Doing the Impossible at Machu Picchu

Visiting Machu Picchu had been my dream for a long time. In the summer of 2022, I got the chance to live my dream. My trip to Peru was amazing but didn’t come without its challenges.

The tallest and most stressful of these challenges occurred at Machu Picchu. When I booked my Machu Picchu ticket, I thought I was being smart. I booked it two months ahead of time, along with the train ticket and everything else I thought I needed to prepare for my trip to Peru.

Though I tried to be prepared, tried to be smart, my day at Machu Picchu did NOT go as planned.

My Preparation for Machu Picchu

The ticket I bought was for the Huchuypicchu Mountain hike. Before you judge me, know that I’m not a hiker. I love good scenery as much as anyone and will hike for scenery, but hiking just isn’t my thing. I don’t go hit the trails just because I love being outside. The trail has to be awesome, or have a great payoff at the end in the form of a once-in-a-lifetime view. If that’s the case, I’m in!

I put a ton of thought into which ticket I wanted for Machu Picchu. Before I booked the ticket, I looked at pictures from all three mountain hikes and read reviews for each. I decided that I wanted to spend more time inside the citadel, exploring the ruins than hiking the mountains around them.

The pictures from Huaynapicchu and Machu Picchu mountains were cool but not as impressive to me as the classic “postcard picture” of the ruins. But, I still thought it would be cool to hike a mountain while there. Huchuypicchu seemed like the perfect ticket to me. It was faster, and easier, and the summit was still lower and closer to the ruins.

I liked that idea better. I wanted to be as close to the ruins as possible for as long as possible, but I still wanted to climb a mountain. Huchuypicchu was the answer.

Machu Picchu Morning

My morning at Machu Picchu started innocently enough. I spent the night before in Aguas Calientes to make sure I could catch an early bus up the mountain to the ruins as I’d read about, and as my ticket required.

I entered the park without a hitch and was blown away immediately by the views. As soon as you enter the gates, you’re greeted with steep mountain views, ruins of structures, and agricultural terraces that make you realize immediately the gravity of where you are.

I found my way to the gate to Huchuypicchu easily. It’s the same gate as Huaynapicchu, just a different path. I was right on time, according to my ticket, as I pride myself on being an on-time person.

The hike up Huchuypicchu is fairly easy, though I had to stop for air a couple of times because I’m out of shape. Er, I mean, because of the altitude. I reached the top in maybe a half hour. There are a couple of really cool viewpoints on the way up that I stopped at under the auspices of wanting to appreciate the view. Really I was just sucking air.

The weather at Machu Picchu was great that day. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and the photo gods were smiling on me that day, making the ruins very photogenic. I’d heard stories and seen some photos of people visiting when the sky was grey or in the rain. I had mini panic attacks every day leading up to the visit that was going to happen to me.

I think a lot of us have that feeling, that we’ll be the one who visits on the worst weather day. Of course, that would happen to us. Well, not today. The universe was on my side. Or so I thought.

Where It All Went Wrong

I don’t want to say that I hurried through Huchuypicchu. I really tried to soak in all the views and stop at all structures and take it all in. This was my dream after all.

I did have in the back of my head though how much of the ruins I still had to see. I hadn’t seen the postcard view yet, and I was REALLY excited to see that, so I kept it moving. But, I started noticing that I was seeing some similar views as when I came in.

It dawned on me that I was almost back where I started. Before I knew it, I was back at the gate. But I hadn’t seen the main view! It was only 10:30 in the morning. I thought I was just getting started!

I asked a guard right inside the gate if I could make my way to the main viewpoint. “It’s impossible. It’s a different ticket. Your ticket is only for that,” he told me, gesturing back toward where I’d just come from.

I knew there were different tickets, and that my ticket included Circuits 3 and 4. I did not think that there were tickets to Machu Picchu that didn’t include the most famous and beautiful view of the ruins, the photo that brought everyone here in the first place.

That guard ushered me back to the main gate. I asked that guard as well how I could get to the main viewpoint. “It’s impossible. Your ticket says no re-entry.”

Stressed Doesn’t Begin to Describe It

Two people had now told me it was impossible. I was starting to freak out a bit. I tried several different approaches, including offering the guard money to allow me to go back in to see that view.

“It’s impossible.”

I didn’t want to exit the gate, because of the no re-entry rule, but was forced to at this point. I didn’t know what to do, but I was starving after walking all morning so I visited the cafe at the entrance. As soon as I sat down, I started googling how to get back into the park.

