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Published: February 2nd 2007
Machu Picchu Days 3 and 4
Before I give a quick rundown of the 3rd and 4th days, I want to just mention the cool people we were trekking with for those four days. Like I mentioned, we had our own English speaking guide for just me, Jay and a Briton of Pakistani/Indian descent named Hussein. As you can imagine, we spent many, many hours with just the four of us and had some amazing discussions about politics, religion, passion and family. Hussein was really an essential component to our trip and it wouldn´t have been the same without him. He is smart, deep and open... something that made it easy to swamp stories and even touch on the differences of our backgrounds as Jews and a Muslim. Luckily, he also had a deep interest in American politics! hehe. Great guy.
With a separate guide but also English speakers were Rob and Eddie, also both British. Rob is actually currently living in Santiago, Chile with his girlfriend that he meant while studying abroad there a couple of years ago. He was laidback and funny, and around our age so we swamped lots of fun stories. Now Eddie is a
Incan Rest Stop
For messagers carrying news from town to town... and for storage.character. I think he´s about 50-something, THICK glasses, with a thick London accent, even though for the last ten years he´s been working in the Middle East working for an oil company. This man talked NONSTOP. I was actually quite impressed. He just kept going and going... and would make these broad generalizations like, ¨Well, you know the French...¨ or ¨Those Chinese are just really hard workers.¨ If we had been in a cafe in DC I might have taken some offense to his generalizations, but hiking at that altitude, it was just funny. And he was very well travled and had great stories to tell. Funny guy, but defintely a character. I bet you can pick him out in the group photo!
The rest of the group (about 10 or so) were all Argentinians, though they were not a tour group or anything, they just all happened to be from Argentina, mostly from Buenos Aires and Cordoba. As we learned more, it turned out not to be so stange since our guide told us that of all the spanish speaking counties in South America, they really only get visitors from Argentina. The Chileans and Peruvians have too much
Incan Orchid
Only blooms a couple weeks a year... we were lucky! hosility, Peruvians themselves very rarely make the trek, and the other visitors they got were Japanese, French and Brazilians, with a few Americans, Brits and Aussies spinkled in. And most Americans take the train (lazy bums!). hehe. The group we traveled with were mostly great with a few sour people not worth mentioning... we especially hit it off with a couple studying theater at the University of Cordoba, Martin and Mary Jane, who we hope to see when we visit Argentina.
Alright, onto the third day, Friday, January 19th. First of all, when we woke up it was FREEZING. I almost refused to get out of my tent it was SO COLD. I was wearing about 6 layers and in a sleeping bag, but that was no match for the temperature before sunrise at such a high altitude. I almost cried, but instead I sucked it up and got to breakfast by 5:30 as required.
When we started hiking again it was steep and uphill again, prompting complaints from our group to the guides who promised us the day before that the rest of the trek was "easy." To say that we went slowly would be an understatement.
My knee was REALLY sore from the day before and each step felt like someone was stabbing me in the leg. After about 1.5 hours we got to a really cool Inca Site perched on a hill that served as a look out tower and resting place for the messengers who would carry news from village to village.
Next, we climbed DOWNHILL for about 1000 meters, which was painful but tolerable since we were engrossed in some great conversations with Hussein and also asked Milu a bunch of questions about both Incan empire society and modern day Peru. After a while, I noticed that the porters were sort of running down the mountain, which I thought was INSANE but later realized that taking quick, short steps hurt my knee less. So, I basically ran down the next couple of hours, stopping only at old Incan sites for Milu to explain and meet up with the group. Running down a mountain is a heck of a lot easier than climbing up it! The hardest part was trying not to twist your ankle on the "road" of rocks making up the path, and later on trying not to slip since it
More ruins
A large town literally perched at the top of a mountain. was drizzling a bit when we entered the rainforest.
As we hiked down, we did see some really cool Inca site and temples (see pics) and noticed the changing flora and fauna of the rainforest... pretty cool stuff. And Milu took us to this large Inca site with tons of terraces for farming, with a great view of the valley below. Since very few other groups actually do this site, the rest of our group skipped it, we were able to enjoy and explore in peace and quiet.
