After Nazca, I took a bus to Cusco. It was a long and winding road that ascended into the mountains, and there wasn’t too much along the way other than the nice scenery.

I remember that there wasn’t even really a bathroom to stop at, so at one point, the bus just pulled over on the side of the road and everyone got out and peed next to the bus. I also needed to relieve myself, so when in Rome…

After a while, we arrived in Cusco.

And of course, there was a parade!

I was curious why the pride flag was everywhere, but I found out that it’s actually the Andean flag for the Andes Mountains, and it had been used for this purpose way before it was adopted by the LGBTQ community. Otherwise, at first, I was pretty surprised that a predominantly Catholic country would have such a strong support for the community.

Regardless, I watched the procession for a while and at one point a curious local even approached me and asked what I was up to and what I was doing. He even bought me a couple beers while we chatted, which was nice.

I later met up with Andres so we could head off toward Machu Picchu together, but we were to spend one more Night in Cusco first.

San Pedro is a cactus that grows in the Andean mountains. It is known for its psychedelic properties, much like mushrooms. Since it was so readily available, we decided we would give it a shot.

We didn’t actually buy that one—it would have been far too much. Instead, we bought some dried chips and met up with some other Couchsurfers in the city. As the evening wore on, we went on top of a hill near the city and set up our sleeping bags in the grass. There was 4 of us I believe, and we all ingested some of the cactus.

It takes a while before it takes effect, and we were waiting around for maybe up to an hour before anything noticeable occurred. San Pedro it is also quite upsetting for the stomach, so we ended up throwing up the cactus as well (which was normal and expected) after about half an hour.

After it kicked in, I noticed the area around me getting wavy, as if I were observing a mirage on a hot day. When I looked at the city, it appeared to be enveloped in a cloud with waves of perceptual heat shimmering over the city. I lay back and instead observed the starry sky. There were no clouds, and I could see the stars stretching from horizon to horizon. They too seemed to shuffle back and forth a bit. Slowly, lines started connecting the stars in the sky and it looked to me as if the entire sky was actually a net of connected stars draped over us.

Along with the others, I drifted off to sleep in my sleeping bag and woke up the next day to the chilly morning dew. After that, Andres and I parted ways with the others, and he and I headed off towards Machu Picchu.

One must first travel to the small village of Aguas Calientes, which is at the foot of the hill that leads to the wonder of the old world. To get to Aguas Calientes, one must either take the train or take a combi to the opposite side of the village and then hike in. In the spirit of saving money, we opted for the latter option.

After a few connections, we got to Santa Teresa, but we didn’t spend much time there, and by the time that we did arrive, it was late. We found a campground and we rented a spot for my tent, which both of us fit in. That night we met some other backpackers and we sat around their fire while playing music together which was fun.

The next morning, Andres and I started hiking along the canyon that lead to Aguas Calientes.

It was a decently long walk, and we even had to use a carriage to get over a river at one point!

We ended up bumping into another couple that was doing the same thing as us, and we hiked together through the canyon.

We got to Aguas Calientes in the evening and we ended up staying at someone’s place that one of the others I was hiking with knew (I am pretty sure it was another Couchsurfer).

We looked at tickets to enter Machu Picchu, but the costs were a little out of all our budgets. But there was a way. We were aware that, while difficult, it was possible to sneak into Machu Picchu. The others asked our host and ended up finding out how to do it.

The hill that Machu Picchu sits on is separated from Aguas Calientes by a river that is much too swift to attempt a crossing. The only way across is a bridge that is guarded. After the bridge, there are switchbacks going up the hill until you reach the official gate into Machu Picchu, which is guarded 24/7, complete with gates and floodlights. But there used to be a different and now abandoned entrance before the current entrance, and we were enlightened as to how to find it.

The four of us, Andres, the couple we were now traveling with, and I, set out in the middle of the night to cross the bridge.

