Advertisement
Football game in Cusco
Playing at over 3300m makes it just a little tougher So there I was, in the midst of the Peruvian jungle, staring in awe at the ancient Inca city of Macchu Picchu, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I had already seen so many pictures of it in advertisements and so I was worried that finally seeing it in person would be "underwhelming." While that turned out to be true at first, that feeling only lasted a few seconds and then my eyes began to lit up, my face twisted in an expression of amazement. So there I was, at Macchu Picchu, but how did I get there?
Last time you left me I was in Buenos Aires. I took a flight from Buenos Aires to Lima in order to save some time and some pain and agony. There is in fact a direct bus from Buenos Aires to Lima, but that takes 3.5 days nonstop. I had to chuckle though because in the 3 hour flight I covered the same distance it had taken me almost 4 months to do! After a night in Lima I went to Arequipa the next day to acclimate for a few days before heading to the heights of
Cusco, the largest city near Macchu Picchu. I already knew Arequipa well so I took my 3 days there to relax and just kick back. Of course, I had to visit the duo of Middle Eastern restaurants in Arequipa, Istanbul and Fez. Istanbul has mouth-watering donner kebabs (of which I ate entirely too many the first time I was in Arequipa in January) and Fez has amazing falafel. At Fez I also got to see my good buddy Carlos, who works there and makes a mean lemonade and an even meaner falafel wrap. If you couldn't already figure it out, he and are good friends simply because I went there all the time. I took an overnight bus to Cusco the day after, arriving there at the all too early hour of 6am. As in Lima, I was spoiled again in Cusco by being able to live with a family I knew through family friends. They were super-nice and were extremely accomodating. On my first day there, a Sunday, the father of the family invited me to a football (read: soccer) game of the local team, Ciencianos, versus Total Clean of Arequipa (that name still confuses me). I had a
Stone walls of Inca ruins
It\'s hard to tell from the picture, but the stones fit together perfectly. Sometimes the point where two stones met was so smooth that you couldn\'t even tell there were actually two different stones there. Amazing. blast, although it was a pretty subdued atmosphere being a local game. For me, nothing will compare to the sheer energy of a Peru vs Ecuador game I saw in Quito a few years ago. In the afternoon I walked around the center of Cusco, an old colonial town with lots of interesting architecture. The 3300m altitude (10,800 ft) was leaving me a little breathless and light-headed though. I had already booked a trek to Macchu Picchu in Arequipa for Tuesday, so after that Sunday I only had one more day to explore the city. There are tons of things to do, so the next day I visited a few museums and historical sites. The city already makes you buy a tourist ticket, costing an exorbitant $20 (a lot of money for Peru), and to visit the main churches another $12 ticket on top of that. In Cusco they find any reason they can take your money, so I thought I'd beat the system and simply not visit a few of the sites. In the afternoon I did the so-called city tour, which visits 4 Inca ruins in the area, including Saqsaywayman, a formidable fortress. The sheer size of the
Ruins at Saqsawayman
I decided to take a picture in front of the stones just to give an idea of how tall they are (I'm 6ft, or 1.80m; the stones are about 20 feet high) rocks, as can be seen from the picture, is simply impressive. How did they manage to hoist those rocks, weighing hundreds of tons, without machinery? There are plenty of theories, including one that aliens put them there. As with the rest of Cusco, the site was full of tourists and it was hard to take a picture without a body in it. Cusco itself is very similar, and the amount of gringos there was stifling almost. I relished not being in overrun places (read: the Caribbean) but Cusco was infested more like it. The family told me that this was nothing and that I should come back in July and then define "overcrowded with tourists." Ouch.
The next day it was time to head to Macchu Picchu! Although you can take a direct train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, the town just below Macchu Picchu, it is not only expensive but you miss an amazing hike on the way. The Inca Trail is arguably one of the most famous hiking trails in the world, and each year tens of thousands (maybe more) of tourists hike the 50km or 30 mile long trail. I knew it was overrun with tourists,
Start of the trek
Moments away from beginning our 5 day trek. From left: Matt, from Steamboat, Colorado; myself; Roland from Zurich, Switzerland and you even have to reserve a trek months in advance. Add to that that the trail doesn't have many wide-open spaces, and I knew I would rather do one of the alternate routes that have opened in recent years. These routes are arguably much more interesting landscape-wise, and they have the added benefit of really being in the middle of nowhere with almost no one around you. I chose the Salkantay route, named after the Salkantay mountain you pass along the way. The Inca Trail trip, including a visit to Macchu Picchu, is 4 days/3 nights, but Salkantay is longer at 5 days/ 4 nights. In addition, it is a lot more grueling, at about 100km (60 miles) double the length of the Inca trail.
