Machu Picchu

December 1^st-2^nd, 2021

What’s a trip to Peru without visiting Machu Picchu?  Peru’s most iconic feature.  So of course I had to go and see what all the fuss is about.  It is considered one of the 7 Modern Wonders of the World.  I have seen the Taj Mahal and Petra so let’s knock off another one off the list.

Machu Picchu, which means “old mountain” was re-discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American explorer and historian.  The Incas constructed the citadel in the 1400s and it was likely occupied from 1420-1530 with somewhere between 500-750 people living there.  Having been only occupied for about 80-90 years, it is possible that most of its inhabitants died from smallpox introduced by travelers before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area.

My friend Lisa has been there before but was kind enough to join me and also book all of the tickets.  A common way to get there is to take a train on a four hour ride, averaging about 35 km/h as it is hilly in sections.  It’s a pretty expensive train trip too…$105 USD!  We boarded the train at 7 am in Cusco and our “panorama car” had windows on the ceiling which was great, apart from the fact that we not only had to wear masks but also face shields so it was tough to get a clear view of the scenery.

The Panorama Car:

Good to go!

 

Cusco lies nestled in valley surrounded by hills so it was interesting how the train climbed its way out to the next valley.  About 4 or 5 times, the train stopped and then reversed and started up a switchback.  Great idea. 

It was a nice scenic ride even though we were greeted to rain in Machu Picchu Pueblo, the small, tourist centered village by the swift and turbulent Urubamba River.  We were also greeted by a young woman from the hotel we were staying at and we walked 5 minutes to the establishment.  

Exiting the train station:

The Pueblo is split in half by this little river:

Once we were settled in, we went for lunch and then wandered around the village.  We were going to Machu Picchu early the next day.

This dog's outfit cracked us up:

At 7:15 the following morning, we met our guide in one of the squares.  There are two options to get from the village to Machu Picchu, a bus or walk.  Considering it is about an hour and a half walk including a 400 meter elevation gain, we opted for the bus.  It was an overcast day and as the bus wound its way up the switchbacks, we got closer and closer to the clouds.  Arriving at the entrance to the park, raindrops began to fall.  I was glad that I bought a new rain jacket before coming to Peru.

The view from the bus on the way up:

Our group of seven tourists and our guide started climbing up some stone steps, stopping here and there for a few tidbits of information.  We reached a grassy plateau where a number of other groups were standing around.  Why were they standing around?  Well, the clouds had closed in, and the iconic view of Machu Picchu was lost in the white blanket.  So the guides, including ours, did their best to entertain us by providing more information and showing us pictures in books that they had in their backpacks.  Additionally, we were even given some coca leaves to chew on.  Yuck.  I did not enjoy the taste at all and soon spit them out.

Machu Picchu is somewhere out there...

Coca leaves:

I hoped this wasn't as good as we'd get:

It is what it is:

After about 2 hours, it looked grim as to whether we would be able to see this wonder of the world but thankfully the clouds parted to reveal the ruins below.  Of course there was a made rush of all of the tourists to try and get “the picture” that I’m sure you have seen many times over, even if you haven’t been to Machu Picchu.  With a bit of patience, we eventually got some decent photos.

Okay, getting better...

Yeah baby!

We descended to the main area of the ruins with our guide pointing out a few features such as a sundial and a temple.  Some alpacas were grazing in a small field in the middle of the remnants of the town.  The views down to the river below were stunning, well in fact, the whole place was stunning.

Entering the main entrance:

The remnants of the temple:

The vertical part of this stone is carved so that on the solstice shows no shadow.

Before reaching the exit, our guide told us that it was the end of the tour, thanked us and said good-bye.  A few of us from our group stuck together as we followed what we thought was the way out but in fact we ended up at a ticket booth for the entrance to Wana Picchu (“young mountain”).  It is the mountain in the background of the famous Machu Picchu photos and takes about an hour to hike up, but that was not in our plan.  So we backtracked and eventually found our way towards the exit.

As a parting gift, we were treated to a bit of a show by a couple of llamas “getting it on”.  The female was sitting down and looking around passively as if she wasn’t even involved.  Meanwhile the male, mounted on her back, was making a strange gurgling sound…that went on and on.  We couldn’t help but giggle a bit.

Now that's a Machu Picchu worthy lunch!

On the bus ride back down, it started to rain.  Originally we had planned to walk about 3 hours to a small town and get a collectivo (a shared taxi) back to Pisac but with the precipitation, that didn’t seem terribly appealing so we bought some more expensive train tickets to get to the town of Ollataytambo and then took a taxi from there.

Getting back on the train:

The panoramic car was much better on the return trip.

Although it is the priciest attraction I have visited in Peru, it was well worth the money.  Like the Taj Mahal and Petra, you can look at hundreds of photos of these wonders but until you actually see it with your own eyes, you haven’t really seen it.

Gracias Machu Picchu.