Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Machu Picchu Day!!!
We were supposed to wake up at some ridiculous hour to catch the bus to Machu Picchu and enjoy the sunrise. But after the torrential downpour last night, and the super late arrival to Aguas Calientes, we decided to sleep in a bit. So, instead of waking up at 5am, we woke up at around 7:30am. Grabbed a little bit of breakfast (all the hostels serve these nice poofy bread--kinda like a cross between pita bread and that big puffy Indian break that I can't remember the name of right now-- with big ol' air pockets in them with jam, tea or coffee. I was a big fan of the bread, I like how they're so hole-y), and caught the 8am train to Machu Picchu. It was about a half hour ride (or less?), through the valley following the crazy Class VI Urubamba River, and then up the mountain through tons of switchbacks (up and up and up!). Finally, we were at the "City above the Clouds"...
Machu Picchu Day!!!
We were supposed to wake up at some ridiculous hour to catch the bus to Machu Picchu and enjoy the sunrise. But after the torrential downpour last night, and the super late arrival to Aguas Calientes, we decided to sleep in a bit. So, instead of waking up at 5am, we woke up at around 7:30am. Grabbed a little bit of breakfast (all the hostels serve these nice poofy bread--kinda like a cross between pita bread and that big puffy Indian break that I can't remember the name of right now-- with big ol' air pockets in them with jam, tea or coffee. I was a big fan of the bread, I like how they're so hole-y), and caught the 8am train to Machu Picchu. It was about a half hour ride (or less?), through the valley following the crazy Class VI Urubamba River, and then up the mountain through tons of switchbacks (up and up and up!). Finally, we were at the "City above the Clouds"...
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View from our Aguas Calientes lodging (check out the clouds!)
Map of the area (mural from Hostel Ima Sumac)
Going up and up! Check out all the clouds!
Machu Picchu!
Machu Picchu is an amazingly well-preserved Incan settlement found high up in the mountains at close to 8,000 ft. It's referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", but I think some books also call it the "City Above the Clouds". Obviously, on this day, it's not above the clouds, but it's really amazing how in the world people could have built this. The mountains are STEEP, they built these small uneven staircases for tiny feet (my size 8 woman's feet were not very comfortable), and you can easily imagine if someone slips on some of the stairs, they would just fall off the mountain (yikes!). Machu Picchu was "discovered" in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an archaeologist from Yale (Ha ha, my dorm freshman year was called Bingham Hall) who was searching for some other lost city. He asked around, and the locals took him to Machu Picchu. Read the wiki link for more info (I'm too tired to type much)...
The clouds just come and go.... One minute, it's pretty clear and you can see the whole settlement, the next minute, boom! This is what you get.
After waiting 15 minutes, it clears up again.
Getting hot, time to unzip the pants!
Walking down into the ruins...
Pretty tree
Dave and clouds
I think this is some temple of some sort. We saw some tourists and guides standing with their arms spread, eyes closed, calling the Sun God or something. I dunno...
Llamas living in Machu Picchu! (How did they get here?)
Fun with llamas (is it a mini-llama???)
Llama abuse
Llama!
Okay, fine, here's a picture of me with full-size llama. Thank goodness it didn't spit on me for getting so close (but it had very pretty eyes).
Since we were there, and we DIDN'T do the crazy Incan trail hike, we HAD to go climb up the neighboring mountain, Waynapicchu, which had a very small cluster off Incan ruins on top. Waynapicchu is only accessible through Machu Picchu (since the trailhead is IN Machu Picchu), so this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Here's the map, claiming that it takes a normal person an hour to get there.... Also, they only allow 400 people on this trail per day! We were number 90-something, I think? I think Neill was 89, Dave was 91, and I was 92...
The hike was long and grueling. It just went up, up, UP! With a fairly narrow trail with many narrow staircases built into the side of the mountain. Many parts had metal ropes as handrails, I think to both help you on the hike AND help you NOT fall off the side of the mountain. I don't have any pictures from the hike because it was just too painful. :) .... And don't forget, it's at high altitude!!! Oh, the pain!... But the pictures sure are beautiful!Neill got us hiking up.
View of Machu Picchu from Waynapicchu
That's the zigzaggy road the buses drove up. You can't see the whole thing because it didn't fit!
The river and valley is sooooo far down!
Dave at the very peak of Waynapicchu!
He took a pic of me
The trio
Heading down
After coming down (and exclaiming how much I hated stairs, at least 100 times), we made it back to Machu Picchu. Here's are views of Waynapicchu (now that the clouds have burned off) from Machu Picchu.
Me and Dave are exhausted...
He took a pic of me
The trio
Heading downAfter coming down (and exclaiming how much I hated stairs, at least 100 times), we made it back to Machu Picchu. Here's are views of Waynapicchu (now that the clouds have burned off) from Machu Picchu.
Me and Dave are exhausted...After a brief nap :) , we took the bus back down to Aguas Calientes and spent the rest of the day bumming around, eating, and shopping... And zonking out!...
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Oh, and Neill played a little bit of volleyball with some local little girls (about 5 years old). Man, we're impressed with their bumping skills! They had great form and great control of the ball.... I wonder if this is the future of Peruvian volleyball??
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Vote for Machu Picchu as a Wonder of the World!
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