Machu Pichu

This little building is above much of the lost city. Just about all the tourist pictures you see of Machu Picchu are taken from this little house. You'll see the standard "brochure photo" fifth from the bottom. And it's where we began our hike along the Inca Trail towards Intipunku. You can just see the outline of a mountain behind the house.

Our hike eventually took us several miles and 1,000 feet above Machu Picchu. In the early parts, we were hiking in and out of the clouds with stunning vistas punctuated by spectacular cloudscapes. Eventually the sun mostly came out and we experienced no more rain.

The Inca Trail was built by the Incas as a highway system between their cities. It was paved with stones. Because of normal maintenance, it is still in good repair today. There are some rough places. And some places with steep stone steps. But as hiking goes, it was more walking and less scrambling. Here the trail stretches out behind us and disappears around a corner and into the clouds. From where we boarded the train in Ollantaytambo, it is a 4 day hike along the Inca Trail to this place. According to some girls that had just finished it, it was "up one side of a mountain and down the next." There are tours available that use the Incan equivalent of Sherpas to carry your food and gear so you can hike it unencumbered. Even then, it sounded pretty demanding.

About half way through the hike, the clouds obscuring the ruins cleared a bit and offered a stunning view . The clouds above were still filtering the sun, however, so the light wasn't very good.

Machu Pichu is quite near the equator, but the equatorial heat is moderated by its altitude. Everything is covered in dense jungle. Before it was rediscovered, so were the Incan ruins. It is easy to imagine a city "getting lost" when you see the jungle which seems to cover everything else.

Higher still, we can now see both the lower and the upper ruins. The sun is trying to peak through. What a spectacular site.

Okay, here's the travel brochure shot. I took it standing just on the other side of the house in the first picture. Machu Picchu is smaller than I had thought, which surprised me. The green area in the photo and perhaps 100-150 yards long. The whole city covers a couple of square miles, in the lower and upper ruins plus a few outlying areas.

Be sure to click on the photo to the left and look at the intricate stone work. Mostly the stones were laid without benefit of mortar. They stand because they have been precisely chosen, cut and fitted in place.

Here is a closer view of the green area two photos above.

And a different perspective on the city.

Near the top of our hike, we could look down all the way to the valley floor. You can see the river, a road, and the railroad line that serves Aguas Calientes. The six mile road switchbacks down the mountain. And there is a much shorter trail straight down which repeatedly crosses the road. The ride down in the bus was made more entertaining by a young Peruvian boy. He took the trail. Each time we passed the point where the trail crossed the road, he would be waiting for us and would yell greetings at the top of his lungs. Once we passed, he would dash down the next part of the trail and be waiting when we again passed the trail crossing. At the bottom, the bus driver stopped to let him on board. Sweating and winded, he worked the passengers for tips. And then he rode back to the top where he joined a dozen other boys taking turns at this. You've got to admire these young entrepreneurs!