Wednesday, July 25: Machu Picchu Day 2
The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. Breakfast at the hotel was from 5:00 to 9:00. The first bus left for Machu Picchu at 5:30 a.m. We wanted to be on that bus because we wanted to get up there early to enjoy the site before the crowds got there. They usually arrive on the train from Cuzco around 9 or 10 and leave by 2:00 p.m. We had also heard that sunrise over Machu Picchu was beautiful. Finally, we wanted to have time to do as much as possible before our train left at 4:20 for Ollantaytambo.
We had breakfast, checked out, and walked to the bus station. We had bought our Machu Picchu entrance tickets the night before. I waited in line while Kitty bought the bus tickets. Two busloads of people were in front of us, so we didn’t get on a bus until well after 6:00 a.m.
A GUIDED TOUR OF MACHU PICCHU
While we were waiting in line for the bus, I saw the woman who had offered us a tour of Machu Picchu the day before. I saw her again in the bathroom, and again waiting outside the bathroom. I started to believe it was our destiny to have her as a tour guide. Kitty and I approached her. We explained we had seen the site yesterday, and we were interested in seeing only certain things we hadn’t found on our own. We agreed on a price of 100 soles. For a group of two, that was $15 a person.
She introduced herself as Esbet, which I assumed was a variation on Elizabeth. Then she explained a rock protuberance as “mala” restoration. I confused the Spanish word “mala” (bad) with the Russian word “mala” (small). After Kitty corrected me, I laughed at my mistake and then explained to Esbet why I was laughing. Esbet in turn told us that her aunt loved Russia and that was how she got her name. “Esbet” was actually the shortened, Spanish version of “Svetlana.”
Esbet started our tour at the colcas, and pointed out that the aqueduct we had seen the day before was also the dividing line between the agricultural and religious sectors of Machu Picchu. We saw the Royal Mausoleum, two tall, smooth slanted rocks with jagged crocodile-like teeth inside which sacrifices had been made. We also saw the ceremonial spring and the temple to the air. The Incas paid respect to the four main elements—sun, air, water, and earth.
Our next stop was the Royal Chamber. We saw the space where the king’s bed of grass and llama skin would have been laid. We also saw the royal bathroom, which was strictly for bathing.
We went to the Temple of the Three Windows again. This time we learned that the windows reflected light onto a stone with three angles cut on the left (the world above, the present world, the underworld) and three angles on the right (past, present, and future). At noon on the winter solstice on June 21, the light shines through the window and the shadow from the rock contains all six angles perfectly. During the rest of the year the shadow is not as clear.
We also went to Intiwatana and the Temple of the Condor again (without taking the scary path down the mountain from Intiwatana). We walked with Esbet to the main entrance and gave her our money. Kitty and I both felt we got our $15 worth of information.
THE HIKE TO INTIPUNKU
Kitty had a friend who had been to Machu Picchu and had said that she would have liked more time to walk around the back part of Machu Picchu. Kitty interpreted that as meaning we should take a little walk to Intipunku, the Sun Gate.
We hit the bathroom (since there are no bathrooms inside Machu Picchu itself) and took a walking stick we had seen near the entrance. At first the guard wasn’t going to let us in with walking sticks, but we explained we needed them because we had knee problems. That was totally true for Kitty and true enough for me. Plus, we had seen people many people carrying hiking gear in.
It was now 8:45. Esbet had told us it would take 3 hours to hike up to Intipunku and back. That would give us plenty of time to go and come back, eat lunch at the Sanctuary, and get the bus back down the hill. Maybe we’d even get a massage or do some more shopping in Aguas Calientes before our train.
We walked up the same path we had taken the first day. We asked a woman if she knew where the entrance was to the Intipunku trail. She told us where, then told us she had heard it was a rocky trail with no guardrails or coverage. Kitty agreed that we should still at least walk a little bit of it.
Our first sight was llamas. These were an unexpected surprise, and they walked right in front of us without showing or inspiring any fear. Turning back around, I could see the Funerary Rock (a memorial to Hiram Bingham) and the guardhouse. Walking ahead, I saw a series of small stones stacked on top of each other. They reminded me of prayer stones I had seen in Korea; I’m not sure what they were for here.
About an hour into the hike, we caught our first glimpse of the Sun Gate, two tiny stone colums in the distance where two mountain slopes meet. There was something closer that looked like the Sun Gate, but that was not it. (I later came to believe that this first gate was actually a temple).
Twenty minutes later, we made it to that temple. As we wondered whether to continue on, two boys stopped on their way down from Intipunku. They said it was maybe “15 minutes” to the gate. But they were probably talking about how long it had taken them to get down from Intipunku to that point. It is faster going downhill then uphill. And they were in much better shape than we were.
It took us another hour and a half to get from the temple to the gate. Along the way we often had to stop to rest, take pictures, and enjoy the mix of excitement, fear, and mild altitude sickness as we climbed to literally dizzying heights. Sometimes I’d look out from the trail and have to lean back against the rock wall behind me to be as far away from the edge of the trail—and the drops—as possible. A couple of times I thought we’d give up. Then someone would come down the mountain and say it was “close” or “only another 10 or 15 minutes”. The real last 10 minutes were the worst. The rocks were at their highest and narrowest, and had the most exposure. Even though I could see the gate, I was beginning to wonder if it had been worth the two-and-three-quarter hour journey up there.
At the top there was a cool breeze to refresh us from the hot, humid, and sunny climb. The views along the way and at the top had been spectacular. I now believe we were meant to and determined to get to the top of that mountain; if we weren’t we wouldn’t have heard those low time estimates and wouldn’t have walked on even though deep down we had suspected those estimates were not accurate.
After about half an hour of resting and taking pictures to record our achievement, we started our descent. Again, our first ten minutes down were the most frightening. The steps were high and seemed to want to lead us literally and figuratively over the edge. Once we got past that, though, it was a pretty smooth walk down hill. It took us less than an hour to get to the turnoff for the Guardhouse and the Funerary Rock. To see those sights we once again had to walk up high, narrow steps. Our “5 minute” stop there turned into 20 minutes.
LUNCH AT THE SANCTUARY LODGE
We made it back to the main entrance of Machu Picchu at about 1:30 p.m. That was just enough time to have lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge. This is the only hotel located on the grounds of Machu Picchu. A night’s sleep there costs nearly $1000. A gourmet buffet lunch is a mere $28 a person. It was the perfect way to relax and cap off our visit to Machu Picchu. The highlights of the meal for me were: trucha salmonada (trout that looks and tastes like salmon) mousse; elderberry cheesecake; and free bathrooms (Machu Picchu has the audacity to charge 50 Peruvian cents to use the ones outside the entrance). The lowlight was looking in the bathroom mirror and realizing that not only had I gotten sunburned on the trip, I had a white stripe between the red where my water bottle strap had been.
LEAVING MACHU PICCHU
We got our passports stamped at a tourist office just outside the entrance. A little after 2:30, we got in line for the bus to Aguas Calientes. Kitty was still a little nervous about the drops on the bus route. For me, being in a bus with windows and a good driver seemed relatively safe after our hike. As we got off the bus, we saw groups of other people whom Kitty said must have been just arriving. I felt like I had just gotten off a roller coaster and was watching others get on. They were in for quite a ride.
Tags: guide, hike, machu picchu, Peru, Travel
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