Travel Stories, How cheap can sometimes be very expensive
I was in Cuzco in March a few years ago. It was plain rainy season in Peru, which is not recommended to travel to places that are most affected, that are basically the Andes in Peru, Chile and Bolivia, from December to March.
I must admit that I like adventure. I like to travel on the way a local would do it, I’m always intrigued by the idea of traveling to a place as those living in the country do. And I also sometimes take it as a challenge, to find the cheapest way to reach the most diverse places. So I decided to make my way to Machu Picchu as Peruvians, backpackers on a budget and the rest of the adventurous do.
It was one of the most memorable trips yet one of the most dangerous of my life.
Here I tell you the whole story. Taking the bus from Cuzco to Quillabamba the adventure began. I was traveling in a bus in the last seat because it was the cheapest. (Then, few minutes later, and with every jump of the way I understood why). Children, bags with food and some animals were in the aisle of the bus. In the middle of the night, I woke up with the bus tipped on its side and everybody screaming and crying widespread hysteria ” We are all going to die here!”. It was rainy and the dirt road was crossed by river channels flooded by water. One of the most frightening journeys of my life.
We arrived at the first destination, at the junction with the town of Santa Maria for connecting with the following mini-bus to take me to Santa Teresa. After three hours sitting down waiting on the road in the middle of the night, the driver arrived and tells us the road was very bad and a huge rock felt that did not allow the passage of any vehicles. The only option was to go up through the hill, and that would take few more hours.
As we were almost all foreigners (and we did not listen to the Peruvians who were traveling with us and they didn’t seem to think it was such a good idea) we said yes, we would go on top of that mountain, the thing was to get to the final destination: Machu Picchu.
The road began quiet, but after a few minutes all I could see was fog and a huge precipice on one side. It was raining heavily and the road was not paved.
There were landslides and the solution was to go following a truck in which, there were two young men taking the falling rocks out of the road. After many stops we made it to Santa Teresa which was the best part!
To cross the river there was no bridge , so he passed on a ” orolla ” what is this ? A small wooden platform supported by cables allowed to cross the river.
I remember a Brazilian boy was freaking out and almost turning back (deep inside we were all freaking out actually) and almost everyone needed several minutes before deciding to cross.
At the other side it was a truck expecting the ones crossing that would leave us at the beginning of the railway line from Hydroelectric, through which you arrive to Aguas Calientes.
A beautiful road, with a mountain jungle weather.
Would I do it again? No way! I understood why they recommend not doing this route in rainy season. And those things are the ones teaching that it is better to be cautious when traveling, than regret it later.
!Ay. Dios mío¡
That sounds so scary! I remember taking a bus from Tanzania to the town I was staying in Kenya, and the bus stopped in Nairobi at 3 am and told me to get off because the bus wasn’t going to my town but too Uganda. Needless to say it just added to the adventure, but getting dropped off in a city known as ‘nai-robbery’ in the middle of the night sure made me want to make sure the bus I’m on is going to the right place!
aaaahh sounds really scary too. But funny thing is those scary things on the road are our best stories after if (if you survive…kidding) I really want to go to Tanzania soon, hope you had a great experience there!