So on a Tuesday morning I woke up at 3:45am in Cusco to catch a bus to the town of Mollepata to start the trek. I was exhausted but managed to sleep on the bus a little. We got to the town and after a quick breakfast we started hiking shortly after 9am. In total there were 6 of us, including just 3 tourists. There was Matt from Colorado, Roland from Switzerland, myself,
Valleys on Day One
Very nice, I like! our guide Will, Agustin the cook and finally Santos the arriero, or mule driver. We took a different route than the other groups, and I'm glad my guide was feeling aventurous. We went higher up in the mountains and saw beautiful vegetation and views of the surrounding valley. By the afternoon we saw the first mammoth mountain, Umantay (5,459m; 17900ft) and then later Salkantay itself, gorgeous in the light of the fading sun (6,264m; 20,500ft). Soon after, we got to our first campsite at 3,900m. That first day was an impressive one, starting out with green vegetation and then ending with snow-capped mountains. The ascending and descending would be a preview of how aching though my body would be after 4 days of hiking 8 hours a day.
On Day 2 we woke up at 6am to hike up to the highest pass, 4600m (15,100ft). There was an initial climb before it became flat once again, and then a second climb to reach 4600m. The first part was extremely challenging, but by the time the trail leveled off, the coca leaves I had been chewing began to kick in. Coca leaves really are your best friend while hiking. Don't
worry, they don't get you high or anything like that, but they do give you an energy boost and minimize the affects of altitude sickness. Let's just say I probably wouldn't have made it through the whole trek without them. At the top, we all exalted at our achievement, and then bizarrely it started to snow. We kept going, descending now, and came upon green vegetation once again. At lunch time, heavy fog rolled in, the climate changed once again, and we passed through a cloud forest. My reason for giving all these details is to be able to appreciate the sheer diversity of the route. One minute you're in a green valley, then a few hours later you're in the mountains, then in a cloud forest. The varying climate is simply mind-boggling. At night we camped at the town of Challway, where unfortunately it rained all night and we got wet in the process.
On Day 3 we woke up shortly after 6am to walk to the town of La Playa. La Playa means "The Beach," but there was nothing beach about this village. Apparently it is named so because it is right next to a river. At
Massive mountain along the trail
Unfortunately I've forgotten the name of this mountain, but it's big, trust me (over 6000m). I took several photos of the mountain covered by clouds until a couple hours later it finally cleared enough to see the peak. La Playa we finally saw some of the other groups that had eluded us the previous days. We usually walked more than the other groups and took different routes, which made us miss them all the time. From La Playa we took a truck from La Playa to Santa Teresa, about a one hour drive. It was an exhilarating journey, overly crowed with 28 people on board. The drive took us through dense forest and we could even pick fruit from trees along the road. Of course we got a flat tire halfway through and replaced it with a tire that was already worn thin. Once we were at Santa Teresa the truck got another flat tire, again the spare tire. Go figure. We then took a bus to the thermal baths for some much needed R & R. After walking for 3 days, the hot mineral water felt amazing. That night we had dinner and later a few beers, listening to -what else?- Bob Marley. At the same time, our guide Will was getting drunk at a bar watching on TV his Ciencianos team play against a Mexican team for an international championship (they lost). Will is definitely an
interesting guy, and even a little crazy. But, all guides seem to be a little crazy. You almost have to be if you're always out in the wilderness hiking and never get a break. For example, we got back from our trek on a Saturday night and on Sunday morning he had to lead another trip to Macchu Picchu, this time along the Inca Trail! He constantly joked with us, and those sunglasses he wore all the time gave him that extra cool.
On Day 4 we even got to sleep in (till 8am) and then walked to the Hydroelectric Dam near Aguas Calientes. It rained the whole day and after lunch it rained even harder until we got to Aguas Calientes. I had skipped going to Cusco in January because I had heard about the bad weather, but of course I had plenty of rain on my trek. So it goes. As the rain kept coming after lunch, we were all cold, wet and tired, compounded by having to walk along train tracks for almost 3 hours (totally annoying and uncomfortable for your feet). We arrived at Aguas Calientes and were led to a decent hotel with nice
Dinner on Day One
Enjoying some popcorn and mate de coca before dinner. As you can tell by how bundled up we are, it was pretty darn cold. beds and somewhat hot showers. After 4 days of hiking and tents and sleeping bags, I'll take it!
