This morning we woke up to get into the line for the bus ride up the mountain. Some of you may be thinking “a bus!? What a cop-out!” And truth be told, there was a pathway up the mountain. However, in lieu of rolling an ankle at 10,000 feet, we decided the bus was prudent. On the way to the bus stop, we had a chance to view a piece of artwork called “Purification of the Inca” that blends the nations Catholic religion with the origin myths of the Inca.
This was installed over a 4-year period and is over 20 feet long. The relief is purposely installed near the water, meant to be a part of the experience as a sort of “baptism”, blessing the Inca in their pursuits in this region of the world.
Despite the early hour, we still had quite the wait in this line for the bus. It wasn’t as bad as it seems, though it did start raining which put a damper on everything. Everywhere there were vendors popping up selling umbrellas and ponchos though! We eventually made it onto a bus and safely up the mountain.
At the entrance to Machu Picchu are various signs memorializing different significant dates in the modern history of Machu Picchu. It’s often stated that Hiram Bingham discovered the city itself, however as our guide liked to remind us, he was only able to discover it with the help of a local guide who showed him the pathway – which meant the local guide had full knowledge of the cities presence up here in the mountains. Either way, in 1911 Mr. Bingham was able to take a number of amazing photographs, driving interest in this pre-columbian civilization spanning an incredible distance throughout South America.
As we made our way into the city itself, the morning fog had rolled in and not yet departed. At this time of day, it was relatively quiet and the fog gave everything an ethereal feeling. As the sun continued to rise and eventually burned off the fog, you could see peaks of mountains and steep ravines and valleys appearing through the mist.
As we made our way into the city, the fog started to clear and we were able to take some pretty incredible shots — especially considering all of these are on a cell phone! (I didn’t want to lug my camera all around Peru for this trip, though perhaps that would have been wise…)
We eventually made our way around to the back side of the city proper, we could start to see the sun peak through the clouds. We also could see the next step in our journey – climbing a separate peak known as Huayna Picchu, almost 1,000 feet above the city itself.
The weather was still clearing so it wasn’t the safest conditions, but we were able to leave our packs with our guide at the base. He wasn’t allowed to climb up with us as we only secured 4 tickets.
Throughout the climb we were able to make out various sections of the city as the clouds whirled and swirled below. It felt a lot like we were climbing to the top of the world. It’s easy to understand why the Inca revered this mountain, and why it was only accessible to certain priests on specific festival days.
A few more hundred feet and we were able to make it to the top! We’re looking pretty smiley here but really it’s mostly relief of being off the slippery trail of the ascent – which is also the trail of the decent – which is also being simultaneously used by guests to the city. Luckily due to the limited ticket sales the traffic is not as heavy as it could be, but it still was an exercise in caution (and traffic control, haha) getting up safely.
We spent some time up here just looking around and watching the clouds move throughout the valley. The weather never really cleared, but you were able to see things shifting into view from behind cloud cover. As you look into the valleys and peaks below, you can see the starts of pathways and other trails through the jungle overgrowth. The Peruvians keep discovering new roads and evidences of civilization lost to the years through this dense foliage. They are making efforts to clear out the trees and vines and make sense of the area, however due in part to the difficulty accessing this part of Peru by heavy machinery, and a desire to respect the environment, it is very slow going.
After the climb down, our guide assumed we needed a breather (he was right!) and so spent some time going over the history of the site. He covered the likely uses of the buildings, who would live in a place like this and the purpose of some of the buildings. It’s assessed that the Inca had a decentralized government, where local lords or mayors would rule small regions but be in frequent communication with the central ruler, the Inca. The name “Incan” is somewhat of a misnomer (akin to calling Americans “Presidentials” or something similar) as the people themselves had a different name, and only the ruler was the Inca.
In any case, the pathways through the hills connected city-states, provided the method for trade and travel of information, and also provided warning in the case of invading people through the valleys below.
Making our way back through the city, we chatted about the various storehouses, temples, residential areas, and community centers archaeologists assume to be accurate. No one is really sure what the true purpose was for some of the city, as over population and disease killed off a large portion of Inca. The ravages of time have stripped the city of much perishable materials, however through the structure cores you can make your own assumptions.
I basically took roughly 25 pictures here, so I attempted to putt out the best ones. The view really was staggering, very hard to feel like I was capturing everything I was seeing, especially since the environment played such a large roll in the overall experience. We hung out on this vantage point for some time, just taking it all in.
You can see the peak we climbed in the background, with the city itself sprawled out before it. The terraces on the left were likely used to farming, with a majority of the residential buildings on the right. In the center was a public space used for gatherings, performances, play, and other civic activities.
It’s interesting to note than, being on the other side of the world, the arch had not come to the Inca. However, look at how the stones are cut to fit together immaculately, which has allowed this city to remain standing for almost 700 years, despite hundreds of years of abandonment to the elements.
The quality of the cut stone denoted the importance of the building. It’s likely these would be dwellings for lesser officials or even commoners staying in the city.
Well, it was time to say goodbye and make our way back down to the modern city built at the base of the mountain. As you can see the clouds lifted but never really cleared, making it a wonderful day to hike around and explore!
I had to take this picture as we made our way down – look how lovely this looks! We eventually made it down and back to the hotel. This evening was spent at the base of the city prior to returning to the Airport for our trip back to Lima. Next time – the remainder of our adventures in the city! As always, thanks for reading 😀