10/24: Machu Picchu Pueblo, Peru: Walking the Rails to Los Jardines de Mandor

When we got up that morning, we were so excited knowing another part of our long trip through much of South America was about to begin. We’d talked for a couple of years about going to Machu Picchu – the rest of South America was just a bonus, if you will, as the highlight was always MP (as I’ll call it from now on to make it shorter) in our minds. Especially now having seen so much more of the vast continent than ‘just’ Machu Picchu, I am so glad we incorporated so many other sights into this three and a half month long adventure.

At least six months before we left home at the beginning of September, we booked the hideously expensive train tickets – the only mode of transport other than hiking the Inca Trail for four days - from Ollantaytambo to what we thought was Aguas Calientes, the town nearest MP itself. Somewhere in between booking and now, the town of Thermal Waters had become known as Macho Picchu Pueblo or town. Going to MP is not a last-minute decision as it’s obviously a very desirable place to go and transportation options are so limited. 

Only a tuk tuk could fit on the narrow lanes of Ollanta to take us to the town's train station; it was a tight fit even though we left half of our luggage at our hotel to pick up on our return from Machu Picchu in a couple of days!

So many vendors were selling rubber-tipped walking sticks – the only kind permitted on the slopes of MP to protect the fragile vegetation - for 20 soles or about $6, we wondered whether we, too, needed them for the next couple of days!

If you needed a last minute hat, bag, blanket, backpack, walking stick - you name it - the vendors had them aplenty next to the train tracks!

Gloria: You would have loved seeing the flowers by the station.

I normally spend all my available time on buses, trains and planes pretty well glued to the computer, so I can type up my notes from another day’s travel into a Word document. (Now for instance, I am at long last making use of our five plus hour flight from Easter Island back to Santiago, Chile, to type up notes from about a month ago!) As our train had overhead viewing windows in addition to the regular side windows, I wanted to take advantage of what would be a very special trip through the gorge and part of the Sacred Valley by keeping my eyes peeled to the exterior views.

Seeing soon stunning snow-capped mountains made me realize I had made a smart decision!

Sitting across from us on the train ride was an orthopedist living in Atlanta but originally from Lima. He joked that MP was Peru’s Disneyland in the sense of the exorbitant prices. The cost of a one-way ticket per person was $70 for the 90-minute journey just to MP Pueblo but of course the train company had us over a barrel. There was an additional $12 per person one way for the 15-minute bus ride to the archaeological site the following day! Oh yes, they even charged for bathroom privileges there, too. Sorry for my rant!

The sight of the snow-capped Andes was pretty spectacular, don't you agree?!

Our arrival at Machu Picchu Pueblo train station:

The train let us all out in an artisans’ market that was like a maze with no signs pointing to the exit. I love artisans’ markets but the prospect of lugging my bag and carrying a backpack that was approaching 15 pounds any further than I had to, even in search of the perfect souvenir, held little interest right then! Later, yes but not at 9:30 in the morning and already loaded down with too much stuff!

We realized immediately that no one needed to go hungry in MP Pueblo as the restaurant choices were enormous for a pretty small town. MP Pueblo was unique in that there was only one street with cars and it was next to the river. That meant there were no taxis from the station to our hotel and – gasp, gasp – we had to lug all our stuff up the long hill to our hotel. I had unknowingly chosen the last possible hotel located at the top of the hill, nine long blocks away but who was counting, eh?!

All the restaurants we passed on the hill had tables facing out onto the street and were decorated with adorable Peruvian dolls and often toys too.

I sure hope nobody reading this is a fan of Peruvian Hairless dogs because we found them among the ugliest ones we’ve ever seen!

What a pretty town square in a magnificent location. The Iglesia Virgen del Carmen:

Restaurants also lined another set of  train tracks that ran right through the town.

Pedestrians in Machu Picchu Pueblo didn't have to be wary of cars or traffic lights as there weren't any - only trains barreling through town at all hours!

The flowers we spotted just outside of town on the way to the botanical gardens were so lovely - why couldn't we have been content to just see them, rather than hiking so far out of town?!

