We’d saved the best till last…
Three thousand people a day come to visit Machu Picchu, they all converge on this famous ancient site (one of the New Seven Wonders of the World) from all corners of the globe using planes, trains, automobiles, and of course on foot. Yet they all – except the very few who get an Inca Trail permit – come through Aguas Calientes catching the bus from the town climbing up endless switchbacks to the entrance.
Our trail, via the Salkantay pass, made use of the bus for the final approach too. We got up super early to catch the 5.30am bus to try to be amongst the first visitors of the day.
Unfortunately we were not first, but we were close enough. Initially the clouds were obscuring the sun, but as they parted Machu Picchu was lit beautifully by the morning light…
As we spent more time exploring the site people continued to flow in! Eventually they were everywhere in their droves. However, it didn’t detract from the wonder of the place at all. Machu Picchu is simply amazing! Of course the people do litter the photographs a little. And so do the site’s inhabitants, lama…
Talking of litter, there isn’t any. Machu Picchu is really well managed – no littering, no eating (saves people dropping food wrappers – although it is possible/tolerated to grab a small bite to eat discretely in the less popular areas), and no streaking! Yup, they had a problem with naked tourism!!! 😮 The list of rules is weird, but not as restrictive as you might find in the US. They are clearly just trying to balance the impact of mass tourism with preserving this delicate site. 😉
One of the lama was particularly photogenic…
Although we had not come to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail we put in the effort to hike up to the classic entrance to the site, the Sun Gate…
And on the way back down we posed for the classic photograph (kindly taken for us by another tourist)…
We were lucky enough to get in to one of the two groups allowed up Huayna Picchu. There are just 400 people a day allowed up this mountain which is set behind the main area of Machu Picchu and forms part of the classic image of the site.
The Hike up to Huayna Picchu summit is considerably more involved. In fact it’s almost a scramble with near vertical stairways, tunnelled paths, and traverses hacked in to the mountain. It would certainly not be allowed by the Health and Safety police in the UK!
In the picture above you can just make out the railway bridge over the Urumbama River. We had walked over that bridge the day before visiting Machu Picchu as part of the final leg of our four day Salkantay hike. From this section of the hike we had been able to see the outline of some of the Machu Picchu buildings far above us on the skyline. A couple of windows were visible highlighted against the sky like two eyes looking down on us. Machu Picchu’s location is incredible, surrounded on three sides by hundreds of metres of granite cliffs and a raging river. And only accessible via an easily defended trail, the Inca Trail. No wonder the Spaniards never found the place.
The route up Huayna Picchu takes around one and a half hours up and down. (Although it only took us 35 minutes to climb up and would have been less than 20 down.) There is a three to four hour (it took us two and a half hours to complete) continuation route that goes over the summit, down to the Gran Caverna, Temple of the Moon, down some more, back up, down again, and then eventually back to Machu Picchu. There are LOTS of very steep steps to descend and ascend. The Quechuan people must have been world champion stair climbers! The reward for our efforts were a chance to visit parts of the Machu Picchu site that are effectively deserted…
We spent over seven hours exploring Machu Picchu, the Sun Gate, Huayna Picchu, and the Gran Caverna. I reckon we covered more ground than most! We managed to take over a thousand photographs too. I hope the sample of images here does the place justice. It’s amazing!
After that it was time to catch the bus back down to Aguas Calientes and then the train back to Cusco…
What a fantastic trip. Those pix really give an proper impression of the grandeur of the location. Thanks for posting them. PS were the floorboard on the train real?!
No, unfortunately the train was quite modern and comfortable; no rickety wooden floorboards. There’s another train for Peruvian nationals only that is a fraction of the price (non-locals aren’t allowed on it). This one may have the authentic just-about-to-fall-apart vibe you are after… 😉 Certainly the local bus we caught to get to the start of our mountain biking day was falling apart! 😮