Sneaking into Machu Picchu or entering it for free
What started out as a joke became a reality. Angelica and I were talking about our budget for the Machu Picchu trip and all the other traveling we wanted to do in the rest of Peru and Bolivia. We started talking about sleeping arrangements, the train ride from Cuzco, Aguas Calientes, and the ticket price to enter Machu Picchu. Plus we were very excited to save money from Ollataytambo by sneaking in there. Therefore we entertained the idea about sneaking into Machu Picchu.
"When I was in Guatemala, someone told me that there is a way enter Machu Picchu for free by hiking up from Aguas Calientes."
"Really? Where? How?"
"Hmmm. Don't remember the details, was not paying attention at that time."
"Well..."
That's when Angelica googled it. And found a way.
This guy Craig wrote a long detailed blog about it, but we later found out that it still is not quite detailed enough. So we watched a YouTube video about this guy entering it who then slightly deviated from Craig's details and went his own way upon entering. He already had a ticket but had a spirit of adventure.
We took both into consideration and after four hours of hiking, bush whacking, and rock climbing we made it and felt glorious.
1. Introduction.
chisung lee: Korean. 27 years old. Fit. Ran marathon 10 months ago but since then no exercise. Not a serious mountain climber nor hiker. However, an avid traveler who always looks for unbeaten paths.
2. Gatekeeper
It's a mountain so the road has to be like a snake, an s curve to go up. To get Machu Picchu, turn right when crossing the bus road the 6th times. When Craig was writing his blog, there was no gatekeeper, therefore there were guards on this bus route to check tickets, and bus drivers reported these hikers out of suspicion. Now this is not happening. You can wave at bus drivers and there is a hiker's trail built for the people who want to hike. It's got nice wide stairs, plenty of space, it's nice. However all of this is possible because there is a gatekeeper at the bridge to cross the river checking for tickets. So three options are to cross the river by walking in the cold water, cross the other bridge that is about an hour away or lie to the gatekeeper and say our parents have our ticket and they are on the bus. And...
That's exactly what we did.
3. Trail
At the 6th bus road cross in Craig's direction, there is supposed to be white plastic hanging on the tree to confirm that we are at the right place. We did not see it. However we were sure that we were at 6th road cross because I could confirm in my iPhone GPS. One entry point looked like water way so we chose the other one that is closer to the curve of the road. We knew we were supposed to go straight and veer slightly right (south west). We did some serious bush whacking. The trail seemed more like an animal trail. At last we found a secret trail, a human trail. There's even a small wooden bridge. We made a right then we arrived at the gate. The gate was closed tight with wire. To the left, there is a way to get around this. Climb a tall rock, and carefully get around. This area is widely visible from the top. However if you duck down you can hide behind rocks. There are stairs where you can go up. Then you go through some woods and big rocks. Clean off bushes and dirt from your body and join the tourists and explore.
3. What we did
After lying to the gatekeeper, for the fun of it and the sake of adventure we decided to look for a trail slash bush whack our way through to the 6th road cross. The first entry point was very important because that would lead us to the trail throughout. There was barely any trail and we had to bush whack the majority of the time. Some times we would find some path which seemed more like a pathway for a deer then we would hit a dead end and bush whack some more. The challenge was finding an entry point into the woods to look for a trail each time we saw a bus road. Because of Craig's warning about bus drivers, we made ourselves invisible, and it was a rush because we were doing this around 10am and there were a lot if buses going by. There were a few times that I literally had to jump into the bushes. It was dangerous and thrilling. After our 5th road cross, we got tired of bush whacking and this time really looked for the trail. We were about in the middle. I walked right all the way to the corner where the buses turn. There were huge rocks and I'm not a rock climber nor did we have any gear. We went to the most ideal spot. It was the steepest. At one point we were using our hands, legs, knees and elbows, holding on to cracks of the rocks and sturdy bushes. One slip, one loose rock, one weak root of a bush could have jeopardized our lives or caused serious injury. It was dangerous. Angelica struggled. One time she was stuck and could not figure out a way to keep going up. To give up and go down was also equally scary and dangerous.
"I don't know what to do."
"Try grabbing on to that rock, can you reach for that bush?"
"Maybe this, give me a moment."
"Put your right foot on this rock as you pull yourself with left hand."
After we reached the 6th road cross, we carefully searched many different areas for the right passage. I found this open area near the curve of the road. I knew from here we were supposed to go diagonal. This area looked like a camping spot because there was flat ground, burned woods and some trash. I went to the right because I saw a trail but that led to going down hill and my intuition told me, "no." From the flat ground where the trash was we went up hill. Then it started pouring rain. We took cover under a big tree, and I took out a cigarette. The moment called for a cigarette break. Shit, no lighter. We waited for rain to stop but it didn't. So we kept going. Following a trail, we would hit a dead end bush whack, again and again. Then I screamed silently. I found a wooden bridge and there was a trail. We finally found a real trail. That led us to the metal gate. On the other side of the fence, there were remnants of Inca ruins. I was excited, we made it. We were so close. We remembered the directions of Craig and the guy from the youtube video. It was completely shut with thick wires. To the right there was a huge rock, so we entertained the idea of climbing over but it was wet and underneath was a cliff drop of about 20 feet full of rocks. I went to the left and climbed up. There was a big rock that I climbed up. The rock had about one foot by two feet for one person to stand on. Underneath was a cliff. It was scary but after coming all this way, bush whacking for four hours, giving up wasn't an option. The rest is glorious history. We checked to see if there were any guards, and nobody was there. We hid behind a big rock because we were in an exposed area. Craig went toward where the tourists were, but there were many eyes, so we decided Craig's way would only work early in the morning. The YouTube guy's way would require more bush whacking. We went a middle way. There were stairs, so we ducked down and hiked rock stairs. It led us to woods and big rocks but no bushes. It was fairly easy compared to what we had been through. Then we cleaned the dirt and leaves off of our bodies. It was simple because the rain washed us off and gave us a great disguise. We walked along the Inca ruin trail where tourists walk. We knew we made it when we saw signs and other tourists. We were walking the wrong way from what the sign told us to go but didn't care. Soon that led us to the entrance to Wayna Picchu. Entering there without a ticket is impossible. So we left that behind. After checking the map, this is about where guy in the YouTube video ended up. We saw someone smoking a cigarette and asked him for a light. I took a long drag. Those who smoke can understand what this moment was like for us - victory cigarette puffs. Filled with joy from saving money and successfully sneaking in, we continued our walk. Then the guard spotted us. I could see him staring at me from the corner of my eye. He took a step towards me and I whispered to Angelica, 'Walk faster, we are being followed,' my heart pumping fast, thinking 'shit, shit shit!'
"Señor! Señor!"
'Damn it!'
I turned around.
"Aqui no se permite fumar." (smoking is not permitted here)
Whew...
We listened in on explanations of the guides and watched llamas walking up and down the human trails, taking pictures and thinking of what I would write in this blog. We stayed until the guards started kicking people out.
