Machu Picchu
Karen and I went earlier this week to visit Machu Picchu, the famous Lost City of the Incas. It evaded the notice of the Spanish for centuries (which is why it wasn´t destroyed by them, like most of the other sights in South America), and only a few local farmers even knew it existed. That was until 1911 when Hiram Bingham and a team from Yale "discovered" it (although at first he thought it was an entirely different Incan city, Vilcabamba, which was the last holdout of the Incas). After many years and a few different trips, the Yale team eventually uncovered most of the site, which was completely overgrown with centuries of thick forest cover. What they found is amazing, even though scholars still can´t agree what it was used for (many theories abound). The Yale team also "borrowed" a few thousand artifacts from the site, which the Peruvian government has made a few half-hearted attempts to get back. They can be viewed on your next trip to New Haven, Connecticut.
Continuing with the "let´s rip off the gringos" theme that is so prevalent in the Cusco area, entrance to Machu Picchu is a rather hefty US$40 (compared to only $20 a mere 4 years ago) plus another $12 roundtrip for the 25 minute bus ride plus $73 roundtrip for the train (100 kms each way) from Cusco to Machu Picchu town (aka Aguas Calientes). There´s no road to Aguas Calientes, so you´re forced to take the train or do the 4 day Inca Trail hike (which we missed out on as we didn´t sign up in time). But the Peruvians know they have a significant cash cow to milk and they sure aren´t going to miss out. No one is going to come to Peru and then not go to Machu Picchu no matter what the price. Having said all that, it´s still an amazing experience and definitely a highlight of our trip.
We stayed overnight in Aguas Calientes (AC) town so we could get an early start. During our afternoon in AC I went for a very hearty hike up Putukusi mountain. It was an hour and a half of extremely hard trekking, but the reward is a great view of the surrounding valleys, and, more importantly, a view from afar of Machu Picchu (MP) itself. Plus it was sort of a free adventure playground, as you have to climb numerous ladders up sheer rock faces to reach the top. Amazingly, on the way up I had the entire path to myself (no one going up or down) and then I had 45 very peaceful minutes at the top all to myself looking at MP. An amazing experience. On my way down, I ran into about 20 people all heading up the hill for sundown.
One of the many wooden ladders attached to the rock face one must climb to get up Putukusi - definitely not recommended in the rainy season.
A view of the beautiful Urubamba Valley.
A view of Aguas Calientes town nestled among the towering mountains.
A view (no cost!) of MP from the top of Putukusi mountain.
More of the beautiful surrounding landscape.
To go to MP itself, we got up very early and took the bus at 5:30 a.m. 25 minutes up the hill (the "Hiram Bingham highway") so we could be at MP in time for sunrise. Despite the early hour, there was still a decent amount of people, but even mid-day, MP is never completely overrun that you can´t enjoy it.
Here´s sunrise over the surrounding mountain peaks.
After watching the sun come up over the ruins, our next adventure was to climb the mountain overlooking MP, Huayna Picchu. This is by no means an easy hike. At the top of this mountain there are further ruins. Upon seeing them, one can only make one simple conclusion - these Incas were absolutely loco! They really built stuff in the craziest locations. Just check out some of their stairways.
The only way to climb this wall is to climb up these stepping stones coming out of the wall. And this wall is located many hundreds of meters above the valley floor.
But climbing Huayna Picchu is well worth the effort as you´re rewarded with a great overview of MP.
After climbing the main part of Huayna, we then decided to take the very long way down the back of the mountain, which required some more jungle gym acrobatics. The reason was to view some other Incan ruins that are very rarely visited. And after doing the arduous trek, we know why they are very rarely visited!
Here´s the classic view of MP. The tall peak in the back is Huayna Picchu.
And some other views of MP including some closer views of the buildings themselves.
There are many llamas roaming free around the ruins of MP. They help to trim the grass. They are very docile and friendly to the tourists. Here´s Karen with a young one.
