Arranging to go to Macchu Picchu

Well I first tried to ´do´ the Inca trail which is a 4 day hike from Cuzco to Macchu Picchu. If I could have started the next day (sunday) I would have just had enough time to do it. However to do the trail, one needs to register with the Peruvian authorities 3 days prior to ´reserve´ a spot. The agent showed me the listing and that there were 50 open spaces the next day, but nevertheless Peru requires 3 days before you can go and I couldn´t wait around for that (there are lots of people who are, which is ok because Cusco is a fun cheap town and you need to acclimitize to the altitude - something I was bad at). The guide also said they can´t substitute people on Inca Trail trips who become sick on the day of the trek.

So instead I took a combo bus tour up the sacred valley and then a train and then a couple hours guide at Macchu Picchu. As it turned out it cost the same to take the tour and the guide as it would have cost for me to do it myself. Ok, well I had to estimate some costs, so I estimated the hostel costing about 15 dollars a night there and I could have gotten it cheaper than that estimate - so that´s where the guides may have scratched out a profit. At first I was quoted 135 dollars US from a guide I met at the airport, whom I shared a cab with, then I was quoted 148 in town, then 120 in town so I took that one. I travelled with an Australian, an Italian and a Hungarian, and also kept bumping into a few others who had arranged the trip through the same agent. Many people had paid 165. Having a student card reduces prices further because the park fees are lower if you have an ISIC card. I don´t.

But what is interesting about all this is that it isn´t really negotiating. Or at least hard negotiating. I just walked around and people gave me different, possibly lower prices, for the exact same tours. Based on what? I don´t know. Maybe my shoes. The same thing happens for restaurants, as you walk you get better and better offers. From a 3 course meal that starts at 15 dollars, eventually someone offers you one for $3.50. In the Cusco market I had a rice, egg dish with fried bananas and a coke for less than 1 dollar.