We found the bridges and the guardhouse easily enough. At night, they set up trip wires that will make noises if you bump into them. Like secret agents in a ‘90s action movie, we shuffled in the bushes around to the backside of the guardhouse where there was no window. Breaking our cover, we slithered across the open area, climbing under and stepping over tripwires as necessary. We reached the guardhouse without being detected! The next step was to go over to the bridge slightly behind the guardhouse and cross that. There are 2 bridges. One of them is right in front of the guardhouse and is meant for cars and would be way too obvious to cross. The other bridge is slightly behind the guardhouse and is the footbridge. The gate to the footbridge was closed, so crossing the bridge normally wouldn’t have been feasible. Instead, we advanced to the bridge and started shimmying alongside the outer edge of the bridge. One false step and any one of us could have fallen into the vicious rapids below.

We were about halfway across the bridge, and then the guards noticed us! They must have made a cursory glance at the bridge and seen 4 bodies moving alone. They came running at us after opening the gate, pulling us over the railing onto the bridge proper and then escorted us back to the guardhouse.

The guards consisted of an older, no-nonsense man and a quieter, younger guy, barely older than any of us. The elder of the two gave us a stern warning that if he caught us again he would call the police, and we would get in trouble, and so on.

Sobered by our discovery, the four of us moped to a nearby park and sat down to give our nerves time to calm down. We were discussing what to do when… someone approached us out of the shadows. (I highly doubt this post would ever get back to them, but just in case, I’ll be a little vague here.) Said person let us know that if we came back the following night, it would be possible to get us past the gate. Our benefactor mentioned how they understood what it was to be like in our position, and said person wanted to give us a hand.

It was late at night and we went back into the village and wanted to go to our host’s place, but our host had anticipated on us not coming back that night and we couldn’t get in for whatever reason. The four of us spent the rest of the night just walking around the town until we could get into his place in the morning, where we spent the majority of the day sleeping.

We woke up, and after it got dark, we went back to the bridge. As promised, it was possible for us to enter, and we crossed the bridge. We were made to understand that we still had to get through the other security by ourselves, and if caught, it was to be claimed that we sneaked across the bridge. We agreed and proceeded in 2 groups. The couple went their own way while Andres and I went together. I never actually saw the couple again, and I am not entirely too sure what happened to them, but I do believe Andres told me that they didn’t manage to get in and had left.

Andres and I still had to be sneak up the entire mountain, since we technically weren’t supposed to be there. That meant that bright flashlights would give us away. Our eyes adjusted to the darkness fairly well, but sometimes the foliage got really thick. We were sometimes blindly feeling around until we could feel where the path continued. Other times, we would risk turning on a headlamp, but with the beam muted by a couple layers of clothing, casting a barely perceptible pinprick of light to help guide us.

Progress was slow, and at one point we even encountered 2 people. They had headlights and were charging down the path right at us! We figured they were looking for us, so we jumped in the bushes and waited for their passing. They walked right by us and kept going. We later decided that it was actually just a couple hikers who were leaving really late at night, and we kept going up the hill.

Switchback after blind switchback, we ascended until we went just a little too far and broke out into a clearing right in front of the main entrance. We slowly crept back to retrace our path, as we had obviously missed the “secret path” to the old entrance.

We started walking back down the path, but then we heard the heavy thumping of boots against the ground as someone was running after us. Frightened, we took off and started bolting down the path ourselves. We turned a corner and in front of us were a bunch of bushes, so we dived into them and held our breath. We heard the footsteps approach us and then proceed down the path a way. Our pursuer came back toward our hiding spot and paced up and down a few times. He eventually seemed to head back toward the lighted entrance and left us, but we remained there for a while just to be safe.

While we were sitting there, I took the opportunity to look around. When I looked below us at the ground, I was surprised to see that the ground was actually a few dozen meters below us (maybe about 50 feet). The bush that we had dived into was actually precariously growing on the edge of a cliff. We were lucky that it was strong enough to hold our weight and that we didn’t slip through to the depths below.

