Machu Picchu Part 2 (the real deal)

After a long 3 days of backpacking, we finally made it to Machu Picchu!  We were really tired, so it was hard to concentrate and listen to the guide, but it was really interesting!

Machu Picchu (MP) means old mountain.

Huayna Picchu means young mountain.

Why did they build MP at its location? 1) water, 2) astronomy reasons (Incas were trained to stay close to the main god (the mountain), the sun shines a certain way during the solstices) 3) the material (granite):

Granite Quarry 

How the Incas managed to break the huge rocks into smaller building blocks: Incas found rocks with natural fractures and inserted wooden sticks in them. Then introduced water to expand the sticks, then the rock fractures.

Of note, you can only go one way once you get to the Sacred Plaza, so make sure you see what you can before you move on! Also there are no bathrooms, and if you leave the citadel area, you can't go back in!

Terraces were a form of drainage system (it rained a lot). On the right are the "low plateaus of Machu Picchu," part of the agricultural zone.




Water system:

No one knows the real reason for MP. Some theories:

1) MP used to be a city like Ollantaytambo, Pizac, etc. (but unlikely because of quality of construction, and numerous religious areas)

2) MP used to be a university for noble class people

3) MP is a spiritual, religious, sacred and powerful, place
4) Most likely Inca Emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472) ordered construction of this royal estate around 1450 for himself. 

After being used for 80 years, it was abandoned during the Spanish Conquest likely due to smallpox decimation of the population. Another theory is that the people there left to fight the Spanish, and the Spanish never found it.  There were other explorers who found Machu Picchu, but it wasn't really until 1911, when Hiram Bingham made it internationally known. He was looking for Vilcabamba (the last Incan city). He came to Urubamba and met some families in the community who led him to Macchu Picchu.

The US didn’t give back the Incan artifacts until 2010 and only then it was 70% of the artifacts they took.

The suspension bridges they built to cross these high mountains are built with grass. LITERALLY grass that just grows on the ground! They manage to weave it together, and then again, and then again, until it's one big cord. It's a huge venture every 2-3 years.

Grass bridge from Smithsonian Magazine

Sun gate (Intipunku) was the main gate of the Incas
 

Winter solstice (June 21) was end of harvest time, and that's when the sun shined directly through the Sun Gate and through the window of the Sun Temple to the ceremonial stone.

Sun Temple - so precisely made!

Summer solstice (December 21) was beginning of planting, that's when the sun shines through the other window in the Sun Temple.

The Mausoleum (under the Sun Temple) - where the Inca nobility were buried and worshiped. There is an alter and symbolic staircase. 

Pachamayma temple (tomb of Mother Earth): Bingham found dead bodies in fetal positions

Double doors within MP indicated a spiritual or religious importance

Principal Temple. Note the precise placement of the stones, and how little it moved despite massive earthquakes. The Incas had no metal or wheel, but they managed to build such an impressive empire with such good architecture. The buildings were built with massive stones that were so precisely pieced together that it didn't require mortar (partly because buildings made with mortar didn't stand the earthquakes there).


Altar facing Machu Picchu mountain was where they made sacrifices to Mother Earth as a thanksgiving for water

Temple of the three windows - represent Andean trilogy. Also possibly where nobility stayed.



Also above: Window with three ledges

They found a natural stone with three ledges, apparently this is very important too. On special days with a solstice, the shadow of the stone reflects on the ground and forms a cross, and it means duality and complementary. This is representation of the southern cross. It's known as Chacana (Inca cross). 

Intihuatana stone: ritual stone likely used for keeping time as a clock or calendar

The Temple of Three Windows, the Principal Temple, and the Intihuatana stone made up what Bingham called the Sacred Plaza.

View of the Sacred Plaza and Granite Quarry from the Royal Residence

Different wards are represented by different animals - condor, puma, snake, which were important to the Incas. Also representing Love, knowledge, work.

Water mirror - you can use them to "look" at the reflected sun or stars. This enclosure was also thought to be the the House of Women where they cooked and spun for the priestly class.



Temple of the condor

The rock on the ground is supposed to represent the beak/head, and the rock on right and left of those tiny windows are supposed to be the wings. It was thought the Condor would take beings from earth to infinity where they could meet the Sun God.

Human sacrifice: high priest would pick pretty girls/boys around 9 yo and train them in their religion until they were ready at about 15. Afterwards, anytime there was a natural disaster, they would sacrifice one or two. It was an honor for the family for their child to be sacrificed to Mother Earth. They would be taken up into the mountains and die of hypothermia.

Random fact: Black llamas were thought to have pure blood

Looking towards the Royal Enclosure (or residence):


There is a really random tree in the middle of MP

And lastly: obligatory funny llama pictures/video:

Llama playing dead (jk - prob sleeping/resting)

Smug llama

Baby llama!

Machu Picchu Inca Trail

Tuesday (day before the hike): 
We went Peru Trek Office (Close to Korikoncha temple) and got info about where we will be going, how long, how intense. 26 miles, here we come! Excited!!!


Wednesday:
Taxi to Peru Trek at 5:15am. Apparently our place was too far away (car has to go around) so we had to take a taxi, pretty cheap.

Took a bus from Cusco to Ollantaytambo for breakfast, and then start at 82 km marker for start of our hike!


Our tour guides: Our main guide Pepe spoke really good English and he had a degree in history.


There were convenient little stops where we could buy water bottles and snacks. I felt like I took too many snacks because we were really well fed at the meals, and the snacks weighed down my bag.

Last Inca Town

Highest peak in the area (Mount Victoria?):



First historic Inca site: Llactapata (note pictured, on left) and Willkarakay: place of food storage and also to overlook surrounding towns/mountains. Or maybe a rest stop and spiritual place? Not sure.




