correct step. We also visited the For-
taleza de Kuelap and the Sarcofagos
de Karajia, each providing intimate
views into the past without a horde of
humans snapping selfies and budging
their way through crowds to get the
same picture that is printed on every
Peruvian tour guide pamphlet.
We are foreign travellers, so to
say we dislike the crowds of tour-
ists, that we ourselves are a part of,
sounds a little jaded, but we had been
lucky enough to experience so many
wonders without the lines of people
exiting tour busses that the statement
‘you are herded around like cattle’
scared us. But you can’t ride through
central Peru and not go to Machu
Picchu, right?
With the facts laid on the table,
we stood in the line of the gate ready
to rush in like the doors at a mall on
Black Friday. We had woken up at
4:30 to beat the first wave of people,
but it seemed everyone had thought
of that as well. Once we entered at
6am, everyone spread out to different
locations and the crowd thinned like
spread butter on a 32,592-hectare
piece of toast. We were able to claim
a small piece of ground overlooking
the entire site to ourselves. We took
pictures of the morning mist crawl-
ing its way across the landscape. We
TRAVERSE 28
walked to the Inca Bridge without
passing another soul. As we con-
tinued through the site, there were
occasional tour groups congesting
the narrow lanes of the city like a
clogged artery, but for the most part
we could walk in and out of buildings
freely, through picturesque doorways,
and stare at the wonders around us
without more than a couple of people
roaming around. The collective mass
of people were more like free range
cattle rather than large clusters of
tightly grouped creatures in a con-
fined space.
I must admit that timing is every-
thing, not only the time of the day,