August 15, 2006

August 15, 2006

Aside from walking, the only way to travel the 72 miles from Cuzco to Machu Picchu is by a tourist train. We are up early today to catch our 5:30am taxi to the train station. Our train leaves at 6:15am. The train spends the first half hour going back and forth. Apparently they have train switchbacks that take us above Cuzco. Halfway thru the four-hour train ride, we enter the Sacred Valley of the Urubamba River. It starts out a small river in a wide valley of barren dry mountains. We descend some 5000 feet altitude with the river flow. By the time we end the trip, the river is raging down a boulder-strewn bed, the canyon has deepened and the mountains have turned steep and green with highland jungle vegetation.

The train ends at the tourist town of Aguas Calientes. After disembarking, we have a quick lunch and then head to buy our $12 bus ride up the hill to Machu Picchu. I am curious how this bus is going to get up these sheer canyon walls. The bus crosses the river just downstream of the town and begins going up fourteen hair-raising dirt road switchbacks that slowly carries us up the side of a hill. The bus lets us out at the base of Machu Picchu. Entry fee is $40 each, about 2x what the guidebook said. I have to ask for a site map.

Machu Picchu is hard to describe. It is a magical place. Hiram Bingham, a Yale archeologist and the inspiration for Indiana Jones, discovered it in 1911. He called it the Lost City of the Incas. There is no record of the Spanish ever knowing about its existence. No big surprise as this place is isolated. But that is part of its magic. Machu Picchu is in a forbidding part of the Andes Mountains in very rugged territory. At this point the Urubamba River almost makes a complete circle. Machu Picchu’s mountain is a mostly sheer cliff pinnacle in this river circle. Machu Picchu sits atop the pinnacle. Surrounding Machu Picchu are even higher jungle mountains. Nobody knows for sure the purpose of the city, but I think the Incas used this as a winter retreat (warmer than cold Cuzco) where because of its isolation; the king did not have to worry about being attacked. He could relax. I can relate to that.

Even today the only way in is either the four-day Inca trail hike or the train/bus combination we did. Given the ruggedness of the terrain, I am awed that the Incas even found this spot to build. The other magical part of Machu Picchu is its harmony with the environment. It is built with the terrain not on top of it. A short hike up into Machu Picchu, gives us our first view, picture postcard perfect. In the center is a large courtyard. To one side are the royal residences and to the other are the worker homes. Surrounding it all are huge numbers of terraces that spread down and to the cliff edges. The terraces were used to grow food to support the population.

Before exploring Machu Picchu we head left and hike up the last section of the Inca trail. The Inca trail is a rock-paved path that runs over the mountain from the direction of Cuzco to bring the Inca king to Machu Picchu. In Inca times this was the only way in. We hike up to the Sun Gate at the top of the ridge. The Sun Gate is a guard station protecting the only route in. After returning to Machu Picchu we head over to the other side of the ridge and hike to the Inca Bridge. This side of Machu Picchu Mountain is sheer vertical cliffs. The short hiking trail follows a narrow ledge around to the site of a drawbridge built into the cliff side. It is an enigma because there is nowhere for the trail to go after this bridge.

We head down into Machu Picchu city. We walk through many of the buildings and temples. Shortly after 4pm, we are exhausted and head back to the bus for the return to Aguas Calientes. I have Alpaca steak for dinner. It tastes like lean beef.

On the hike up the Inca trail, I made the mistake of converting my pants to shorts. There weren’t any mosquitoes but there was a bunch of gnats. Unbeknownst to me, until it was too late, they were biting my legs. I now have itchy welts all over my calves. I hope these gnats don’t carry malaria, yellow fever, or dengue fever like mosquitoes do.