Inca Trail & Machu Picchu (Days 6-7)

Day 6 - Inca Trail

Our pickup today was 7am and we walked to the Peru Rail train station a few blocks away where we met up with the two other couples with whom we would be spending the next two days.  The only way to get to Machu Picchu is via the train and it is about an hour and a half ride to get all the way there.  For us, the plan was to get off at “mile marker 104” and do the last day of the four-day Inca trail hike.  The train ride was pleasant enough – the tracks run next to a river and the mountains surrounding us were stunning.  The train is like a commuter train with groups of four people facing each other over a table.  The couple across from us was from Georgia and had picked Peru as their first time out of the country.  Bold choice.

View from train window

At "mile marker 104", the train stopped, and the Inca hikers got off.  When I say that we were literally dropped at the side of some tracks in the middle of nowhere, that is no exaggeration.  There was no platform, no sidewalk, nothing.  We just got off the train and stood there a bit confused as the train pulled away nearly missing hitting us as we were surround by trees with nowhere obvious to go.

Looking to the left

Looking to the right

  

We eventually met up with the rest of our group and found our guide, Grover.  About a five-minute walk away, we found the official trail head where there was a small area for people to prep for the hike with water and toilets.  We got ourselves ready and headed out.  We made it about three minutes and got to the first Inca ruins, where Grover spent a solid 20+ minutes giving us a history of the area.  One interesting tidbit we learned here is that the Incans used a relay system to pass news.  This set of ruins was likely a relay station – one of many in the area – that allowed news to travel hundreds of miles in days.  The sun was hot, all the other hikers were long gone, and our group was getting a little fidgety, or maybe it was just me.  Finally, we headed out.

Start of trail

The “short” Inca trail is a 9-mile hike that was estimated to take about 6-7 hours.  Hiking at altitude is challenging.  Hiking uphill in altitude is more challenging.  Hiking uphill in what felt like 100-degree heat (it was probably only in the 70’s) in altitude was brutal.  And then add in the stone steps.  Incans had a thing for stone steps.  Uneven, randomly spaced stone steps.  The irony of the stone steps is that Peruvians are generally short, and I would imagine that 500 years ago, the Incans were likely the same height or shorter than modern Peruvians.  For the life of me I cannot figure out how they were able to regularly navigate some of those steps!  I am not sure I have ever climbed so many steps in my life. 

Typical steps

So these steps are going down, but there were lots and lots of up steps

Thankfully, the sheer misery of the heat and the hike was outweighed by the beauty surrounding us.  The sun was out, the sky was blue, the flowers were everywhere with so many vibrant colors, and the mountains were just stunning.  Much of the walk was on a narrow trail on the side of the mountain that dropped rather precipitously on one side.  I tried to focus only on the path ahead of me, because if you started thinking about the sheer drop on your right, things could get ugly.  As we walked, we could see an enormous section of terraces and structures in the distance, and beyond that, our lunch spot.  

Narrow path, sharp drop; terraces are the light blotch upper middle of pic

Looking backwards

Terraces getting closer 

Terraces smack in the middle of the mountain

The terraces are the Winawayna ruins, which are beautifully restored terraces that sit in the absolute middle of nowhere about 10,000 feet up on the side of a mountain overlooking the Urubamba River.  We had a short rest there before climbing an estimated 400 steps to the top and then continuing for lunch

My "short rest"

. 

After my "short rest"

Made it to the terraces!

More f'ing steps

Cool buildings up top

Posing to avoid going up more step

Our lunch spot was the last overnight spot for the 4-day Inca trail hikers.  There is a building that apparently was used as a bar and restaurant to celebrate the end of the hike, but people were getting too drunk and then getting lost on the mountain, or so Grover told us, so they shut it down and now it is just a structure with no apparent purpose.  There were some tents scattered around and an equal number of porters who pack everything up for their guests and literally run down the mountain to the train with these monster packs on their backs.

Porters with their packs

Finally some shade!

We had several more hours of hiking until we finally hit the sun gate, which is one of the primary entrances to Machu Picchu; it was also our first look at the site.  It is a striking sight looking down on the ruins.  There really are no words to explain the feeling of seeing this entire city, hidden by mountains that surround it, and learning about the civilization that occupied it more than 500 years ago. 

