Around Cusco - Getting drenched in Machu Picchu...

It looked like we made a good choice with our hostel in Cusco: Even though we had to leave before they officially served breakfast, we got the normal breakfast just half an hour earlier! :-) Then we got picked up by a mini van in front of the hostel that took us to Hidroelectrica. It was a 6 hours ride and once again the driver was terrible! I really think that here in South America, cycling might actually be safer than travelling by bus... We got to Hidroelectrica pretty late, meaning that we had to hurry up on our hike along the train rails if we wanted to make it to Aguas Calientes before dark. The hike was nothing difficult, it was mostly flat, through the forest, and along a nice river...

Hiking along the train rails from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes

When we reached Aguas Calientes, we were brought to a pretty nice hostel, where we enjoyed a really hot shower before dinner. It became a short night, was we had to get up short before 4 am, in order to leave Aguas Calientes at half past 4, hike up an uncountable number of stairs to the entrance of Machu Picchu in slight rain, and get to the entrance by 6 am. There were hundreds of tourists doing the same as we did, and even though we got to the entrance by 6 am, the time it opens, we still had to stand in line for about 45 minutes until we finally entered Machu Picchu. Luckily, the rain had stopped, so we didn't get wet while waiting. Once inside, we didn't see too much, it was all cloudy and foggy, but we anyways had a 2 hours guided tour first, where we learned a lot about the history of Machu Picchu and how we believe the Inkas lived here. Among other things, we learned that actually we have no idea, what Machu Picchu was once called... Machu Picchu just means old mountain and is the name of one of the surrounding mountains, and as we have no clue about the real name of the city, we just name it the same as the mountain... For me it was extremely impressive to imagine how they built this whole city; the rocks they used for the houses are huge and they used no mortar but carved the rocks so long until they fitted exactly on each other. In addition, they knew a lot about architecture, as most Inka buildings survived the many earthquakes in the region, while most colonial buildings collapsed... 

Mystic Machu Picchu in the morning

Is it maybe clearing up???

After the guided tour we could still not see a lot, and in the hope of the sky clearing up, we started to hike up to Machu Picchu mountain, from where you're supposed to have a panoramic view over the whole area and the surrounding valleys. However, by the time we reached the summit, the only thing we saw was a whole lot of white, or, as some other tourist told us on our way up: Todo blanco...

Ok, maybe it's not clearing up... :p
But we got a panoramic view of the clouds :-)

It was still a nice hike, the rain forest was just beautiful! On our way down it once cleared up a little bit and we got a slight idea of how Machu Picchu might look like from high above...

On the hike down from Machu Picchu mountain we got an idea
of what you might be able to see without clouds...

Back down again, the lower hanging clouds vanished and we got the classic view over Machu Picchu with Wayna Picchu mountain in the background. We were really glad we planned to spend the whole day in Machu Picchu, otherwise we wouldn't have seen it in it's nicest way. And the good thing about the "bad" weather was that by the later afternoon most tourist had left and we could enjoy the view over the ruins without thousands of tourists around...

And then the clouds moved enough for us to get the
classic view of Machu Picchu! :-)

Due to the weather, most of the tourists were gone in the afternoon...

:-)

Before hiking down to Aguas Calientes again, we decided to quickly visit the Inka bridge, an ancient bridge built into a very steep wall of rock.

No wrong step please!

The Inka bridge

Taking in the view

And then, just before we started our hike back down, it started raining. Actually, raining is an understatement, it was pouring down like crazy. The stairs converted themselves into something between a river and a waterfall and soon we were completely drenched with lakes in our shoes. So by the time we reached Aguas Calientes, the only thing we wanted to do was enjoying a really hot shower. But we were disappointed, when we reached the hostel we were told that our rooms were already occupied, that we'd have to change to another hostel.. We got really angry, but it seemed like there was nothing we could do about it. Of course the shower in the other hostel was freezing cold and I had to complain several times until I finally got a hot shower... As all our cloths were soaked, we didn't leave the hostel anymore and just hoped for the stuff to dry over night. Of course it didn't, so the next day we had to hike back to Hidroelectrica in our still wet cloths...

And back along the train rails...

By the time we made it to Hidroelectrica, most of us had more or less dry cloths again, except for the shoes that were still completely soaked... On the drive back to Cusco we were luckier with the driver, but less lucky with the car. It was already late and we were still more than an hour away from Cusco when the front right tire deflated. Of course the car jack didn't work, so it took the driver half an eternity to change the tire and we got back to Cusco really late... But at the hostel they awaited us and our room was ready, so we could just fall to bed :-)

The next day was a lazy day with a lot of eating, I did a walking tour around Cusco and in the evening we went out for dinner with Nicolas and Alice, two of the French cyclists we rode together over Paso Jama and who arrived in Cusco while we were in Machu Picchu...

Cusco at night...

...and during the day