I was just trying to keep myself together, and then I heard snoring coming from Andres. He had actually fallen asleep in the bush! I let him rest for a few minutes, and then I woke him up. We carefully removed ourselves from the bush and got back onto the solid ground of the path. We kept going back down the hill, looking for the hidden path that we were supposed to take.

Every few switchbacks, there are benches with something like a half-dome over them to offer some protection from the elements that one can rest at. We made our way down to one and sat there, thinking of what to do.

I admit that my nerves were shot at this point, and I was pretty adamant about wanting to just head out and come back the following day after paying. Andres kept insisting that we don’t give up. He let me sit on the bench while he looked around for the passage we had been searching for. After some time, he came back to me with a smile that could even be seen in the dim starlight.

The passage was actually really close to where I was waiting, and he convinced me to continue. “You’re the man!” he kept reassuring me. We made our way through some thick foliage and then we were on the old, abandoned path! We couldn’t actually see the path, but we could hear it. After years of disuse, vegetation had grown over the path and it blended in with the rest of the jungle. However, back when it was used, people threw their trash everywhere. I guess it was normal to just drop a plastic water bottle on the path when you were finished with it. As such, the trail was littered with plastic bottles and wrappers. So, while we couldn’t really see the path, we just had to step around until we heard plastic crunching, and then we knew we were going in the right direction. It was both comical and tragic.

After a few minutes of making our way along the plastic-covered trail, we arrived at one of the lower terraces of Machu Picchu. We climbed up it and started heading up the steps to the center of the complex. I don’t know what time we finally got into Machu Picchu, but I would guess about 4 or 5 in the morning. The place had not officially opened yet, and we were the only ones in there! That sight will never be forgotten by me. As Andres and I stood in the center of Machu Picchu, all by ourselves, we took in the surroundings. The starlight faintly illuminated the entire area through a thin layer of fog that rested over everything. It was beautiful with a touch of creepiness as we looked around at the completely empty city that was bathed with a silvery glow.

We didn’t stay long, though, and we quickly set off to find somewhere to hide. It would have been suspicious if we would have already been inside when they opened, so we hid in some bushes until the day broke.

As the sun crested the horizon, Machu Picchu opened. Visitors came in through the gate and other hikers who had come along the Inca trail made their way in. We waited until there was a little gap in between the stream of visitors, and then we sprang out of the bushes and walked in file as if we belonged all along.

We spend the majority of the day after that simply walking around and checking it out. We even overheard employees talking about “2 people that had sneaked in.” I guess they had cameras which spotted us, but they couldn’t identify us, luckily.

After a long day on very little sleep, we made our way down the hill and crossed over the bridge that we had tried to sneak across 2 nights prior.

Andres and I then went back to the Couchsurfer’s house and slept the rest of the day and night. The following day, I wanted to leave and continue my journey. Andres decided to stay for a bit, so we parted ways and I left the following day from Aguas Calientes via the same way we had come in from Santa Teresa. I took my time, and it was dark most of the time I was hiking, which wasn’t a problem.

What was a problem was that I got shot at by a gun!

The road goes along the left side of the river for a while, but then it crosses over to the right side via a bridge at one point.

In the above map, I was walking along the black road on the left side. It was about when I was at point A that a car full of guys came down the road from the other side and parked at point B. The promptly got out of their car and after a few seconds started shooting right in my direction!

I had to make a split-second decision: either yell out to them as to alert them to my presence, or hide behind a boulder that was next to me. I thought that they were likely just some guys who had a few drinks after work and just wanted to shoot a gun and didn’t know I was there. I didn’t assume they were purposely shooting at me, but I feared that if they were drunk and already shooting at a lone gringo in the middle of nowhere with a gun in their possession, they might just take the opportunity to elevate the mistake into an actual robbery or even worse… The bullets were whizzing around me, and, hoping that they had in fact not seen me, I made the choice to hunker down behind a boulder between us and just hope against all odds that no bullets would ricochet and hit me. To be fair, it sounded like it was only a .22 rifle. It wasn’t likely that it would have killed me, but a gunshot wound was still not something I felt like getting.

