Machu Picchu

At this moment, I have been sitting at the free internet at the hostel for a couple of hours, greedily taking up all the time so that I could get my blog all up-to-date. All for you guys.

The past few days have been a mixture of amazing, magical, grueling, torturous, and scary. For the past four days, I made the hike to Machu Picchu and it was the hardest physical thing I did in my entire life. After 4 days, I had developed some sort of gastrointestinal bug, was freaked out by a mystery lump on my arm (which according to the doctor turned out to be an enlarged lymph node which will go away in about 2 months), and developed blisters the size of baseballs. It was all worth it though. The hike to Machu Picchu was so beautiful and breathtaking (literally). The hike took us up to a frigid elevation of 4200 meters and through cloud forests that were truly tropical and jungle-like, with the path varying from dirt trail to breakneck steep jagged stones. At many points, there were sheer cliffs to the right or left of the trail. Not a hike for the vertigo-afflicted...

Anyway, it all started at my Cuzco hostel with a bus pickup at 6:30 am. The hostel where I am staying used to be a monestary, and the following pictures show a bit of what it looks like. Very cool.



This is a picture of the base camp from which we started the hike. At this point, I had no idea what I was in for.
Our hiking group. There were 13 of us in all. I am second from the right in the back row. Only 150 hikers are allowed on the trail each day, in separate groups. The trail is now closed because February is the rainy season.
This is the Urubamba river. It is a sacred river for the Quechua people. It flows through the mountains and eventually snakes its way around the base of Machu Picchu. This is much closer to the base camp though.
An Andean people´s cemetery. Because of the rock on the mountain, the people are laid to rest in concrete tombs instead of buried.
Mountains.
Here I am, after conquering some climb on the first day. The first day felt like hell, but was actually the easiest of the 4 days. We only hiked for about 4 hours on the first day. I was panting a lot as we climbed. The air got thinner and thinner as we climbed higher and higher. Eventually, I was restricted to slowly walking 30 meters or so and then being forced to stop to catch my breath.
A green-red rock face on one of the mountains.
Along the trail, there were clouds sifting between the mountains and obscuring everything. It was very mystical.

A parrot or parakeet at the camp site on the first day.
Pictures just can´t convey the sensation and magnitude of the mountains. This shot is after having climbed about 2000 meters.
Our group climbing, climbing, climbing.
As I said before, some of the trail was cloud forest. The dense vegetation was beautiful and here I am in front of a waterfall.
Higher up, the vegetation gets sparser and hardier.
Ok, this picture may look tame, but this is at Dead Woman´s Pass. It is the highest point on the Inca Trail and is really killer. It took me 20 minutes just to go the last 100 meters or so. The air is so thin that even though you have the energy to do it, you can´t bring yourself to do it because your body needs oxygen. This pass is 4200 meters above sea level. I was TUCKERED OUT. Look closely and you can see other hikers off in the distance as dots of colour. This was halfway through day 2, about 5 hours into the hike. Overall, the hike was supposed to take about 7 hours. I did it in 8... but was pleased I did it.
Between day 2 and 4, my batteries that I brought on the trail died. I brought extras, but they were dead too... so I had to buy batteries later. Anyway, day 3 was the most beautiful of the 4 days, weaving up and down through the cloud forest. On day 4, we all got up early (4 am) to hike to the Sun Gate to see the sunrise on Machu Picchu at 7:30. However, it was much too rainy that day to see much of anything. I did however see this llama / alpaca. They are amazingly gentle creatures.
As you can see, totally gentle and friendly. I got to pet a llama!
Here is one of our first views of Machu Picchu. Shrouded in mist and rain, it is easy to see how it was hidden from gringos for so many years. Originally, it was occupied by pre-Incans who built much of the agricultural terraces. Later, the Incas built other structures that were of far superior quality. It was then abandoned for fear of attack from the Spanish. The Quechua people took to the jungle, which was much safer because it posed the risk of infectious disease to the Spanish. However, it was never found by the Spanish. It was eventually found covered in dense vegetation by an American, Hiram Bingham, in 1911. Two families were living in the ruins at the time of discovery. Two years later, the rest of the Inca trail was discovered.




The Condor Temple. On the ground is the impression of a condor, and above it are the wings in rock. The condor, to the Quechua, was a messenger and a sacred animal.
Agricultural terraces at Machu Picchu.
Here I am, in a mummy vestibule. According to our guide, 160 mummies were found at Macchu Picchu. Most of the mummies were small in stature, implying that common folk were sacrificed. The nobles and royalty were of a large stature.
This is what our guide called the Inca Prison. Perhaps prisoners were kept here in the small alcoves on display. All of the history of Machu Picchu has been lost to time, so everything is a speculation in one way or another.
A water temple, used for purification rites.
An earth temple. Many stones have 3 levels, symbolizing various beliefs for the Incas - Snake, Puma, and Condor (Intelligence, Strength, and Higher Spiritual Messenger accordingly), or King, Nobles / Government, and Commonfolk (message runners, farmers, etc.), or Sun, Mother Earth (Pacha Mama), and Water.
Here is the side of the Sun temple. Notice how perfectly the rocks are quarried and fit together.
This picture shows the difference between pre-Inca architecture and Inca architecture (right).
The temple of the sun, as seen from above. Some speculate that many sacrifices took place here.
The quarry used to build Machu Picchu.
A residential area. Machu Picchu was mainly a city for nobles, priests, and royalty. No peasants would have lived here.
Here is a "compass". In fact, it is a representation of the Southern Cross. Also, it is supposed to make the shape of a llama when the sun shines on it the right way.
A view of the steepness of the city.
Don´t take the wrong step.
A main courtyard, or perhaps a place for playing a game of sorts.
An Inca sundial.
There are unique eagles that circle around the site. They are very majestic. One is perched here on one of the agricultural plateaus.
Here I am, near the edge of the backside of Machu Picchu. The drop off behind me is probably a good kilometer down. Again, clouds seem to obscure everything. I also have a video of this spot on YouTube, if you are interested. It gives a better idea of elevation.
Llamas! These beauties were just roaming around the far end of Machu Picchu.
According to Alvares, our guide, this is an energy rock. We all placed out hands on it for some good Machu Picchu energy.
A house at Machu Picchu. Here you can see how the roofs would have looked like. They would have been made of bamboo and grasses.
On our way back to Cuzco, aboard the train, there was some entertainment. This man dressed in a traditional costume and danced in the aisle. Following his performance, there was a fashion show by other train attendants to some fine techno beats.
After the train, we took a "bus" (a 11 seater passenger van) to Cuzco. Off in the distance, you can see mountains covered in snow instead of just lush green vegetation.
Patchwork countryside made me think of good ol´Saskatchewan.

Well, that concludes my trip up until this point. Today, I did a bunch of administrative stuff, like book my hostel in Rio de Janeiro as well as book a bus ticket to Puno and send some stuff off in the mail. It is now 1 am and I am beat. Tomorrow morning, I get up and take a 6 hour bus ride to Puno to see Lake Titicaca on the 1st of February. After Lake Titicaca, I will head to Arequipa, Peru where I will see Colca Canyon and condor birds. I might head back to Lima after that, or I might just take the bus to Rio from there.

Also, at this point, I am considering taking the bus from Lima or Arequipa to Rio de Janeiro. That means probably going through Bolivia. I will probably be staying in La Paz, Bolivia for a few days to have my Brazilian visa processed. Then, it is on to Carnival in Rio and Spain after that! Whoopee!