Ticquetes, Boletos, Pasajes, Ingresos (Machu Picchu, Peru)

I admit, I don´t like to plan ahead when I travel. At home, I am forced to with my work and often with my friends. Lately though, because I have to be in Colombia by June 28th, I have had to plan what I am doing in th next couple of months so that I can see what I want to see. Machu Picchu, one of the wonders of the world, is on that list. Albeit, I was very tempted to cross off the list, just because I have been so anti-tourist lately and it seemed like such a hassle.

So yesterday I decided that I wanted to go today, so I finally started researching on how to get there, costs, etc. Who knew it was such a process, some tourists plan it months in advance, me, less than 24 hours. And of course, I tried to plan it all out on a Sunday, Mother´s Day in fact, when most shops and restaurants are closed in Latin America. So I found one travel agency, and also spoke to my hostel´s travel agency. The external agency quoted me $170 to go in one day and the hostel quoted me $190 for the same thing. Both told me that it was a rapid trip, whereas most people will go for 2 days, 1 night. In the end, I went back to the external agency and after much discussion and bargaining I finally agreed to take her offer, but then found out they don´t accept credit cards, but they pulled a deal for me and charged me an extra $10 to pay by credit.  Then... like 3 hours later at 6pm, I get a call from the agency telling me to come back with my passport and that´s when they went to go purchase my train tickets. Turns out that we were too late to get the cheaper tickets and so they then asked me, in a very roundabout manner, to pay more or to not take a bus that is part of the trip and walk instead. I said I´d walk and save myself some money, although if I were in Canada, if I could have expressed myself in english, I am sure I could have swindled it around that I didn´t have to do anything more, but get what I originally paid for.  But, the lady was really nice, she spoke really clear spanish for me, and it was mother´s day, so I agreed.

So the original plan was this...
5 - 5:30am the travel agent would pick me up from the hostel
6:00am take a bus to this town 2 hours away
8:45am board a train to the town which sisters with Machu Picchu
11:00am take a bus (or walk) up to the entrance of Machu Picchu
6:30pm take bus, train, bus back towards Cusco, arrive at 11pm (ish)

So the first thing that changed was that the 6:30pm return train was fully booked, so the next one available was at 9:30pm.  (That´s why I´m here right now... killing time, waiting for my train). I won´t get home till about 2am now.

My travel agent didn´t come and pick me up until 6am on the dot, I was up at 4:50am and got ready. By 5:55 I was laying in bed with my eyes closed, almost hoping that she wouldn´t show up because everything seemed like such a hassle at this point.  Once she finally arrived, we had to wait outside in the cold for 30 minutes for the bus to arrive and she didn´t really know what was going on. I was then introduced to another man who told me how I would get my entrance ticket to Machu Picchu, by a man holding a white flag named Pedro waiting for me at the train station.  Well, once I arrived, there was no ticket waiting for me, and my travel agent was calling my cell phone asking if everything was okay, etc. In the end, I got my ticket that they paid for me, and I had to purchase my own bus ride up, as previously agreed on.  Then we finally met our official tour guide and waited around for awhile as all the group got together and assembled ourselves. As this all happened, loads and loads of tourists kept rushing through the entrance gate, all in the same boat, all looking for their guides, putting on sun screen, putting on bug spray, and adjusting their camera settings.

As we finally started the tour, the guide pulls me aside, and kept calling me Stream by the way, as that is what was written on his piece of paper, and tells me his going to bring me to another guide because that tour will be in English. He didn´t even ask if I spoke spanish and just assumed. So we rush through the crowds of people as we left the original group behind waiting. We then PASS through the prime point where you get the best view of Machu Picchu! We keep walking and walking... and finally get to the English guide and his 25 person group, I get pass on like a sheep... er I mean tourist, and that´s that. I then express that I´m late to my original guide, but he doesn´t seem to care, he runs away and the english guide tells me that he´s 15 minutes into the tour. At this point, I was so frustrated that I was tempted to just ditch the whole tour, turn around and get my infamous shot in front of the view. It seems that every backpacker I´ve met who´s been through Peru has this exact same photo in the exact same shot, and I wanted one of my very own!  Anyway, I stick with the tour, huffing and puffing for a bit.  Eventually, I ease into things and settle down, listen to some of the interesting historical and scientific facts about the Incas and the ruins.

Once the tour was done, 2 hours later, I had time to kill. So I went back through the entrance and started over, back to that primal spot. I got various other tourists to take my picture, knowing that at least one of them would know how to use my camera and get a good shot. In the end, I got one. I´m satisfied.  I then found a nice quiet spot on the grass, with the ruins as my backdrop, plugged in my ipod, and finally ate two energy bars that I had packed away in my backpack since early that morning. One thing that the whole travel agency didn´t add in the itinerary was time for lunch! I´d hardly eaten anything since I´d been awake at 5am.  Anyway, at this point, most of the tourists had left, probably to catch their early trains and I felt at peace. My music was relaxing. The sun was heavenly. The grass was welcoming. The view was majestic. My thoughts were indepth and filled with gratitude. 

So, all in all, everything was worth it.  Let´s just hope I get back to Cusco alright...