Mary & Lisa Recap: Machu Picchu At Last!

Mary and Lisa’s trip was PACKED full of stuff after we left Arequipa! Day 9 out of 10 brought Machu Picchu! This is the last recap!

Machu Picchu & Allison’s Smackdown En Español, April 11th

We were up early again to take a taxi to the Ollantaytambo train station, where we would hope on a Peru Rail train to Aguas Calientes. From Aguas Calientes we needed to take a bus to Machu Picchu. (Yes, getting to Machu Picchu takes three legs of travel from Cusco.)

Everything was smooth sailing until I realized our train tickets were actually booked for the next day. This was no good because Mary and Lisa were leaving the next day for Seattle!! Argh! I’d be a great tour guide except for small details like dates and times.

We were able to change our Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes tickets, but unfortunately everything was booked for return routes that day. The Peru Rail representative told me that the office in Aguas Calientes would be able to get me return tickets if someone else cancelled that day, which was very common. So, we took off for Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu figuring that worst case scenario we would return early the next day.

Machu Picchu was amazing. Seriously. I saw so many different things the second time! I can’t wait to go a third!

After leaving Machu Picchu is generally where the “smackdown” begins. (Note, that’s Mary and Lisa’s name for it. Not mine!)

I had tried to change our tickets when we first arrived in Aguas Calientes, but the representative told me everything was full and we’d have to come back later to see if anything was open. So, after visiting Machu Picchu, we did just that.

We were again told that there were no openings (even the next morning) and that we would have to continue to wait. I figured that if we waited right there at the ticket counter, something might open up, and we’d get the first dibs.

Right after us in line were a group of Spanish speaking tourists who had missed their train earlier that day. As the Peru Rail rep spoke with them, I made sure that he knew I was watching and that I understood what was going on. If they were getting tickets, so were we.

In the mean time, a pregnant woman in the same situation was able to change her tickets. This made everyone else more relentless in getting help, including me.

It gets blurry from here. At one point, the rep helping the Spanish speaking group was talking on a cell phone. It looked as if that group was going to be able to change their tickets! I interjected, even walking over to their counter, telling the rep that we were there first and that we were in the same situation.

From this point on there was a lot of back and forth (in Spanish!) saying that we needed help. We were there first. And we were in the same situation as the other group. Pretty much those three things over and over. I also continued to throw out that we would be willing to take any train, including the insanely expensive ones.

When it still looked like the Spanish speaking group was going to get tickets, I asked to talk with their boss, who was lingering in the back. At this point, the rep assured me that he was going to help us. And I backed off. (Note: If the boss wasn’t there I was prepared to pull our my Bolivian border guard trick.)

He offered us two tickets back, which would have been okay for Mary and Lisa to make their flights. I started to succeed a little bit, when Mary said, “Why not three?” I’d come that far, why not get a third ticket! Especially since the party of 5 was being help right next to us.

As the rep continued to say they couldn’t do three, I heard one of the Spanish speaking party plead that they were only short 10 soles! So they couldn’t pay for their tickets. That’s when we started throwing money at our representative and telling him that we could pay for three right there.

I don’t know how it all worked out, but it did. And I know I totally bastardized the Spanish language in the process. But it worked! We had train tickets for 5pm that night! I really didn’t know I had that in me. I’m developing the persistent Peruvian attitude that seems to be necessary here.

Post smackdown, we finally went for some lunch at about 3pm. We hadn’t eaten all day. I was exhausted, hungry to the point of not being hungry, and full of adrenaline. Not a good combo. I ate about three bites of my meal, drank maybe a pint of beer and a Sprite, and then proceeded to throw up three times on the train ride home. It was not pretty… And I was sick for the next two days! And I ended up losing my passport somewhere between Machu Picchu and Cusco. More on that later.

p.s. We saw all of the Spanish speaking group on our train as well. So we all ended up making it on a train that evening.

p.p.s. I never read people’s blogs who blather on this much. I hope you skimmed this!