Machu Picchu

To Aguas Calientas, Peru -- April 9-10

Yesterday was, somewhat unexpectedly, the longest day of the hike. Even in Nepal, we never managed 17 plus miles (my iPhone tallied over 45,000 steps for the day). The day’s itinerary originally was to climb up to the small Inca ruin at Llactapata, which, if the weather cooperated, would give us distant views of Machu Picchu. We would then continue down the other side to Hydroelectrica and finally, and literally, along the railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes, which sits down along the raging Urubamba river 1200 ft below the fabled Machu Picchu.

Unfortunately, in the rain storm the day before, a rock had tumbled down one of the super steep slopes in the area and damaged a bridge cable between the Llactapata ruins and Hydroelectrica. I'm not sure if that added to our daily mileage, but once at the small ruins, from which we were just able to see Machu Picchu through the shifting clouds, we turned around and hiked back down the considerable hill. A van then drove us more than an hour to the tiny transit town where we finally got lunch at a 1:00. We were all famished given that we’d eaten breakfast at 5:30. The small restaurant, just a few feet from the railroad tracks, was a welcomed sight and the resident cat kept us entertained.

The rest of the walk along the tracks was flat, though the final two plus hours seemed to drag by and our feet, after four days of walking, were hurting big time. At 5:00 we finally made it in to Aguas Calientes. What a change from 20 years ago.  I remembered the town as little more than a place to sleep before climbing up to Machu Picchu, either by the 2000 rocky steps, or by bus up a dirt road and a dozen switchbacks. Today, it looks to be quite a pleasant tourist town with plenty of restaurants, coffee shops, and a thriving, brightly lit souvenir market. Nevertheless, the train tracks still run directly through town. After crowding into a restaurant for dinner (grilled alpaca), we retired to our hotel for much needed showers.

At last, Aguas Calientes

The end of a very long day

Today once again started early as we all met near the bus ticket office at 5:30 where a line already stretched for blocks. Fortunately, there were a half dozen buses ferrying passengers up the steep mountainside in what was obviously a well rehearsed routine. KJ, our guide, had warned us that at this time of year, with all the clouds, it is all but impossible to actually see the sunrise from the ruins.

Although lacking the decorative details, architectural grandure, or artistic carvings and base reliefs of, say, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu is all about the improbable and incredible setting. High up on a mountain peak, raging river below, swirling clouds above, and surrounded by steep verdant peaks, the mostly intact ruins are amazing to see.

Not surprisingly, the city is estimated to have taken a hundred years to complete -- first the terraces, next the storage facilities, then the homes, and finally the temples. Because the Spanish arrived soon after completion, the Incas only inhabited the city for perhaps fifty years before demolishing the trail leading there and abandoning it. The story goes that Hiram Bingham from Yale University “discovered” it in 1911. However, other outsiders had found the city in 1902 and farmers had long since known about it and were even actively growing crops when Bingham arrived.

Kylie, Dex, and Karl Joset

After our tour, since we're gluttons for punishment, we paid to climb Machu Picchu Mountain with its steep rocky stairs topping out at over 3000 m (10,000 ft), 600 m (2000 ft) above the city!  Luckily we were able to hike up with Collin, another trekker who joined our group for the last day of his tour. Living in San Francisco, he was able to squeeze his short vacation in before starting a new job at Facebook.

After carefully making our way back down to the entrance, I was the only one in the family interested in taking the stone steps and short walk back to Aguas Calientes. For the rest of the day, we took it easy and the kids and Meg got in a little souvenir shopping. As we were boarding the train to Ollantaytambo, the friendly train attendant took notice of Dex and Kylie and upgraded us to the fancier dining car. I knew those kids were good for something.