Alternative route to Machu Picchu; is it worth it?

So our hike began. Across the landslide, following the road up to Santa Teresa. Somehow we got split up. Lory and I walked faster than the rest and they got a cab on the way while we were visiting the restroom of Santa Teresa and getting a proper breakfast. We decided to walk all the way. The air is warm and moisty. We are in the jungle on a high altitude. Since we missed the colectivo we will walk all the way up to the hydroelectric powerplant and then along the railway tracks from there, up to Aguascalientes: last stop before Machu Picchu. We are actually lower than Cusco, which works in our benefit. With more oxygen in our blood than the last 5 days, the hike begins as a piece of cake. As soon as we approach the hydro electric powerplant we meet more and more travelers going about on the famous Inca trail. We have to sign in with our names and passport numbers before going up to the railway tracks. We buy some bananas and coca leaves from one of the stands and continue. Small steep stairs through the bushes lead up to the beginning of the railroad. I did not bring any hiking shoes and soon the typical grey stones start hurting my feet. It's only about 10 kilometers. The railroad takes us in between mountains along a wild river with tons of butterflies. Travelers from the opposite way greet us with content faces of having made Machu Picchu and radiate a certain mountainlike energy. After approximately 7 kilometers my feet are so blue that I have to jump the wooden blocks from one to another the rest of the road. When we finally arrive at Aguascalientes, we decide to chill and have lunch at a restaurant. That's where we run into the rest of the gang. We check into the same hostel and kill time with a deserved siesta, then buying our train tickets, some Internet and dinner. We will take the first bus up to Machu Picchu at 05:30 in the morning with the hope to see the sun rise from up there. Because there has been a strike that day, Aguascalientes is a lot more deserted than it normally is. That means we will arrive at the lost city with the least possible number of human beings. Awesome. After having survived our way up here, we know why people take the 175 dollar train there and back. We will take that same train back tomorrow. However we did get here for about 25 dollars all inclusive.. So we saved a good 60 dollars by almost dying. We do take a unforgetable memory and thus a great travel story home.