Temple of the Moon = Temple of Blues and other Machu Picchu, Peru Tourist Trap Tips

This tourist trap won't cost you extra money -- just lots of precious time. It's the hike to the so-called Temple of the Moon around the back side of Huayno Picchu.
According to our guide book, the Temple of the Moon was a quick descent from the top of Huayno Picchu, so we opted to return to Machu Picchu along that route. Unfortunately, "quick" was not exactly the most accurate adjective to describe the hike and once we reached the Temple of the Moon we still had an hour and a half hike back to the bus at Machu Picchu. This presented a grave problem for us, as we had a 3:30 train to Cusco and no extra time to play with (luckily, we did make our train, but not without stress).
The other problem with the hike was that is was boring. The top had nice views and a tricky ledge-ladder combination, but after that it was just slogging down through the thick vegetation. Down, down, down, so that the climb from the temple to Machu Picchu was steep. The descent was so deep and the hike was so long that we often worried if we were on the right track, except that we knew we had seen no turn-offs to get us lost. By the time we got to the Temple of the Moon, we really didn't care if we saw the Temple of the Moon.
By the way, according to archaeolgists, it's doubtful that this temple had anything to do with lunar observances or rituals.

Leave a Comment

At Least Do This: According to Frommers, the Temple of the Moon is visited only by "Machu Picchu Complete-ists". If you are one of these, the bestthing to do is make sure you have enough time, food and water. We had none of those. We are thankful to the equally disenchanted group of New Zealanders and Londoners who offered food to the hungriest in our group.