From Cusco, the next stop on the road to Machu Picchu is the mountain town of Auguas Calientes. To get there we took a 1.5 hr. cab ride north of Cusco to the city of Oyllentaytambo (which cost a whopping 40 soles = 14USD)
The countryside was stunning. Switchback roads through snow-capped mountains, wide open plains dotted with lakes and a great “Gringo Mix” tape made the time fly by.
With 5 people and 4 packs, the cab was pretty weighty and going over speed bumps proved challenging – we nearly had to come a stop each time before ever-so-slowly rolling over the top to avoid bottoming out.
Once in Oyllentaytambo we headed to the train station and tried to meet up some other travelers. However, we were stopped by security, told that our packs were too large and thus we needed to pay a “large bag” fee.
Trying to stay positive
Apparently the standard is to leave you large pack in Cusco and only take a day-pack up the mountain. That would have been nice to know. Instead we got to pay 62 soles each for the extra weight (22USD). Needless to say we were not too pleased with the situation.
And little did we know that this was only the beginning of “Things that probably should have been included in the guide book.” Thanks.
Shockingly, the 1.5 hr. train ride included a complementary lunch which we spiced up with a few bottles of wine to calm ourselves down after being raped by the train station.
Upon arriving in Auguas Calientes we tracked down a hostel and headed to the bus station to buy tickets up the mountain for the next morning. For being such a quiet, quaint town, our time in AC turned out to be insanely stressful and chaotic. More on that next.
The calm before the storm in AC