After a few minutes of being shot at, the gunfire ceased and they loaded up into their car. They then started driving across the bridge, to my side of the river. By this point, I figured they were purposely going after me, so I armed myself with my knife while I slowly skirted around the boulder so as to keep it between me and the car and hopefully stay undetected.

The car drove slowly by me, and then it drove off further down the road. I waited for a few minutes, but it didn’t seem to return. I got up and continued up the path; I don’t think I have ever powerwalked that fast in my life.

I got back to Santa Teresa without any further incidents and found the place where Andres and I had camped a few nights prior. I again got a spot and went to sleep feeling a little safer with the other campers around me.

After getting back to Cusco the following day, I took a bus to Puno, which was my last major destination in Peru.

I arrived late at night, but my Couchsurfer was OK with that, and I crashed at his place. It actually seemed that he had a hotel and gave me a room, but I didn’t have to pay, and we still hung out and he showed me the city, so it was cool. The first day, though, I largely just walked around by myself. Before I left for the day, I wanted to wash off all the dirt and sweat from my Machu Picchu excursion. I recall taking the coldest shower in the world. Puno is pretty chilly, and the place I was at unfortunately didn’t have hot water. To compound the problem, my travel towel was more of a travel washcloth and comically and insufficiently too small (although that didn’t stop me from using it for many years… I actually only recently purchased a decently sized travel towel…). In any case, an ice-cold shower with chilly air and a towel that couldn’t wick the moisture away properly left me freezing. After walking around the city, I warmed up, though.

Lake Titicaca is often erroneously called the “highest lake in the world.” There are other lakes that are higher in elevation than Lake Titicaca. It is sometimes argued that it is the highest lake that has commercial craft on it, and that claim may be true.

That night or the following day, my host, a few friends of his, and I went to the Pablo San Pedro festival, which was awesome! Lots of dancing, music, and beer were had.

The next morning, I hiked up Condor Hill, which offers a nice view of Puno and Lake Titicaca.

I also went into the Naval Museum.

Emboldened by Andres’ tales of hitchhiking and our successful endeavor into Machu Picchu, I took a combi out of the city and started hitchhiking toward Tacna, the most southern (big) city in Peru, which was only to serve my entering into Chile

Some guy gave me a ride most of the way, but he had to drop me off at some checkpoint because he went a different direction.

The police were very nice and I didn’t even need to actually hitchhike. Since the police were stopping every car, the kindly asked everyone if they were heading to Tacna and would be willing to take me. In less than an hour (which is quite quick if you’re hitchhiking), they found a guy who would take me there.

Llamas everywhere on the way!

We got to Tacna, and I only spend one night there. I remember sleeping at some place, but I honestly can’t recall how I found the house. I don’t think I found a Couchsurfer and instead was just aimlessly walking through the city. I believe I met some people who offered me a bed in their place for the night, and (armed with my knife, just in case) I accepted their offer. They were nice and gave me a room, and I departed the following morning toward Chile.

I hitchhiked out of the city and got a ride toward the border. I remember the lady who picked me up being very certain that I didn’t have drugs with me because she could have gotten in trouble for trafficking me and any potential drugs.

With my departure into Chile, this post wraps up the month and a half I spent in Peru. I loved Peru and have many fond memories from there, and I would have gladly stayed longer. The problem was that I only had 3 months in South America, and I realized that if I wanted to see the other places on my itinerary, I needed to be a little quicker.

If the opportunity ever presented itself, though, I would not hesitate to go back to Peru!

Next week I will post about my journey in Chile, which includes my hitchhiking more than 2,000km (1,250 miles) to Santiago!