Machu Picchu

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Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,553
5,359
Anyone ever been? What is the best bang for you buck tour service to use? Looking at a direct route, rather than a trek tour.

machu-picchu-1.jpg
 

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
4,046
1,020
Always wanted to go there. But, I'm more of a physical person, so I think I would enjoy the trek more than the actual place. HOWEVER, it's a beautiful location and definitely want to go there myself.
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
14,053
15,564
That's the place Joe Rogan talks about all the time. I'd like to take a trip there as well some day.

I can't wait to hear how your trip goes.
 

skrala

Silver Knight of the Realm
316
53
There was a thread on the old boards, a bunch of us have been there. I did the trek, really enjoyed it. Would highly recommend it, it's an incredible place.
 

TomServo

<Bronze Donator>
6,299
8,088
Do you have to spend time at varying altitudes to get acclimated if you live at sea level back home?
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,465
7,381
Do you have to spend time at varying altitudes to get acclimated if you live at sea level back home?
It's less than 8,000 feet. Certainly a noticeable difference if you have only been there a day or so, but not as drastic as your typical mountain hike or ski trip.
 

skrala

Silver Knight of the Realm
316
53
If you're hiking in I'd spend a few days in Cuzco acclimating unless you already live at a higher altitude. The traditional Inca trail is over 10k for a good portion, and gets up to around 14k. I live at the beach and the altitude difference was rough the first day or two. If you're taking the train I wouldn't worry about it.

Cuzco is a cool city, it's worth spending some time there regardless.
 

Korrupt

Blackwing Lair Raider
4,832
1,228
The altitude is pretty nuts just getting off of the plane. They served us leaves made from the coca plant right as we literally got off of the plane which really helped with the sickness at first (I'm a bitch with altitude sickness). For tours you can find a ton of bus services that will drive you from Cuzco to Maccu Piccu. The drive is awesome and you'll also see the villager children running up the mountain waving to you at every turn (then they want tips up top, they earn them though)

Also drink Inca Cola over there, its pretty good
 

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
Anyone ever been? What is the best bang for you buck tour service to use? Looking at a direct route, rather than a trek tour.[/IMG]
Make sure whoever you book with, that they're legit. I went on a trip with 8 other people to hike the Inca Trail, and one guy who'd been down there twice before booked us with the guide he'd had the previous times who had started his own company. To make a very long story short, I humped my ass over the fucking Andes for 4 days and did NOT end up seeing Machu Picchu. Beautiful hike and everything, but it was more than a bit of a piss off to not actually see the fucking thing before I had to catch a flight.

It's less than 8,000 feet. Certainly a noticeable difference if you have only been there a day or so, but not as drastic as your typical mountain hike or ski trip.
You fly in to Cuzco, which is 11,000 feet. Many people coming in directly from sea level will experience a day or two of adjustment. I live at 2,300 feet and didn't really feel anything after spending a day and a half in Cuzco before hiking, but a friend who came from sea level and started hiking the next day got fairly ill on the hike.

I'm not sure what mountains you hike or ski at, but the altitude at Cuzco and Machu Picchu is significantly higher than what most people would be doing in the Rockies in North America or the Alps in Europe. The Andes are the second tallest mountain range on the planet. A friend's GPS on my trip got up to 14,500 feet or so on a couple of the passes we went through. That's significant altitude.

edit: hmm, didn't realize that the Colorado ski resorts were so goddamn high, with base elevations of 8-10k.
 

skrala

Silver Knight of the Realm
316
53
The actual Inca trail is heavily regulated by the government, you need a pass to use it and slots are booked pretty far in advance. They only let on a certain amount of people per day, my guess is his guide didn't have the passes lined up and got lost trying to go in a different way. There's really not much out there aside from huge f'n mountains, you don't even see Machu Piccu until you're right on top of it.
 

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
5,472
272
Haha, wow, that fucking blows.
Yeah, Skrala had it about right. Near as we could tell in hindsight, when a few people joined the group only a month or two before the trip (everyone else had booked on around 6 months before the trip), instead of saying "no they can't come because I only have 6 permits" or whatever, he turned around and sold the permits he did have and planned an alternate route that didn't require them. On top of that, he also thought that we had one more day of hiking time than we actually did, so the route he picked was longer than our group was capable of reasonably doing. He pushed us like hell, and I would think that we were doing upwards of 20km a day, but we also lost an entire day of hiking time because we had to drive 8-10 hours from Cuzco to get to the trail head. We had no chance of making the hike, but we didn't know that until we were halfway through the hike and called him on his bullshit.

