Machu Picchu - ida y vuelta

We have booked a 2 day tour of Machu Picchu with Maria Sottomayor..had to mention the name as it is so colourful! The day we leave, not the day we were supposed to leave, it is the day for marching bands to herald the entry of Machu Picchu into the New seven wonders of the world - N7W - competition. The town is choas with hundreds of the usually frenetic taxis and buses at a standstill..what a relief.
We are going via the Sacred Valley: Pisac, Ollantaytambo and finally to Aguas (smelly) Calientes where we stay for a night before the obligatory 5am thrust for the summit and Machu Picchu itself. The roads wind up and down the immense valley which all adds to the already whoosey altitude sickness. The views are stunning and many buses litter the route which is thoroughly established for all the tour operators and hawkers alike. This makes you feel slightly like herded flocks but the sights are so large and spread out you can sometimes be on your own with just a few Llamas and the marvellous indigenous folk. From the twenty or so years since i was mountain goating up all the goat paths up to all these sites they have definitely got their mierdre together and this is money spinner par excellance. This doesn´t add to your feeling of intrepid explorers as you join the throngs of people for shoeshines and blanket purveying but it is still a thrill when you see the towns which probably haven´t changed a greast deal for 500 years..apart from the ´llamadas girls´ who litter each corner with mobile phones which are like feline phone boxes...the current equivalent of the pony express I suppose. Yes mobile calls are available in the sacred valley between the towering peaks from these feline highwaywomen thanks to a network of ariels which dot all the highest points.
Pisac is a incredible little town and the ruins are staggering nestled 1500 feet above the town keepig a cursory eye on the town planners and their worldwide incompetence. We visit the ruins here before another stop at an Almuerzo (lunch) joint with the statutory Alpacha stew and sopa...all the same very delicious. I can only suggest the spanish must not have genetic faults with their knees, they conquered this whole region - albeit on horseback - but the relentless peeks and valleys take a huge toll on the knees coupled with breathlessness from thin air and a late night at the Mystic club the night before.
Next we make for Ollantaytambo which is a real Inca town in its layout, beautiful water systems and houses. The ruins here are even more remarkable as the hallmark, enormous beautifully carved stones here were bought from a quarry 2000m up on the other side of the valley. Some of these blocks weigh in at 150 tonnes and they were rolled over wooden rollers to finish perched and carved in the current positions. The ruins tower over the town again and we break for a visit to the ´Hearts´ cafe for a bite before getting on the train to Aguas Calientes. We meet the incredible Sonia and she gives us the low down on the tough lot of the people who live in Huaran, just up the valley. She provides the moral support and some cash from the profits of the cafe...its a battle. I feel slightly guilty and promise myself never to moan about lifes trivialities again..unless United get pipped for the league by Chelsea...justifiable moansoming i feel.
We rush for the train, we have forgotten the time and get on board to be whisked (or sloathed) to Aguas.
Now when i was last here this was a one halibut town with a couple of inns. My god it is a metropolis of teetering houses, hostals and the pumping heartbeat of the trip to Machu Picchu....termite mound comes to mind.
Straight to bed...5am for a sunrise.
We are whisked up to Machu Picchu by the army of buses awaiting the masses. We arrive, it is a race to get up for the sunrise which suddenly fills the valley and crowns MP in Yellow. It is justifiable as world wonder and the sight takes whatever breath you have left right out of you...it really is totally and utterly breathtaking and even for the second time you wonder at the skill of the people who put this together. Not only that but it is so perfect in its form they didn´t build it just for it to exist, it transcends that and is truly a temple to the senses.
The sun rushes across the valley and the clouds rise of the forest and the whole place is shrouded in mist which only adds to the beauty.
Why would you leave this kind of heaven and go down to Cusco to be quartered...aside from the ample supply of virgins, you could even forgo the champions league for this
kind of paradise. The silence is deafening and the views all around are eye candy but finally at 3pm we leave to go back to Aguas, although we won´t be tempted by the boiling soup which is the baths. The weather was perfect and each person leaving adds a vote for the N7W competition which will hopefully see Machu Picchu in at least
the top seven...although i don´t think it will nose past the Oracle centre in Reading
which gets the grey vote.