Peru: Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu

**WARNING** gratuitous picture post ahead ** WARNING**

Javier and I arrived late into Aguas Calientes, but were dedicated to our plan to get up early and walk our way to the ruins.  Our guide suggested leaving town at 4:30am in order to make it to the top on time.  Hikers used to be able to come and go as they pleased, but there was a 30 minute line to enter the trail when we arrived.  (Now you must show your ticket to Machu Picchu and your passport.)  Our two weeks in USA had drastically affected our midsections....(worth it) but our head torches made us look like professionals (compared to those jokers walking up by the lights on their cell phones).  The 'trail' is really more stairs....

here we are....starting the walk in the dark....

As I'm not up in time for sunrise that often, I grew increasingly concerned as the skies grew brighter, but Javier was confident that we would make it up in time to see the sun peek over the surrounding mountains.

We arrived! 

The ruins were pretty unbelievable.  There weren't many people around and the sun hadn't touched any part of the hill.
(Over the summer we had played a game where Javier had to name the most 'worthwhile' tourist attraction and he said Machu Picchu...to which some of the game participants were skeptical, but seeing this place that morning confirmed for me that he was 100% accurate.)

We found a spot to watch the sunrise.

First rays finding the guardhouse hill where we were sitting.

sunlight hitting the top of Huayna Picchu

cheesy times 10, but the light hitting the crevices of the ruins was beyond words

all lit up

This is the guardhouse.  The sun actually rose right over the mountains behind it to illuminate Machu Picchu.

Cabezas and the bright shining sun.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood.

I think I said it before, but I would recommend Machu Travel Peru for the sole purpose that they give you a private tour guide for your Machu Picchu day.  Since Kim and Guyon had our same schedule, we requested to go on the tour together.  If we had not made the request it would have been just me and Javier walking around with a guide.  If you ever make it to Machu Picchu and see the gargantuan crowds following guides with flags in the air you will realize what a treat this was!  

That said....some people will tell you that this sacred site is ruined because of those crowds of people and to them I say 'Nuh-uh!'  Yes, the crowds grew thicker as the day went on and yes, we sometimes had to wait for groups to pass to meander our way through sites, but if that ruins your trip to (in my opinion) the most awe-inspiring and amazing both natural and manmade exhibits that I have every seen, then you're missing something.

This is me just through the Main Gate.  (This photo was actually taken after our tour, because in typical me fashion I had to use the facilities after sunrise and pre-tour, but there is only one bathroom at the top of the hill mountain and it is waaaaay back where you enter the park...soooooo I had to run relieve myself as our tour started and catch up with them later...after they walked through the Main Gate. But Javs was nice and walked back through it with me in the afternoon!)

Temple of the Three Windows
Gigantic stones perfectly fitted to create these windows.  

Temple of the Sun with its circular walls.  The temple has two windows (you can see one in my pic) that line up so that on the December and June solstice, the light shines through.

Interesting fact...there is a whole team of folks constantly cleaning the lichen off of the stones of the ruins with water and toothbrushes.  Can you imagine their response at DC cocktail parties...'So, what do you do?'

looking from the sacred area into the secular area (where the plain folks lived...)

Oh yes, there are llamas that still roam the ruins.  

This is the Intihuatana, the most sacred sculpture in Machu Picchu.  There is lots of debate about what the massive stone was used for, but solar observation and ritual sacrifices make the list.  Some think it is a replica of the surrounding mountains and was a temple aligned with them (as the mountains were homes to Inca gods).  I will admit that this was the only place where I thought the crowds diminished our experience.  The stone is placed on a narrow top of a hill that visitors have to walk up to.  There is a guide there asking tourists to continue moving through to make way for the next round of visitors.  Therefore we felt a bit rushed and didn't have much of an option to take pictures...that said, this one turned out ok!

This large green square separates the sacred area (where all the temples are) and the secular area.

Temple of the Three Windows in the background.

This is the Temple of the Condor.  The sculpted rock on the ground is the condor's head and the giant rocks behind the head illustrate the bird's wings.  The sculpture is so massive that it was impossible to fit it in a single photo.  Crazy impressive and awesome.

NBD.  The fountains and hydraulic systems are still running pretty much perfectly (as the Inca's designed), carrying water throughout the city.

This is the Royal Tomb, theorized to at one time house the mummy of Inca Pachacutec, famous leader of the Incas and credited with extending the empire from Quito, Ecuador to Chile. The tomb is built right into a natural cave and includes smooth stone used as altars for offerings to the dead.

you can see some of the agricultural terracing in the right of this picture.  The terraces are built on almost all of the surrounding slopes and even more are being discovered today!

