Thursday, November 26, 2015

Machu Picchu Tour

Our early morning wake-up call came and we headed out for the day. We left our overnight needs at the hostel, and took one backpack with all of our day necessities. I had met a woman in Cusco that warned- use lots of bug spray! She was absolutely covered in bites. We had to have layers because it was rainy and overcast that morning, but it was forecast to be in the 70's by afternoon.


We packed water bottles and some granola bars. You need a passport to get through the gates of Machu Picchu. We needed our tickets for the dayhike as well as the bus tickets. And our wallets and some umbrellas. And of course, our cameras. Rhonda was the chosen one that packed everything for our group. She's a good friend! I wasn't sure about bringing a big backpack because I was a little worried about the physical requirements on hike. Her backpack was a good medium size, but with everything we had packed, the backpack was pretty heavy. Thank you, Rhonda!! :)

We had been told to get our bus ticket the night before because sometimes it sells out and it always has a long line in the morning for purchase. Some of our group had stayed in a nicer hotel and we were to all meet together with Navidad at the bus station. I charged past a long line (thinking it was the tickets line,) to find Navidad. I left rest of the group at the end of the line just in case it was the bus line. Good thing! Sure enough the line for the bus ride up was already a few hundred people deep. I found Navidad, but the group of four from the other hotel were missing. We messaged on Facebook and found that they were still at their hotel. We agreed to meet at the top. On our bus ride up, Shelly discovered that she didn't have her hike entrance ticket.  We spent the entire ride up trying to retrieve it from our emails. After some assistance from the hotel at the top, we were able to print her ticket and just in time! The group of four was spotted on the bus that had just arrived.
The Switchbacks to the top of Machu Picchu. The bus drivers were trained to NASCAR requirements.


We did learn that most people do the day hike in one day and the MP tour in another. We had to do it all in one day. I would like to return and do the hike from Aguas Calientes, too. It starts in town instead of taking the bus up and takes approximately 2 hours. The bus ride was scary, like a Disney roller coaster ride! It was way scarier than any of the mission bus rides. They go super fast, and the road is continuous switchbacks. It's essentially single lane, but occasionally you meet a bus returning back down the hill. At which point, your driver will throw his bus into reverse and continue at a high speed to make room for the other bus to go around. They go backwards at the same speed that they go forward- I swear! We were among the first to board the bus, so I headed for the very last row, which was raised up slightly from the other seats. We had a birds eye view of this crazy ride. On the return trip back down we didn't sit back there, and the ride was a little less thrilling, mostly because you couldn't see the narrow misses.

Beautiful Flowers at the Hotel at the Top

Moments after entering our bucket list item--We Are HERE!



The only restrooms are outside of the MP entrance, and they cost one solace. If you need to "go" during the day, you have to leave MP and come back outside the gates to use the same $1 potty. There is a beautiful hotel at the entrance to MP. Expedia sports prices of $975/night. Though it's nice, I don't know if it's that nice. If luxury travel is your thing, maybe you'd be interested. I was happy with our $14/person, towel-less dorm experience. I really was! It adds to the travel adventures, I think.

Abbi and Happy Mountain


I can't get into too many details about MP itself. You just really need to experience it. Having a guide is recommended. Navidad was gracious enough to be our guide. Although he owns a travel and guide company, he wasn't supposed to go with us. He was arranged with us as a guide for the mission, not MP. It was great to have him because he is rich in knowledge of the culture and the history. He loves his heritage and has a passion for educating others on it. If you need a guide for your own Peru trip, I will put you in touch with him.


Notice how tightly the rocks fit together. This would've been an area for Royalty or Worship. I don't know about that big gap. I took a picture of it for some reason, but looking at the side walls, you can see how perfect the walls fit.
We learned about how the shape of the stone signified the importance of the building. Royalty and Priests would have perfectly carved  and fitted stones. Their homes would have the same quality of stones as the temples and other sacred areas. Workers and farmers would have more rugged cut stones.


Here you can see the stones don't fit as well together. A worker or insignificant event would've been here.





I will say that one of our favorite moments was the Temple of the Sun. Navidad explained about how the Incas were important astronomers and they spent a lot of time studying the sun and of course, the calendar. I wish Navidad could write this part because he had really great explanations about the way they studied the sun and the importance of this tower, but I can't remember it all. The sculpture carved out from the rock bottom of the sun temple is interpreted as "Water mirrors for observing the sky" and also "Eyes of Pachamama" (Mother Earth).

Abbi probably got more out of all of this than I did, because she is familiar and current with a lot of the ancient history. She is well versed in the Incas and can explain stories and lifestyles to you. I don't know as much, but I was learning as we went and really enjoying the living history lesson.
A stone built at Temple of the Sun to specifically observe the sun, without damaging your eyes or looking directly at the sun. It was even more intriguing in person.

There are three trees inside of the city. There are specific stories about each one that Navidad shared with us. This the flame tree.
Here is the message my friend Navidad shared with me about the three trees in MP. I'm telling you friends- He's a great guide! Let me know if you need his assistance.

the tallest tree is called flame tree and it was accidentally planted by some women people who arrived there and they did some textile weaving using a stick of the flame tree, and this stick started growing and now is very tall. the second tallest tree is called Toroq, is the most representative tree of the area and it was planted there to show it to the visitors. the 3th tree is the custard apple, locally called cherimoya, it is a tropical fruit and Machu Picchu is the last place to grow this sweet tropical fruit.

Considering that this was a major bucket list item, I certainly wished we had more time. Our train departed back to Cusco in the early evening. I wouldn't say we were rushed, but we didn't leisure anywhere either. Also, traveling in a group that large was hard to balance the explorations verses the need to get from one area to another. I would love to experience it again, at a slower pace, with my family. I also would like to take even more photos, but I was leery this time of overusing my camera--it didn't have my full trust.  I even think that Cody would like it. A few more years and Tyce will dig it, too.



Navidad did not know the status of Peru government shutting down the tours. Another guide near us had said this will be the last year that you can actually walk through the Lost City. You will be able to view it from the hike to Huayna Picchu (the day hike,) but you won't be able to actually walk through it anymore. Navidad said that the local people are the worst to vandalize the site, but also the enormous traffic is making the beautiful Lost City disintegrate much more rapidly than it had in the hundreds of years before it was found. He said they are selling tickets already for 2016 and the government is not agreeing on how to handle the degradation. The moral is, if you're thinking you need to experience it, DON'T DELAY!

2 comments:

  1. Great job Randi! you have learned a lot from Navidad which is wonderful! thanks to help the poor people in Peru!. all the best for you Randi. remember this is the page people need to see when they want to visit Machu Picchu, www.topperutrips.com

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  2. Great again you are on it and a pro..... thank for the wonderful advancer.

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