To Aguas Calientes

We left Cusco at a shocking 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday to catch the Vistadome train to Aguas Calientes, a.k.a. Machu Picchu Pueblo. Aguas is the base camp for anyone not simply day-tripping to Machu Picchu. Despite Aguas Calientes' status as Tourist Trap No. 1 in all of Peru, we were glad to set aside enough time to properly see the ruins and their surrounds.

The Vistadome is so named because it has windows in the ceiling, predictably, which Nick argued would simply allow us a better view of the sky. Not so, it turns out -- many of the mountains in the region are steep enough that their peaks were best viewed through the ceiling! The morning was foggy but it was a lovely and very picturesque trip through the Andean countryside.

We arrived in Aguas around 10 a.m., and after checking e-mail we found lunch and strategized about how to spend fully 48 hours in this very small town, shown here from downriver.

Lonely Planet recommended a hike up Putucusi, a mountain facing the ruins at Machu Picchu, and so after a brief rest (the hike hadn't figured into my plans before ordering tacos and beer for lunch), we set off for the mountain.

If you are a loyal reader of this site, you will remember that Lonely Planet also recommended a certain boat ride from Siem Reap to Battambang in Cambodia. This waterway, described by the good LP as Cambodia's "most scenic," turned out to be a forest. The ride took some eight or nine hours, during which the engine of our "boat" periodically ran aground in this "waterway."

The hike we were about to take was described as "steep" with "portions" made up not of trail but of ladders. It was indeed steep. Imagine climbing about 1,500 vertical feet via stone steps and log ladders. Nick chugged along despite a low water supply and constant complaints from me; it took us about two hours to reach the top.

And despite the complaining, the 5 or 6 ladders (ranging widely in size, from one with about 10 steps to one with close to 100, at right), and

the biting flies you could actually watch swell and turn red with blood, it was totally worth it. The peak offered a prime view of the ruins across a wide valley, and panoramic views of all the cloud-shrouded mountains surrounding us. Plus, my painstaking slowness matched our arrival perfectly with the reemergence of the sun, which prompted a gorgeous rainbow extending down into Aguas.

The descent was almost as difficult (though half as long) and coupled with our descent from Machu Picchu itself yesterday, I feel like I can barely work my legs (Nick rolls his eyes as I stagger from place to place).

We also had a great dinner Tuesday evening after recuperating from the hike at Indio Feliz, though I'll cover that in more detail in an upcoming food-only post.