On the Urabamba

We caught a Peru Rail train at Ollytambo and set off following the Urabamba River north. It is the end of the dry season so the river is at its lowest. Even with the reduced flow, the river tumbled and rushed along the train tracks.


Last year, during the wet season, the railway washed out in several places stranding people at Machu Picchu.


You can see the tracks down among the boulders from the washout. The train is the only way to Aguascalientes and Machu Picchu. The route passes between 19,000' glacier capped peaks.


The rail trip takes just under two hours and travels through fantastic scenery. The canyon is very narrow and tall, 1,500' cliffs overhang the tracks in many places, the vegetation changes rapidly as we traveled from the arid highlands into the lush vegetation of the cloud forest. The cliffs and trees are festooned with bromeliads, orchids, and ferns. Portions of the Inca Trail can be seen snaking along cliffs and over passes.

Arrival in Aguascalientes is a hoot. The canyon is very narrow and the village is squeezed between towering cliffs and the river with the narrow gauge tracks slicing through the middle. We stopped in the middle of the village and de-trained into chaos.


A bus is the only way to the top of the canyon wall and Machu Picchu. What a ride! It is 1,600 vertical feet from the river to Machu Picchu. The bus route is a narrow, rutted, one lane road cut into the cliff with more switchbacks than I could count. When meeting another bus traveling the opposite direction, one bus would back up until the outer tire on the rear dual tires were hanging over space. I'm not sure how we made it.

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Location:Urabamba River, Peru