Machu Picchu - The Lost City of the Incas

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Well if you can make a wild guess into what happened next, based on the last 16 blog entries then you might have guessed right. Perdy cried! But in all fairness so did a lot of people who walked around the corner after the arch. We don’t think any of us quite believed it but there it was; we had finally made it.

There really isn’t any describing it. It was what we had been in search for over the last 3 days and there it was, staring right back at us. Undeniably the most spectacular archaeological site on this continent. It was a dream like vision. As we had walked through Sun Gate, this blanket of cloud was just passing over at the exact time we approached it and was gliding over the city giving it a ghostly enchanting look, Machu Picchu staring back at us and the famous Waynapicchu standing tall behind it. Everyone was panting and out of breath, people wiping tears from their eyes and just trying to take in this surreal moment. It was a very emotional moment for everyone and an overwhelming sense of achievement. I think a lot of the tears were of joy as this would mean no more climbing. But unfortunately it still wasn’t the end of it. As spectacular as the view was, we still had to make our way down to Machu Picchu and our limbs were very tired from the Gringo Killer the day before.

Once we’d all had a moment at Sun Gate we starting making our way down. It was only 7am by now but it felt like midday, the heat was intense as well. On our way down we come across interesting ceremonial sites where they would sacrifice lama and offer the blood to the gods. Never did they do any human sacrifices, which was awfully nice of them.

It was a very gradual ascent as we kept stopping for more photo opportunities. What we did notice was that the closer we were getting to the site, the more people were appearing. To visit Machu Picchu it isn’t mandatory to do the Inca Trail, you can just take the easy way and take a train and bus up and hey presto it’s there. Not very rewarding we thought. Something we all agreed on was how we felt that we really deserved to be there, we’d earned our right of passage to be standing at such an amazing place. Not just pay our entrance fee at the front gate and enter like it was Disneyland. Which unfortunately it started to feel a bit like that the closer we got to the main entrance. There were just 100s of people everywhere which felt a bit shocking since we’d spent the last 3 days in the jungle in our little group. We don’t begrudge anyone wanting to go and see it but we really had earned it.

We were lucky and we had a beautiful clear day; but we couldn’t believe how hot it was. Unfortunately all the remaining ruins have long since lost their thatched roofs so it was almost impossible to find shade. After having a bit of a breather at the park entrance and getting our Machu Picchu stamp in our passport, Will then took us on a 2 hour tour of the city and a history lesson.

The ruins of Machu Picchu were rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham. The hundreds of stone structures were erected from around AD 1430 and the Inca turned the site into a 5 square mile extraordinary city 2800m above sea level. Invisible from below and completely self-contained set amongst the Peruvian Andes, surrounded by agricultural terraces and watered by natural springs. Confined in the grounds are palaces, baths storage rooms, temples and approximately 150 houses. The question we kept asking ourselves was just how on earth they were built and how did the rocks get there. Finally William enlightened us but it was still hard to believe. Many of these rocks were over 50 ton and they had all individually been carved from the gray granite of the mountain with such precision. They used a plant that was growing within the forest to create rope like material to maneuver the rocks; which would often lead to death of those behind the rock; as bones have been discovered under huge boulders suggesting the rope would tear and roll back over those behind. Yet still all is theory and everything about the city astonishes architectural and aesthetic geniuses.

It took over 30 years to build Machu Picchu but it was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers only a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Unlike many other Inca sites, the Spanish did not find this one and invade it. More likely; the site was abandoned due to disease, like small pox.

We were so overwhelmed by all of it. How could anybody have created something as magnificent as this all those years ago. We spent hours walking around the ruins trying to take it all in but by midday we were exhausted and we felt like we’d been up since 4am. Probably because we had been. Torn between staying at one of the most spectacular sites on earth and getting down to the town for a rest, we decided it was time to say goodbye.

So after a final look back we started making our way back the way most people had come up; a bus and train, for which we were grateful for at this stage.
We arrived in Aguas Calientes and were dreading the 6 hour wait we had until our train back. Fortunately, with such a great bunch that meant there was only 1 way to kill the time. Celebrating.

Aguas Calientes is a very funny little town; purposely there for the gateway to Machu Picchu. It is set on one long road that has bars, restaurants, shops and hotels, with the train tracks running through the middle. It would have been nice to spend a bit of time here actually.

Gradually everybody started making their way back down and we parked ourselves in a bar for the 6 hour wait. Unfortunately our porters & cooks were no longer with us so beer & pizza it was; although Guinea Pig was on the menu but the closet we got to that was taking a picture, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to try it. We were having a lovely farewell dinner and drink and pulling up pictures of the Royal Wedding we’d all missed the day before. As a very nice surprise, Laura & Brittany paid for everyone’s drinks and dinner. We couldn’t thank them enough, although we did spend the next hour taking the piss out of Laura for once sawing her toothbrush in half when traveling so to make her bag lighter!! It was so nice of them and with the extra cash we now had in our pocket, we went to another bar.

Seeing as we were dreading the 6 hour wait before; we were now disappointed that it was nearly 18.45 and we had to catch our train.

We loaded up at the shop with some beer & snacks for the train back, all feeling quite rowdy after a few drinks and adamant we’d be heading out for a night out when we got back to Cusco; as soon as our bums hit the seat on the train we were out for the count. We arrived at Ollantaytambo at 20.30 and got a bus back to Cusco at 11pm. We could barely climb down the stairs on the bus, let alone head out for the night, so Tony got himself a big mac and off to bed it was.

The whole experience is one of the highlights of our trip. We really would like to say thank you to everyone in the group for making the whole 4 days as funny as it was grueling. As grateful as we are that we are no longer suffering; we are still quite disappointed that it’s all over now. Although with the both of us completing it and whilst suffering only mildly from altitude sickness but nothing too serious; it’s clear that the next big trip for us is Everest.

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