First campsite with western toilets! But they quickly got very dirty...

 

We weighed our bags, and mine was 11kg without water. RL's was 19kg!!! Yikes! So she decided to get a half porter for the next day's trip which was supposed to be the worst.

Delicious lunch and dinner - all carried and prepared by the cooks/porters.


Unfortunately all the soups had cilantro. Yuck!

They even made banana foster for dessert! So fancy!

Thursday:
Wake up 5:30am, breakfast. Met porters and drop off kids before heading uphill.


We hiked through some beautiful "cloud forests" - "also called mountain rain forest, vegetation of tropical mountainous regions in which the rainfall is often heavy and persistent condensation occurs because of cooling of moisture-laden air currents deflected upward by the mountains." (Brittanica.com) B/c of the persistent condensation, it looks like there is a cloud always sitting on the forest, causing it to be super lush.

Lunch at lululluchapampa. 


Today was supposed to be the worse climb - up to Dead Woman's Pass (Warmi Wanusca), the highest pass on the trail. Story has it that a woman died going through this pass, thus the name. 😖But another story goes that shaskies delivering food saw a motionless woman at the top, 2 hours later, she was walking around, and then later at top, she was lying down motionless again. Either story sounds bad!


We were huffing and puffing, but the Shaskies (aka "messengers" or better known as porters) were so used to the altitude and so fit that we would see them carrying 20kg bags of things, and still running past us! At the pass, one of the teammates had vomiting and headache - signs of altitude sickness! I was thankful I took my prophylactic Acetazolamide altitude sickness medicines!  She took some meds and went down quickly, which fortunately helped. 😅
 

After 4 hours of ascent and about 14k feet elevation gain, view from Dead Woman's Pass!

All the down hill past Dead Woman's Pass are hard on the knees:


Arrive at campsite (Pacamayu) around 5pm. This time it's squatty potties unfortunately. Afternoon tea and dinner.


The ground had a slight slant, so we kept on sliding down during the night.


Friday:
This day was supposed to have the most downhill and the worst for our knees. Although it seemed like Thursday was worse b/c it was straight downhill from Dead Woman's Pass. Anyhow, this was the longest (16km!), and the most historical. We passed by so many historical Inca sites!

We woke up at 5am, started hiking at 6am. Morning tea:
 

Getting bags ready

Egg shaped Inca ruin (Runkuracay): A watch or messenger post. In Incan times, to get messages from one area of the empire to the next, there were messengers (shaskies) who would run from one post to another.




We saw a deer drinking from the pond:
 

Artistic poses: 😂
  

Sayaqmarka:

Much needed break

 
Dare go up the stairs?:


Phuyupatamarka: Aka "Cloud Level Town" because usually covered in clouds. This was a sacred site where people studied astrology and could see the Southern Cross, which was also on the stone on top. Our guide Pepe talked about the significance of the Southern Cross in Incan culture - each part of the cross representing something important.

Terraces to help irrigation and prevent errosion

So steep and wavy!

Inca caves:


Super steep steps:


Intipata:








We arrived at the third campsite, Winay Wayna at around 6pm. We had tea and dinner and went to sleep around 9:30pm.


Saturday:
So close!
Only a short hike today, but we had to wake up at 2:30am!! That's because the porters needed to have enough to pack up and catch a train to go back to Cuzco. We started hiking at 4:30am, and lined up/waited an hour for the control gate to open because a lot of other groups are trying to get in early at the same time.

This hike felt like a big long line of people because everyone was trying to get in early. But it was very scenic and some areas had steep drops on the sides. We also went up some "monkey steps" - b/c the steps were super steep and we felt like we were climbing up with our hands too.

Monkey Steps

Along the way, we saw some beautiful orchids, which were native.


We arrived at the Sun Gate (Inti Punku) at 7am - first glimpse of Machu Picchu!  This is also the place between the mountains where the sun shines through during the summer solstice.




Finally arrived at Machu Picchu at 8am. But because we were so tired, when our tour guide was telling us about Machu Picchu, most of us were not listening and upset with the sun shining in our face.













Sun Temple: I believe underneath is a grave.


  
Baby llama above!


We took a short tour of the area, took the standard photos, and went to Aguas Calientes to eat lunch with the team and say our good byes.

Thankfully, we booked another night at the nearby town of Aguas Calientes so we could come back for another look and tour after some much needed rest in a real bed. I was hoping for a nice shower, but after everyone else took theirs, mine was icy cold. Still, better than no shower for the last 3 days!

We walked around and found Victoria's Massage. But after JL's haggling, we told her we'd come back after we looked around. We found another place even cheaper for 40 soles for 1hr massage, and decided to all get a massage. Turns out it we were all in one room just separated by some curtains, and the lady told us to strip. Soon some other ladies came in, and gave us the massages, which were wonderful after our hike. But then JL found out her masseuse was the exact same Victoria she haggled with the first time and didn't go back to. Haha!


Sunday:
Woke up at 7am, had 7:40am breakfast. Took a bus to Machu Picchu and arrived around 9:45. We walked around a bit in Machu Picchu chasing some llamas, and then hiked up Wayna Picchu (big mountain behind Machu Picchu). There was nice view of Machu Picchu.


 


Afterwards, we hiked up the smaller mountain Huychapicchu.


We then looked for more llamas:


And looked for the temple of the condor:




We went back to Aguas Calientes, gathered our bags. On the way to the train station, we walked to an artisan market and ordered some empanadas. But while bargaining/waiting for empanadas, it took them longer than expected to make them, and we almost missed our train! Yikes!  Peru Rail train was really nice with open top to look outside at the mountain views, and we got back to Ollantaytambo at 4:22pm. From there, took at taxi back to Cusco where we stayed a night and flew back to the states.

What a trip!!!