Machu Picchu

My heart still stops when I see this photo. It felt that incredible when we first saw Machu Picchu, but we had to get there!

The drive over the Andes to Rio Sagrado railway stop in Urubamba located in the Sacred Valley was stunning. These photo’s below don’t even begin to capture the beauty of the countryside – and the people. It took my breath away. Peru is currently building a new airport at the top of the hill in Chinchero to bring tourist into the area. 2025 looks to be the completion date. It is about 1,000′ higher than Cusco and the airport will help to accommodate more tourists. The problem with Machu Picchu like the Antarctic or the Galapagos is they are over loved so there are many restrictions – which there should be! We could have hiked up the Inca trail and come in the Intipunku or Puerta del Sol (basically the sun gate) – ha ha ha or take the Hiram Bingham Train which ends in Agua Caliente. Train -our travel choice.

When we arrived at Rio Sagrado all the folks who missed the train the day before and those who were scheduled for the same day boarded the train. They had added a few cars to be able to accommodate everyone. We had a leisurely ride up to Agua Caliente at the base of Machu Picchu. The scenery changed from a more arid high mountain to a tropical mountain with more greenery and more trees. The Urubamba River runs to the Atlantic Ocean and it is down river to get to Agua Caliente. Since we couldn’t stay we were able to leave our luggage and return to our same room at Palacio Nazarenas in Cusco.

The Andes are so close to the Pacific Ocean that within a short distance from Lima, up in the mountains, all the water ruins into the Amazon River basin and out to the Atlantic Ocean.

When we arrived at the end of the train line, everyone has to board buses and crawl up the switch backs to Machu Picchu. The first map shows all the switch backs. The elevation at the Urubamba River at Agua Caliente is 6778′ and the elevation at Machu Picchu is 7,982. We thought since we spent more time at Cusco’s 11,100′ Machu Picchu would be easier. NOT!

We were allowed through the gate with Sergio about half an hour before other tourist as Sergio told the guard we were suppose to have spent the night at the Sanctuary Hotel and this is our only time in the park. It gave us a few extra minutes to walk up toward the best look outlooks before more tourists arrived. Amazingly enough, it never felt too crowded. We’d walk for five or ten minutes…a couple minutes for me to get my breath and we’d kept climbing. This worked well enough as I could catch my breath and I wasn’t overwhelmed with lack of oxygen.

Machu Picchu, a World Heritage Site and wonder of the world, was most likely known by the Quechuan’s as Huayna Picchu. Hiram Bingham in 1909 was not the first modern man to discover this treasure but two different German men were there in the 1800’s. Hiram mostly took credit for its discovery but at least did bring it to the worlds attention! Hiram came back with the National Geographic group and archeologist from Yale to begin uncovering the site in 1911. The Royal Estate built by Pachacutec and his son Tupac had approximately 750 people in the on season and 100 in the off season living at the estate. The estate is a narrow saddle between Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu. Our guide Sergio felt it was abandoned before the Spanish found it most likely for all the men being called to a military operation and none ever made it back. Others think those who were left may have had small box and died. Unlike the Mayan, the Incan did not have a written language so archeologist try to figure out what might have happened – often its just a best guess.

The steep sides of Huayna Picchu can be walked as you can see the steep terraces on the above photo. We heard there are incredible butterflies up there. Maybe in another younger lifetime! It takes many people working at the site to keep growth down off the walls as the tropical mountain climate keeps things growing! They experience wet humid summers and dry frosty winters. Rain falls between October and March. They are 13 degrees south of the equator and for us their days and nights seem equivalent compared to 38 degrees north!

They discovered both guinea pigs and dogs in burial tombs. They thought the guinea pigs were for sacrifice and the dogs were companions. The twelve acres of terraces weren’t enough to feed those who lived there so they brought in food…much of it corn. There were natural springs and plenty of rain so water was plentiful.

Machu Picchu is located over a fault which gave the builders access to plenty of fractionated blocks. There are definitely issues with landslides etc. and floods on the river which of course still impact this heritage site.

I can’t imagine what it was like living and working there. I love the photo of the guy working on the wall. I hope he feels blessed to work there! We do wish we could have spent the night at the Sanctuary Lodge and have had a more leisurely time to stroll around. I’d go back and visit – I’m really hoping Larkin can go back with friends and see it again someday!

Walking in awe…the rock work…the vistas…the greenery…all stunning…and we had to take a train back to Urubamba and a drive in our van to Cusco!

Where are the crowds? They are there but just not in the photographs. The lone tree showed up in many of my photos!

The exit, a final hug and goodbye and on our way out. We had tea in the Sanctuary Hotel while all the train passengers accumulated. Then another bus down the switchbacks to Agua Caliente. We had a few moments there in the market before we boarded the train (although we just walked through) to Urubamba. Just Magical!

Up next the Andean Explorer which had just started running again!