There are many additional hikes that visitors can take after exploring the city grounds: Huayna Picchu (which we were scheduled to do the following day), Inti Punku (Sun Gate), Cerro Machu Picchu (which is the actual mountain named Machu Picchu that towers over the ruins), and the Inca Bridge.  After our tour and the McKnight's departure we decided to spend the afternoon hiking to the Sun Gate.  The Sun Gate is where the Inca Trail dumps out on the Machu Picchu mountain.  It is through this gate that Inca Trail hikers will glimpse the ruins, after their 4 day hike, for the first time.  (I have to write a brief aside here....I really wanted to hike the Inca Trail, and still want to someday.  I was unreasonably super disappointed when we tried to claim a spot on the trail (they limit the number of hikers each day) and found it to be full for the season.  I still think it would be an awesome experience, but for a while I was worried it was the only Machu Picchu experience.  I thought if we didn't arrive via the trail, that I somehow wouldn't feel like I actually went to Machu Picchu.  This turned out to be 100% false.  In fact, watching the sunrise over the ruins was absolutely incredible and far beyond my imagination of the wonder that Machu Picchi would be.  Had we hiked the trail that experience would not have been my first one at this amazing spot.  Now, I am in no way saying that the trail isn't awesome in itself, but I am saying that our trip was truly unbelievable even without the trail.  Okay, that's it for my little aside...)

Hiking to the Sun Gate takes you away from the ruins to a far and high gate.  (Making this hike an uphill one.)

We arrived, somewhat red faced, at the Sun Gate!

The gate is so far that it's hard to even see the city in the background, at the base of Huayna Picchu.  But man, what a view!

When we finally returned to the city we agreed that it was time to return to Aguas Calientes.  I felt uber relieved that we were returning the next day to hike Huayna Picchu and see the ruins one more time.  Unfortunately, the afternoon is a busy time at the site, making the line to catch a bus down to the city many hours long.  We decided that since we survived walking up we could probably handle the walk down (even though we hadn't really eaten since our 4:30am start to our day and had walked all over the ruins and to the Sun Gate and back....can you tell I was a bit tired at this point?...)

But our walk down allowed us to take some pictures of the stairs in the daylight...somewhat precarious, no?

This was pretty much it...for an hour....mostly in the dark....after gorging ourselves in the USA for two weeks...

Our afternoon and evening were quiet.  We spent the time recovering from our physically exhausting day and preparing for another one the next.  But we were giving ourselves somewhat of a break by taking the bus up the next morning, saving our hiking legs for Huayna Picchu.  Like many other changes, visitors must now claim a ticket to Huayna Picchu ahead of their visit because the number of hikers is limited each day.  The park allows 200 hikers on to the mountain at 8am and another 200 at 10am.  If you miss your window (ours was the 7am-8am slot) you miss your chance to hike.  We were told that we should get in line for the bus around 5-5:30am to be there in time.  When we arrived to the bus stop in the morning the line was already 4 blocks long....

I tried to lighten this picture so you could see the line wrapping up the street...it was insane and still very much dark.

We finally got on a bus and through the park gate right around 7:30am which caused us to book it through the city ruins to where the Huayna Picchu gate is located.  Along the way we were attacked trapped by some territorial llamas which was awesome, but also somewhat scary....they spit after all...

in a sea of llamas...

When you enter Huayna Picchu you sign a log they use to track the visitors in and out (so that they ensure all tourists are accounted for when the park closes at night....comforting and yet oddly not....)

This hike included lots of stairs as well, but also gorgeous views of the ruins as we climbed.

We made it to the top! (Although it meant crawling through a cave and climbing a small ladder to get to the tippy top.)  The trail ends on a narrow peak covered in gigantic boulders.  One has been hollowed out to allow hikers a perfect seat for this picture.  To say I was nervous during this photo and the remainder of our time at the top would be an understatement.  In my old age, I've learned that I'm truly not a fan of heights (particularly when they are windy and provide no safe place to sit...)

I did eventually get up the nerve to climb up another boulder to enjoy the view a bit more peacefully.

But as you can see here...clung to its sides for support the entire time...

Javier is so much cooler more comfortable with the heights.  Doesn't it look like he is sitting on top of the world...

While the top was awesome, there are actually many spots on the mountain to stop and take some pictures of the spectacular view.  The hike wasn't too bad (much easier than the climb from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu) and 100% worth it.

When we came back down we spent a little more time wandering through the ruins.  We parked here to eat a snack before heading down and back to Cusco.  This ended up being one of my favorite pictures of our trip, with an awesome view of the city and Huayna Picchu.

I have been lucky enough to travel many places in this world, but I think it will be hard to knock this one from my 'Most Unbelievable' spot for a while.  As I said, it's this crazy combination of a miraculous manmade structure with the most phenomenal location imaginable that pushes it to the top.  If Machu Picchu wasn't on your list before, my recommendation would be to add it quickly.  It guarantees sites you cannot see anywhere else.