Picture at the sungate

First look at Machu Picchu from the sungate

Sungate from above

The famous Huayna Picchu Mountain

Our final hike down to Machu Picchu was about an hour long on a stone path.  We finally made it to the guard house in the city around 5pm, thoroughly exhausted and ready to get on a bus that would take us down into Aguas Calientes, or Machu Picchu Town, at the bottom of the mountain.  Or so we thought.

One more because we are so excited that the rest is downhill

To get from the guard house to the buses was another 10-15 minutes of stone steps leading down to the buses, and then finally, a blissful 25-minute ride that zig-zagged down the steep mountain erasing everything we had accomplished over the last 7 hours.  The town of Aguas Calientes is a small town but loud and colorful with music, food, trains, and lots of hikers.  The bus dropped us off at the bottom of the hill where, no joke, we then had to hike to the top of the hill, with a quick stop at the train station to get our overnight bags, before arriving at our hotel, which was the absolute last one at the top of the hill.  Thankfully, no steps. 

Looking up the hill in Aguas Calientes

We had an hour to clean up before meeting for dinner.  I had prepared for a chilly Inca hike and the possibility of scattered thunderstorms, so luckily, I had packed leggings and another base layer and a t-shirt to sleep in.  There was no way I was putting my sweaty clothes back on, so I basically went to dinner in my pajamas and hiking boots.  Classy.  We showered, met up for dinner at 7pm and walked to a restaurant that was, no joke, at the very bottom of that damn hill.  We had a nice group of people – one couple in their 20’s (US) and one in their 30’s (Swiss).  We finally had a chance to talk to everyone (I could barely breathe, let alone carry on a conversation during the hike) chatted all through dinner and had a great time.  After dinner, we hiked back up the @#($& hill, and dropped into a comatose sleep by 9:30.  If you believe that Fitbit accurately measures activity in a day, my stats for the day include:  29,633 steps, 13.43 miles, 4,238 calories, 260 floors, 342 minutes (5.7 hours) in either fat burn or cardio mode.  Can’t wait for our mountain hike tomorrow.

Day 7 – Machu Picchu Mountain

Another early start – breakfast at 6am and meet up in our hotel lobby at 6:30am so we could make one of the first buses back up the mountain at 6:35.   Unfortunately, our guide was 30 minutes late, so we booked back down the hill, got on a bus, and drove back up to the Machu Picchu site.  The normally turquoise blue sky was nowhere to be seen.  The entire way up, all we could see was clouds with an occasional glimpse of a mountain when the clouds blew by.  This did not bode well for our day, which was picture day at Machu Picchu followed by a hike up Machu Picchu Mountain. 

Machu Picchu has a strange ticketing system that assigns people to different circuits to try to spread out the crowd.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how circuits are assigned, but we were told that Inca Trail hikers automatically get circuit 3, which is limited only to the lower buildings.  Circuit 1 is the best one.  Our guide figured out a way to scam our way into circuit 1 if we arrived early enough and the guards were not really checking. We started exploring the upper ruins, which included a lot of the religious buildings.  Because of the heavy cloud cover, our pictures were, well, not reflective of the beauty of Machu Picchu.  Not surprisingly, we got busted and following an interaction between the guard and Grover, we continued our tour before heading to our 8am hike start time at Machu Picchu Mountain.

The spot (notice the photo sign) where all of the postcard pictures of Machu Picchu take place

Only four of us were doing MP Mountain – the couple from Switzerland (Emanuel & Marguex) and us.  Their entry ticket was from 8-9 and ours was from 7-8, so the idea was to get there right at 8.  En route to the trail entrance, we damn near ran up several hundreds Incan steps to make our start time.  I don’t know what it is with Incans and their steps, but we were about to learn we hadn’t experienced the true torture of Incan steps yet.  Once past the guard gate, we took a breather and started the hike.

There are no words to adequately describe the level of pain and suffering that ensued.  I am thankful that the entire mountain was covered in clouds so I couldn’t see how high we had to go.  The path was almost entirely made up of Incan stone steps of uneven heights and spacing.  Every time I psyched myself to get up a “flight” and will powered my way to the top, we would stop for a rest and then look ahead only to see more and more steps.  

