Day Five – Arrival

Here’s what to expect for your day visiting Machu Pichu. Whether you bus, train, or hike to the town of Aguas Calientes, the two options to reach the top of Machu Pichu are a bus or climbing stairs. 30 years ago the site was so elusive because you could only hike to it. So do not fret hiking haters, now you can have nearly the entire experience sitting down.

After nearly 50 miles of hiking, our group was taking a bus to reach the top. It felt a little cheap, to get so far and not do the final climb. But I’m fairly certain if I attempted it that day my knee would have exploded.

It can be said for any tourist attraction to get there early, but it is essential for Machu Pichu. By 7:00am there will be a log-jam line forming, and once you are up there you are not free to roam. You are free to follow a designated path through the ruins with no backtracking allowed. You can stop as many times as you want, but they want to keep traffic flowing.

With that being said, it is well worth the visit. I know a crowd of tourists can sap the magic out of a special place, but I think Machu Pichu endures it. It is one of the most famous photograph spots in the world and nearly every person who visits has the exact same picture. So standing there, in that spot on that day, lacked in novelty but made up in surreality.

Clouds obscured the mountains almost entirely when we first arrived. We were worried we came all this way for a very gray picture. But as the morning progressed, the sun burned off the mist and the day was more beautiful than we could have imagined. The singular, rocky spire that serves as the backdrop for the ruins, was formed by the river below wrapping around it for so many years. This makes it feel like an island in the sea of the Andes, where a few hundred Inca decided to call home centuries ago.

And what a place to choose. Not down by the abundantly flowing river on flat land, like a normal civilization. They didn’t feel alive unless their society was built on the edge of a knife. The ruins are only about 200 meters (two football fields including endzones, for the Americans) across, with steep 1,500 foot (450 meters, for everyone else) drops on either side. The stone-terraced farms they built into the slope are still there after all this time. Most of the buildings are in tact as well (without roofs). All the stone was mined from a quarry right there on top of the mountain. A small stream flowed down from a hidden peak, which provided their drinking water and irrigation. They truly were a self-sufficient city in the clouds.

Definitely go with a guide if you can. The history and the context is the most fascinating part, and with it your appreciation for the ruins grow. I think it is reductive to say that the Inca, or any indigenous American people, were primitive in any way just because they got beat by gunpowder and disease. They didn’t have a land route to China or a plague to cull the weaker immune systems on their continent.

The stones they cut to build structures used no mortar, rather they were crafted to be geometric perfect fits with one another. Because of this, their buildings have survived Earthquakes for 800 years. They were skilled sailors and some theorize they went as far as Easter Island. They were the largest empire of the Americas, stretching 2,500 miles and an advanced road network over 25,000 miles. They operated under a socialist type of government where food was distributed evenly to all people. Men and women lived as equals. One of the leading theories on what Machu Pichu actually was, is a university for women.

So knowing all of this, curtesy of Fredy, made walking by the former quarry and through the old library so fascinating. That, plus being one of the most photogenic places on Earth.

Now it is all very well preserved, but parts of it feel manicured. The perfectly trimmed lawns on the former terrace farms. The roped walkways. The llama who had apparently trained to just sit perfectly still in the center of it all and chew grass. Some of these things, plus the 2,000+ visitors per day, makes it feel like an adventure on the beaten path.

While it has been groomed for tourists, that doesn’t make it less authentic. It is one of the seven wonders of the world for a reason. It is an absolute marvel to behold. The vibrant greens of the surrounding mountainous jungle make the limestone structures a little more timeless and mysterious. You can stand in and spin in a full circle and be amazed by every sight, every angle. In being there you realize that of course the Inca did not choose this place for its practicality or abundance of resources. They chose it because God himself (or herself, not sure where the Inca landed on that) had smiled down on this dreamscape. And I think walking to get there makes the payoff a little sweeter.

We were up there for maybe four or five hours, which is plenty of time to see everything. All that was left for us was the long van ride back to Cusco. Fredy played music while the rest of us tried to guess the song title and artist. Plenty of time to stare out the window at the Peruvian mountains and countryside. Apparently I hadn’t gotten my fill.

On top of it all, it was Monika’s birthday! Hopefully it was a memorable one.

To those who just read this fifth instalment for detailed information on Machu Pichu: sorry. I figure you can read a top ten travel tips on Machu Pichu anywhere on the internet.

To my patient readers who read all five installments: thank you. Or sorry, depending on your satisfaction. Hopefully you enjoyed it and maybe it inspired your next trip. Or just to travel in general.

Peru is not a wealthy country, but they have an abundance of love amongst its people and beauty in its nature. I encourage anyone to visit for the food, the friendly hosts, the unimaginable landscapes, the wildlife, or the batshit crazy drivers. Their infrastructure struggles to stay ahead of recurring earthquakes and they seem to have a president thrown in jail every two years, but nothing seems to dampen the spirits of the people there. It is too hard to pick a favorite, but Peru sits squarely in my top three favorite countries, and I have been to more than a few. I am grateful for my month there, and wish nothing but happy trails to the people of Peru, as they wished the same for me.

P.S. I want to plug https://www.salkantaytrekking.com/. They didn’t pay me to (who would?), but I can’t recommend them enough if you go. Prices are more than reasonable and they go above and beyond to make it an enjoyable journey.