The whole thing was a clusterfuck, and at least part of the blame should fall on my friend who organized the trip. He made a fortune in the 90's and now basically travels around the world on adventures and skis 100+ days a year, and he has no fucking concept of a set itinerary or real life obligations. So when a few people joined last minute, he probably pressured the guide to let them join without thinking "gee, I wonder if this will screw things up?" and the guide just went ahead and changed the entire trip without giving him the details. Or maybe even did give him the details, and my bud just didn't realize that the dates and timeline were fucked. Every time I've gone on a trip with him somewhere he's like "hey man, how about after we're done skiing in Chile you hop on a flight to Buenos Aires with me? I've got a booty call, and I'm sure she's got friends!" and I'm like "dude, I've already taken 10 days off, I've got shit waiting on me when I get home".

This was roughly the conversation we had with our guide in the hotel in Cuzco the night before we were supposed to start hiking:

Guide: Okay everyone, so tomorrow we must meet the van at 5 am to drive to the trailhead and meet the pack-horses.

Me: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Pack horses were banned on the Inca Trail years ago, what the fuck is up?

Guide: Yes, yes. But we go onespecialInca Trail!

Group: What the fuck? We signed up for the "Classic" Inca Trail, not some other herder's trail. This is bullshit.

Guide: Yes, yes, but people sign on late. So we change plan. Is no problem! So we leave on X day and get back on Y day, yes?

Me: No. I fly out on Y. I need to be back the day before that. So do the majority of the people here.

Guide: *eyes go wide*

At that point I knew we were fucked. But at the same time, he had our money, had purchased supplies and hired horses and cooks etc, so we weren't going to get anything back most likely. So after talking amongst ourselves, we decided to give it a go anyways. In the end if I had just seen Machu Picchu for even 20 minutes, the trip would have been a success. I actually really did enjoy the hike and saw some beautiful terrain, even though it wasn't the "real" Inca Trail. I've learned to never let that friend plan a trip ever again.

In the end he left us the last night on the trail with the other guides and the horses to travel ahead to the next town and pre-book a van that we could meet first thing in the morning and get a ride up to Machu Picchu to at least see it if only briefly before driving back to Cuzco. When we got to the teeny little town we were supposed to meet him at, he was nowhere to be found, and the guides who were still with us weren't too interested in helping find him. The Brazilian couple that joined us late (doctor and a laywer) and were the only ones who could speak passable Spanish managed to find the hostel he was staying at, got in to his room, and stole all his shit (which was like a rain jacket and a small backpack). They told the other guides if he wanted his shit back, to meet us in Cuzco the next night. He never showed up, naturally. We reported him to the tourist police, as they have a special branch dedicated to making sure tourists don't get ripped off as it used to be a big problem in Peru, but nothing much ever came of it.

So next time I'll be taking a train or bus or whatever!
 
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Korrupt

Blackwing Lair Raider
4,832
1,228
Wow man that sucks really bad, I'm glad I was still sick as hell and had to take the bus up.

Did you at least get to try Inca Cola ?)
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,465
7,381
A friend is doing this for his 40th birthday which is next month and he invited me along. Eomer's story has me a bit worried because I'm joining so late. Do the buses/trains book as early as the trail? How many days would you suggest spending there? My friend is planning 10 days which sounds pretty lengthy if we plan on doing the bus/train. How many days would you spend in Cuzco? Anything else in the area/country that would be worth checking out on a trip that long? Lima? Should I just leave after six days or so?
 

skrala

Silver Knight of the Realm
316
53
I thought Lima was a bit of a hole, but I know other people who liked the city. Cuzco is very cool, you could easily spend 2-3 days there exploring. If you're not doing the hike I think a week is plenty.
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,465
7,381
I leave on Saturday. Spending a couple days in Cusco, going to Machu Picchu for a day (doing the train), and then spending four days in the Amazon rainforest. Amped for this one!
 
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Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,465
7,381
This is a really cool place and you all should go. Don't know what is the most impressive man-made thing I've seen between this or the Alhambra. The rainforest is also legit. Extremely gross and human-unfriendly. But that's part of the charm.
 
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