Answers to any of the following would be appreciated
Will be in Lima, Peru mid-June for a week.
Lima to Machu Pichu: Via Bus/Train/Air?
Stayed overnight in Macchu Picchu or did it in a day?
Things to keep an eye out for:
I assumed _______ (but was dead wrong).
My general experience was ____________.
I recommend you look into _____ whilst there.
Thanks
I visited Machu Picchu in 1997-1998. (Things may have changed somewhat since then.)
I flew from Lima to Cuzco, then took the train. I stayed two nights on each trip in the nearby town of Aguascalientes. I visited the ruins themselves only on the first trip; on the second trip I was birdwatching in the area.
I went to the ruins directly from the train the first day. It is of course very crowded once the train arrives, so I mostly just went to see the highlights.
On the second morning, I took the first bus up to the site at about 6:30 AM. This allows you several hours to contemplate the ruins without hordes of people being there. Once the train arrived at mid-morning I went to climb the peak at the far end of the site, where I had my lunch watching the tour groups mill around from far above them. I came down once the tours had left to catch the train in the late afternoon, and had a couple more quiet hours to commune with the site.
The experience was spectacular. I had dreamed of visiting Machu Picchu since I was a kid, and it did not disappoint. It was one of those few tourist sites that actually outdid my expectations - especially the magnificance of the surrounding mountains, which it’s impossible to get a sense of without going there.
I would recommend spending a couple days in Cusco as well. The city, built on Inca ruins, is one of the most fascinating in the world. I stayed in a hotel off the main plaza where my room had a wall built by the Incas.
Also, try the roast guinea pig, a special dish at some of Cusco’s best restaurants.
You guys bump into another Doper on the trail, you gotta come back and start a thread.
Heh, I remember making that return flight. Upon landing, there was an elderly Peruvian gentleman a few seats ahead of me attempting to wrestle some indescriminate object from the overhead bin of the airplane and disembark. I reached up to help him, the object was wrapped in a white bedsheet, and I quickly realized I had hold of his dead pig’s rear legs. I with no small effort secured the rest of the carcass without the demonstration of too much facial emotion, accepted his thanks, and followed him at a respectful distance the rest of the way off the plane.