Ollantay was our next stop, and our gateway to Machu Picchu. We took a minibus (S/. 2) from Urubamba bus station to Ollantay, which took 30 minutes or so. We then had breakfast, and went to the hotel. It was the same bare-bone kind of hotel, but strategically located close to the train station and the town center. We went to the Perurail and retrieves our tickets (previously bought) for tomorrow. We’re gonna get the first train at 5:00 AM! Hopefully the weather would be good tomorrow. We then went to the ruins that are famous for being one of the last stronghold of the Incas against the Spanish conquistadors. They even defeated the Spanish in this place. I don’t know much about the history of how the Spanish conquered the Latin America, but I know it was through a lot of brutal wars, and diseases of the old world. 

We then had lunch, and we tried chicha morada, which is a drink made of maroon-colored corn! It was delightfully delicious! We then hiked to another ruins on the other side of the valley, which I found even more impressive. I’m not sure what was the purpose of these buildings so high in the mountains.

We bought something to eat for tomorrow morning, and went back to the hotel to sleep early. 

Machu Picchu 

The preparation for Machu Picchu starts way before the trip itself. You first need to decide whether you want to do the Inca Trail, and if yes, you need to reserve the tour with a licensed company way in advance (~ $700 per person). Since we decided pretty late to go to Peru, this option was off the table. There are alternative routes that are equally scenic, expensive and time consuming.

If you don’t want to trek, like us, you can do what most people do: Take a train to Aguas Caliente, then a bus to Machu Picchu! But you need to get the entrance ticket and train tickets also way in advance (not as bad as Inca Trail though). One thing about Machu Picchu is that it is ridiculously expensive to visit. Granted, it’s in the middle of the mountains, but the entrance only is more than $50. The round trip trains from Cusco (2h30) starts from $150 or so, if you can get the cheap ones! And to add insult to the injury, the bus trip from the train station to Machu Picchu (20 min) is $24 round-trip! It’s insane!

I’ve been to other “New Seven World Wonders” like Taj Mahal and Colosseum before, and I payed something like 15-$20 for them. A trip to Machu Picchu can easily cost you more than $250. I did a quick math, and it looks like Machu Picchu alone brings around 1 million dollars per day! If you take into account the whole tourism industry that revolves around it, it can easily be billions of dollars per year!

Anyways, we got up at 4 AM to take the train to Aguas Caliente. We arrived around 6:15 or so. We then checked in our backpacks with the train station, and went to the bus line. OMG, I’ve never seen such a long line in my life! It was probably more than 300 meters or so.

We could technically hike up, but that would have been a mistake. The hike is very steep and strenuous, and by the time we would have got there, we would have been super tired (and sweaty). Anyhow, we did the line which took almost 2 hours (!!!), and then arrived up just before 9 AM. 

But you might say, enough with the rant: Was it worth it? Oh yes! It is truly one of the wonders of the world. The natural setting is phenomenal. I was wondering with myself that the person who got there around 600 years ago, and saw that mountain, and decided this is the place I want to build my legacy, he should have been such a visionary!

We don’t know who or why or how exactly Machu Picchu was built, but nevertheless it is a testament to the magnificence of the people who built this place. 

Anecdote:

  • I saw Jenny, from Gordana’s lab at Columbia, in Machu Picchu! What are the odds? The answer is, it depends how you ask the question. If you ask what are the odds of seeing Jenny at Machu Picchu, it is very very small. But that’s not a right question, because it is after the fact. It’s like throwing a stone, and then asking what are the odds that the stone hits exactly that spot! I could see another person I know in another unlikely setting, and I would have been equally surprised. So the right question is: What are the odds of seeing someone you know at an unlikely place? I argue that the odds are not as small as we think! I’m not sure how to calculate the odds, but it looks similar to the Birthday Problem to me. I’ll keep thinking about it…