Day Six - Machu Picchu
The entire group woke at 3:00am and ready for our final hike. The porters scrambled to pack up our tents as breakfast was being prepared. There was a light rain, making things a bit messy, but the porters moved with great precision.
We had decided the previous night that our goal would be to be at the checkpoint early and hope to be near the front of the line once we were cleared to hike. The walk to the gate was fairly short and by 4:00am we were there and we were alone. We had made it first. The gate would not open until 5:30am, so we waited in the dark, mostly in silence for 90 minutes. It was cold and rainy, but we did have a barrier above us to keep us dry. It was a long 90 minutes. Fortunately, as the sun rose, the rain stopped and we had our best day yet for hiking.
Promptly at 5:30am, the official arrived, checked our reservations, and we were off with a fury. Eager not to be caught from behind, we ran practically the whole way. It was nice to be off on the trail alone again and away from all the masses.
The path was fairly mild compared to the previous two days and we were moving a very nice pace. One final set of steep steps and we had reached the Sun Gate, which offers the first clear view of Machu Picchu. We had managed to be the first group and only one other person had been able to catch up to us. This allowed us to take our time and enjoy the sights before moving on toward the ruins.
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(Click to Enlarge)Machu Picchu is believed to have been built by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the ninth ruler of the Inca, in the mid-1400s. An empire builder, Pachacuti initiated a series of conquests that would eventually see the Inca grow into a South American realm that stretched from Ecuador to Chile. It is located on a ridge between the Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu mountains, sitting at 7,970 feet (2,430 meters) above sea level on the eastern slope of the Andes. It overlooks the Urubamba River hundreds of feet below.
The site’s excellent preservation, the quality of its architecture, and the amazing location on the mountain slop has made Machu Picchu one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world today. The site covers 80,000 acres with a multitude of terraces that were used for growing crops such as maize and potatoes.
In 1911, explorer Hiram Bingham III, a professor at Yale University, visited the site and published its existence for the first time. He found it covered with vegetation, much of which has now been removed. As with most Inca buildings, those of Machu Picchu were made without mortar. Their granite stones quarried and precisely cut and positioned.
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(Click to Enlarge)We spent a couple hours exploring the ruins with Edwin explaining in great detail what the various building and structures represented, as well as a lot about the culture and beliefs of the Incan people. The crowd was piling in and the site was becoming very hot. The stones used to construct much of Machu Picchu were selected because they retain heat from the sun and it was becoming very noticeable. We were then set free to explore on our own.
With more and more people hiking im, busing, and arriving by train, the site had become overrun with visitors. I decided it was time for me to go. I was packed into a crowded bus and took it to Aquas Calientes and met up with Edwin at a nice restaurant called Apu Salkantay, where I enjoyed the first of many well-deserved beers and a sandwich.
Soon the others from my group joined, also weary of the masses of people, and we tosted the journey and reminisced about the past four days and everything we had seen and done. It was truly an experience of a lifetime. Four days, 28 miles, climbing up and down three mountains, and seeing the numerous ruins, mountains, streams and waterfalls. I can't recommend it enough.
We took a train to Ollantaytambo. Then a van back to Cusco where I enjoyed a much overdue shower and then dinner back at Tupananchis out on the patio.
