Message Stick

From Cusco we visited the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu. Due to the exorbitantly high cost of taking a train directly from Cusco we opted for the cheapskates route through the Sacred Valley by bus and then onto Aguas Calientes using the late night backpacker train. These days Machu Picchu is far from lost, especially in the peak season. To avoid thousands of day trippers arriving from Cusco we got up at 4:30am to make sure we got one of the first buses up to the site so we could experience the ruins in relative quiet for a few hours at least. If was definitely worth making the effort as the place is magical at dawn before the huge tour groups arrive. By walking the marked routes in reverse we felt like we had the place to ourselves at times and even found a quiet grassy spot for some sun-bathing when the queues began to form. The ruins and the mountain-top setting are both incredible and like Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu certainly lived up to the hype in our eyes and we didn’t even mind getting up at 4:30am again to catch the train back to Cusco.