Inca Trail Day 4 and Machu Picchu

Our final day of the hike began with a 3:30 a.m. wake up call and the now-familiar ritual of packing up our bags and stuffing our sleeping bags, along with warm water bowls and coca tea.

We had to get such an early start for two reasons. The one our guide stressed the most was that we wanted to be nice to our porters and allow them to get down to the town of Aguas Calientes in time to catch the 5:30 a.m. train back to Ollantaytambo. There are only 2 trains per day that allow large luggage and if the porters miss the 5:30 train they have to wait until 6:30 p.m.

The other reason was that the final government checkpoint on the trail opens at 5:30 a.m. and you want to get through the checkpoint as soon as possible after opening to start the 2 hr trek to Intipunku, the Sun Gate, in order to reach it at sunrise.

So after repacking all of the things we had taken out of our bags to dry the night before, putting on our wet hiking boots, and a final breakfast of pancakes with dulce de leche, we set off down the trail in the 4:30 a.m. darkness. After only a few hundred feet we reached the checkpoint and several other groups of hikers already there. We were the first group to arrive after all the seats were taken, which meant that there were 40 hikers in front of us and 60 hikers behind us (we passed some of the waiting time counting them). We spent some time identifying stars and planets using the Night Sky iPhone app while we waited the 1 hour for the checkpoint to open.

At 5:30 on the dot 3 park rangers arrived and started checking everyone's paperwork and we were quickly off down the trail in the dawn light. With 100 hikers all starting at the same time I was surprised that the groups quickly spaced out after some initial jockeying for position as faster groups overtook slower groups. Once everyone fell into their natural order it really didn't feel like the trail was crowded and you didn't interact with very many other groups. For the most part there was an air of excitement and anticipation since this was the final leg of our journey, and the trail wasn't particularly difficult since we were skirting around the side of a mountain, so there was little altitude change with some steps up and down interspersed with flat stretches.

The only bad attitude we saw on the whole trail though came just as we were about to depart an overlook where we had paused for a brief rest. Another group of hikers arrived at the overlook and a 40-something British man threw down his day pack in disgust and exclaimed "I am so over this. F#@k the Inca Trail!". We gladly left him behind and continued on our merry way.

One final obstacle before reaching the Sun Gate is a set of stone steps nicknamed the "Gringo Killer" which consists of very steep stone steps with tall rises and very shallow runs. They are so steep it is easiest to crawl up them on all 4s like you would teach a toddler to do. After the thousands of regular stone steps we had done I actually thought they were a welcome change of pace. When we reached the Gringo Killer steps, our guide Yawar pulled out his mp3 player and little portable speaker and started blasting Eye of the Tiger. Even though we couldn't take these steps Rocky-style, I was amazed how much the music really helped and made you feel almost triumphant going up the steps.

Happily climbing the Gringo Killer steps with Yawar blasting Eye of the Tiger

It was just a few minutes more hiking until we reached the Sun Gate, and the sun rose over the next mountain on this little stretch of trail.

Arriving at the Sun Gate

When we got to the Sun Gate, Yawar had the two of us close our eyes and hold onto his hiking pole. He then walked us through the sun gate with our eyes closed and positioned us perfectly on the other side. He then told us this was our wedding present as a reward for all of the hiking. We opened our eyes to see Machu Picchu spread out before us on a ridge part way down the valley.

First view of Machu Picchu!

Machu Picchu from Intipunku (The Sun Gate)

We spent several minutes at the Sun Gate taking pictures of Machu Picchu and celebrating that we had successfully completed the hike. Some of our group even got a bit teary and emotional that they had actually made it through.

While we were all basking in the feeling of accomplishment Yawar found an out of the way spot to sit down and check his email. He had cell reception!

It was another 45 min of hiking down to get to Machu Picchu, where we had to exit and check in before re-entering to explore the ruins. One the way down we stopped for the classic postcard view overlooking the city.

WE DID IT!

On the hike down from the Sun Gate to Machu Picchu we encountered the first non-hiker tourists we had seen in 4 days: day-trippers hiking up to the Sun Gate who had arrived at Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes that morning. We all noticed the clouds of shampoo scent and perfume wafting off these people as we passed. (probably best not to think about the scents they noticed wafting off of us at this point!). We were surprised at the level of disdain we felt for these day trippers who "didn't earn it" and "took the easy way." We talked about this with our group and everyone said they felt that way and I think we were all surprised by the feeling. It intensified as we got closer to the bottom and the tour groups started getting bigger and bigger and the people were wearing less and less suitable outfits and shoes.

We exited the park and checked in and took a break at the park entrance to have a snack, reapply sunscreen, and use the bathroom. We had to pay s/ 1 each for the bathrooms, which were amazing. I have seriously never been so happy about a bathroom in my life. There was free toilet paper (though you had to take it from a roll at the entrance) and about 12 stalls, with sit-down toilets with seats, and sinks with running water and soap. And mirrors! While waiting in line for the bathroom, A noticed that each woman hiker would come around the corner where she first got a glimpse of herself in the mirror after 4 days and do a little double-take before saying something about "oh is that what I look like!" C found an unusual line for stalls in the men's room of hikers and guides eager to use the nice toilets for "#2" after 4 days of squat toilets.

