Wanderlust

Gina. Arequipa, Peru.

The last day of the trek started out very early. 4 a.m. I have a newfound respect for my Uncle Ron for waking up at 4 a.m. every day to go to work. Steve and I were both grumpy when we got up. It was strangely hot in our tent the night before and we weren´t sure what types of bugs/animals were outside, so we didn´t want to open up the flaps. We got little sleep because of the heat and, for me, because my legs hurt so badly that it was impossible to get comfortable (and our tent was on a decline, so I kept slipping to the bottom!).

After a hasty breakfast we got cleaned up and went as a group to wait a half hour for the final checkpoint to open at 5:30. I guess there`s some desire to be the first ones through the checkpoint or the first ones to the Sun Gate, but I would have preferred to sit in the clubhouse for that last half hour rather than standing in the dark with all the other hikers.

As soon as the gates opened, we were off. It was hiking in the cold, dark, foggy night for about another half an hour (still on stone steps, so it was a bit treacherous) until it got light enough to see without our headlamps. The path was okay–not too strenuous which was a relief that early in the morning. As we hiked along and it got lighter you could really see just how foggy it was. It was more like being in clouds than in fog, really. I could see all around me just fine, but if you tried to look beyond the path out to where I knew there was a canyon and mountains, you couldn´t see anything. I guess we probably were literally in the clouds since we were so high up.

We reached the Sun Gate after a final upward push (one section was such steep stairs that you had to crawl up it being extra careful that the person in front of you was far enough in front–or above, really–that you didn´t run into them or get stepped on if they faltered). This was to be our first view of Machu Picchu (the ruins, not the mountain. We´d seen the back of the mountain the day before). Nothing. We saw nothing but a white all of cloud. It was nice to take a little break and eat some cookies, but I can´t describe how disappointed I was. I´d suffered through 3 days of hiking and sleeping on the ground and my tummy being upset and I got a whole lot of nothing.

We hung around there for a little while for everyone to catch up and get rested, and then we continued down to where the ruins actually were. We passed several shiny and clean tourists who had apparently arrived early at Machu Picchu and were walking up the Sun Gate. Poor fools. All that work and they were going to get a wall of white.

When we got close the ruins we passed a group of llamas who were resting and munching in the fog. I took a couple of photos and even posed beside one of them (they`re mean like camels, they spit). We continued on a little ways to the place where all the famous photos of Machu Picchu are taken. And again, nothing. Very disappointed, we walked all the way down to the base of the ruins where the buses come in in order to have our tickets stamped and pay to have our bags stored while we explored. We also had to abandon our trusty walking sticks as they aren´t allowed in the ruins (which is a shame because I´d become reliant on mine and the ruins are still all stone steps, and my legs were still pretty wobbly). We had a potty break and some snacks and began our tour.

Bonnet really was a very good tour guide. She was very knowledgeable about the ruins we saw, specifically, as well as the Incans as a whole. She never once faltered on any of the questions and her English was very good. As we started the tour (the Spanish only speakers went with Rossi) the cloud-fog started to slowly lift around the mountains and it was really lovely. I tried to get some photos of it, but I don´t really think they turned out that well. With the slow lifting of the fog, my spirits lifted as well. It might turn out to be a pretty day after all…

During the tour we learned about some of the theories surrounding Machu Picchu. It wasn´t discovered until well after the Spanish left and then by an America. Well, officially, it was `discovered` by a small boy who lived nearby and would play in the tangly woods that was obscuring the ruins. Only about ten percent of Machu Picchu has been restored, so it withstood time, earthquakes, and the takeover of the brush very well. It´s believed to be a resort area for wealthy people. There are farming terraces, sacrificial sites  (they sacrificed only llamas here, not children like in other areas), homes, and a Sun Temple where on the winter solstice and the summer solstice the sun would shine directly in one of two windows (depending on the time of year). They worshipped the sun, so a lot of the temples and other sites have similar neat things to do with the sun and the solstices. We were there very close to the winter solstice (June 24), but because it was so foggy in the morning we didn´t see the sun let alone any cool sun tricks.

