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Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail

Our third day in Cusco we woke up very early to go to the train station, and pulled out of the city at 6:15 sharp. The train to Aguas Calientes (the gateway village to Machu Picchu ) takes 4 hours, of which the first hour is spent on swichbacks out of Cusco . Since the city is entirely enclosed by mountains, the only way of for a train is to go up a bit, stop, switch tracks, back up along a higher switchback, stop again, switch tracks, go up another switchback, and so on. The switchbacks cut right through some of the poorer residential parts of Cusco and it was interesting to see where people live beyond the town center, which is all fixed up for tourists. There were mostly brown mud houses, nestled on top of each other, most with a tiny yard with poultry, colorful laundry drying in the sun, and sometimes pigs. There were pigs and dogs everywhere eating dirt along the tracks.

Beyond Cusco the train followed the Urubamba Valley , just next to the road we took on our tour the day before. The trip was very scenic, with vistas of the snowcapped, sharply pointed Mt. Veronica and other snowy mountains to our right. There were few stops because this train was designated for tourists going between Cusco and Machu Picchu . There are also local trains that are cheaper, less nice and stop in more places. Tourists are not allowed on these. We didn't go all the way to Aguas Calientes, but descended at the stop called Km 104 to do our one-day hike (two-day total tour) towards Machu Picchu . The 4-day hike we originally wanted to do descends from the train earlier, at Km 82.

Hiking along the Inca trail is heavily regulated, and as of Aug, 2004 only 500 hikers are allowed to enter the trail every day. There are only two entry points, and hikers are required to use a guide and hike either a 2-day (our hike) or 4-day itinerary.

At the stop we met our guide Cesar and the only other people on the tour, a young British couple. She just finished a year in Guyana with the British equivalent of the Peace Corp, and he works for a British non-profit that sends civil engineers to help development projects in Bangladesh . So they were quite interesting to talk to. They signed up for the tour late thanks to a cancellation, so they had to enter the Inca Trail park under fake names with fake IDs. Apparently, the entry guards are not too strict (or they didn't notice). We had our lunch right inside the gate, and then started on the trail. Just 5 minutes later, still along the river, we visited the ruins of Chachabamba, surrounded by beautiful mountains. They are believe to have been a resting spots of the chaskis (messengers) that were central to the Inca administrative system by running messages along the Inca trail in a relay manner. Apparently, upon their arrival to Peru , the Spanish were impressed with how well these roads and rest stops were kept and stocked up.

From here the way was up, up and up, leading to Winay Wayna ruins where the trail joins up with the main Inca Trail (the one that people do on the 4-day trek). It was actually quite challenging, but very, very beautiful. Both sides of the valley were lined by spectacular steep slopes, decorated with pink orchids. The only shame was that low lying clouds blocked our view of the next line of mountains beyond the ones in our immediate surroundings. Only occasionally we could glimpse a white slope rise up sharply over the green horizons of the valley. In 2 hours we had climbed up to a vista point where we could see the ruins of Winay Wayna. We crossed in front of a pretty waterfuall and 20 minutes later, we had reached Winay Wayna. With its many agricultural terraces, this place was believed to have supplied provisions to Machu Picchu during its construction. Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911, train tracks were laid to its base in 1928, and although Winay Wayna was a short 2 hr walk along the paved Inca trail it remained hidden in the jungle until 1941.

We took a needed half-hour break at a resthouse just after Winay Wayna, and then continued another hour to Inti Punku (the Sun Gate), which stands guard in the gap from Machu Picchu can first be seen. Only on the winter solstice, the rising sun aligns such that it shines through the gate, and through a window in a temple on Machu Picchu to illuminate the temple. The gate itself is nothing much, but the views of Machu Picchu are great. We stood there a while and gazed before descending another 30 minutes into Machu Picchu itself. (Unfortunately, we learned the next day that a tourist died that day by falling off this path - shown on the left in the picture.) Since we were going to tour of Machu Picchu the next day, we snapped a few pictures, and began the descent down to Aquas Calientes. As we were going down and down a sharp staircase, it began to pour (the rain made the steps slightly slippery, and by the time that we reached the valley floor we had certainly put a strain on our muscles. Despite our raincoats, we were all soaked before reaching Aguas Calientes another 20 minutes further along the valley floor.

We were originally thinking of getting up really early and hiking back up to Machu Picchu before the first bus gets there, in order to catch the sunrise and a few quiet moments before all the tourists arrive. But after seeing the steep staircase the previous night, we opted for the first bus after all. It didn't matter because there was no sunrise that day, and a good number of visitors were already in Machu Picchu, having entered through the Inca trail. We were suprised to find a pack of 'wild' lamas walking through the city, munching on grass and doing there part to keep weeds from growing in the walls.

We took a tour of the ruins with our guide, and had the oppotunity to lean a bit about the history of Machu Picchu (or at least what little of the history is known).

Following our tour, the two of us headed up to Wayna Picchu, the shark-tooth mountain rising above Machu Picchu. It was a fairly steep ascent, although a lot safer than we expected. When David visited five years ago, the climb would close when it rained, as the slick steps took a number of turns around unprotected drop offs. This visit, the most unprotected parts were closed, and the rest of the path was fairly set into the mountain, with chains and walls to protect agains sharp falls when needed.

It took us about 35 minutes of scrambling up steep switchbacks and staircases before we reached the Inca terraces just below the top. We took our lunch here and enjoyed the stunning views of Machu Picchu and surrounding slopes and valleys from this height. Later we walked all the way to the top of Wayna Picchu, but did not stay long. On the way back, we took a side trip to see the Temple of the Moon "20 minutes on a flat trail around the mountain", according to our guide. The trail turned out to be anything but flat - it was a fairly strenuous 30-minute steep descent. which we then had to climb back up to the main trail before descending the rest of Wayna Picchu to Machu Picchu. The Temple of the Moon was an ornately carved temple set into a cave on the backside of Machu Picchu. The stone work was very fine, and our trembling legs gave us a good excuse to sit for a bit and enjoy the view.

We returned to Aguas Calientes by bus, and later took the train back to Cusco , using the 4 hours to write postcards.