My trip feels over. I'm writing this on the train back to Cusco [but not posted until the next day, because I crashed early last night], and I still have three more days in Peru, and then one travel day to get home. But I've seen the last big thing I wanted to see, and really... how can some dinky museum or church in Cusco compete with Machu Picchu?
Having said that, I think I've become somewhat immune to the wonder of things. Like I've seen too many great sights in too short a time. Because Machu Picchu was worth the stop -- and even waking up at 5am -- but it didn't dazzle me the way several other things have. Before I started traveling, I wondered if I would run into that problem -- that things would impress me less because I'd been overwhelmed with stuff. So yes, it happened a bit, but fortunately right at the end of my travels. I will, however, think about this when I start touring America. I'd hate to ruin my first trip to, say, the Grand Canyon because I'll have so recently seen things like Uluru and Wai-O-Tapu. OK, enough of that! On to the photos:
The morning started very cloudy and foggy, with some drizzle. I met up with Ricardo, another solo traveler (from Brasil), who I'd met on the train to Aguas Calientes. We'd gone out for dinner the night before and planned our day. We decided not to take a tour, and not to line up at 4am for a chance at tickets to Waynapicchu, which is the mountain next to Machu Picchu that one can climb to look down into the ruins. While I think that is probably the best view of the whole city, there are other spots to see it all, too.
Our first stop at the Sun Gate was about 25 minutes uphill from the entrance. I'm sure it's normally quite dazzling with the sun and all the surrounding mountains on display, but it was basically in the clouds when we were there. It was pretty empty of tourists, though, and the small group of people there seemed happy to just hang out for a bit and watch the clouds roll through. It was actually a more dynamic landscape with the clouds rolling through like that. Other than watching water in motion, landscapes don't usually move.
The weather began to clear as we headed back to the main part of the site, and by about 11am, it was bright and sunny. Note to anyone who might visit Machu Picchu: I have a really deep tan and wore my 70 and 30 sunscreen (depending on body part) and I still got the mildest of burns, probably because the thin atmosphere doesn't filter as many bad rays.
Seeing the main city of Machu Picchu, especially from up top, was the most impressive bit of the day -- not because of its size or its age -- but because of how high up it is. I mean, I knew beforehand that the city is on top of a mountain. But it was another thing to be standing on that mountain, and on my one side there's this sizeable city, and on my other there's a drop straight down hundreds of feet. How the hell did anyone build a huge city up there? And why?
Ricardo's train leaves/left Aguas Calientes an hour after mine, so he stayed longer at Machu Picchu and I walked back down to town. The only ways up to Machu Picchu are by bus ($8) or by hiking up a trail. The bus takes 30 minutes to travel the 8 kilometers of switchback dirt roads.
And I don't know how long the trail takes to walk up, but walking down to my hotel to fetch my stuff took nearly 90 minutes. And it was steep. Most of the way down was pretty solitary, but several times, a man or small group of men would come running down the trail behind me then past me. I have no idea what they were doing. Most were locals, but not all of them. I wanted to ask, but they were gone too fast. A couple of them had machetes too, which, if Peru had been my trip's first stop would have scared the shit out of me -- seeing some guy barreling down a mountain at me with a machete!! -- but I've now seen machetes used all over the place, and I've only seen them used on helpless coconuts and vines, so seeing them in Peru gave me pause but didn't terrify me.
Ooo, the train just served us some really fancy meals, so I'm going to go eat!
Later: Yum!
[Next day update just before posting.] I got back to Cusco around 8pm and was fast asleep by 10pm. I was too tired to even go find some dinner.
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| Waynapicchu mountain, overlooking Machu Picchu. |
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| The Sun Gate (but not today!) |
Seeing the main city of Machu Picchu, especially from up top, was the most impressive bit of the day -- not because of its size or its age -- but because of how high up it is. I mean, I knew beforehand that the city is on top of a mountain. But it was another thing to be standing on that mountain, and on my one side there's this sizeable city, and on my other there's a drop straight down hundreds of feet. How the hell did anyone build a huge city up there? And why?
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| View of the road to town from Machu Picchu. |
Ooo, the train just served us some really fancy meals, so I'm going to go eat!
Later: Yum!
[Next day update just before posting.] I got back to Cusco around 8pm and was fast asleep by 10pm. I was too tired to even go find some dinner.
I took the bus back down the mountain. As we traveled down, the same group of teenagers would meet us at every switchback and waive or otherwise do tricks (basically showing that they could beat the bus down the mountain). At the bottom of the mountain, the bus driver let them on the bus to collect any tips for the performance. Perhaps it was the same thing.
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