Machu Picchu, Cusco, and one or two tourists

The alarm going off at 5.30am was a bit of a rude shock. Machu Picchu needed to be something special to get me up at that time, I was just grateful I didn't have shoelaces to tie.

After a cereal bar I grabbed a few items like raincoat and camera and met a cab in reception that the tour guide had sent over. I got dropped at Cusco rail station and a ticket for the train was thrust at me by the tour guide, after I was introduced to him by the taxi driver. I ended up sitting on my own in the train, wondering if I was in the right place. After the train left the station the conductor came along and in Spanish and English told everyone that the journey would be four hours to Aguas Calientes, the rail station for Machu Picchu.

Any hope my poor sore butt had of a nice day off evaporated with the morning mists. Eight hours on a train plus an hour on buses... at least the seats were a little more bearable than a bike saddle. I'd been enjoying the views over Cusco and the surrounding countryside when I was jolted awake and a menu put in my hands. I hadn't even realised I had drifted off, must have been more tired than I thought. After a sandwich and coffee I figured I would be ok, but drifted back off to sleep again.

I awoke to glimpses of snow capped mountains, covered by clouds, towering above the river valley which the train followed. I noticed that many of the tourists in the carriage were videoing the entire train journey, I bet home videos at their place are a real hoot. Occasionally the train would stop and indian ladies would appear at the windows, selling anything from hot corn on the cob to Inca patterned bags.

The train pulled into Aguas Calientes station and my tour group met up. It was organised chaos as the guide would call names again and again, until people showed up. It didn't help that they had my middle name down in place of my first name, and the guide would keep calling "Edooard". Eventually after the guide had run off, come back, called everyones' name again, and separated English and Spanish speakers, we got into Machu Picchu through the throng of tourists. I was completely uncomfortable the moment I stepped off the train, and the crowded feeling got worse until I was starting to doubt I would enjoy Machu Picchu at all. I guess I was so used to doing my own thing on the bike and having no company that being herded around like cattle in the press of people was a bit odd.

Fortunately I forgot all about it when I saw the ruins. The steeply terraced mountainside held more than 200 Inca buildings and it struck me just how at home they looked in the landscape. The surroundings were changed by the ruins being there, but in a nice way. It kind of puts modern building planning to shame.

After a guided tour of the ruins, we were allowed the rest of the afternoon to explore before heading back to the train. It was very difficult to find a quiet spot to soak up the ambiance of the place, but I managed to sit for a while and just drink in the view of the surrounding landscape, and watch small Swallows chasing insects. Strange to think that six centuries ago maybe Inca nobility might have done the same thing. It was interesting just how little people seem to know about the Incas, because they didn't write anything down and the Spaniards tried to eradicate their beliefs. Some Americans were arguing whether Machu Picchu was higher than Cusco (at 3400m) and I setted it by showing them the altitude on my watch (2400m), to oohs and aahs. There we were, in that amazing place, and they were impressed by a watch with an altimeter ;)

I had some lunch and got back on the train for Cusco and stuck my iPod on. I watched the guy opposite sink about five beers over the course of an hour or so, and when I took my earphones out at one point he started chatting. Turned out he was a network engineer called Alan, from Middlesborough, on a 13 month world tour. We spent the rest of the journey comparing notes - he was headed north and I south, so we were able to give each other an idea of what to expect.

Out of the window the stars lit the journey back to Cusco. I thought back to the tourist chaos at Machu Picchu, and wondered how long it could go on for. November is the quiet season, and still there were so many bus loads of tourists that there was hardly room on the road for the buses to pass. Costs were astronomical compared to the rest of Peru, and the town of Aguas Calientes seemed to owe it's existence to the ruins. I'd never seen so many tourists or so much tourist exploitation in one place before.

The following day I decided to stay in Cusco to see the Inca museum and hang out with Steve for a bit. The museum was kind of interesting, but as ninety percent of the explanations were in Spanish, it was all a bit lost on me. Steve took me to the local market for Coca tea and tamales, and I sat surrounded by exotic smells watching someone try to stuff a live chicken into a bag while we drank.

In the evening we went back to Norton Rats, the biker bar, and met up with a couple of other travellers (one of whom was travelling from Colombia to Argentina by pushbike!). An Indian guy named Mo was planning to head south to Puno tomorrow at more or less the same time as me, so we agreed to meet up and ride together in the morning. The rest of the evening was spent swapping stories from the road, before leaving and running the gauntlet of locals trying to sell hats, paintings and just about anything else you can imagine. They are so persistent and won't take a simple "no thanks" for an answer, often following people up the road.

I'll be glad to be back on the road and away from the hard sell that is Cusco. It's architecturally pretty, but a bit too Disney for me.

Frase.