Day 5 was the big day, our visit to Macchu Picchu. We started walking in the dark at 4:45am to get to the ruins at 6am, just before sunrise. Although we were only at just over 2000m, the hike up was steep and strenuous, for me probably the toughest section of the whole trek. Perhaps my body was just tired from walking 60 miles? Probably. We were one of the first ones waiting in line to enter the ruins, and as we entered we were afforded amazing views of the ruins before it would become crowded with tourists later (made worse because it was a Saturday). Will gave us a tour of the beautiful ruins and explained to us its function. Macchu Picchu was a city for 500-600 people, mostly wealthy. Only the most important people even knew the existence of Macchu Picchu, and its secrecy helped it from not being totally destroyed by the Spanish (as they did with many other ruins). There is an agricultural area where farmers lived, and then the city walls itself, housing dozens of rooms.
According to my guide, it only took 40 to 50 years to build Macchu Picchu and was started in 1430.
After the long 3 hour tour where Will explained to us everything about the ruins, the three of us set out on our own to head towards Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking the ruins seen in the picture below. Everyone I had met who had already been to Macchu Picchu had told me climbing the mountain was a must, so I went. It was a rough, steep hike up, although I decided to plow through it in 25 minutes, about half the time they say it would take (apparently the record for the ascent is 12 minutes...just wow!). This wasn't just steep, but I mean REALLY steep. When we finally reached the top, we were handsomely rewarded with a fantastic view of the city below and the surrounding valley. Holy crap! was the only eloquent reaction I could muster. It was so peaceful up there and had made the day even more special. We relaxed for almost an hour up there before realizing we had to descend soon to head back to Aguas Calientes not much later. After more
"Jumping for Joy" at Abra Salkantay
After a climb that was not as tough as I thought it would be, we finally reached the highest point of the trek, 4600m (15,100 ft.) gazing, we walked back down to the ruins below and gave it one last look. It had occurred to us that the whole time we had been walking around so much that we hadn't even spent much time simply looking at Macchu Picchu and admiring it. We had our five minutes of zen, staring it, and then headed to the exit. Although we had hiked up to get there early, there was no way I was walking down so I paid the outrageous $6 (again, for Peru) to take the bus back down to Aguas Calientes.
So I had finally seen Macchu Picchu, after hearing about it before and seeing its picture plastered all across Peru. If Macchu Picchu was a model, she'd be filthy rich by all the pictures there of her everywhere! It was beautiful and humbling at the same time, and made me even more proud that I had walked so far to really earn and enjoy that view.
After lunch in Aguas Calientes, the guide and the three of us parted ways and we took our train and then a bus back to Cusco. I was exhausted and had little interest in going out, but
Got Mud?
I always somehow manage to get the muddiest on every trek I'm on. Go figure. the three of us ended up going out to eat and then a club where we the only gringos there, which is always fun. After little sleep, I got up early the next morning to do a tour of the Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley) which has many ruins sites. Although impressive, after so much sightseeing and especially after seeing the amazingness (I just made that up) of Macchu Picchu, the four sites visited were a little underwhelming. Knowing my trip was almost over though, I was able to finally go nuts and buy tons of souvenirs, something which I could not do before. Carrying little, sometimes heavy, trinkets around for months is not my idea of fun. The next morning was another early rise to get to the airport to fly to Lima, as my flight to Philadelphia was the day after that (May 1st). Back in Lima I was again received by the almost too hospitable Villanueva family and did some serious relaxing. At night they took me to a bookstore to buy a few novels in Spanish (very cheap compared to in the US) and then I took them out to dinner to thank them for all they
Village of Challway
This small village was our campsite for night two had done for me while I was in Lima. They chose the restaurant and took me to Longhorn, a steak house of all places that was probably owned by some guy from Texas. I had to laugh at this, but at least it would give me a "preview" of going home, even if Texas and Philadelphia are totally different worlds. As it was my last night in South America, I went all out and ordered a steak, salad and the father of the family chose a bottle of Peruvian wine. Apparently this wine had won awards, even in Europe, but compared to Argentinean wines at least it couldn't compare much. After dinner we went back to their house to grab my luggage and were at the airport at around midnight for my flight to Toronto, which left at 3:25am (don't ask). I managed to fall asleep at the gate and luckily an airport employee woke me up to board. When I got on, the plane was already packed, even though I was one of the first people to arrive at the gate. Go figure. After landing in Toronto I had a 4 hour layover till my flight to Philadelphia and
Refreshments along the trail
Yes, even in the middle of nowhere Coca-Cola has its place. Of course it does. They wouldn't have it any other way. then finally...
My dad picked me up at the Philadelphia airport and we went home, excited to see my mom and our dog Otto. As we pulled into our driveway, I got out and stared quizzically at the house for a moment.
Then I smiled. I was here. I was home.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0605s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mike
non-member comment
You climbed up wayna picchu in 25 mins???
Respect!! Those mountains at salkantay are stunning mate. I will have to share some of mine from the Lares trail. cheers