We were woken up at 400 on the last day to arrive at Machu Picchu early and it was pouring. After a quick breakfast we bundled up all of our things which were slightly lighter since the porters took the gear we rented with them as they went to Aguas Caliente at the base of the Machu Picchu valley. While that was a nice bonus, finding out that my rain jacket was not waterproof was quite the opposite. After hiking through the downpour for 2 hours I was soaked to the bone. We climbed a very step staircase at Intipunku (the sun gate) our last mountain pass and instead of having Machu Picchu revealed to us on the horizon we got to see...fog. Warren and Brian (knowing the connection between cause and effect) started to chant 'FUCK OFF FOG!' which surpringsly worked and then, in all it's splendor Machu Picchu arose from the clouds. It was actually very beautiful even with all the clouds, it gave it a very jungly feel.
After a few photos we made the last leg of the trail down the mountainside to the top of Machu Picchu. There is a regular entrance for folk to come up in buses from Aguas Calientes where we were able to drop our packs off and change into some dry clothes. The weather cooperated for our tour of the ruins and Paulito was an excellent guide. The city is separated into an agriculture section (on the left) for all of the terraces and a few buildings, and then the residential section (on the right) which itself has a sacred district and a popular district for living quarters. You can tell which buildings were important because of the quality of the walls they built. Again they didn't use mortar but constructed the walls by placing the polished stones together like a puzzle, which sometimes includes large stone which they did not move. The terraces are also quite unique, they have layers of stone, sand, and soil to improve the irrigation of the city but more impressively the sand comes from all parts of the Inca empire. Sand from the coast, Nazca desert and amazon were all brought here.
In the religious portion of the city there is a sundial which indicates certain important days of the year, such as the summer and winter solstice as well as the equinoxes. There are several altars for sacrifices including the temple of the condor which has this interesting stone that is shaped like a condor head. And also there were several more interesting architechtural details. Like the other ruins we visisted there was a source of fresh water which flowed through the city to several fountains in central locations. There is also several rocks shaped like animals, one has a perfect llama shadow on the summer solstice (which I obviously couldn't photograph), one is shaped like a guinea pig and another is shaped like a llama head (pictured below).
It is also worth noting that Machu Picchu was never actually discovered by the spanish conquistadors since they always destroyed religious places to build churches. Instead they believe that Machu Picchu was abandoned about 100 years after it was constructed because of a small pox epidemic (which was brought to south america by the europeans). Most believe that it was used a citadel for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. Hiram Bingham is credited with rediscovering the site in 1911 but at the time there were a few families still living in the ruins and using the terraces. There are also reports of several other adventurers discovering the site up to a dozen year before Bingham and taking some artifacts.
At the end of our tour we were able to explore the city for a few hours before needing to catch a bus down to Aguas Calientes. Though we did get to see a Green and White Hummingbird as well as this (as Paulito called it) Inca rabbit.
After some lunch in Aguas Calientes we said goodbye to our guides and caught the train back to Ollantaytambo and then a bus back to Cusco.
This trek was the most difficult undertaking I have had to do physically, but entirely worth it. The guides were great, our group was great, and the sights were incredible.
Trip distance: ~48km
Trip elevation: ~3100 m
Trip depth: ~2200 m
