Machupicchu: The Journey to the Top and Back Home

Sara described the easy steps to get to Aguas Calietes, which was so thrilling it needed its own post. It was the kind of adventure when the truths are actually more exciting than lies. The journey to the top of Machupicchu is no different. Truly a breathtaking adventure.

First, some background info.
One: Machupicchu is not only the name of the famous site of the Incans "lost city" but also the name of the mountain on which it rests. "Machu" means "old." Huaynapicchu is the name of the mountain above Machupicchu and "Huayna" means "young."
Two: The "lost city" was never actually lost. When Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor, rediscovered the site in 1911, he found two families living there. What happened to these two families after excavation of the site, I have no idea. Even though the site is only 80K from Cusco, the Incan capital, it was never dicovered by the Spanish, and that is what makes it famous. There is a whole Incan city undefiled by Spanish hands! (When the Spanish discovered an Incan site they always destroyed any sign of paganism and stole the stones to build their own cathedrals and palaces, thus placing themselves above any local tradition and forcing Catholicism upon any survivors.)
Three: There are only two ways to get to the top of Machupicchu; take a bus for 21 soles or walk up a steep, twisting stone stairway. If Huaynapicchu is on your list, like it was ours, you must leave early in the morning to be sure you are one of the first to arrive because only 400 people are allowed to make the climb each day. Only half of the 400 are allowed to make the climb at 10am (once the clouds have cleared) which is the time our group was aiming for. So to get to Huaynapicchu you must leave at about 4am (before the buses start running) and take the stiff uphill climb to Machupicchu, and if you happen to go in April before the mass hordes of tourist arrive, you may be hiking in the rain, up slippery stone stairs, but you will be rewarded with amazing sites. We have photos to come to show what the ruins look likearound 6am when the site opens. (An interesting side note- early in the morning, the average age of visitors to Machupicchu was probably around 27. Later in the day, after the busses let off loads of retired Americans and Europeans, the average age was probably around 57-60, and these old people said multiple times "everyone here sure does look tired..." )

Why we were tired:
We (I) really wanted to see Huaynapicchu, so our group left our hostal at 4am with a few food rations and some water, I had some expired yogurt that was actually quite tasty. We started climbing up a zigzaging stoneway that periodically crossed the road made for the not-so-fit tourist who would arrive latter in the day. About three minutes into the hike it started to rain. After about an hour and half we made it to the top of the mountain greeted by a few other trekkers and a huge luxury buffet that sold 90 sole lunches (no thanks). Sara and I entered the park as visitors 188 and 189 , and were granted our 10am ticket into Huaynapicchu. At this point we had a nice view of the inside of a cloud with a visibilty of about 20 feet. We walked around lost for a while, taking lots of cloudy photos and eavesdropping on guides until about 9.30 when the clouds rolled out and we made our way to the entrance of Huaynapicchu. At the entrance is a sign that says this hike is only for the fit. Not five minutes after the start of our hike to Huaynapicchu (the mountain that rises above MP) we were greeted by return hikers, breating hard and sweating a lot with disgruntaled looks on their faces. They were upset because there was nothing but the interior view on a cloud greeting them at the top of HP. We set off at a slow pace stuck behing an older couple, but soon broke free and within 30 minutes (for me) were granted with pristine views of MP below. It was a stiff climb to the top and we have some pictures that might make some parents squeemish (ahem...Mitzi (we can include a parental warning)). The climb included some ladder climbing, tunneling, cliff-hopping, and lots of stair climbing, some of which were just rocks jutting out from a wall with a 1000m drop below. The climb down was a breeze as that gravity did much of the work.

Since much of our time in MP was filled with clouds, I made Sara walk the whole thing with me again so I could get better pictures. Another fact I should mention is MP does not have a bathroom on site...you have to walk quite a ways to find it through the maze-like architecture of MP. By the time we climbed down and walked around MP again it was near 2pm. We had been up since 4. 10 hours without a bathroom. I made Sara climb to the hut of the caretaker (where people can get the famous postcard photo) and afterwards she had to sprint to find the bathroom. She made it, but just barely because there was a bus in the way, getting ready to take the lazies down the mountain.

I stayed a bit longer in the ruins getting some photos then met Sara, Rhi and Paria outside the ruins. (This is when the new group was arriving, and made the comments about us looking really tired.) We choose to take the trail back down and avoid the 21 sole ride down the mountain. As we were marching down, some sprinting Peruvians passed us shouting that they were Incans. I believe they could beat the busses down the side of the mountain.

The next couple hours were filled with rest, as we had to wake up early the next day to start our hike back home. The trek home was (thankfully) all-in-all uneventfull because it was daylight. We could see a trail that ran along the train tracks as well as foot bridges that crossed the most dangerous parts of our journey. We then took an alternate route back where we crossed the remains of a landslide and arrived at the cable car in just four hours of walking. We passed some of my favorite trees along the way, including coffee trees (ít´s too bad I didn´t have any peppermint creamer with me), coca trees, and avacado trees. The large landslide we had climbed over the first day had been cleared and the river was a lot lower.

This was an adventure of a lifetime that I will probably never forget. It was exhausting, spiritual, and rewarding.

Due to my amazing photography skills, we are going to make a separate post filled with photos that will blow your mind. Stay tuned.