By the end of the tour, the fog had almost completely lifted, so we were all excited about having time to explore and take photos on our own. The Peruvian couple very bravely decided to climb the nearby little mountain Wynapicchu. It´s the bump in the background of all the Machu Picchu photos. Steve and I decided to go up to the point we were at in the morning where we should have been able to see all of the scenery but couldn´t. By this time there were a good number of tourists, but we decided not as many as there would have been if it wasn´t the big festival day in Cusco.

It was hard walking back up all of those steps, and even harder to sit down and then try to get up again, but we had a nice time exploring and taking a lot of pictures. It turned out to be a beautiful day which I´m incredibly thankful for.

It was only around ten in the morning when we were set free to explore, and we weren´t to take the bus to Agua Caliente until 1:00 to meet the group at a restaurant and get our train tickets. We got a little bored, quite frankly, and decided to go to the town early and get some food. It was funny that we were bored. It wasn´t that it wasn´t a spectacular place, it was just that we´d spent four days seeing spectacular places and we were tired and hungry. We didn´t leave until around noon, so we still spent a good amount of time admiring.

We met up with the Dutchese on the bus to Agua Caliente–they had the same idea as us. They also were curious about the possibility of changing their train tickets since we weren´t scheduled to leave Agua Caliente until 6:00 pm! We did some quick calculations and realized that after the train to Ollantaytambo and then a bus to Cusco we wouldn´t be getting back to the hostel until after 11:00 at night. We decided to try to change our tickets as well which proved to be fairly simple and also very lucky for us.

We had to pay a little fee to change our train times, and we also had to rush through our goodbye lunch with everyone since our train left at 2:00 and lunch was scheduled at 1:30. I´ve never eaten so fast in my life (a really delicious omelet). But we said goodbye and tipped our guides and were off to our train with time to spare. The train ride was very slow but very pretty. We followed the river which I guess is also an alternative way to hike to Machu Picchu (and a much, much easier way by the looks of things–but not quite as historic). We decided to split a taxi from Ollantaytambo since taking the various buses would be very time consuming and only a little cheaper than the taxi. We said our goodbyes and exchanged emails and then were off our separate ways to take hot showers and get a good night´s sleep. Except for us things hit a bit of a snag. When we reached our hostel they told us that they had given our room away! We had specifically asked to have our room (or any room, really) waiting for us when we got back from the trek (which is a common thing in Cusco as a lot of people leave for Machu Picchu and then come back). But no room. I was so glad at that moment that we´d paid all the extra money to come home early. It would´ve been extra sad and scary to have to find a new hostel at 11 at night. Not only did they not have our room, but the boy had the nerve to try to ask as for money. Whether he was trying to say we hadn´t paid for when we were there before (we had a similar problem after we paid for the first night and they tried to charge us again for it) or was trying to get a tip for holding my book for me while we were gone (they supposedly had free storage–I´m just glad we kept my bag at South American Explorers´Club instead of the hostel) I´m not sure. But I just laughed at him and walked away. We ended up going back to Hostel Resbalosa, the first place we stayed with the beautiful view. We got our same room and a friendly smile and recognition from the owner. It´s really a nice hostel. The only reason we changed in the first place is because we wanted a kitchen to make our own food). It was nice to be back, though. Someplace familiar after weeks of unfamiliar places.

Now that it´s been a few days, I can honestly say that the trek was worth it. After a couple of days my legs stopped hurting and I washed my clothes and have taken a few hot showers. I feel much more rested and able to look back on the experience fondly. I´m even considering doing another trek in Colca Canyon now that we´ve moved on to Arequipa. I think I´m nuts.

Tags: Liz´s Explorers, Machu Picchu trek, Peru

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am and is filed under Peru. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.