Day 4 - Aguas Caliente and Putucusi

We are a little behind on posting because we have just been having too much fun and have not had the time to stop and write everything down. Now we will see how good my memory is of the past 4 days events. On Day 4, Tues May 20th, we rose early in the morning to catch a train from Cuzco to Aguas Caliente. It was a slow, slighlty bumpy trip with the car rocking back and forth often. Cuzco is located in a steep valley so the train had to go back and forth along switchbacks inorder to get out of the valley. Once we left Cuzco, we journeyed accross farm land to Ollyantambo and then followed the Urumbamba river to Aguas Caliente.

We arrived in Aquas Caliente around 11:30 in the morning. We bargained for a hotel room and had a quick lunch. We did not want to go up to Machu Picchu then because we would have to pay the 44 dollar entry fee plus the 12 dollar bus fair just to see it for a half day (The ruins close at 5:30). We decided instead to climb Putucusi, which is a mountain that faces Machu Picchu and Waynapicchu Mountain but is located on the opposite side of the Urubamba river. The hike was very steep and frightening for me (fear of hights). Several times we had to climb wodden ladders because the trail was so steep. We made it to the summit of Putucusi in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The entire climb was from the back side of Putucusi so you never had a view of Machu Picchu until you reached the summit. It was an amazing and rewarding hike.


Melarie and Robert in front of the PeruRail train in Cuzco


All three before the hike up Putucusi. The first half of the hike was in jungle as seen in this photo.


The first of the ladders. This one was the smallest and at the time we thought they were just a novelty to add to the experience of the hike.


Here we realized that the ladders were more than a novelty to add to the experience. This ladder was the steepest and longest that we had to climb. My legs were shaking the whole way up but I made it. We have a video of us climbing down this ladder as well but the computer I am using is too old so I cant upload it.


Melarie climbing a smaller staircase up to Putucusi.


The group, at the summit of Putucusi. You can see Machu Picchu in the background.


Melarie and Robert at the base of Putucusi. This is where the climb began. Putucusi is the round top mountain on the left.

Update: We now have video