Machu Picchu: Mighty Mountain Peaks
Cloud Stomping upon the Mountain Tops
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| The Mighty Machu Picchu |
Aguas Calientes
We left Cusco at eight in the morning and drove a very scary taxi ride to a town call Ollantaytambo to catch our train to Machu Picchu Pueblo, or Aguas Calientes, or Machu Picchu village, there are a lot of names. I feel we were particularly on edge as despite asking for a different taxi driver, we ended up with the one who had involved us in a car accident and then overcharged us, a mere few days beforehand. This wasn't the greatest of starts to our journey into the mountains. The ride itself consisted of beautiful scenery rushing past at maniacal speeds. The occasional car that we nearly hit as we dangerously overtook a lorry. But also many beautifully constructed Incan ruins. Though perhaps the most curious thing we saw was a hotel perched in glass tubes on a cliff, no thanks... |
| The grey specks on the top right are hotels |
Ollantaytambo was no exception to the beauty of Peru. Mountains rose up, surrounding us in the river valley and built in layers against this mountain was the ruins of Ollantaytambo. But these were not our goal, we were off to see the legendary Machu Picchu. We had a quick bite to eat before climbing aboard our train. I should clarify as well, that we had grown as a group, Olivia's parents had decided to join us. The route itself was through a very windy valley that followed the river Urubamba. The views are stunning as you go along, much like many of the other places we'd been through in Peru. There was rolling mountains filled with green grass. Snow capped mountains wreathed in clouds. A trickling river running alongside our train as we rounded the corner and saw the mighty mountain that held Machu Picchu in its cloud covered heights.
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| Meet Jane and Andy, our new travel companions (for the next few days) |
Our train pulled in and we hopped off and into Machu Picchu town. A small town with hot pools that sit at the base of the mountain. We pushed through the crowds only to find that the man meeting us to take us to the guest house was not there. But nevertheless it was raining and it wasn't far so we bustled through the busy marketplace selling colourful tourist tat as we made our way out of the train station and into the town itself. I feel that at this point there should be a few things you should know to help picture the town.
1. It is tiny, less than a kilometre across I would have guessed.
2. It's pretty much just full of hotels, hostels, guesthouses and restaurants.
3. There are no roads into the village, hence why we had to take the Tourist Train
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| Out on the Strip (it's basically just the train track) |
We had had a long day and so after dumping our things in our room we decided that head into the town, have a look around, buy our bus tickets for the morning and get a drink. Eventually we found a bar that was running happy hour offering 4 for 1. So we had some beers and some Pisco sours (remember the ones from Chile? Well they have them in Peru, it's basically egg white, limes and pisco, a type of grape brandy). We happily drank away and had a chat, whiling away the hours (although we realised it wasn't as late as we thought). The bill then came and we found that we had been charged double for the happy hour. I refuted this with the man who went off to talk to his boss. Upon coming back he informed us that during happy hour the drinks were half the size, but twice the price. I told him that this didn't make sense and didn't work, he stared at me blankly, then my mother in law said the word police at him a few times. Whatever it was that we said, we ended up paying what we thought the bill should be, so just in case you are wondering, be careful about happy hour in Aguas, a few people do the same thing. So with that all done and then food in our bellies, we headed off to bed.
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| Olivia might of got told of for this |
Huaynu Picchu
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| The stunning Panorama from Huaynu Picchu, the lines opposite are where we drove up and you can also see MP |
The next morning's 4:00am wake up was a bit of a shock. We drowsily downed a cup of coffee, and I believe ate a bit of breakfast before we headed off to get our bus up to Machu Picchu. The reason for our early rise was threefold. a) Our ticket into MP was for 6:00 b) There are always big queues for busses c) we were climbing Huaynu Picchu and didn't want to do it in the midday sun. But everyone else was also there, so there was a rather long queue. The Bus journey up the mountain was bumpy and windy (some people had even walked up the mountain! more commitment than we had) and on several occasions we left our seats for a few seconds. But as we arrived we realized that the early start had been worth it. Any photos that we show you will not quite do it justice, Machu Picchu and it's surrounding area is stunning and you can understand why it was one of the places that won a spot as a new wonder of the world.
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| More Llama friends |
We had about half an hour to do the ten minute walk to the gate to climb Huaynu Picchu, the massive mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu. So we ambled through the stone walls and ooh and aahhd at the cute llamas that now call Machu Picchu home. Took a number of photos of the surrounding mountains as well and stared down into the depths of the River Urubamba. We then started to queue outside the gate (we were about twelfth in line) and after signing in we were off on the hike up Huaynu Picchu. To quickly explain the names, there are two mountains in this area, Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) and Huaynu Picchu (Young Mountain). Huaynu Picchu was home to the priests and there are also some terraces where they grew crops for the gods. Especially for Inti the sun god who the Incas believed they were descended from.
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| Just a little steep at the top... |
So off we went, it was a hard climb and very steep, almost vertical in places (especially at the top) but it did warrant the most amazing views of Machu Picchu as it literally looks over the entire citadel. There are even some ruins at the top of Huaynu Picchu as well, to reach the summit we had to ascend some terraces with very steep narrow steps. The top of the mountain is rather vertigo inducing as there are many sheer drops or faux sheer drops (terraces that are unknown to be terraces until you get close to them). The most worrying part is the amount of people who step over the tiny rope denoting the edge to get a better photo. There was even one mad japanese man who was jumping around near the edge to get a jumping action shot, madness...
