Machu Picchu is one of South America’s greatest attraction and by far the best part of our five week trip in South America.
The Incas built this city in the cloudforest around 1500 and occupied it for only a hundred years. They were able to hide it from the empire-raiding Spaniards in the 1500’s and it stayed hidden until the early 20th century.
The Inca civilization had no written language and no European visited the site until the 19th century, so far as is known, so there are no written records of the site while it was in use. The names of the buildings, their supposed uses, and their inhabitants are the product of modern archaeologists on the basis of physical evidence, including tombs at the site. Everett told us all kinds of stories about their beliefs and day to day lives, which may all be made up since there were no written records.
It is fairly easy to get to in modern times. You can take an ardous 4 day hiking trail or you can zip up by several modes of transportation – car, train and bus – to begin the 3 hour hike around the complex.
Machu Picchu was built in a majestic setting, nestled in the rain forest of the Andes Mountains and often swathed in mist. Built around 1400’s, the complex was built by the Inca Emperor Pachacutec. The ruins are mostly intact except for their roofs and doors and things that were built from organic materials, though up to 30% of the site has been reconstructed in the 21st century. Besides the ruins there are beautiful orchids and many birds. Our guide talked about Andean bears, pumas and lions but the only mammals we saw were alpaca grazing on the terraces and a few chinchillas hiding in the ruins.
MP had not really been on my top bucket list places to go. I think I assumed it was a difficult trek. When we booked our cruise around South America that would end in Lima, I decided we would stay a while longer to see a bit more of Peru. We were having dinner with some Pensacola friends and told them about our trip. They suggested we meet in Lima and all go to MP together. So it was decided. I booked our airfare to give us 8 days in Peru after disembarking from the ship. Beyond that I let Jennie plan this leg of our adventure.
We got off our boat in Lima and took a cab to the airport where we met Chris, Jennie and their son Ben. The flight to Cusco is about 1.5 hours with Latam Airlines. They were a decent airline, which I didn’t expect after all the complaining on the Peru travel forums. Jennie had booked us hotel rooms in Cusco at Katari located on the main Plaza. Cusco is at 11,000 feet elevation so altitude sickness is real. We had some breathless moments walking up hills and a few people in our group had some other intestinal issues. There is an over the counter altitude sickness medicine available in the pharmacies.
Cusco is a big city and a good place to base for exploring this area. After two days acclimating in Cusco, we began our trek to Machu Picchu on Tuesday. Jenny had organized a package that included all of our transportation, tickets, and even a hotel for one night in Aqua Calientes. A driver with a private car picked us up in front of our hotel in Cusco on Tuesday morning. We drove about 1 ½ hours to get to Ollyantaytambo where we boarded the famous train that would take us to Aquas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu Pueblo). There are different levels of train tickets that can be purchased. We chose to ride on the Vistadome, a comfy car with leather seats, food service and lots of big windows including in the roof to capture the views.
The train ride was short but beautiful, as we followed the river with mountains on either side. A representative from our hotel in Aqua Calientes met us at the train station and showed us the way to the Hotel Tara where we would spend one night. She even carried my backpack which I appreciated. The hotel overlooks the river and was clean and roomy. We scouted out restaurants for lunch and decided on Toto’s which overlooks the river which was roaring that day. The food was excellent and we enjoyed a peaceful afternoon. The elevation of AC is lower than Cusco so breathing was a bit easier.
Our guide for our trip to MP met us at the hotel on Tuesday evening to discuss our plans for the next day’s adventure. We had booked an early bus ride so we could be in the first group to enter the park and possibly see the sunrise. Well that plan got changed when the road department closed the road from AC up to MP for three hours in the morning to bus up some boulders that had slid down in an avalanche. Instead we took one of the first busses leaving at 8am from AC which turned out to be just fine. The morning was very misty and cloudy and there would not have been a sunset. Plus we got to sleep a little later and eat breakfast at the hotel. The tourists all line up to board a bus – they check your tickets very carefully. It is a 30 minute ride up a series of switchbacks from town to the park entrance. All of our bus, train and entrance tickets had all been reserved and/or pre-purchased by our tour company.
Our guide was Everett and he does tours to Machu Picchu every single day, probably multiple times a day. It is highly recommended to use a guide to explore the ruins. The tour took just under three hours and involved walking up and down stairs but there were many flat ledges. I had been worried the night before if I would be able to keep up and even warned the guide. He assured me we would go slow and it would not be a problem and he was right! Our visit in March was during their rainy season, so we were not assured of perfect hiking weather. We all brought raincoats and were glad we did. We only experience a light drizzle. The clouds added to the mysteriousness of the setting. And by noon the sun was out in all its glory. We took Circuit 2 which was the longer 3 hour tour. The map below is the “Official Map” of Machu Picchu showing the important sites.
We had heard that Machu Picchu has been overwhelmed by way too many tourists over the last 20 years. Typically they might get more than 9000 visitors a day during high season. UNESCO recommended they limit to 2500 per day. We were very fortunate because the number of people on our day was closer to 1000 or 1500. Primarily for two reasons, it was the rainy season and the protests and political unrest from earlier in the year had scared a lot of people from coming. Machu Picchu and the trains had even closed for a month or so earlier in the Spring.
Around every corner was another spectacular view. Rather than describing all the sights, I will just share our favorite pictures.
About ¾ of the way through the Machu Picchu tour, our friends split off to do the Huayna Picchu mountain hike. Bill opted out and was glad he did. The climb to the top was about 1200 feet in elevation with some fairly steep portions and places where hands and feet were required. The three of them made it to the top and back down again but they were done when they got back to town. Jennie says she had always wanted to climb the mountain on previous visits to MP, but would not do it again. I asked the three of them if they had done much climbing in the US or elsewhere and the answer was no. For those of my friends who regularly hike in the West, this would not be ardous climb. For some of us flatlanders with knee issues, maybe not!
Bill and I enjoyed a cup of coffee sitting at scenic overlook. We even had a video call with Eleni and the girls so we could show her our views. I told the kids to put this trip on their bucket list. At the end of the hike, we took the requisite “we did it” photo.
After the 3 hour tour it was time to reverse our travel. A bus ride back to Agua Calientes to have some lunch and pickup our bags stowed at the hotel. Then 1.5 hour train ride back to Ollantaytambo where we were treated to a traditional dance performance and a fashion show. Our driver was waiting for us to take this tired crew back to our hotel in Cusco.
As I am writing this blog post in April, I realize that we did this hike on March 23 which was the 26th anniversary of my mother’s death. She loved to walk and hike and would have loved this trip. To her memory!