Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu

This photo is our favourite of Machu Pichu: The llama that wanted my banana

On Monday it was another early start to go to Machu Pichu. It should be known as a day of standing in lines. You stand in line to get on the bus to go up, then to get in, then to get into Wayna Pichu, then again to get on a bus to leave. The bus ride up was spectacular, you can't get the height and steepness of the mountains into perspective until you are actually there. When we did get into the site, it was already daylight and we got to watch the rays of sun peep over the horizon and hit the ruins.
Some people thought it was magical, I thought it was lovely... but... well... honestly. If you have seen a documentary on Machu Pichu, you have seen the exact same thing. It's the setting that makes it really amazing. After watching that we rushed over to the entrance to Wayna Pichu. Turns out that we didn't need to do that. We were there just before our climbing time but we waited ages to get in. The line also moved super slow because you have to show your ticket and passport and sign in. We were 50 or 60 people back in the line and we passed so many people on the way up. I think we only took maybe 2 or 3 breaks right at the start before we caught up to other people. After that we just used walking behind other people as our breaks, because even the young people were going quite slow. Then they would stop and we would speed up until we reached another group and then have another break walking behind them. There were quite a few older people and larger people on the track who were rather struggling. Good for them for giving it a go but it would be great if they moved aside and let everyone behind them past. It was a great walk though, we really enjoyed it. The whole way up you see spectacular views, if you can manage to take your eyes off the steep steps long enough. When we got to the top, there were maybe 20 other people there, which was really nice because there's not a lot of room up there. The view was great and I would really recommend paying the extra for Wayna Pichu if you are fit. We didn't find it anywhere near as hard or as dangerous as everyone says it is. I feel like some of the walks we have done in Australia had more risk involved. There were a few bits with really tiny steps, but just go slow and it's fine.

When we got to the bottom again I thought we would have a banana. You're not supposed to bring in food to Machu Pichu by the way, but don't stress too much, they don't go through your bags. Don't eat bananas where llamas can see you. One made a very obvious b-line to me. Brandon was physically trying to push it away, but it wasn't having any of that, it was having a banana. I decided to take the opportunity to lead it to a nice spot to take a photo of it in front of the ruins. It was funny, this American lady very loudly pronounced it was about to spit at us and even did a count down... Brandon and I just completely ignored her because it was pretty obvious it wasn't going to spit, and it didn't. Americans.... nothing against them, but if there's someone with a loud opinion, it's usually an American.

So it turns out there is a sort of one way track through Machu Pichu. Which, by the end of our time there was making me hate it just a little bit. Seriously, there were guards everywhere to tell you to go back or get off the grass. The frustrating thing is there aren't enough signs to tell you where you are meant to go, so we spent most of our time trying to figure out how to get from one spot to another without getting yelled at. And the map they give you,  it looked like absolute nonsense to me. We later realised, after talking to a lot of people who had been to Machu Pichu recently, that it seems to be only one-way on really busy days. If you can, go on a day that isn't packed so you can just wander around. I should mention that because we climbed Wayna Pichu at 7am, we missed the guided tour that was included from Llama Path. When you haven't had a guided tour, it makes it very obvious the grounds are set up to be used by groups with guides, which obviously also annoyed me. There were quite a few large groups, like 20 or more people, which made it really annoying to have to go one way. If you were walking behind them, you were stuck, because you couldn't turn around and go a different way. The other thing I find annoying is at ruin sites, if you're behind a group, the guide will often tell you to go past because they are worried you're listening. But what if I'm not done looking at what you're talking about. Anyway, that's why I didn't love Machu Pichu like everyone else in the entire world does. If we were going to go back again, which I doubt, we would not get there early. We would aim to get there at 10 or 11am and head straight up Machu Pichu Mountain, which is at the opposite side of the site to Wayna Pichu but still had good views. Then by the time we were back from that it would be 1 or 2pm and there wouldn't be near as many people around. The groups of people tend to act a bit like cows, and get startled when they have to move for you.

At the time, Machu Pichu left me a bit disgruntled. Looking back now, it was a good experience and I'm glad we went, especially for the views from Wayna Pichu. It is a lot of effort and time and money to get to the site. Obviously, if you are in Cuzco, you're going to go. I really wouldn't recommend a day tour from Cuzco though. I saw them advertised and I think it was be far too much rushing to get there and back again.