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| VICTORY!! |
But we made it to the top, even the one with Vertigo (although the journey down the ladder, through a cave and around the narrow sheer drop terraces proved more of a challenge, but we're proud of her because we didn't have to leave her at the top of the mountain! The views from here are simply stunning. It felt like we were on the top of the world looking down on everything below us. I was so glad that we had decided to rise early (as later there was cloud over the top of the mountain) and ascend this sacred mountain, it was at that point understandable why they had considered it to be such a special place.
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| Praise the Lord for Dairy Milk! |
Machu Picchu
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| Panorama of Machu Picchu |
We climbed down the mountain and checked ourselves through the gate. They give you all a number and you sign yourselves in and out in order to make sure that everyone has descended the mountain. We then had to oddly leave Machu Picchu and re-enter through the front gate again in order to explore the citadel. We booked a guide who told us lots of things about Macchu Picchu and showed us around.
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| Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu |
So to start with it's good to know a bit about Machu Picchu, it was 'discovered' in 1911 by one Hiram Bingham the third, an American from Conneticut who had gone in search of the lost Inca Citadel and was exploring the Urubamba valley for the remains. Although Machu Picchu is often reffered to as the lost Inca Citadel, this term more aptly applies to the nearby Vilcabamba. He asked a local person who informed that there were ruins at the top of the nearby mountain. Upon heading up there he discovered some farmers who had been using the terraces to grow crops. One of the farmer's eleven year old son then showed him around the ruins where Hiram Bingham took photos in order to later return (after exploring other nearby ruins) on an expedition in 1912. At this time Machu Picchu was quite overgrown and extensive clearing work was later carried out.
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| The Guardhouse at Machu Picchu |
The Incan Citadel of Machu Picchu is believed to have been built by the great Incan King Pachacuti who had greatly expanded the Incan Empire and also had a son called Tupac who Tupac is named after. It is believed that Machu Picchu is a palace in 1450-1460 as a royal estate after a successful military campaign. About 750 people lived here and there is a lot of evidence of temples and storehouses showing that there was a lot of day to day life. During the harsher seasons Machu Picchu's residents would become around 100 in order to maintain the site. The reason people believe this is that there was a real mix of evidence in the residents' bones that show they were from many different backgrounds.
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| Us all at Machu Picchu |
The reason that Machu Picchu is so well preserved is that the Spanish never found it. There are conflicting theories as to whether it was abandoned during the Spanish conquest to keep it's secret safe, or that everyone there died of smallpox that had been carried along the Inca road before the Spanish reached there. This is important because it means many of the rocks that the Spanish considered idolotary were not destroyed by them in Machu Picchu, it also means we can see a truly well preserved citadel (supposedly only 10% of the citadel has been reconstructed). This means that it truly feels like walking through history. I also like to think the Spanish turned up, took a look at the mountain and thought 'screw this, let's invade somewhere flatter, maybe the Dutch!'
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| Llamas at Machu Picchu |
Finally a few significant things happened. In 1981 Machu Picchu was declared a site of Peruvian Historical Significance and then later on in 1982 became a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was declared a wonder of the world (alongside the Great Wall and Christ the Redeemer) in 2007. After growing concerns about it's welfare new entry restrictions were placed in 2011. These stated that only 2,500 visitors could enter a day, and only 400 onto Huaynu Picchu, this is divided into several slots. Although it sounds like a bit of a pain, I think this is a great initiative, the site didn't feel too crowded and it ensures the conservation of this historical marvel.
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| The citadel from near the Guard House, yes we climbed that mountain |
Machu Picchu shows some truly remarkable things about the Incas and their ingenuity. The terraces are well thought out and provide proper drainage as well as preventing mud slides. There is also an irrigation system that took water from the mountains and into the Citadel. The most impressive part is the construction of many of their walls using a technique called Ashlar. Ashlar is where finely cut stones are placed together with no mortar. The Inca's are particular masters of this and it's amazing to see the huge blocks of stone all placed together. They would cut these stones by making a hole with a chisel and hammer before stuffing it with wood and pouring in water. The wood would then soak up the water, swell up and cause the rock to crack. They would then take this rock and use wooden or stone rollers to move and place it where they needed it. They even had walls that were built in a way to survive earthquakes and two story houses!
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| Some walls at MP, Ashlar was reserved for special buildings |
Even if you are not interested in the history of the Incas or their ingenuity, Machu Picchu is in a truly picturesque setting. Compared to many other things we have seen in Peru, Machu Picchu is far more expensive and we thought this was a shame. Although I still believe that Machu Picchu can be expensive to see and get to (Trains to Aguas, Busses up to MP, tickets for MP). It is definitely worth seeing and marvelling at. I would also even go as far as to say that Huaynu Picchu is a must see and provides even greater views of the sites and surrounding areas and I think really helped to make Machu Picchu that bit more special for me.
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| The Sun temple (made with Ashlar) |
So currently we are back in Cusco, we will be writting about our time in Cusco as a whole so you'll have to wait a little bit before you find out what we did before Machu Picchu. But there are other things you can do in the meantime
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| The Terraces |
What next?
Learn a little about the Incas
See some more posts
- Overview
- European Ecstasy
- Adventures in Asia
- Pacific Paradise
- Southern South American Splendour
- Central Celestial Scenes
- Incan Delights (contains a sneak preview of an odd painting in Cusco)
Look at our Instagram here
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