Machu Picchu, Peru

Visiting Machu Picchu was simply amazing! We have both seen a number of archaeological sites in our travels but nothing really compares both to the grandeur of the Machu Picchu and to the location of the famous ruins. As the former royal palace of the Inca Empire and unknown to the modern world until the last century  it sits atop a pinnacle of rock with jungle like trees cascading down each side and a snake-like river hundreds of metres below. The neighbouring mountains are also lined with trees and sheer cliffs, and standing atop the ruins you literally feel like you’re in another time and place. Even though thousands of tourists make the visit every day it still somehow feels like it is yours alone to discover and you are a modern day Indiana Jones.

Part of this feeling is generated just by getting to the place in the first place. From Cusco we boarded a small mini-bus with 8 other passengers and set off on a twisting and winding road to the town of Ollantaytambo 2 hours away. It was a hair-raising drive with the driver repeatedly passing other vehicles and for some strange reason speeding up when approaching blind curves. We were not impressed. We were also dealing with a bit of a mess at the same time as a container of peach juice opened up in my daypack spilling sticky juice all over our books and electronics. Fortunately we were able to clean up everything in the tight confines and everything still works (thankfully there was a waterproof case over the laptop) but my toque is a bit peachy as it became the drying cloth (our backpacks were tied to the top of the min-bus and inaccessible).

Arriving in Ollantaytambo we relaxed for a few hours before boarding the Inca Express train to the town of Aguas Calientes which sits at the base of Machu Picchu. At Ollantaytambo all roads to Machu Picchu end and the only way there is to hike in on the Inca Trail (a 4-day trek) or board a 2-hour train. As mentioned in a previous post we opted for the train and were not disappointed in the sheer thrill and beauty of riding from the dry Sacred River valley into the dense forested mountains with Machu Picchu towering hidden overhead. We left at 4:00 in the afternoon and were rewarded with sunset vistas and 6,000m snow-capped peaks.

In Aguas Calientes we disembarked and found a cheap little hostel that unfortunately only had cold showers but served well enough as a base for our visit to Machu Picchu the next morning. One of the highlights is to watch the sun rise over the ruins and since we were only a 30-minute bus ride to the Machu Picchu summit from Aguas Calientes we rose early at 5:00am and travelled up the 13 hair-pin turns to the summit above. The view down was stunning and a landscape neither one of us has ever seen before. Arriving at the top we hiked to the Hut of the Funerary Pire and found a seat on a low stone wall to watch the sun rise. There were hundreds of other tourists around but we didn’t seem to notice as we sat transfixed watching the shadows slowly creep down the mountainside and over the stone walls of the ruins stretched below us .

In all we spent 4-hours walking through the maze-like ruins and snapping hundreds of photographs. The site is very steep in some sections with countless stairs and views out to the valley below and the snow-capped Andes peaks beyond. Coupled with the high altitude it is a strenuous physical test but we loved every moment of it. After our visit we toured around Aguas Calientes and its colourful markets before boarding the Inca Express back to Ollantaytambo and then a min-bus back to Cusco. It was a full 2 days of journeying and touring the ruins and will no doubt remain a highlight of our South America trip.