Machu Pichu

The most rewarding part of Machu Pichu: Being in the first 20 to make it to the entrane.  Those tickets are the genuine article, 10am stamps for Huayna Pichu.

We thought about leading the post off with this, perhaps the most recognizable photo of Machu Pichu, but we prefered us...

This is impossible.  Too many expectations, too many photos, simply too many bucket list with the words "Machu Pichu" in the top 5 for a post to give this site its due.

So, instead of recapping the hours exploring, the unique nature of the ruins and the unnerving sense of "what if....the Spanish didn't arrive/lost/only had swords/were 200 years later," we are going all David Letterman on you and paring this down to a top 5 and a bottom 5 and let you all witness the rest for yourself since, in all likelihood, most of you will make it out here one day.

Top 5:
1. Ruins.  Immaculate, organized, well-crafted and probably most incredibly, the most well preserved (or restored) ancient ruins I've ever seen.  Then again perhaps it pays (for tourist draw, at least) to be "undiscovered" until the early 1900's.  Not to mention be located at miserably high altitude in the center of a group of mountains also at high altitude. Location. Location. Location.

A photo of the famously steeped terraces of Machu Pichu.



One of the more amazing feats of the Incas was there use of stone work.  This is a prime example of how gorgeous and intricate it could be.





Misty Ruins.  The first half of the day the entire ruins were shrouded in fog.  A bit romantic and a bit eery as well.



A magnificent ancient tree, how you lived up to all my expectations.

2. The hike up.  We are cheap and prideful.  There's two ways--outside of tge Inca trail--to get to MP, a bus at 530am from Aguas Calientes (the city at the bottom of MP) or hike, which takes just under an hour and is straight up.  A bus is cheating and cost money.  BUT, to hike Huayna Pichu, the mountain overlooking MP, you must be in the first 400 arrivals and within the first 200 to get the good time.  Because you are racing the bus and other hikers it's recommend to start by 4am.  So we did.  And though 50+ people were ahead of us and Beth was convinced we'd never make it, we ended up being in the first 25 people.  An exceptional feat in its own right.  Most rewarding personal part of tge day.

3. Huayna Pichu. The hill overlooking MP.  Overrated, in my opinion, for its views.  What is amazing is the hike and the ensuing ruins you encounter at the top.  The hike isn't so much treacherous as feeling treacherous, but the appearance is amazing.  It's steep, but doable, and the ruins atop are a stunning achievement considering their location and general environmental difficulties in building.  Beth said something about buying a house atop the mountain and I was forced to remind her it would be suicide or death to drinking, because they cannot coexist.  Spectacularly steep architecture.



Not quite as iconic a photo as the closer up version, but this one must be earned.  An incredible view from atop Huayna Pichu.

Beth crossing the river with her least favorite Swiss girl in the world.  I was hand pulling them across and would like to note that she is also my least favorite Swiss girl in the world, but for more weighty reasons. (Beth would like me to note here that she took her turning pulling people across the river as well and that she set the group record by scrambling three men across the river.  The guide was duly impressed.)

4. Walking the valley.  By taking a tour we spent two days walking through the valley below MP.  We walked along parts of the Inca trail, crossed rivers in hand-pulled carts, sat underneath rock-hole waterfalls, brushed aside banana plants and other local agriculture, but best of all got to bide our anticipation while experiencing the surrounding nature.  Machu Pichu is a bucket lister, but its surrounding area is worth a look too.

Hiking a portion of the Inca Trail. 

Walking the train tracks towards Aguas Calientes.  A meta-photo.



We didn´t have much time on the ¨Inca Trail¨ proper, but the time we did was a bit nerveracking for me.  Apparently Incas had tiny feet, so every precarious step I thought would be my last.  Trip.  Fall.  Death.


5. Standing outside of our tour company for at least 30 minutes to receive $8.50US in refund when they actually ripped us off of an entire day of our tour.  I wanted $20US each, but if no one else had shown up looking for a tour, we would have probably got nothing, or at least waited outside until someone did.  (for more detail see Bottom Five #2)

Alright, the tour wasn´t all bad.  We found this little four legged creature who could drink a gatorade faster than Mike.

    


Bottom 5:
1. Uncredited Foundings. The story goes the "founder" of MP was Hiriam Bingham around 1912.  His guide, a little boy, simply gets the footnote of "little boy," or more accurately nameless little boy.  At least the famous train from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes could feature a caboose, or something, with his name on it.


2. Booking the Inca Jungle Tour.  4 days 3 nights.  Includes entrance to MP, food and lodging, plus train back to Cusco.  Unfortunately the selling point for us was the 4 hours on a bike the first day.  Half on asphalt descending about 3500m, the other half on dirt road.  What they don't tell you is there is road construction, so you only get an hour on the bike, unless you get a flat tire, like me, in which case you only get 35 minutes.  Or, like Beth, maybe one pedal does not work, so you have to hit the uphills at full speed or risk having to pedal like Christopher reeve if one of his legs had worked (sorry, couldn't think of anyone recognizable and one-legged or peg-legged, so I went with no working legs and a former superman...for balance...owww, bad pun).  So, we got ripped off, made worse because with all that those 35 minutes were incredible. Downhill, wind in your face, sacred valley in your eyesight, glacial peaks at your back and waterfalls creating little pools in the center of the road, little character pools.  Another 3 1/2 hours would have set such a perfect beginning stage for the next three days hiking thru the jungle to MP.  Instead it just pissed us off, though admittedly just for that day.  Anyways, I wish we'd have choosen the do the Salkantay trek instead, 5 days and past, I believe, the 3rd highest Andean peak in Peru. Alas, not in our cards, but maybe yours.

30 minutes on a bike descending 3000 plus meters is better than no time on a bike.  That´s a glacier in the background..



A waterfall hole.  Something special indeed.


3. Bad tour guide inside MP.  Said nothing, really, of Incan way of life, architecture or information about tge ruins.  Instead preached, best word, some weird neo-Andean religion.  Best quotes, though confusing at best: "maybe some of you are christian, but when I die and I'm riding on my condor and I look over and I see you, I'm not going to say I told you so, but you'll know it.". "The Incas, they don't have no lazy boys.  No fat boys.  No gay boys.  And no stupid boys. [interrupted by disbelieving and mildly uncomfortable laughter] What, you don't believe me?  Look around.". So, i lied.  we learned we'll be on a condor when we die and what kind of boys the Incas didn't have.

I can´t wait for everyone to meet our tour guide on a condor when we all die.  He´s short, likes the Broncos and is probably standing somewhere on a corner preaching. 

4. There's NO escalators (the climb up to MP and HP make for weary legs), no cots for napping (330am rise and shine), no bathrooms (one outside, but you have to walk AND pay to use it. HP has spots that stink of urine) and no water fountains (you bring your own because water is literally over 10x more up there).

5. The people, the tourist.  It's overwhelming.  Cuzco and MP are, by a considerable margin, the most touristed places we have yet to visit.  We expected it, even readied ourselves, but only a recent visit to Disneyland could prepare you for the throng of languages, entitlement and people that tourist tend to collect.

Who the $%&@ are those people in our photo???

   





The hike up Huayna Pichu was steep, but not death defying.  The hike down was a bit more tentative for me.

Beth making her way from house to house atop Huayna Pichu.

Us.  Machu Pichu.  Bliss.  Photo.

Going out on a limb: a ruin, of some sort.