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Published: January 6th 2008
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Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located at 2,430 meters above sea level on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, about 70 km northwest of Cusco. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It was built around the year 1450 and abandoned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Forgotten for centuries by all except for a few locals, the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction, it was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Day One
The hike to Machu Picchu was included in my volunteer package with Peru’s Challenge. We started our walk on the 14th December with eight volunteers from Peru’s Challenge, two guides, one cook and eight porters. I had decided to carry all my gear (instead of hiring a porter to do it for me) so packed as little
as possible in my pack, grabbed a walking stick and boarded our bus at 6am bound for km 82, the start point of our adventure.
We had a beautiful sunny day to start our hike. We followed the river on a gentle incline up towards our first stop for lunch. We had set a pretty cracking pace and the porters weren’t quite ready for us when we arrived. After about 15 minutes were herded into our tent for our first feast of the journey. And by feast, I mean feast. The spread they put on was amazing, and by the time we had eaten our way though all the food, we certainly weren’t ready to commence hiking again..... but reluctantly we set off. We left the porters behind to pack every thing up and started making our way up hill again. It wasn’t long before we saw our own porters streaming (more like running) past us. It is amazing what these guys do. They used to carry about 40 to 50 kg of stuff and run along the trail. Now, thanks to regulations and rules, they are only allowed to carry about 20kg. (however, I still think some of
their loads were way over this limit). The porters carry all the equipment for our entire hike, including tents (one per two pers), and dinning room tent, chairs, gas bottles (the big ones), all our food and potentially your own personal gear. Not only did they carry this, but the broke down our camp site once we left, raced ahead, set up camp and had our meals almost ready by the time we got there. Wow, what a feat!
Once we got to our night spot, a nice little camp site next to a small mountain stream, we had tea time (popcorn and tea) and then relaxed our weary feet. It wasn’t long before dinner time and then we were all off to bed (at a pretty embarrassing hour).
Day Two
Day two is know as the hardest day on the trail, as you have to hike over the famous ‘Dead Woman’s Pass’, sitting at a cool 4206m elevation. For about four hours we hiked and hiked and hiked up hill. A few of the group were really struggling, but we all made it to the top, with out a dead woman in site. I wasn’t really
affected by the altitude and didn’t really find the walk up hill too difficult. I guess the altitude and the walk all effect people differently. Myself and Laura were the first ones to the top (we even beat the guide) and once we got there we had about an hour to wait for the last of the group to come in. Watching people come up the hill was a great laugh. For the last 100m you could see the look of agony and exhaustion on peoples faces as they struggled to make it to the top, but once they got to the top everyone’s face broke into a massive smile. They were all happy to achieve this milestone.
After a few moments to relax we were off again. It was a couple of hours walk down hill to our night spot and during this time it started to rain just slightly. Our camp site that night was vastly different to our quite little one the night before. This camp site house all the hikers on the trail at that particular point, so there were about 60 other tents dotted around the grounds. But surprisingly you didn’t really notice anyone
else, once you were tucked up in your own tents. Oh, and as soon as we arrived it started bucketing down with rain. Luckily our tent didn’t leak, unlike some others......
Day Three
For me, day three was the hardest part of the trail. I had woken up with a cold, felt like crap, it was raining and apart from about an hour and a half up hill, it was all down, down, down, which I found really hard on the knees. Unfortunately due to the rain, we didn’t really get to see much of the scenery that day, which I am sure would have been spectacular. So there is not much to say.....except at our final camp site there was a bar, so a few rums were drunk......maybe a few too many.......
Day four
This was our big day....we were finally going to see Machu Picchu. We were up at 4am for a quite bit to eat and then we were off. Luckily the rain had stopped in the night, and we were up for a beautiful sunny day. The walk to the Sun Gate (the first point that you can see Machu Picchu) was
more or less flat, with a bit of a stair climb just before the Sun Gate. The quality of the Inca roads along the way were absolutely amazing. Stone paths were intricately laid along much of it, as well as carefully laid steps and ledges, even a few underpasses right through the living rock. It was a welcome site to finally come upon the Sun Gate and we were lucky enough to have an uninterrupted view to Machu Picchu. What a site - it literally took your breath away. Once everyone arrived we had a quick break and then group photos were taken all around. Once were all had been photoed out, were descended to the ruins.
The wow factor got bigger and bigger the closer you got to Machu Picchu. It really is a site that you have to see for your own eyes. And to have made a four day walk there made it seem so much better. Once we actually got to the ruins we got a full tour of the place with a local guide. It was interesting to hear about all the history and amazing that this place had been hidden for so long.
After our tour we had a couple of hours free time to look around. Myself, Laura and Bill decided to head up to Wayna Picchu (meaning young peak). We were warned by our guide to be careful as apparently six tourists have fallen off the mountain and been killed. (Its a pretty steep climb with scrambling required in some places) This didn’t deter us, and off we went at full pelt. We ran around the mountain top like little kids, exploring all the nooks and crevices. It was so much fun!! Probably the best fun we had all trip.
After our little adventure it was back down the hill and a short bus ride to the small town of Aguas Calientes where we had lunch. At about 2pm we waved good bye to Machu Picchu and took the train back to Ollantaytambo, then a bus back to Cusco (with a very interesting toilet stop along the way).
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Aaron
non-member comment
Awesomeness
Hey tiger, looks like you're having an incredible trip. Keeping fit too, trust you to hike your own pack! What were your exact words? Something like "lily, weak pathetic such and such.."??!! ;-) I'm doing well, in Sydney for the last 2 weeks and everything is coming together at last for the business, got the hovercraft in the other day and now finalising rego and down for training, then up to Brissy. Stressful, intense 20 hour days every day but hopefully all worth it! Take care honey. x