Peru: Machu Picchu, Day 2

The day before we had reached the climax of the Inca Trail: Machu Picchu. After hot showers, dinner and catching up on sleep, we awoke to the smell of smoke. A poked his head outside the room (into the open courtyard) to find out what was going on. The building next door either had a fire or was on fire, but our hotel manager said not to worry about it. Everyone just went about their business like this is a standard event in their day-to-day life.

The train tracks for the trains between Aguas Calientes and Ollantaytambo/Cusco run through the middle of the road in the middle of the city. People walk along them all the time.

The Urubamba River flows alongside town.

We headed out from the hotel in search of a restaurant offering boxed lunches. Machu Picchu is on top of a mountain. Aguas Calientes, the only town close to Machu Picchu, is at the bottom. You can hike up to the top, but the more popular option is to take a 25-minute bus ride up. Once you're at Machu Picchu, there are two options for food: A very expensive restaurant with less than stellar food, or a snack hut which is also a rip-off. We were advised to buy boxed lunches and carry them into the park. Unfortunately we didn't want to waste time shopping around and ended up paying more than we could have, but it was fine.

Next stop: The bus station. Here we once again found the tourists. The ride up was a little scary. The road is all switchbacks going up one side of the mountain. The turns are very sharp, and there are multiple buses going  up and down at the same time.

When you enter the park, you see many signs mentioning Hiram Bingham.

On our agenda for Day 2 at Machu Picchu: Climbing Montana Machu Picchu. In Machu Picchu, there are two mountains you can climb. Montana Machu Picchu, the mountain MP is situated on, and Wayna Picchu, the mountain rising behind MP in all the famous photos. We chose to do Montana Machu Picchu because I read there were less scary areas for a person with an aversion to heights. And also far less people climb Montana MP than Wayna Picchu.

We were pretty sore from the Inca Trail, though. This is A wondering what we're getting ourselves into.

Also, the day started out cloudy and rainy. Not ideal climbing conditions. But we decided to climb anyway.

We did see some pretty orchids!

In total, we saw around 7 other people on this trail. The trail was mostly rock stairs, which just became more and more slippery as the rain came down harder and harder.

We did get one nice glimpse of Machu Picchu. (That mountain is Wayna Picchu.)

Then it started pouring. On came the ponchos. We decided to keep going up in case the weather cleared. It didn't.

It was still a nice climb, though! As we descended, the weather started to dry up. By the time we were back on the ground and rested up, it had stopped raining altogether. We counted the rain as luck: Most of the other tourists had been driven away by the bad weather and we ended up almost having the place to ourselves! With a maximum of 2,500 entry tickets being sold each day, it can get very crowded!

Our next stop was the famed Inca Bridge. Slightly disappointing. It's a cool idea and neat to see, but you can't get very close.

After that we were still up pretty high in Machu Picchu, so we decided to just take in the view for a little while. And rest.

The park workers start to kick you out around 5:00PM even though the park doesn't close until 6:00. So we decided to explore a little more before we had to leave.

This is in the Temple of the Condor. It's supposed to be a condor, but I can't really see it, Can you?

On the way out, we had to work our way around the grazing llamas.

They let people get pretty close!

"Huh? Did you say something?"

One last look....

... then it was off to the train! We took one of the many trains from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo. Not the fancy Vistadome train - it was dark so we figured it wasn't worth the money. A was very excited!

The train ride was.... okay. It was hot on the train (we all opened the windows) and noisy. The food was equivalent to domestic airline snacks. We did end up sitting with one of our Inca Trail mates and a nice guy from Australia. We played cards.

We arrived in Ollantaytambo and searched out our hotel. We ended up in a pretty nice hotel for cheap because I had booked us a room at their sister hotel and it ended up being overbooked. Error in our favor! It might look sparse, but the bed was super comfortable, the bathroom was nice (hot water with pressure) and the hotel was beautiful.

We went looking for dinner around 8:45PM. Difficult to find open restaurants at that time of night in Ollantaytambo. It's a small town. We did find a place, though. A had curry chicken. I had "lasagna" (not very lasagna-like and might have had alpaca in it). A liked the native Cusco beer.

Coming Up: Some very heavy rocks, corn on steroids, and grave robbers.

Peru: Machu Picchu - We made it!

 After we basked in our glory for a few moments, Carlos gave us the bad news. Our group had to exit Machu Picchu, get our tickets, and then wait in the long line to re-enter the park. It was all very Disney-esque and quite a shock after the peacefulness of the Inca Trail.

After we went back in the park (while it was still raining off and on), Carlos gave us an extensive tour.

This used to be a fountain. The Inca had a very intricate water system.

The terraces seemed to go on forever.

This was a temple.

This was the Temple of the Sun. During the winter equinox, the sun lines up with its window.

Contrary to popular belief, underground caves are causing the walls to sink, not earthquakes.

There are speculations this loop was part of a lock system for the doorway.

We couldn't get enough of the interlocking stones! No mortar, no glue, nothing in between them.

I could not get enough of the mountains! The pictures do not do them justice. It was like being in Avatar. They were gorgeous.

We walked up to where ritual ceremonies were performed. The view was fantastic.

This was the temple.

Carlos gave us the same explanation for the Andean cross which Percy had given us earlier. It's a four-sided cross. The sides are made of three steps each. There are multiple meanings for them:
     1 - The three worlds: Underworld, Human Life, Upper World
     2 - Inca values: Love, knowledge, work
     3 - Commandments: Do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy
     4 - Sacred animals: Snake (underworld), puma (this world), condor (gods world)

This is half of the cross.

This section is generally believed to be the quarry most of the stones in Machu Picchu came from and is the one reason they feel the construction on the site was not complete when the Inca were forced to abandon it.

The main square.

This was a sacred stone. During the winter equinox, it casts no shadow. It also has some sort of magnetic pull.

Our awesome guides Manuel and Carlos.

Another interesting tidbit we learned from Carlos: Hiram Bingham (who re-discovered Machu Picchu), paid an Andean farmer 1 Peruvian sole to climb up those tall mountains and show him the ruins.

Those mountains!

Look, a two-story house!

Can you see the trail along the side of the mountain?

I've outlined it below. That is the trail leading from the Sun Gate (on the left) into Machu Picchu. We hiked along it to get into the park.

And now, the most popular photo of Machu Picchu! We were so happy the rain cleared up and we saw the sun!

We did it!

After spending hours in the park, we met up with our group for one last time during lunch in the town, Aguas Calientes. Carlos distributed our certificates. I'll keep it forever!

After lunch we found our hotel where we enjoyed long, hot showers with great water pressure. Then we slept for a long time and went out to find dinner.