Peru: Machu Picchu

Finally it was time to go to Machu Piccu. We really wanted to get on the first bus up to the ruins. It left around 5:30am and we decided we would need to get up at 4:30, or 8 hours sooner that i prefer to wake up in Alaska. We did make it by 6am and were exploring the ruins by 6:30. The bus is kind of claustrophobic and winds up hairpin switchbacks all the way up to the bottom of the ruins, about 2,000 feet higher. Even though we got on what seemed like one of the first buses of the day there were still a bunch of people there. Overcrowding has become an issue and in 2011 the government began limiting daily visitors to 2,500. That's still a lot of people to all be there at one time, which i think does happen during part of the day.

Although we missed the first bus we managed to get to the farther reaches of the site before most people. The sky started off the day glazed over and featureless but eventually the sun began to poke out. The area in the foreground here was called the "rock quarry", and just beyond that was a religious temple complex.

I was really excited to get into the city. We hurried past aggressive guides who gave us a aggravated sounding warning that we would get lost without them. We had found through our visits to other ruins that they all work abut the same with the same structures, so we decided we'd learned most of what we could already from our previous guide.

My pace quickened and I definitely had the sensation of being a kid and getting to go finally go to a long dreamed of theme park or zoo. Beyond the entrance were a disappointing number of people but the ancient city sprawled out in front of us. Our excitement was tempered by the baffling number of high altitude stairs everywhere in front of us. We soon realized most people who had hired guides were in tour groups of various sizes, moving slowly and methodically on a predetermined route through the city. This allowed us to quickly get beyond the crowds and enjoy much of the city with just a few other people, at least for the first two hours.

We bought a ticket to climb the high mountain here, called simply Montana Machupicchu. We ended up not doing it because they said it took 3-6 hours.

A cool place to watch the first rays of the sun come over the mountains

You aren't allowed to walk on the grassy lawns. Initially this annoyed me but later i realized if they didn't do this the lawns would be covered with sunbathing visitors.

I remembered this loose wall from history class in high school long ago, or maybe even Spanish class in middle school! There were many other structures i recognized.

Ben looks large. That's the way it was, it seemed both huge and small at the same time.

The "back" side of Machu Piccu was weird because it looked like in just one bend of the river the jungle landscape faded back towards that semi-arid mountainscape we had become accustomed to.

From the ruins you could look out towards snowy peaks 20,000 feet high.

Beyond the two huts over there is the beginning of an awesome looking trail that goes to the high summit of that iconic mountain (Waynapicchu), and to the Temple of the Moon.

There are several quality levels of the stonework. This was a more wild looking trail on the lower terraces

Eventually we realized the city was a maze and we started having some difficulty getting around.

A rare curved wall shelters the Temple of the Sun

This fountain was part of a temple site.

This was an important doorway. They assigned levels of importance to doorways, apparently.

An insane room corner carved into the floor.

A really cool royal tomb. Notice the crazy stonework on the right. I like the more abstract Incan ideas.

It seemed like the stoneworkers must have had competitions to see who could build a wall in the nuttiest location.

Some ruins that look modern.

A nice street corner to hang out on.

We saw  kick ass girl with one leg climbing all these stairs.

 There were a lot of these.

I tried to explore every square inch of Machu Picchu. Here i am exploring some square inches that were down in a hole. This was a temple, probably the Temple of the Wind, and Ben noticed a lot of air blowing out of this hole. I was trying to let my eyes adjust; it went pretty far before it faded to black. In other areas we found underground tunnels you could crawl through.

When you look at the city from a low angle it looks mostly made of stone. But when you look at it from a higher angle it seems to be mostly grass.

This stairway was so long and steep people were taking breaks on it.

This was another cool temple area. We messed up and spent 10 or 15 minutes walking around trying to find a way to the top from another direction because we had passed these stairs to look at something else. This is the only way up.

Yet another neat area, this was sort of on the edge of the main part of the city. This building was built on an overhang, underneath which seemed to be another temple/fountain/spring. You weren't allowed to go down there but later we saw a girl wandering around there.

The terraces continue down towards the river. On the bus ride up to the ruins you pass by some newly discovered terraces that are being reclaimed from the jungle. You can see them here, just right of center, below the big cliffs where the jungle clears out before falling down to the river.

