In short, Machu Picchu didn't happen on this trip.  You can skip this page unless you want to hear the story. 

I knew when we booked this trip that it would be "Wet Season".  Unfortunately, schedules don't always match up with the weather and I chose to go.  Armed with a rain coat, umbrella and warm clothes, I figured I would get through it just fine. I never thought something like Machu Picchu would be closed.

On our fist tours in Cusco, it was raining off and on and when it rained it was heavy.  As we traveled to areas just outside Cusco, we ran into areas where rocks and mud were blocking part of the roadway. The streams and the rivers were flooding in certain areas but we didn't see anything too bad. 

It was on the second day of the tour that we had heard that one of the girls on the tour had spent the previous day on a train trying to get to Machu Picchu with no luck.  There were rumors that the trains had been closed.  Of course you wondered who had the truth and who was embellishing.  It was the talk of the tourist community in Cusco since everyone there was headed to Machu Picchu. 

We spent the day doing various things and met up with our Travel Operator - Percy.  I really have to hand it to him and epuertotravelperu.com in the way it was handled.  He came to talk to us in person, explained the situation and discussed options. There was no way it was going to happen. Obviously no travel agency can anticipate this type of situation and it is how they handle the situation that separates the better from the not so good. 

It was a bummer but even more of a bummer was that the government issued tickets would not be honored at another time or refunded.

Well, time to move on.  We had planned on other events we were now going to accelerate teh schedule and go to Puno.

After watching a local dance show we returned to the hotel only for me to discover that I left my camera in the Taxi.  Good thing I download pictures on a daily basis.  As much as I tried looking at this in a positive light, (I really want a new camera) it wasn't working.  I was not having good travel karma, my alarm system went off while I was on my flight.  I lost my travel charger, I lost my camera (I never lose things while traveling) and Machu Picchu was cancelled.  Was it time to sacrifice someone?  Those who I would love to sacrifice aren't on the trip!

Here are some pictures of the mudslides that I saw.  It looked pretty bad and we saw entire towns underwater with their mud-brick housing disintegrating.  In light of it all, Machu Picchu and my camera was the last thing to worry about.

Last Updated 01/29/2010

Created by Jim Gaidula