An almost constant parade of buses loaded down with passengers coming from and going to Machu Picchu was our companion on the hike for a longish while. Since the site's admission costs were pretty expensive, we had only reserved tickets for one day, i.e. the next one.

It was like a jungle on the other side of the river!

We had never seen these unusual looking flowers before.

The hike out to the gardens took us past the town’s Butterfly House, campground and beside the train tracks almost the entire way. 

I’ve never walked so far along train tracks as we did that day. It was much easier to walk on them since the trail left a lot to be deserved for large chunks of the route. I felt like a character in the British movie Trainspotting where the young men walk along the tracks wondering when they would first hear and feel the rumble of a far-away train approaching, and when they would have to hop off the tracks.

We didn't need to use Google Translate to figure out this sign!

We were relieved to finally reach the gardens after a 90-minute plus hike, especially since the signage was sadly lacking.

One of the cutest bathroom signs I'd seen in a while - I especially loved the purse!

The gardens included over 300 species of orchids. 

Yucca plant:

Chocolate tree and coffee tree, respectively, beside each other:

We were surrounded by lush vegetation including vibrant flowers wherever we walked in the gardens.

These looked like giant pineapples with bushes growing out of them! 

A footbridge across the Mandor River:

I loved counting all the different shades of hydrangea blooms on just this one bush.

The tiny waterfall was directed toward the channel and into the river.

We were delighted spotting so many butterflies but it was almost impossible taking any photos of them as the darned things kept flitting about!

The sign pointed us toward a Ceremonial Center but there was nothing left of it.

No signs indicated what this elevated structure was.

I’ve admired birds of paradise flowers since first being lucky enough to see them a few years ago in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens.

After hearing the falls for a good while, it was nice coming across them. They were called Cascada Mesada which translated to Waterfall Allowance - I know, it makes no sense!

We continued walking after hearing the roar of more water crashing over boulders in the distance.

Glad we only saw the one beetle as it was big enough!

Near the falls was the Ceremonial Plaza; however, we had no idea when and what types of ceremonies took place there.

What a pretty sight seeing butterflies flitting from branch to branch in only a tiny area of the gardens.

We’d almost just given up after seeing the one small waterfall so we were glad we’d persevered and discovered another path that took us to the 13-meter-high Mandor Falls.

The smaller falls we first came across were a great introduction to these larger ones.

We loved seeing the rock cairns that had been 'built' by previous travelers to the gardens.

The butterfly was like a smaller version of a monarch that we see so often back home in both Ottawa and Denver.

The gardens was a paradise for nature lovers and a lovely escape from all the crowds we knew we would be facing the next day at one of the most famous sights in the world.

On the way back to town about 2:30, we again found it much easier to walk on the tracks much of the way because the path was poor and/or very rocky. 

As we could feel the rumble of a train in the distance several minutes before seeing it turn the bend and come toward us, we had plenty of time to hop off the tracks. 

We were both pretty wiped once we got back to town and wondered why we had done such a long hike the afternoon before going to MP, knowing there would be so much hiking the next day. We stopped to buy our bus tickets for our journey to the Machu Picchu Archaeological Park in the morning, so we wouldn’t have to wait in line for a long time then. Transportation to the site was a great equalizer as everyone going up had to either walk or take one of the many buses driving up and down the mountain; no cars or private vehicles were allowed.

We spent a few moments in the church on the square.

A very unusual image of the Crucifixion:

We then wandered around the produce market. Normally we go to farmers' markets in new towns to look at the local produce; in Machu Picchu Pueblo, the vendors were far more interesting to us than any of the merchandise.

A rather unusual sculpture, we thought:

The climb back to our hotel: no wonder we were tired by the time we got up to the top of the hill!

If you're a fan of the Peruvian hairless dog breed, this is for you.

The hike out to the gardens would have been ideal except that I got bit up and down my legs and all over my hands from some impossibly tiny gnats along the train tracks. Those bites itched like ones from the worst black flies for days and days. Who would ever guess that such tiny creatures would leave such big welts?!

Next post: Machu Picchu at long last!

Posted on January 3rd, 2017, from Littleton, Colorado.