Taking a Death Road to Machu Picchu – A Low Budget, Adventurous, and Absolutely Terrifying Journey to One of the 7 Wonders of the World

The Beginnings

I found myself strapped in a van with 6 other crazy backpackers, praying for my life. I was on the left hand side of the van and could see the 500 foot drop going straight down. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the few inches we had between staying on the unpaved gravel strip and plumetting down to our sure deaths. “The gravel! I can see our wheel knock gravel off of the edge, that’s how close we are to falling!” I whimpered to my boyfriend. Victor grabbed on to me and pulled me away from the window, knowing that I wouldn’t mentally make it 4 more hours if I kept staring down.

How Did I Get There?

I was beginning to ask myself, how did I get here in the first place??? Why am I not on the comfortable, and most importantly, safe train to Machu Picchu? Rewinding a few days, Victor and I were sitting in our hostel in Cuzco, Peru planning out our trip. We realized that there were only three ways to get to Machu Picchu. One is via train, which costs about $150 roundtrip and is a 2 hour ride each way. Another is via a 4 day hike on the Inca Trail, which costs about $400 because guides are required. The last way is to take an 8 hour van through the mountain pass and into the jungle on a very questionable road. Being adventurous and keen to save a few dollars, we chose the $60 option via van. Big Mistake.

The Road

Admittedly, the first part of the road is not terrible. Sure, we were on a windy mountainous road with drops of 500 feet and no guard rails. However, at this point the roads were still paved and our driver still had some patience. 4 hours later we reached the jungle town of Santa Teresa, and things took a turn for the worse. The road turned into a gravel stretch barley big enough for cars to pass each other, and our driver became a bit crazy. You know your driver is going too fast when, on an 8 hour trip, you have passed over 50 cars but none have passed you. He could not stand being behind other cars, but on the gravel road there often was not enough space to pass, so he would drive extremely fast to push them, and pass the minute there was barley enough space to fit the two cars. We also had to go over “bridges”, which were slabs of concrete without railings that were wide enough to fit the van plus about 6 inches on each side. Below the bridge was the typical drop of 500 feet that I had grown too acustomed to seeing. (By the way, have you ever used the term “Scared shitless”? I have plenty of times, but never understood the literaly meaning of the phrase until this journey)

Kissing the Ground

I kissed the ground when we made it. I did that cheesy thing you see in movies, but I was truly so happy to be alive and to have my feet on the ground rather than in that van that I couldn’t help but kneel down and say hello to the gravel. We had made it to Hydroelectrica, and we still had 10 kilometers to walk with our backpacks to the town of Machu Picchu (Aguas Calientes). This hike was magnificent – we were surrounded by giant stone mountains and jungle vegetation. However, the scary day was not over yet. The hike was right along side the train tracks that were still in use. Every 20 minutes a train would come by at full speed, and sometimes it would blow its whistle and other times not. I wasn’t worried about the train, because we had plenty of room on the side of the tracks to walk without possibly being hit. However, then we came across our first tunnel. There was a clear sign saying: danger, do not walk through the tunnel. But there was no other option! I couldn’t tell if there was enough room between the train tracks and the tunnel wall for us to be safe if a train happened to come along. So, I turned on my headlight and ran full speed ahead to get out of the danger zone as fast as possible. Two minutes later I emerged on the other side, and the only thing I could do was laugh about the day I just had.

We Arrived

Victor and I finally arrived at Aguas Calientes exhausted and ready to decompress. We dropped our bags off at the hostel and headed to the namesake of the town, the hot springs. Refreshed and relaxed, I went to bed that night and woke up the next day to see one of the 7 wonders of the world.