Let’s be real, best-laid travel plans often fail (or at least partly). Keeps you on your toes, ya know? (And teaches you how to manage your anger). After coming down with an insane case of food poisoning that plagued me from Ecuador into Peru, my intentions of doing the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu fell through. That being said, ya girl still made it to this seventh wonder of the world, just at an easier pace. 

My home base during my time in Peru was Cusco, so the agency I worked with to book my original trek, helped pivot me to a few excursions, which included this weekend up to see Machu Picchu. After a morning pick-up from my Airbnb in town, the bus drove us up to Hidroelectrica - I mean, I still wanted to say I did a little hiking up. The pick-up is understandably early so we stopped two to three times along the way for snacks, stretch, and bathroom breaks. That being said, I highly recommend bringing your own snacks and water to avoid lines and come prepared with your preferred treats versus being at the mercy of whatever spot is open.

Additionally, I will also never stop recommending a portable fan. Let. Me. Tell. You. Even though I am someone prone to motion sickness in a vehicle, the drive up to Hidroelectrica is not for the faint of stomach. I had seen warnings about the potential dangers of the bus ride (but of course, I didn’t heed them cause the price was right). In hindsight, I wish I’d heeded them. The roads are incredibly curvy, quite narrow and rocky in parts, and the drop is steep. If you’re riding on the left side of the bus, you’ll get many a viewpoint that will make your stomach plummet. As I’ve mentioned in other South America posts, air conditioning is also unlikely (regardless of what is advertised) and unless you’re blessed to be on a bus with windows (and have control to open/close said window) you are S.O.L. on some kind of breeze. To further drive the point home, at one of the stops, someone from another bus spewed all over the street immediately upon stepping off the bus. I lived to tell the tale but… 

Once we arrived in Hidroelectrica, if you’re ticket included lunch you were served a buffet-style meal with spots to sit at picnic tables, ahead of your hike up to Aguas Calientes. It’s sustaining though not anything to get pumped about but you’re gonna want the sustenance ahead of your three-hour trek. This is the trick though - in my experience, none of the guides or coordinators at the lunch spot spoke any English and, sadly, my Spanish (though growing during my time in South America) was nowhere near what it should have been to understand the communications being passed along. This is where it is really crucial to find a friendly, Spanish-speaking face (or faces). Push past your feelings of potentially bugging someone(s) and simply begin a conversation: “¡Hola! ¿Hablas inglés?” Most travelers are incredibly friendly, even if they can’t communicate easily with you, and are willing to help. We’ve all been there! 

I was lucky enough to find a couple from Colombia who spoke a little English and were happy to confirm that once we finished eating we were to head off on our hike. No further instructions were provided from the “guides,” just a point in the general directions and probably the Spanish equivalent of “Godspeed.” So, you besta believe that I attached myself something FIERCE to this couple and the friends they made, cause I wasn’t about to solo hike along some train tracks, especially without speaking much of the language, and potentially get lost in the wilderness. I’m being slightly dramatic here, as there were plenty of people ahead or behind you to follow but I wasn’t taking any chances. I ended up becoming buddies with an Argentinian fellow as we made the trek, eventually separating from the others as, surprisingly, I was not the slowest hiker in the group by a mile (or miles). Bless this guy, whose name I sadly cannot remember, as he matched pace with me.

I’m not going to lie to you, this trek from Hidroelectrica up to Aguas Calientes is boring as hell. There are a few pretty vistas but nothing to ride home about or fear missing out on. At many points, you feel like you’ve been walking for hours and the infrequent times that you do pass someone, I swear they lie to you about how “close” you are to Aguas Calientes. Aka I’m not sure I’d recommend it as worth it, but it is the more budget-friendly option and you can say you hiked a portion of the trail up to Machu Picchu-ish.

Once we finally made it into Aguas Calientes, I could not wait to sit down. I love a meal but my god if our tour guide wasn’t meeting us at dinner to give us instructions for the next day, I would have happily showered, starved, and passed out. My body was wipppeeeed. 

We met our group in the Manco Capac Square and headed to a late dinner with our host. He gave us all the information we needed for getting up - whether you wanted to bus or hike it - as well as heading back to Cusco the following day, post our tour of Machu Picchu. 

With battling food poisoning and being 100% not in South America hiking shape, I absolutely took the bus. To be clear, when I say “South America hiking shape” it’s not simply a matter of landscape. The altitude gets you even in the sneakiest of ways, depending on where you are - like say Ecuador in rainy season - the ground can be slippery and not to mention, these aren’t always well-established paths. Along the hike up to Aquas Calientes, you’re crossing on train tracks where you can see straight through to water rushing below. On the hike up to Machu Picchu - part of which you can see from the bus - some of those stairs look… questionable (they be real crumbly looking). All in all, that bus ride was worth the cash.

Machu Picchu was genuinely even prettier than I imagined. The way the light hits as the sun rises is nothing short of magical and the crowd control is top-tier, so you get to sort through most sections without feeling like you’re fighting a ton of others for viewing rights. Also, I saw my first CHINCHILLA just chilling in the ruins. A CHINCHILLA just out in nature doing it’s thang. Loved it. The tour itself is about an hour long before your guide leaves you towards the end to make your way back to the bus lot and collect any bag(s). Correct, while you’re allowed to bring a day pack inside the ruins, large bags are prohibited. Make sure to bring some sols with you to pay for it as well as the potty. 

After taking the bus back to Aguas Calientes, I grabbed a bite to eat. The main area of town is quite tourist-heavy - which, isn’t shocking - but take advantage of one of the restaurants on the Urubamba River, the views overlooking the water are beautiful and offer a lovely respite from a packed weekend. 

Instead of hiking back to Hidroelectrica and taking the bus back down those winding roads - I said “hell no” and splurged on a train/bus combo back to Cusco. Worth. Every. Penny. The train is so nice and the views of the Andes are beautiful (as they are on the bus up but when you feel about to hurl at a moment's notice… you appreciate it less). I got off at Ollantaytambo before taking a smaller bus the rest of the way back into Cusco. At this point, you’ve bypassed the more daunting and nauseating roads and the drive is much smoother. 

All in all, though a slight adjustment from my original (overachieving and highly unrealistic) plans, it was a weekend I’ll forever remember and is totally, 100% worth the hype. 

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