A bit refreshed, we re-entered the gates and checked our day packs before exploring Machu Picchu with our guide.

Yawar leading the way

Machu Picchu was pretty impressive with lots of stone houses, temples, and terraces carved into the hillsides.  Our guide, Yawar, took us to all the major sights and did a great job of avoiding the huge tour groups while telling us a lot about the Inca culture.

Yawar teaching us about Machu Picchu

At one point we all participated in the culmination of the ceremony we had performed on the first day. Yawar poured a little bit of incense oil in each of our hands and we all went into a little cave behind the Temple of the Condor were there was a little niche for offerings. We all left the 3 coca leaves we had each carried on the hike in the niche and thanked the Inca/Quechua gods for allowing us safe passage through the mountains.

Yawar demonstrating how a mummy would have been placed in the niche where we left our coca leaves

Some of the highlights of Machu Picchu included:

The round temple that has one window that the sun passes exactly through on the solstice and another window that the sun passes exactly through on the equinox so that a square of light falls on the altar.

The sun dial.

C at the sun dial

The Andean Cross where half of the cross is made from stone and the other half is formed from the shadow. Our guide wore a necklace of the Andean Cross which had some neat symbolism. The 4 sides represent the 4 states of the Incan Empire and the 4 cardinal directions. The 3 points on one corner represent the Quechua trilogy of the puma, the snake, and the condor and the 3 points on the 2nd corner represent the trilogy of the underworld, the human world, and the heavens.  The 3 points on the 3rd corner represent Love, Knowlege, and Work, and the 3 points on the 4th corner represent "Don't Lie," "Don't Steal," and "Don't Be Lazy." The hole in the middle represents Cusco - the enter of the Inca Empire.

The temple with niches to hold sacred items from sub-tribes as a way to ensure they wouldn't rise up against the empire. If your holy object is in the temple you are unlikely to attack because you might destroy your own holy object.

Temple niches (and some seismic shifting over the centuries)

The rock altar carved with the silhouettes of the neighboring sacred mountains.

This rock perfectly matches the silhouettes of the mountains

The Temple of the Condor which used existing rocks in situ that formed a shape resembling a condor and became a temple used for sacrifice.

Temple of the Condor

Plumbing - aqueducts carried water throughout the city and there were showers for bathing

Aqueduct flowing into a shower/bath

Houses built into the hillside so that the first floor walked out on the downhill side and the upper floor walked out on the uphill side (like many American suburban homes today!)

looking into the upper floor of a house - you can see that the other side of the house opens onto the street at the lower level

Llamas grazing on the terraces

Reconstructed storehouse that had large windows to take advantage of dry breezes to keep stores fresh.

We stopped and recorded video reviews of the trek for the tour company, which got us emotional again and all of the women in our group ended up tearing up a little (hey, it had been a tough and tiring 4 days). We then made plans to meet up with Yawar for lunch down in Aguas Calientes. He took off to go shower, shave, and do laundry in preparation for departing again the next morning to do the Inca Trail again with a 71 year old man. We spent another half hour at the ruins before taking the 25 min bus ride down to Aguas Calientes along hairpin turns down the side of the mountain.

The bus road from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes

The town of Aguas Calientes is reachable only by train and the train tracks are like the main street in town. We found an ATM and A stopped to switch to flip flops from hiking boots since her wet shoes were chafing a bit around the edges, before heading to The Tree House restaurant for lunch and to meet Yawar. The Tree House was delicious, if a little on the expensive side, and was a great celebration lunch for the end of our experience. A, C, and V (the 30 year old crew) stuck around after lunch to drink beers and pisco sours with Yawar while K and I (the 55 year old crew) took the opportunity to do a little more shopping.

Tree House Restaurant in Aguas Calientes

We said goodbye to Yawar and spent a little while a window shopping at the market before meeting up again to take the 6:40 train back to Ollantaytambo. We all promptly fell asleep (along with most of the rest of the train) for the 1 hour 20 min train ride back. A driver was waiting for us at the train station to take us the 1.5 hr drive back to Cusco in a van. C and V managed to sleep for the whole van ride too, while A, K, and I were kept awake by the antics of Peruvian driving and the race-car like maneuvering around corners and to pass or prevent people from passing. We all made it back to Cusco in one piece around 10:30 and were dropped off at our hotel.

The one piece of drama we had was that the luggage the porters had been carrying should have been dropped off at our hotel and was supposed to be waiting for us upon our return, but it wasn't there. We called the owner of Quechuas Expeditions and he said they couldn't tell whose was whose but they could drop it off at 5:30 in the morning if we could tell them which were ours, which we did, and it worked out just fine. We successfully got our big bags back from storage at Niños Hotel and checked back into our same room before collapsing into bed exhausted.