So I booked tickets to Cuzco, Peru the other day.
It seemed like an interesting place, lots to see and do. We had a good looking hotel in the package. As I was trying to get tickets on PERURAIL from Cuzco to Machu Picchu last night, something was amiss, no tickets were available. There are three trains that run pretty much daily. The cheap Backpacker, the medium priced Vistadrome, and the hideously expensive Hiram Bingham, ( the one Tony Bourdain was on during his TV show). There was no availability the entire week.
So the dilemma ensues. I had noticed there was no way to book the extra train tour on Expedia when I booked the trip which I thought odd. There is basically no other way up there, either the train or you can hike, if you are insane, extremely young and foolish, or trying desperately to convince yourself you are immortal. Looking at these steep mountain trails you can understand why cocaine was invented here. There had been helicopter trips which have been thankfully discontinued. Also there is talk of putting in a bridge so people can drive from a local town. But for now, for me anyway, there is just the elusive train.
I personally wouldn’t care so much. My wife however, has informed me this is a “spiritual experience of a lifetime” and no Machu Picchu would really shatter her whole trip.
Originally, this all started with a story about how I eat guinea pigs occasionally for dinner, for laughs. I had read the people of that area consider it a delicacy. It makes sense of course, few working people in the world keep pets like Americans do. The Vietnamese pot bellied pigs we see as pets here are not pets at home, they are what’s for dinner as they say.
A guy I work with, Pascual, one day mentioned he was from Cuzco. He said “yes it is good there, you should go”. So I asked him “when would be the best time to go”. He said the end of June there is a festival the “Sun” festival. So I looked up Inti Raymi, the Fiesta del Sol, or sun festival. It looked good. I talked with the wife she said yes let’s go.
So here we are. I just received two books on the Cuzco area from Powell’s in the mail yesterday. As I was sitting here in some rare February sunshine yesterday afternoon, perusing them, I was getting psyched up for the trip.I thought to myself I should check more on that train deal. Ah well, I am sure there must be some kind of train ticket scalpers eh?
Damn you Machu Picchu!!
