A must-tick box for all who visit South America, Machu Pichu. And as I found out after 5 days of hiking, it has great reason to be.
Myself, Will, James and about 27 other gringos signed up for a 5 day trek across the Andes Mountains to a height of 4600m, down the other side into dense, warm Jungle and over to Aguas Calientes, a town at the foot of the site of Machu Pichu.
Day 1 & 2 were spent hiking up from a small mountain village to a pass on Salcantay Mountain. A stunning snow capped, formerly glacial (pre global warming) peak that reaches around 6200m. We scaled to a height of 4600m, as illustrated above, the highest i´ve ever been on land. It´s hard work hiking uphill on rocky terrain at this altitude, and after 11 hours straight on day 2 we were all feeling it.
Day 3 saw us descend into the Jungle on the other side of Salcantay, passing some extremely remote villages and following some pretty sketchy cliff edge footpaths alongside a picturesque river.
Day 4, more of the same, equally stunning Jungle, some dodgy roads and a hike along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. The train is the only way to access the village other than on foot.
Day 5 was the big day, the highlight and it way exceeded expectations. Overlooking Machu Pichu is a mountain peak called Huainapichu. An additional part of the village site accessed by a tretcherous single width footpath that ascends to the top. Every day, only the first 400 people at the gates (or who want to) can scale this beast. So, we got up at 3.30am, to get to the base of the steps ready for the gate opening at 5am. Along with a few hundred others, as soon as the gates opened, the race began. The entrance is at the top of a few thousand stone steps, ascending roughly 600m. In the pitch black, headtorches on, it had to be one of the toughest early morning challenges I´ve ever tackled. But, all in our group who wanted to, made it.
Upon entering Machu Pichu at around 6am, the sky was lighting up and it was instantly clear to see why the city had been built here, in such a spectacular location. Fitting in snugly to the Inca beliefs of the heavens (Condor), earth (Puma) and hell (Snake), with the heavens being the ultimate spot to reach and the mountains of Machu Pichu bringing the people closer to this.
When we had got some energy back from the initial hike, it was time to scale Huainapichu. As scary as it was incredible, this was an epic hike. Reaching the top and sitting on the narrow peak with sheer drops all around, the feeling of space was incomparrable. Scattered with more ruins that highlighted how sacred a spot this was, looking down on to Machu Pichu you can roughly make out the design of the shape of the city, in the form of a Condour in flight.
Descending the thousands of stone steps was pretty tough, especially as by this time the midday sun was beating down. We spent the afternoion in Aguas Calientes, eating and drinking a few cold beers before hopping on a 2 hour train ride back to civilisation... followed by another 3 hours on a bus back to Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, and now a tourist hub.
