Machu Picchu. When most people think about Peru visions of Machu Picchu form in their head. I’m sure eventually I would have gotten the question about whether or not I visited so I figured I would get that out of the way up front. I will not be talking about the frustrations with the tour company I was booked through and all the problems I had including getting off the train in Aguas Calientes with no idea of what I was supposed to do. Let’s keep this positive!

Here is a sneak peak of what it looked like. Yes, it rained. The only day of rain in three and a half weeks.

My tour of this majestic set of ruins would not be until the second day of my hike. On the first day we would stop at several ruins in the Sacred Valley. One of these ruins was Pisac. Like so much of the Incan ruins they were built on a mountain. It is believed that this complex was built as a residence, an astronomical observatory, and for religious purposes. My memory isn’t what it used to be and I went here a month and a half ago so I don’t remember much. Here is a picture!

All of the holes in this cliff were burial tombs. I would not want to be the one to carry a body up that steep slope!
One of the buildings at Pisac. The slanted walls make it earthquake proof.

After visiting these ruins we went to lunch. It was the only disappointing meal I had in my entire 25 day adventure. That comes out to one bad meal out of about 142 meals that I ate so I am not complaining. Next we went to another set of ruins where we climbed a lot of stairs, tried to look at some temple, and then quickly went back down the stairs because some of us had to catch the train. It was a beautiful train ride to Aguas Calientes, a town at the base of Machu Picchu. We would arrive after dark and I will skip the rest.

I learned how to tell the difference between Llamas and Alpacas. These are llamas.

The next morning a small group of us started the hike to the main gate of Machu Picchu. We started off well before sunrise so headlamps were a necessity. My previous 3 weeks was spent in a desert and I was not ready to hike in the rainforest. The humidity was 100% and it was warm. Shortly after beginning the ascent I was completely drenched in sweat. The climb was not that steep nor was it long but I definitely struggled. Upon reaching the gate I changed into a dry shirt which was then soaked through by the fog and the rain. For one glorious minute I was wearing a dry shirt though.

How did this rabbit get into this window? I have so many questions!

After a short walk we arrived at **The Spot**. It might have a name but this is the spot that everyone goes to for the iconic picture of Machu Picchu. It looked pretty grey to me. We hung out for an hour or so to wait for the weather to break. During this time we learned about the history of the the complex. It is much more impressive than I could have ever imagined. How did someone see these steep cliffs and then say to themselves, I want to build up there? For defense and security I totally get it but it must have been quite the endeavor especially considering it is built out of granite, a very hard rock.

From out of the fog came these ruins. Our patience was rewarded.

Eventually we had our fill of looking down into a large collection of the ruins and it was time to walk through them. The fog continued to lift and we would eventually see some blue skies. Now for more pictures!

I believe that this used to be a school or some sort of academy.
Some sort of astronomical observatory. The sun comes through specific windows and lands on specific parts of the rock on certain days of the year. In other words, this was somewhat of an ancient calendar.
Some more ruins
Temple of the Condor. In the center on the bottom is the head and you can see the wings going out on either side of it. The large tan and black rocks that the temple walls are built around.

Several hours later it was time to leave. We built the crowds, partially due to the poor weather, and we made our way to the buses. We didn’t see the point of walking the trail down especially considering it reeks of urine. Yea, you probably didn’t want to know that. What I found interesting is that the bus tickets are the only thing I saw in all of Peru that is in US dollars. I was not expecting that so I didn’t have any on me. Once back in town I wandered for a couple hours and was amazed at how long the line was for people to take a bus up the mountain. Some of these people would probably have to stand in line for hours. After lunch it was time to board my train and I headed back to Cusco.

This fountain in Cusco was a gift to the city from NYC. Apparently there is a similar one somewhere in the city. Someday I will have to go look for it.