Machu Picchu

On Sunday the 16th we took a taxi ride to Ollantaytambo, which is in the sacred valley between Cusco and Manchu Picchu. In 1537 Manco Inca, who after being a puppet emperor under the Spanish, finally rebelled and held off the Spanish temporarily in Ollantaytambo using the mountain terraced fortress, and the food storage up on the hill. He flooded the valley with water so the Spanish horses were ineffective.  Later when the Spanish forces were reinforced, he pulled back to the thicker jungle area of Vilcabamba. 

From Ollantaytambo we caught the train up to Aguas Calientes which is just 20 minutes from Manchu Picchu (yes, there are hot springs at the foot of Manchu Picchu.) Matt talked history with our driver, and the mountains were beautiful. I slept, so relieved to finally have our bags. 

On the train the kids played cribbage with Matt and I met a young teacher from Brazil. Her accent in Spanish was beautiful and she threw in Portuguese when she didn’t know a word which was quite the new mix for me. It’s been fun connecting with so many people who are traveling. It’s a different breed of adventurers. 

Our hotel in Aguas Calientes was at the top of the town of hotels and restaurants, right next to the hot springs entrance. The town is beautiful, with Incan rock carvings and statues, and beautiful little bridges and patios along the river. One of the bridges even had locks attached to it and it glinted gold in the sun light.

Our first day we had tickets for sunrise (7am) in Macchu Picchu. But first we had to take the 20 minute bus ride up the steep switch backs. Drivers in Peru are an interesting combination. Like much of Latin America, they aren't that interested in traffic rules, and their mountain roads are usually the size of logging roads with only room for one vehicle, so they're using pull outs and squeezing by. Luckily for us, they don't drive as fast as they did in Mexico. I pretended that we weren't on the edge of cliffs, and just tried to enjoy the view. Louis and Josie weren't afraid of anything, Sofia and Matt just didn't look.

Sofia had so much fun watching all the birds and finding all the animals and insects. From the golandrinas that flitted around, to the little lizards, fuzzy bunnies, spiders, and a huge rectangular shaped bug. Sofia found chirping in the rock walls, and we finally decided it must be little bird nests. The wasps at the end of the trail were a bit disconcerting, but luckily they behaved.

 

Our guide wasn’t the most informative. But it all worked out and Matt listened in as the other guides explained things, and Josie and Louis played ice cream and pizza shop in one of the ancient Incan ‘houses.'

My favorite spots were the altar of the condor, and the prayer rock.  The Incan story goes that the Incan priests would take their best coca leaves and blow on them to each of the 3 smaller mountains from this view point.   The offerings of coca leaves were to the Apus, or individual mountain spirits that protected the people who lived below them. 

The 3 mountains they would make these offerings to were; Huayna Picchu (the iconic peak in every photo), Putucusi (on the other side of the Urubamba river, and the next peak over that was connected to Machu Picchu Mountain. Behind these 3 peaks were the entire cordillera, or the Andean mountain range, that went on for ever. You feel so small and in awe of the large greatness and power of these majestic mountains. 

It was quite fascinating the wide range of people that crossed our paths that day. In the early morning at the beginning of our hike, we got to see the sunrise. It was so beautiful. Right beside us was a small group that prayed a call and response prayer to the sun god Inti. 

At the "perfect picture spot" there were all these beautiful women dressed up to the 9's doing pose after pose. On the second day at the picture spot, there were 2 couples that got engaged and everyone started clapping and cheering. It felt like everyone was close friends congratulating the couple, but then I realized that most of them were probably strangers. 

At the end of circuit 1, when we still had the beautiful view of all the mountains, another group read from John 1:1-5 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..." It seemed perfect and right, and full.

That evening we had crepes for dinner, then changed into our swim suits and trekked up the river to the hot springs. A great ending to a great day.