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Machu Picchu - swarming with tourists, right? Not when you hike up the mountain at 4am and have it all to yourself.
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Being something of a contrary chap (´Oh, no!´ I hear you cry), I was reluctant to join a tour group for the four-day Inca Trail and even more reluctant to arrive by bus. So, at 4am, torch in hand, I hiked up the mountain to Machu Picchu, determined to be first at the gate.
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Halfway up, and an ominous form loomed out of the torchlight on the path ahead. Fortunately, it turned out not to be a Peruvian bandit intent on relieving me of my valuables but a Californian called Joel who had had the same idea. We got to the gate at 5.30 and the angel of a man at the ticket desk let us in even though the site did not open ´till six.
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Machu Picchu seems to be the one thing in South America that no-one comes away from disappointed. Having forty-five minutes to wander around the deserted, misty ruins as if I was the only person on Earth made sure that even this contrary chap will count it as one of the trip´s highlights. (Thankfully, Joel and I headed straight for opposite ends of the site so we could both have that pioneer feeling. whenever we caught a glimpse of each other, we would scurry away round a corner and pretend it hadn´t happened).
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One slight drawback was the fact that some people find it impossible to put rubbish in their bag rather than throwing it into the five-hundred-year-old ruins. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw one of the Machu Picchu staff throwing rubbish on the ground. I shouted at him to pick it up and, having misunderstood, he actually started telling me where I could find a bin. I persisted and he eventually got the message and looked suitably sheepish. I spent the next hour scouring the site for rubbish and collected a full bag, which I then poudly plonked on the ticket office desk.
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The delights of Macchu Picchu are best enjoyed with a friend who knows when to be quiet.
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The majesticism of the ruins does not, however, make everyone act like a grown-up. Look, I´m holding all of Machu Picchu by the Inca Trail. Isn´t it tiny!
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