There are some things that are touristy for a good reason: Yosemite, Alcatraz, etc. Machu Picchu is a phenomenal experience, something that all the tourism can't diminish. Our morning train crossed the high-altitude farmlands outside of Cusco, over 3 hours wending its way downhill and into the steep ravines where the Andes begin to meet the jungle. The train was a "Vistadome", with windows in the ceiling and very comfortable. The route through the Sacred Valley is chock full of Inca sites, but from the train we saw adobe homes and donkeys and fields full of birds. We are already talking about returning to the area, it needs a week to do it justice. Eventually the hills sharpened up and the Urubamba River canyon closed in. After passing Ollantaytambo, one of the last stands for the Inca, the cloud forest ecosystem grew up around us. There is much foliage, granite cliff faces are peppered with basketball-sized epiphytes (plants who do not need soil to survive) while many trees are host to large epiphytes with big red flowering stalks. Looking up through the ceiling windows, we caught site of the snowy crag that is Mount Veronica, and looking down we begin to see ancient Inca terraces and structures built up the steep slopes and along the river. At one short stop, a little old lady ran up with a bouquet of local flowers (orchids, lilies, etc) and Jen ran out and bought them for a dollar. The lady suddenly had to scamper off the tracks of the train from the opposite direction, then stood laughing and blowing us kisses.
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| Putucusi hike |
Aguas Calientes is the little tourist town down below the Machu Picchu ruins, named for local hotsprings. The streets are lined with restaurants and stores for travelers, with hawkers who don't quite realize how off-putting their constant calls are: "Pizza! Very good! Meester, pizza, you try!" Our little hotel was perfectly clean and comfortable, but nothing special. Part of the view was the soaring cliffs, but part was a tangle of stairways and wires and the neighbors laundry room. Everybody but Dominick headed out for a hike up Putucusi (Happy Mountain), the peak opposite Machu Picchu. We were unprepared for the steepness and were surprised to find that a good distance of the trail was wooden ladders. Carter loved climbing the ladders, though of course Jen and I could imagine the headlines if something awful happened to him: "World's Worst Parents Allow 7yr Old On Cliff Ladders." In the end, we did not make it all the way to the top because the clouds threatened rain and the idea of backing down slick ladders was unappealing. Still, it was really fun.
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| Aguas Calientes |
Dominick and Nicole pretty much slept from the afternoon into the night, so that left Jen, Carter, Mariza and I to a mediocre, overpriced dinner at the hotel restaurant. The barker/maitre'd/bartender/chef was a gregarious guy, but his repeated statements that the place was "3-Star" did not make it so. We were abed soon in order to be up and out by 5am to catch the bus up to the ruins. The line was already a few blocks long, so we were grateful when a woman came up the line selling coffee, strong and dark as you wish. Once the buses started moving, it was clear that the operation was as swift and organized as the Berlin Airlift. After another line at the entrance to the ruins, we hired a guide and went on in.
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| The ruins |
There is too much about the ruins itself to lay out here. There is plenty to marvel at in terms of engineering and ingenuity (water from 2km away! masonry so finely matched that the seams are hard to see!). The insight into the culture and beliefs is also compelling, with stones set as sun dials or to mirror the exact ridgeline of the local mountains, windows set to align with the solstice, and areas for worship, agriculture, fabrication and both a tony part of town and a middle-class neighborhood. Machu Picchu was clearly a significant hub, but perhaps not as significant as a handful of other sites nearby: Ollantaytambo fortress, or Vilcabamba, the final holdout of the Inca, or their capital of Cusco, of course.
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Looking past the farm terraces, up to the
peak of Machu Picchu Mountain |
After a couple hours at the ruins, and after our bag lunch, some of us headed up Machu Picchu Mountain. There is a small peak rising above the ruins (Wayna Picchu), with ruins atop that people hike up to, but our route was much less traveled (perhaps because it is a steep, 1800ft climb up a lot of stone stairs). Carter was by far the youngest on the trail and the subject of endless commentary by our fellow hikers, and our niece Nicole muscled through it too. They were troopers and seemed unfazed by the sharp incline or the sheer drops, though we were all pretty pooped in the end. From the top we could see down to the ruins and the local river canyon, folded upon itself like origami. The descent was perhaps more agonizing than the ascent, but eventually we met up with Dominick and Mariza and caught the bus down to town.
The hotel was very decent about giving us a room to shower in even though we had checked out. Plus, we had plenty of time for a lunch by the river in Aguas Calientes, so we were clean, happy and tired when we caught our late-afternoon train back to Cusco.
Here are some extra photos:
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| On the trail up Machu Picchu Mountain |
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| Peak of Machu Picchu Mountain, with ruins below |
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Nicole atop Machu Picchu Mt., with
Putucusi & Aguas Calientes below. |
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| Along the tracks. |
There are some things that are touristy for a good reason: Yosemite, Alcatraz, etc. Machu Picchu is a phenomenal experience, something that all the tourism can't diminish. Our morning train crossed the high-altitude farmlands outside of Cusco, over 3 hours wending its way downhill and into the steep ravines where the Andes begin to meet the jungle. The train was a "Vistadome", with windows in the ceiling and very comfortable. The route through the Sacred Valley is chock full of Inca sites, but from the train we saw adobe homes and donkeys and fields full of birds. We are already talking about returning to the area, it needs a week to do it justice. Eventually the hills sharpened up and the Urubamba River canyon closed in. After passing Ollantaytambo, one of the last stands for the Inca, the cloud forest ecosystem grew up around us. There is much foliage, granite cliff faces are peppered with basketball-sized epiphytes (plants who do not need soil to survive) while many trees are host to large epiphytes with big red flowering stalks. Looking up through the ceiling windows, we caught site of the snowy crag that is Mount Veronica, and looking down we begin to see ancient Inca terraces and structures built up the steep slopes and along the river. At one short stop, a little old lady ran up with a bouquet of local flowers (orchids, lilies, etc) and Jen ran out and bought them for a dollar. The lady suddenly had to scamper off the tracks of the train from the opposite direction, then stood laughing and blowing us kisses.
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