Machu Picchu

It's hard to believe that just this morning I was walking where Incas walked.

We're in Ollantaytambo (Oh-YAN-tie-tahm-bo) now, a small town just south of Aguas Calientes.  It's our first way point on the journey between Machu Picchu and Lima.  Tomorrow we'll go hiking here and then take a van to Cusco and an overnight bus to Arequipa.  It's a long way, but this experience has already been worth the trip.

Yesterday afternoon we took the train into Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu.  The train had a glass dome, so we were treated to an hour and a half of spectacular Andes mountain views.  The train was also fancy - there was a snack service like you'd have on an airplane ride, and the station had the cleanest bathrooms in South America.  If you've ever been to South America, you'll understand why this is a notable fact...

Aguas Calientes was pretty much what I expected it to be - a conglomeration of hotels, hostels and restaurants serving tourists on their way to Machu Picchu.  But for what it's worth, the prices aren't too steep, and most of the locals still speak mostly Spanish.  Our hotel turned out to be fantastic for the price we paid, and for dinner we found a nice restaurant where we tried ceviche, raw fish marinated in lemon juice and hot red pepper.  I'm not a huge fan (the texture is a little strange), but Tim and Kyle both loved it.

After dinner, we still had plenty of time to get our tickets for Machu Picchu and head to the only other local attraction - the hot springs!  Aguas Calientes isn't named Hot Waters for nothing.  The local access to the springs was quite a bargain - just $4 to soak in the several different pools.  Each one was a different temperature, so we found a comfortable one and sat for a couple of hours chatting with a group of Argentine women.  The guys did pretty well keeping up with conversation again!  I was proud of them.

However, we had to go to bed pretty early in preparation for today.  We woke up at 4:30 AM (the recommended hour), ate the breakfast the hotel graciously prepared at that ridiculous time, stowed our luggage and walked over to the bus station in the dark.  We had been planning to hike up to the ruins, but Tim's persistent cough was starting to get worse, so we decided to pay a bit extra to take the 15 minute bus ride to the top.  That turned out to be a good decision, since the early hour meant that hikers had to climb hundreds of stairs in the foggy morning darkness.  Plus, in the bus line we ran into two French guys we met at Tiwanaku!

We arrived at the entrance a minute or so after it opened, so we had prime access to the ruins.  As we entered, there was a fork in the path.  By chance, we chose the direction no one else picked, so for the first two hours, we barely saw another living soul.

Going to Machu Picchu is like walking into a myth.  For one thing, it's so foggy in the morning twilight that everything looks mysterious.  You can walk up to the edge of a stone platform, look off into the distance and see... nothing.  Just white mist.  It's so quiet that it's almost eerie. Without anyone else there, I could almost pretend I was an Inca.

We found a spot to watch the sunrise, and though it wasn't particularly brilliant or colorful, it was fantastic, because the sudden heat from the sun causes the fog to part and reveal the Andes and the river valley below.  We sat for several minutes in silence (except for the interruption of a guard who brusquely informed us that sitting on Inca walls is NOT allowed, and that we would have to stand if we wanted to see the sunrise).

Next, we decided to head uphill toward the temple sector to see the Templo de las Tres Ventanas and the views of the terraces on the other side of the mountain.  Here we had our first run-in with "ugly Americans" on the trip - a group of girls screaming and taking picture after picture of themselves jumping up in the air in front of the ruins.  Now, I know Machu Picchu is exciting, but if you ever get the chance to go, please don't be those people...

Anyway, the temples were great!  It was really interesting to see how the stonework changed over time.  Down below, the granite rocks were hugely varied in size from giant boulders to tiny chips used to fill in the gaps, while the temples at the top were constructed from finely hewn stone blocks that fit together perfectly with no mortar.  We saw stone archways and platforms that the Incas used to make astronomical observations.  The view was amazing, too.  Those potato farmers must have been so inspired by their surroundings.

After exploring the temples and other main square buildings, we took our first short hike out to the puente Inka (Inca bridge).  The views there were great, too, although quite distinct.  The jungle is denser there, and it looks out over sheer granite cliffs that are totally different from the green, pointy mountains I associate with the Andes.  The Inca bridge was amazing just because I can't believe it still exists - it's literally just a wooden board stretched across a terrifying gap in the rocks, with no handholds of any kind.  Needless to say, we did not cross it (you're not allowed to, anyway), but we did try our hardest to get our picture taken with it.  Unfortunately, some tourists cannot be coached to take a picture, no matter how hard you try.  :-)

Our next short hike took us all the way to the edge of the historical reserve to the puerta del sol (Sun Gate).  At least, it looked short on the map.  It really took us about an hour to walk up the hundreds of steps, and by this hour the sun and the humidity were teaming up to make a fierce heat.  We stopped for peanut butter sandwiches along the way and also to admire the views, which really looked like something from a postcard.  The Sun Gate was also interesting because it led to another path, which we followed for about half an hour, trying to see where we'd end up.  Eventually we ran into another group of hikers who informed us that we wouldn't end up anywhere - we'd found the Inca Trail!  Since we didn't have the permits, gear, or the four days needed to hike the trail, we headed back, but not before we saw an amazing rainforest butterfly!

By the time we returned to the main site, it was getting to be later in the afternoon and we were pretty tired.  However, we decided to keep trekking until we'd seen every part of the (really large, actually) ruin complex.  We walked to the Casa del Inka, where I learned something interesting.  I hadn't realized that most of the stone walls you see on postcards were just part of the original buildings.  Almost all of the structures in the area had thick, thatched roofs really similar to the ones we saw on Lake Titicaca.  I mean, it makes sense, of course, but I had never thought about it before.

When we had finally seen the whole complex, we were still hesitant to leave.  Machu Picchu is just so amazing!  I hope I'll be back someday, but who knows?  So we sat around for a bit, admiring the views, until we were too hot and sweaty to stay.  Then, we followed our original plan to hike down, trotting down several hundred steps and along the river back to Aguas Calientes.  There, we enjoyed a well-deserved pizza and some pisco sours, the national drink made from lime juice, egg whites, and pisco (grape brandy), before heading back to the hot springs for another soak.  What a day...