And finally, after seeing my first circumhorizontal arc (the non-rainbow rainbow) in the skies above Patagonia, I was very keen to see another occurrence of one. And what better place to see one than at one of the wonders of the world, MP. This one lasted less than a minute (unlike the other one I saw which lasted for about 10 minutes), but this one was just as stunning. Plus this time, Karen got to see it for herself.
Continuing with the "let´s rip off the gringos" theme that is so prevalent in the Cusco area, entrance to Machu Picchu is a rather hefty US$40 (compared to only $20 a mere 4 years ago) plus another $12 roundtrip for the 25 minute bus ride plus $73 roundtrip for the train (100 kms each way) from Cusco to Machu Picchu town (aka Aguas Calientes). There´s no road to Aguas Calientes, so you´re forced to take the train or do the 4 day Inca Trail hike (which we missed out on as we didn´t sign up in time). But the Peruvians know they have a significant cash cow to milk and they sure aren´t going to miss out. No one is going to come to Peru and then not go to Machu Picchu no matter what the price. Having said all that, it´s still an amazing experience and definitely a highlight of our trip.
We stayed overnight in Aguas Calientes (AC) town so we could get an early start. During our afternoon in AC I went for a very hearty hike up Putukusi mountain. It was an hour and a half of extremely hard trekking, but the reward is a great view of the surrounding valleys, and, more importantly, a view from afar of Machu Picchu (MP) itself. Plus it was sort of a free adventure playground, as you have to climb numerous ladders up sheer rock faces to reach the top. Amazingly, on the way up I had the entire path to myself (no one going up or down) and then I had 45 very peaceful minutes at the top all to myself looking at MP. An amazing experience. On my way down, I ran into about 20 people all heading up the hill for sundown.
One of the many wooden ladders attached to the rock face one must climb to get up Putukusi - definitely not recommended in the rainy season.
A view of the beautiful Urubamba Valley.
A view of Aguas Calientes town nestled among the towering mountains.
A view (no cost!) of MP from the top of Putukusi mountain.
More of the beautiful surrounding landscape.
To go to MP itself, we got up very early and took the bus at 5:30 a.m. 25 minutes up the hill (the "Hiram Bingham highway") so we could be at MP in time for sunrise. Despite the early hour, there was still a decent amount of people, but even mid-day, MP is never completely overrun that you can´t enjoy it.
Here´s sunrise over the surrounding mountain peaks.
After watching the sun come up over the ruins, our next adventure was to climb the mountain overlooking MP, Huayna Picchu. This is by no means an easy hike. At the top of this mountain there are further ruins. Upon seeing them, one can only make one simple conclusion - these Incas were absolutely loco! They really built stuff in the craziest locations. Just check out some of their stairways.
The only way to climb this wall is to climb up these stepping stones coming out of the wall. And this wall is located many hundreds of meters above the valley floor.
But climbing Huayna Picchu is well worth the effort as you´re rewarded with a great overview of MP.
After climbing the main part of Huayna, we then decided to take the very long way down the back of the mountain, which required some more jungle gym acrobatics. The reason was to view some other Incan ruins that are very rarely visited. And after doing the arduous trek, we know why they are very rarely visited!
Here´s the classic view of MP. The tall peak in the back is Huayna Picchu.
And some other views of MP including some closer views of the buildings themselves.
There are many llamas roaming free around the ruins of MP. They help to trim the grass. They are very docile and friendly to the tourists. Here´s Karen with a young one.
And finally, after seeing my first circumhorizontal arc (the non-rainbow rainbow) in the skies above Patagonia, I was very keen to see another occurrence of one. And what better place to see one than at one of the wonders of the world, MP. This one lasted less than a minute (unlike the other one I saw which lasted for about 10 minutes), but this one was just as stunning. Plus this time, Karen got to see it for herself.
posted by Kevin at 5/15/2007 11:59:00 PM
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