That night, we had a HUGE dinner since it was our last night together. Afterwards, we had a ceremony to honor the cook and the porters for making our trip possible. Although this ceremony only lasted moments it really told me a lot about the people in our group and about their attitudes towards those different from them. The porters come from poor working families and hike up a mountain with at least 50 lbs on their backs just to make our trip possible... and some of the people in our group didn´t even tip them a dime. We were told that they make $40 a trip, which is $10
Incan Rooms
But mommy, why does Bobby always get the room with the view? No Fair! a day for all their hard work, and is actually a lot more than they made before the union negotiated higher wages (of course I asked about this). So some people were like "They get enough now, we don´t need to tip them." I was FURIOUS and even laid-back Jay was also REALLY irratated.
It just made me realize that some people of a certain class (like those who can afford to hike MP) really feel like the lower classes are there to serve them, without any sort of understanding that porters, guides and cooks are people too... with families to feed... whose feet and back hurt after a long day of work... who have all sorts of feelings about interacting with rich people like us. It just made me sick that so many people on our trip could walk through town after town, or pass by villages on the bus where these porters were from and NEVER take into account that porters and farmers are human beings... people who´s physical and and emotional state is exploited for OUR BENEFIT. Would it be so hard to at least be appreciative for their hard work? All I am asking is
a little understanding and appreciation. We live in an unequal society, and I´m not even asking you to try to change it, just to acknowledge it and acknowledge your privilege. We all live in this broken society the best we can.
Ok, sorry for the rant, but thoughts like that were really a large part of my hike through the trail and of my experiences in Peru thus far.
Onto Saturday, January 20th... we woke up at 4 AM to begin our hike, but it was easier getting up this time since we knew that today we would see the great Incan city of Machu Picchu! We hiked for several hours until arriving at the Sun Gate, where on clear days you can see the entire city of MP from up above... like you see it on postcards and stuff. Unfortunately, it was completed covered in clouds when we got there. Everyone was pretty bummed, but we had been so lucky with weather (sometimes it rains for days and we only had like an hour total), so we sucked it up and headed down the mountain to explore the city.
I will let the pictures speak for
themselves, although I´m not sure that event the pics really show how amazing that city is. Almost all of the structures had roofs on them at one point, made up of wood, straw type stuff and wool that came from the ancestor of the llama.
First we explored the "royal" part of the city, where the king had a residence, the priest and all of the religious buildings were, and even the cemetary for the rich. Milu explained that during Incan times (much like today), there was an upper class of the king, the extended royal family, warriors (although only those soldiers born into the upper class), and the priest. They lived on once side of the mountain and on the other side of a great meadow lived the workers, who used the meadow (instead of fancy two story buildings like the royal class) for their religious rites and festivals. Also, there were slaves in Incan times too... as the various kings expanded the empire during the 100 or so years of it´s prime, the conquered tribes would sometimes be absorbed by the empire; unless they resisted, and then they would become slaves working in the fields or building
Incan Cave
They used the natural shape and weathering of the rocks, but then carved out a cave and stairs to continue the Inca Trail through the mountain. great cities like MP.
Milu tooks us around MP for about 2 hours... she explained all the temple, the running water used for baths or cleaning veggies, the farming system, how the buildings were constructed, the relgious festivals, the sun dial, the calendar, the "criminal justice system" and other facts of life for those living in MP.
Amazing. The whole place is simple overwhelming and really boggles the mind.
You should go there... maybe you should take the train, but you should really make the trip and see for yourself the wonder of Machu Picchu, still standing despite earthquakes and the end of an empire.
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Rob
non-member comment
Eddie´s generalizations
I would like to add the following: "Arabs..." "I`m not sexest, or chauvinistic, but i hope we dont get some fat woman holding us up on the trail" "I`m not sexest, or chauvinistic, but you´ve done really well Rachel, as your a lady, you were flying!" "The Chinese, now there you have model immigrants" "Why do we keep letting these people into our country?" See you both in Stgo!!