Day Five - Phuyuptamarca, Intipata, & Wiñay Wayna
Sleep had been difficult with the heavy rain and cold temperatures and I was eager to get up and start moving around. Rising before the others once again, I packed up my tent and wondered around the area with some warm coca tea until the group was ready.
This portion of the trek is known as Inca Flat, and while not at all flat, the ascents and descents were much less drastic than the previous two days. I wouldn't quite call them easy, however, particularly the downward steps. We were now in the cloud forest with plush vegetation and a noticeable climate change.
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(Click to Enlarge)Our first set of ruins this day would be Phuyupatamarca or "Cloudlevel Town." It contained fifteen buildings, six baths, two plazas, bridges, stairways, and observation platforms hang halfway up the cliffside like a giant balcony. Phuyupatamarca was a religious and ceremonial site, where ritual baths and other forms of worship occurred. It is one of the better-preserved Incan ruins and the hydraulic water system is still functional.
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(Click to Enlarge)Climbing to reach the summit of our third mountain this trek, we stopped for rest, snacks, and a group photo with our excellent porters. They carried a lot of weight, set up and took down our tents, prepared our meals, and navigated the difficult trails with speed and precision. They are a very impressive group.
Continuing on, we came upon the site of Intipata. With no plazas, religious structures or fortifications, there's little doubt that Intipata was primarily an agricultural settlement. It served as an excellent lookout point, as well. From Intipata you can see across to the lookout platform on the top of Cerro Machu Picchu, and down to the Inca site of Choquesuysuy. Signals could be given from Intipata to all of these regions.
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(Click to Enlarge)From Intipata, it was only a 45-minute hike to our lunch site, which would also be our camp site this evening. After lunch, Edwin took us to the nearby ruins of Wiñay Wayna. Wiñay Wayna is located on an elevated perch overlooking the Urubamba River. Named after a pink orchid which grows in the area and means "forever young" in the local Quecha language. Like most Incan sites, it was built to take advantage of the existing mountain topography, rather than terraforming the site. It was used as a ceremonial and agricultural experimentation site, using the many different terrace levels to test propagation at different altitudes.
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(Click to Enlarge)With a free afternoon before Happy Hour, we spent a lot of time exploring the site and enjoying the incredible views. Wiñay Wayna was by far the most impressive Incan site so far.
Returning to camp, I realized I only had one day of hiking left and I had a 1 and 1/2 bags of coca leaves left. I found the porter who had been taking care of my tent and gave it to him. He was very appreciative. After dinner, we had a ceremony for the porters, where we learned a little about each and gave them their tip.
Wiñay Wayna is not only the stopping point for the 4-day hikers like us, but it also serves as the gathering point for the shorter treks of 2 and 3 days. It had become very crowded and also quite loud. I had become accustomed to be very isolated during our hike.
