The Trek Out to Machu Picchu

We decided to take the route to Machu Picchu that was tougher than the simple train ride but wimpier than the 4-day hike down the Incan trail. Our journey consisted of an 8 hour bus ride to a town called Santa Teresa along hair-raising mountain roads, being pulled across a raging river in a basket by locals, a 1.5 hour walk and a brief train ride. The next day we saw Machu Picchu in the morning and repeated the entire trip the same afternoon. As a whole we were pretty happy with the decision to make the trip into a semi-adventure, but we were a little dismayed by the poor timing, and lack of direction and attention to detail by our guides. And in hindsight, the decision to buy many beers and bottles of liquor for the drive back was probably a bad idea as it resulted in a fight between other passengers and a bloody nose at 11pm on the dark mountain road!