Day 3: It's Machu Picchu !! - Travel With Asana

(Note: This journey took place on August 10th 2015)

The effect of Jet Lag almost ruined the mood. I went to bed around 10 pm and woke up several time that night, before finally open my eyes around 4 am. The earliest bus from Aguas Calientes starts around 5:30 am and we need to get going before the queue gets too long.

How to get to Machu Picchu Pueblo to the Machu Picchu Site

Ticket, ticket, ticket. That is how you can get into the Machu Picchu Site. The entrance ticket must be bought in advance, and we bought it since April 2015 :). We bought it via Majestic Tour. My friend Amelia Saputri took care of it and we can thank enough for the arrangement. The ticket costs S/ 152 /pax, and it is for Machupicchu and Huaynapicchu. It will be shown in the entrance get and will be stamped. For more information, you can read about purchasing the ticket here.

Entrance ticket to Machu Picchu, we purchased it 4 months in advance, and the electronic ticket was sent via email.

We had already have the ticket months ago, what’s next, then? From Aguas Calientes, the only way to reach MP site is by bus (unless you want to hike up). The bus starts from 5:30 am to 6:00 pm and depart every 15 minutes. Right on the main street of Machu Picchu Pueblo. We bought the bus ticket the day before. You may also want to search the internet for more detail information.

Aguas Calientes Ticket Sales
Av. Hermanos Ayar S/N
05:00am – 9:30pm

The information board outside the Bus Ticket office. This was the price deck on August 2015

Going up

We knew that it must be a very long queue, so we have to go early. Another reason why you want to get up early is to watch the sun rise, and to avoid the afternoon heat as well as the wave of tourists. (That’s 4 reasons already).

What we didn’t expect was that once we arrive at the bus station around 5 am, the queue already 1 km long !!! I remember queuing ticket for watching Titanic back in Junior High School, and it’s kind of remind me of that 🙂 So we waited for about 1 hour before finally got in! (gosh, I remember I was thinking: “IT’S GETTING REEAALLLL”)

It took about 40 minutes drive to the top (entrance of MP site) via Hiram Bingham highway. The road was steep, curvy and winding up, and the small bus (about 20 pax capacity) went on full speed. Once we arrived, we were faced with another queue. But this time it was queue to go inside the site.

Once we stepped into the site, all worry, wary, jet-lag were forgotten. I remembered screaming in my heart (and maybe out loud too, a little ;)) couldn’t contain my excitement. Few hikes up and you are served with the view of the mountain range, huayna picchu and the historical site.

We then explore the site till afternoon around 1 pm (but didn’t hike to Huayna Picchu). I couldn’t remember took as so many photo shoots in one travel location as I did in Machu Picchu. It was just so picturesque I will just posting photos after this. My words no longer capable to describe how beautiful, majestic and epic it was.

The writing about Hiram Bingham

We went back down and arrived at Aguas Calientes around 2pm. We took some rest, lunch, and waited 5 hours for our 7 pm train back to Ollantaytambo. It was a tiring train ride and i slept the whole journey. Our transfer had awaited us in Ollantaytambo and drove us back to Cuzco.

10 August 2015. I will never forget you.