Day 46 – Friday, March 13, 2026

After a quick bite in the morning, I was picked up a few minutes after six am. I was a bit like a zombie — little sleep, low temperature and the high altitude all got to me.

The bus got moving slowly — not only as it was all uphill at the beginning, but there was some apparent organizational hiccup. We started at 3,500 meters of elevation, rode up through Cusco, then down to some 1,500 m, then back up to 4,300 m, then down again. Oh, what a ride that was, my countrymen! I enjoyed it, even though I was sitting at the very back, being thrown in the air on multiple occasions. It took a lot longer than six hours, more like well over seven. We followed a creek, which turned later into a roaring river. The road was OK at times, but pathetic at others.

Wonderful scenery

Lots and lots of curves...

...and switch-backs

Lots of smaller waterfalls

Sometimes, it was just a foot or two that separated us from a deep gorge.

Hopefully no flat tire or an oncoming car...

Llamas grazing on the pastures

Now a “feature” — not a “bug” — of this bus ride was that it did NOT take us to the base camp, Aguas Calientes — but a 10 km “easy” (as advertised) hike would follow.

The final destination of the bus was at a hydroelectric station — and most passengers visited a restaurant there. As for me, I was eager to start the “easy” hike and try to get a ticket for the following day. What followed was an inverse case of the Ten Little Indians — I started the hike with a young Japanese guy, we were soon three, joined by another young fellow from Japan. It was lush, green vegetation — a bit like the jungle in Vietnam. We were hiking next to the rail tracks, and every now and then a train would pass us.

My Japanese hike buddies

This is what the hike looked like

A bit like Bridge over the River Kwai

Soon an Australian–Pakistani guy, Freddy, joined, then Nora from Norway (they were on the bus too). We met a group of hikers (by chance, also Norwegians) doing the 5‑day Inka Trail, a hike of some 85 km, right up to the sanctuary. They mentioned that it had rained heavily on their second day. They still had a day ahead and were admittedly running out of stamina.

Oh yeah, rain. Yet again, it is Friday the 13th. It started getting overcast and especially above the mountain housing Machu Picchu it was threateningly grey. In no time, it started to drizzle, then came rain proper — something I had last experienced in San Pedro.

We only stopped once at the numerous kiosks and rest stops the business‑savvy Peruvians had set up along the route, selling everything from ice‑cream to empanadas. Still, where is the end of this hike?

Finally, the “base camp” showed up; now there were buses passing us — carrying people to Machu Picchu proper — at least those who do not want to get utterly wet.

This is the base camp, Aguas Calientes

As we reached the houses, the rain decided to throttle up — now there was an enormous downpour.

We finally reached the ticket office, completely soaked. There, we got great news — tickets were available for any of the routes of the following day, including the much sought‑after Route Two. Note on the side — I checked online, the next availability was not a couple of days later, neither weeks later — it would have been months away, in mid‑June! To make the news even rosier, all hours were open to us. We got tickets for 8 am — not being brave (or foolish) enough to make the hike on foot, we also got bus tickets for the following day.

The town is otherwise a huge bazaar — with restaurants, accommodation ranging from luxurious (the price of a hotel room was over USD 500) to budget hostels, shops selling anything and everything — in short, not my favorite place.

I opted for a tourist hotel; it cost just €23, and for that price, it was reasonable — at least I had a roof above my head. Completely soaked, I asked a staff member to try to dry my clothes and she said she would. I asked for a hair dryer and did my best to dry my shoes. Then I took a hot shower and even though Nora and the others contacted me to go out, I did not even see that — and jumped to bed.

The rain is supposed to stop by tomorrow morning — let us see if it did!