Machu Fucking Picchu Baby!

Machu Picchu: When the Incas Ruled the World

One of our main goals when we decided to travel South America was, of course, to see Machu Picchu (a place of religious worship and residence for the nobility built by the Incas in an impossible location in the Andes Mountains).  We arrived in Cuzco a couple of days before our trip; we lounged around and tried to stay dry. December is the rainy season in the Andes so we knew it might be a little wet. The payoff for this is there is WAY less tourists!  

Dan checked in at our agency, SAS Travel, where we had paid $350 each for a two day one night trip to Machu Picchu, starting and ending in Cuzco. We found this agency online where someone had raved about it on their blog.  There are MANY tours and many people chose to go on three nights, four days trekking, but we didn’t feel like spending the night outside in the pouring down rain.  This turned out be a brilliant decision. At the pre-tour orientation, I became deathly ill and spent the whole thing in their bathroom. Luckily, this was our only hiccup the whole trip, and we felt great the rest of the time.

Apparently "Gloria" will give me strength!

Our guide, Aldo, picked us up at 3:30am at our hostel. We then picked up 10 other people (all Americans!) and headed to the train station. The train left at 6am and we were all on it, including two more people we picked up at the station.  The two hour train ride was gorgeous, winding through the Andes along a raging river engorged by the rainfall.

We got off at the first stop, where we began our 12km hike through the Andes to Machu Picchu.  While our guide got our tickets and checked us in the park, Dan and I bought walking sticks and took a look at who we were with.  Bob and Susan were a newly married couple in their thirties, Brian and Laura were on one last adventure before having kids, Lisa and her boyfriend were from Seattle, there was an Indian family from San Jose, whose teenagers had seen more of the world than me, Tim and his girlfriend were farmers from Connecticut and Aldo and Danny were our guides.

 

We set off. Walking even fairly slowly was difficult (the ground was moist and there were cliffs and slippery rocks). Dan and I stayed to the front of the pack and Aldo pointed out all the awesome fauna and flora along the way.  Our group soon spread out, but we had some resting places to take pictures and get caught up.  At the lunch spot we were all in need of a rest. Laura wasn’t feeling well (head cold) and then we realized Lisa’s boyfriend was very sick. He couldn’t breathe well and was basically passing out so Danny enlisted some SAS porters to carry him to Macchu Picchu. Yes, two men took turns carrying him on their backs about 6km. Poor guy L All I can say is it really pays off to pay extra for a tour like this. SAS was prepared for anything!

On the way we passed an amazing smaller ruin where the Incas terraced farmed and had a temple dedicated to the sun.  Finally, after about 51/2 hours we arrived at the Sun Gate, the first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in and it started raining literally the moment we got there! We continued down beneath the clouds and finally got our first real look.  It did not disappoint.  This place is simply amazing. It was a huge community built for about 1000 people, basically on the side of a steep mountain. 

We were all pretty exhausted, so Aldo led us through the ruins, to the buses to take us Aguas Calientes to spend the night. After dinner we pretty much passed out.

The next morning was another early one, we met for breakfast at 3:45am. Two of the couples had decided not to go for the early morning tour, Brian and Laura and Lisa and her bf.  Everyone was okay but just sick from traveling.  The rest of us got back on the buses and headed up the winding road to the ruins.  Aldo made sure we were there in time to get the stamp that would allow us to hike Huayna Picchu (a nearby cliff/ mountain) at 10am. He then led us on an extensive tour of the ruins that lasted about 2 hours.

After the tour we headed to Huayna Picchu, unsuspecting of what lay ahead of us. We hiked up with two other couples. This hike was treacherous. The rock stairs that had been built by the Incas 500 years ago were slippery and small. There was one thin cord to hang on to and luckily Dan and I had our walking sticks to prevent us from flying off the cliff at any moment. Of course, young Germans were practically running up the almost completely vertical stairway, making it even more nerve racking (we knew they were German because they were wearing those hats with the feathers in them and lederhosen).  We climbed slowly but surely and made it to the top in about 1 ½ hours.  The top was a little anticlimactic. After squeezing through a tiny crevice we found some big boulders covered in the aforementioned Germans who were leaping from rock to rock like the edge didn’t even exist. One young couple was having an extensive photo-shoot at the only safe place to see over the edge, after waiting for a while we just gave up and headed down again. 

Yeah, we climbed this bitch!

After climbing down in the rain we were thoroughly exhausted.  We went back to Aguas Calientes, enjoyed some coffee and lunch and chatted with our tour-mates. At 5:30pm we got on the train back to a town near Cusco. We had a great time chatting with Lisa and her boyfriend, who had recovered and actually got to see the ruins in the afternoon. I felt especially bad for them because they were only on vacation for a few days and had to fly out the next day.

On the bus ride back to Cuzco we made plans to hook up with Brain and Laura for Christmas dinner and finally got dropped back at our hostel at 10:30pm. It was a whirlwind tour but it was perfect for us. We got to trek, see lots of great scenery and learn all about the famous ruins. We had a life or death experience on Huayna Picchu but we lived to tell the tale. Miraculously we felt great the whole trip!

Our guide. Aldo!

Trekking along with our walking sticks!

Dan arrives at Machu Picchu!

Dan loves llamas.

Keeping a positive attitude!