Tickets were sold out. I tried every way possible. I googled the art of bribing in Latin America, among other shameful solutions. My heart could not accept that I’d come all this way and would not get to see the view I’d dreamed about of Machu Picchu.

My mind was trying to convince my heart to be grateful for the experience I had. It was amazing after all. But my heart didn’t want to give up. I’d faced adversity before trying to get where I wanted to go. I didn’t give up and got what I wanted. My heart told me to keep trying.

Couldn’t Give Up

I decided to keep trying. I waited for the line at the other gate to die down and approached the man who seemed to be in charge. After telling my story, he of course refused to help me. I pled with him. My voice was shaky and I was on the verge of tears and wasn’t even acting.

He told me, “Come back at noon and maybe we can help you.”

Hope?

Noon was an hour away, but I could wait an hour if it was to see the view of my dreams. While I waited, a tour guide approached me. I didn’t want a guide but sometimes these guys know the tricks, so I told him my situation.

He suggested that I offer to leave my passport at the front desk while I run inside and get the view I wanted. This sounded suspect, but I was desperate. He took me up and tried to convince the guard, but they were having none of it.

Shut down again.

He told me the only other thing he could think of was the daily ticket lottery. I’d heard about the lottery. Every day at noon they release some more tickets through the website for that same day for 2:00 p.m. site entrance.

The people I’d talked to about it had no luck two days in a row. There weren’t that many tickets and they were extremely highly sought after. Noon was the time the guard boss told me to check back with him, so those were my last two shots.

For Noon the Bell Tolls

A few minutes before noon, I approached the gate again. The guard boss that had told me to return was swamped with a tour group. The group was really impatient, objecting or interrupting everything he said.

I prepared the website on my phone so I could try that right at noon too. The guard boss saw me and gave me a look of recognition, but the tourists were unrelenting. He was stuck.

As soon as the clock struck noon I started refreshing the page, trying to get it to give me a ticket. After a few tries, I got one, but the website froze. Of course it did!

Try again, fail. Try again, fail. Finally, success! I was able to get the Llaqta ticket, for those in the know or trying to choose which one they want. It doesn’t include any mountains but gives you access to the upper and lower trails, Circuits 1-4.

In hindsight, that’s probably the ticket I should have gotten in the first place, but I’m glad I did Huchuypicchu. It’s a mountain not a lot of people choose, so the views are more unique. You’ll likely be the only one you know that did or has done Huchuypicchu, and I like that.

Round Two

My entrance wasn’t until 2:00 p.m. but I approached the gate at 12:30 and pled my case again to the admittance guard. Entry times are highly regulated to keep the number of people inside the park at one time under control.

I get it. But I wanted in dammit. I’d had a LONG and stressful day already, and I just wanted in. She let me in only because I was alone. Another benefit of solo traveling.

You guys, it was a dream come true!

I saw what I wanted to see, and was swept away by the view and the feeling. I could start a whole new website about how much I love Machu Picchu and how it made me feel. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I could!

On the trail, I met some more people, took a million pictures, and talked to the local llamas that call Machu Picchu their home. I’m a writer, and I’m supposed to use million-dollar words, but it was just so freaking cool!

At the viewpoint by the Guard House on the Upper Platform, I stood with the couple from Spain who I’d climbed the last bit of the trail and shared some of my coca leaves with. I could tell they were overcome like I was.

“Se siente como magia, si?” (It feels like magic, yeah?) I said.

It really did.

The Lesson

The lesson here was a hard one. Sitting in that cafe outside the gate, I was really torn between being grateful for what I’d done and not giving up. It’s a fine line between not giving up and accepting what is.

Sometimes there’s nothing more you can do, and at that point, you need to accept what is. What I took away from it, and what kept me there was the thought that I didn’t want to have any regrets. I didn’t want to leave and wonder what would have happened if I’d tried this or that.

I wanted to leave it all on the table. There was no way I could leave Machu Picchu until I’d done absolutely everything I could have done, tried everything I could try.

It was so worth it, you guys!

Don’t give up. Leave no regrets. Try everything you can. I’m not a motivational speaker, I promise.

I just really want everyone to have the same kinds of amazing experiences and stories that I have. The payoff for not giving up this time was the realization of a dream, and being swept away by one of the most amazing sites in the world!