú and was passing it on the way to Copacabana, Bolivia. This was the single-most arduous day of my travels. After getting a few short hours of sleep, I woke and gathered my prepacked gear and waited for an eternity for my morning pickup. After calling my tour agent a couple of times, because his instructions stated I would be picked up at 2:30 A.M. whereas I was picked up after 3 A.M., I was relieved that I hadn't been scammed out of a couple hundred dollars for something of which I was less than enthused already. The van delivered us to the train station, which is the only form of transportation aside from walking to reach Aguas Calientes. And the only way to visit Machu Picchu is to end up in Aguas Calientes. For those of you planning this adventure, do your research ahead of time. It is possible to do a full-day tour or a multiple-day trek on a budget. You just have to be smart about it. 

The train was the best part of the entire day. The landscape is totally bucolic, backdropped with godlike mountains capped with glaciers. I would later find out that these glaciers were already shrunken significantly and gave me another experience with climate change. It is actually pretty saddening to hear locals describe how much climate change has affected their agriculture and daily activities... even in places like Arequipa, which was experiencing a significant drought in its already arid environment. 

Word of advice: do not book a full-day tour unless you enjoy waiting, regrouping, and waiting some more with a dozen or more of your closest strangers. I could not believe how disorganized everything was... not just with my group, but the entire operation. However, take note that this is my perspective and others may have had a different experience. I know I was not the only one to think this, though, as I conversed with an Argentinian and Brazilian (en español) about how the behavior of the guides and wranglers seemed very last-minute. 

There were a couple of inspiring parts of the tour, despite there being thousands of people trying to walk and do whatever out of sync with others. The first was how the Incans were doing genetics experiments during their reign. Through the terrace gardening, they were able to selectively breed plants to be adapted to higher elevations, which would otherwise grow in near-sea level environments. Corn, coca, everything.

The other part is how influential the Andean condor was in the city planning and worship of the Incans. While in Colca Canyon, I found myself feverishly designing my next tattoo to be a condor because of the inspiration it gave me in solidifying my plan. The condor, I felt, was continuing to speak to me. Seriously, the city layout is modeled after a condor. There is a temple of the condor at the "head" of the city. And the famous backdrop mountain, Huayna Picchu, also resembles a condor (in addition to the profile of an Incan). These small details made the entire day worth it. 

Oh, and I opted out of the "customary" Machu Picchu photo, instigating an argument with my guide as to why I viewed it as an unessential part of my experience. 

My few days in Cusco were finally over, and I was on my way to Bolivia for a repeat visit.

Note: This was originally part of my Cusco post on Oct. 23, 2016. I later decided to use this as its own post.