Part II: The Sun Gate

Eventually we noticed the site was becoming overrun with visitors, and having seen most of the ruins to our satisfaction, we decided to go on a hike. You have surely seen the towering pillar of rock looming over Macchu Piccu in virtually every postcard view of it. It's called Waynapicchu and you can take a trail to the very top of it. It's a very popular hike with a limited number of permits and the tickets sell out weeks in advance. We missed out on that, so we bought tickets for a permit to the top of a mountain on the other end of the city, but after several hours of walking up and down the stairs of the ruins we didn't think we had the energy to make it all the way up. That mountain is called Machu Picchu Mountain, and the hike is supposed to be 3-5 hours to the top and back.

Instead, we decided to walk on one of the Incan trails about 1.25 miles to a place called Temple of the Sun. That was worthwhile. It was far enough away to put the location of Machu Picchu in perspective, and offered some different views than what you could see at the main site.

The first step is a doozie.

The Inca Trail. One of many, this is shortly before arriving at Intipunku.

The view to the next valley at Intipunku. There wasn't really anything here other than some rectangular pillars and windows, but it was enough to tell the place used to have a roof on it. The trail then descended for a long way. From what i gather you could continue 5 more miles and get to that cool ruin site with the granite waterfalls i saw from the train.

There are a lot of ruins at Machu Picchu that have yet to be unearthed. Here is what looks like a major street disappearing into thick jungle foliage. The road and walls continue but archeologists have decided to let these places remain hidden because the whole area is habitat for the endangered spectacled bear.

Here is almost a panoramic shot of the layout. Behind the hill on the far right is Aquas Calientes. The Urumbamba river makes a series of horseshoes snaking around the granite towers and wraps all the way around Waynapicchu to the other side Machu Piccu on the far left.

This was a cool site for a tomb. An Incan was buried in a plot of land in front of the boulder, with his dog.

The walk back provided some scale for the mountain city.

Part III: The Drawbridge

After the 2.5 mile round trip to Intipunku and hours of wandering around the city we were getting tired, but we still didn't want to leave. So we decided on yet another hike to a place called "the drawbridge" that i had never heard of before. It was getting hot by this time and Ben wasn't doing a good job of selling the idea because he didn't have that much info to offer on it. We didn't know how far it was and we had to ask a few guards to find out where the trail even started.

Even when we found the trail neither us nor anybody on it seemed to know who far the walk was to the bridge. It turned out to be only about 15 minutes, and was at times pretty spectacular. The trail takes you through the jungle to a simple wood plank bridge that traverses along the side of a very high cliff. The trail continues in spectacular fashion along the side of an immense rock face. Unfortunately visitors are not allowed access beyond the bridge. It's an incredible looking trail, though overgrown.

I really like the view of city as seen from the west.

In this close up of the picture above you can see how the ruins continue into the jungle. On the far left you can see a stone stairway overgrown as it goes down.

After hiking a bit through the woods you will see the massive cliff face where the drawbridge is located.

The view is immediately below you.

The trail becomes pretty exciting as it nears the bridge. Cables are installed into the cliff face for those safety. The Incans didn't need no stinkin' cables (they really are stinky).

This is as close are you are allowed to get to the bridge. It was built as a defensive measure and the planks were simply removed to cut off access to the city. The cliff continues well above and below the bridge.

In this view you can see how the trail continues beyond the bridge in the form of a green line of vegetation making it's away along the sheer cliff in the background. Looks like a great hike.

Another view showing the bridge more from the side.

Walking back up from the bridge.

By the time we finally left that great city in the clouds we'd spent 6-7 hours walking almost the whole time. It really filled my imagination, and influenced my dreams for weeks afterward. We debated whether to return the next day; we had the time, but our legs were so sore even by evening that to return seemed out of the question.

The day had turned very sunny by the time we left. Although we didn't have cool changing fog to give it a mysterious feel, i was glad we got to see the place in various kinds of light.

More Pictures of Other Incan Sites to Visit on this Blog:

The Ruins of Pisac

Ollantaytambo

Cusco

Aguas Calientes