Machu Picchu

"Machu Picchu is a trip to the serenity of the soul, to eternal fusion with the cosmos, there we feel our own fragility. It is one of the greatest marvels of South America. A resting place of butterflies at the epicenter of the great circle of life. Another miracle."
~Pablo Neruda

Sunday, October 19th 2008

There are two ways to get to Machu Picchu from the town of Aqua Caliente, to take a 20 minutes bus or climb the steep Inca steps. As I already walked 4 days just to get here, there was no way I was going to take a bus for the final climb and miss the feeling of entering the city on foot. But there was a catch, our guide set the meeting time for the group at 6:00am and estimated the climb time in about 90 minutes - meaning that I will have to set out at 4:30am ! as they say, no pain, no gain... I got up at 4:00am and met the rest of the climbers at 4:30 in the small plaza. Other than myself only two other Israelis (Tzippy and Beni) and the three Portuguese elected to walk and the rest of our group preferred the take the bus. As we started walking in the dark on the dirt road that led to the bridge over the Urubamba river, we saw the flashlights of other groups who got up before us and had a head start. After we crossed the bridge the dirt road ended and we stood and the base of the steep stone trail. The trail itself was made from big rock stones zigzagging through the dense forest with short sections of dirt road when the hiking trail crosses the bus road. When we started climbing it was still dark and the mountain was shrouded in thick fog. The climb was not easy due to the size of steps and the uneven spaces in which they were set but I felt good in the cold wet morning and stuck with the Portuguese who were in great shape and set a challenging speed. As the rest of the group started falling behind, we started to overtake the groups we saw earlier in the mist. It felt great running up the steps and the morning mists coupled with the dense vegetation and the first rays of sun added to the sense of coming discovery. However, after about 35 minutes I started to get tired, and not knowing how much longer I have to climb, I started falling behind the Portuguese who finally disappeared in the fog. I rested for a minute or so, cought my breath and started again with renewed strength. I got the site entrance at about 6:45 after about 50 minutes of climbing. The mountain was still shrouded in mists.

When the rest of the group and our guide got to the site gate I already cooled down and started to feel the cold morning wind who swirled the heavy fog who covered the site as a thick blanket. We all entered the city and immediately walked to the other side to register for the entrance to Waynapicchu which is limited to 400 people per day. After the registration we walked with our guide through the ruins as the fog cleared a bit, and heard about the site itself and some of the prominent buildings. The mysterious Inca citadel hidden deep in the green Urubamba Valley's jungle, high on a mountain top is the most well preserved city of the great Inca Empire. Around 200 stone structures have been erected on the plateau where except houses and temples with sacral objects, ancient Inca aqueducts/irrigation systems for the agricultural terraces, doorways with locking systems and a rock quarry can also be found. Interestingly, the Incas used no mortar at all when putting together large blocks of perfectly cut hard & heavy stones. Even today, fountains and aqueducts still function, most of the buildings are in very good condition and the rocks used for construction are so tightly put together that in many places one can't even push a razor blade between them! After the guided tour we said goodbye to our guide and started to explore the site on our own. The "Old Peak" guarding the skyline above the Sacred Valley is not just an archaeological site. It's much more. We enjoyed the spectacular unique views of the beautiful Andes and the Urubamba Jungle below. The nearby mountains still "swimming" in clouds, partially covered by mist, added more to the mystery and the beauty of the ancient Inca city. The place is special indeed, only those who have wandered on top of the mountain can experience the unique feelings generated by the beautiful view. Setting your foot into Machu Picchu can be a dreamlike trip back into the past...

There's also a less known part of Machu Picchu, located about 400 meters higher than the part that lies on the plateau. That part of the city is known as Waynapicchu, meaning "Young Peak" and it was built on the steep mountain arising right behind the main sectors of Machu Picchu, visible on most photographs about the ruins. We registered to climb the site at 10:00 hoping that the fog will disperse by than and luckily as we ended our independent tour the sky were almost clear. We approached the gate to Waynapicchu at 10:05 and our heart sank as we saw the line in the entrance - we had tickets for the 2 o'clock train and in thus had to leave the site by 12:00 so we were already on a tight schedule. The gate guards ignored our predicament and slowly slowly allowed people in, finally at 10:35 we signed the entry notebook and started again to climb a trail of steep Inca steps... Since we had so little time we again practically run up stopping briefly at the ruins below the summit to enjoy the view and take some pictures. We than climb with our hands the last 20m that led to summit itself, which was no more than a big rock about the size of a small room, where we rested for 10 minutes and enjoyed the magnificent view of the city and the surrounding region. Since time was of an assent, we quickly gathered ourselves and run down the steep steps again making the entire round trip in 80 minutes - about the time it takes to a visitor in reasonable shape just to get to the top...

I was tired from the climb but still elected, together with part of the group who walked with me in the morning, to use the steps down instead of taking the bus. The steps where not much easier to walk down perhaps due to my fatigue and the hot afternoon sun. I got back to Agua Caliente at around 13:20, drank a cold coke in the plaza and went to train station where I met the rest of the group who already brought my belonging from the hotel we slept in. The train ride to Ollyantaytambo took less than 2 hours and offered some nice views although admittingly, I was too tired to enjoy them. When we got to the small town of Ollyantaytambo we hit a bump in the road: the taxi driver who was supposed to meat us was no where in sight. We waited for almost two hours trying to catch the agency using the local phones until we gave up on the original ride and after we were promised a refund we finally organised a transport who landed us back near our hotel at Cuzco at around 20:00. This was definitely a day to remember...