Steps Steps Steps

More steps

Me - not looking thrilled at more steps

Just for fun, these steps had a steep drop-off into nothingness

It didn’t help that right around the halfway point, we started seeing people coming back down – all of whom gave up before reaching the top.  And somewhere around the halfway mark, we saw a couple with a guide where the girl was throwing up over a stone platform, so that was encouraging.  In a small world encounter, we eventually bumped into the couple from Georgia who sat across from us on the train – he made it to the top, but she had not.  For most of the way up, there was still heavy cloud cover which made it cooler, so that was a bonus.  The path had an elevation gain of over 2,100 feet over 1.5 miles and ended up at just over 10,000 feet.  The websites I read rated this hike as “moderate”.   I respectfully disagree.

Still lots of cloud cover

When we got to the top, we were finally able to see an unbelievable view of Machu Picchu.  Just kidding.  It was completely covered in clouds.  About 30 people stood at the viewpoint with cameras poised and ready to go when the clouds split.  

Proof that we made it to the top!

Everyone waiting for a break in the clouds

Video:  Time lapse of clouds torturing us

The clouds teasing us

Emanuel & Margaux, who didn't make me feel bad for being a slow hiker

The wind was blowing so clouds were moving fast which would create openings.  The crowd would uniformly get excited “this is it, we are about to see it” and just as Machu Picchu was about to reveal itself, another cloud would blow through.  No one wanted to leave just in case.  There were stunning clear views in every other direction, giving us a chance to see the Inca trail we hiked yesterday.  But we were there for the money shot.  There were a few times that the valley became about 80% clear, but there would be one cloud hovering just over the site.  FINALLY, only minutes before we were told we had to leave the top, the clouds parted just enough for everyone to get their postcard pic!  The crowd went wild.

Almost clear, our best photo, but that one pesky cloud...

And... now the hike back down

The way back down was much easier

The way down was much easier on the lungs, much harder on the knees, but we made it down more quickly and, of course, the clouds were clearing, or we were below them, offering amazing views of the ruins on the way down.  

Our first cloudless view!

Made it to the bottom!

We went back to the ruins to do our Circuit 3, wandered the buildings and admired the amazingness of what the Incans were able to accomplish, and finally made our way back down on the bus to Aguas Calientes for a quick lunch, we picked up our overnight bags at the hotel (back up the hill), then got to the train station (bottom of the hill) for our trip back to Ollantaytambo.

And... we finally get the shot

With us

And without us - we earned it

Last view of Aguas Calientes aka Machu Picchu town

One would think that the hour and a half train ride would make for a nice lull in the day, but this train ride turned out to be an experience.  We were assigned seats across from 2 men who were from Columbia (we talk to everyone).  We were on the Vistadome train, which offered larger panoramic windows for better viewing.  But this Vistadome was special.  About 30 minutes in, the train staff put on a fashion show of alpaca-wear.  The walkway became a runway and we enjoyed all the ways one can wear alpaca fashion.  If that wasn’t enough, after the fashion show, our car was told to get up and go to the front car for entertainment.

Alpaca fashion show

The front car was more of a lounge car with couches and comfy chairs.  As we filed in, there was live music.  What came next is hard to describe without pictures and video.  A male and a female dressed in sparkly costumes and masks that were equally cool and scary came into the car and started dancing in the aisle to live music.  They then started pulling people up to dance – and yes, I did get pulled up.  The funniest part of it all was that everyone on the train is in hiking gear and hiking boots dancing with the two sparkly performers.  To wrap things up, the sparklys started a conga line through the train car before waving goodbye and sending us back to our car.  What a way to kill time on a train!

Sparkly Lady

Video:  Train entertainment

Our train had stopped multiple times on the journey and eventually we learned that the train in front of us was stuck in the station and they had been trying to fix it.  This gave us ample time to bond with the Columbians and gave Damon the opportunity to continue to practice his Spanish.  We now have a list of vacation spots in Columbia and the phone number of our new friend for when we decide to visit there.  We ended up arriving about an hour late.  We were met by our tour driver and along with the Swiss couple, we then had a 2-hour drive to Cusco, eventually arriving at about 9:15pm.  As we hadn’t had dinner yet and I was about 2 hours past hangry, we found an empanada stand across the street and inhaled some food before falling into yet another near comatose sleep.  Fitbit stats for the day:  27,552 steps, 3,985 calories, 12.56 miles, 125 minutes in cardio zone, 408 floors.