Machu Picchu

March 8, 2006-Peaks and Valleys
(Photos:Road to Urumbamba,
Macchu Pichu,
Trekkers,
Llama-eye view)

In case of fire or earthquake use stairs not elevators. Not every hotel room we have been in has that warning sign. A bigger issue for David is that he’s done with being treated like a second grader. Whenever we have a new driver or meet a new person Jesus has us say, “Buenos dias (or whatever the appropriate time of day), (fill in the name)” in unison.

I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time. We left Cusco by bus and will ride halfway to Machu Picchu before we switch to the train. The train ride is famous but by using the bus we get up later and can stop along the way. We drove out of town in a new direction and through a shabbier neighborhood than we’d seen. Jesus pointed out that in our country it’s status to live up high. Here the poor live high on the mountainsides. There are no roads and endless flights of steps lead to their dwellings. From the distance the hillsides seem scattered with the vertical lines of the staircases. Someone wanted to know the #1 health problem in Cusco. It’s pregnancy: too many young mothers and too many babies. Since the increase in tourism, AIDS and prostitution are becoming an issue.

We passed an Association of Textiles that studies lost textile techniques and Jesus pointed it out as one of the schools Grand Circle and OAT built for the people from the money we spend on our tours.

We had to climb to 12,000 feet before we could begin our descent to Machu Picchu. The countryside was primarily corn and potato farmland. Purple and white flowers of potato plants added a welcome touch of color to the checkerboard green fields next to jagged peaks. We were looking down into the valleys through the clouds. We had several stops for photo ops. Our private photographer, Judi, is doing quite nicely. At one place people were taking pictures of a filthy but adorable baby crawling along on the red clay ground.

As we approached the Sacred Valley, the town of Urubamba, and the Urubamba River the mountain peaks looked like the back of a T-Rex covered with short grasses and bushes. Shadowy remnants of old Inca terraces were barely visible. A slight dusting of snow remained on the highest peaks as the walls of hills closed in on us and the valley narrowed. One reason this valley was sacred is because it has a microclimate and they can grow two crops a year. The river tumbled furiously by in what Jesus called class “D” rapids. “D” is for dead. Waterfalls rained down from the peaks forming white ribbons. We had reached the head waters of the Amazon. Amidst all this beauty we stopped for a lecture on ceramics and an opportunity to buy. What a mood killer, but we did buy.

Inca Trek

We were close to the start of the Inca Trail that was used to access Machu Picchu. It’s 27-miles long and takes four days and three nights to hike even with porters carrying the heavy gear. Only five hundred people a day are permitted to hike.

As our highway turned to cobblestone, the toll road began. It took us to our blue and yellow narrow gauge train sitting right next to the Urubamba River. One and a half cars were filled with OAT tours. Our overnight luggage was precariously piled by one of the doors. Americo was traded for Ra as our local guide. Americo went back to Cusco with the bus and will meet us at the train when we return tomorrow. Our trip back is split train and bus again.

The rock and roll hour and twenty minute trip was in relative comfort. The seats were padded and we had “vista” view cars with high windows like in observation cars. Two stewards pushed an airplane type serving cart down the aisle distributing drinks and ham and cheese sandwiches on lap trays. The drinks were served in cups and the stewards had trouble with the sway of the train. Not all the liquid got where it was supposed to.

We followed the river as it widened and poured frantically over polished green granite rocks in its way. Bromeliads (air plants) clung to the stones making yellow splotches on the granite. At km marker 82 the Inca Trail began. We watched hikers slogging along the arduous path and rolled past a bridge built on the original Inca foundation.
Aguas Calientes

Our arrival in the tourist town named for its hot springs, Aguas Calientes, was unremarkable until they started unloading our luggage from the train. Since it was piled in front of a door the passengers stayed on the train until the exit was cleared. I looked out of the window to see the guides, including ours, tossing the luggage to each other like they were playing a game of hot potato. I yelled from the window to tell them that there was a computer in one of those bags. They looked sheepish and settled down. David had his CPAP machine in another bag. I’ve never seen such irresponsible luggage handling and was surprised to see OAT guides participating.

We’re in a cloud forest/rain forest and it’s easy to see how the site could have been hidden all those years. Even the river water here is green. The amazing thing isn’t how it stayed hidden but that it was ever found.

Walking Into A Poster

Public buses are the only way up to Machu Picchu. They take a serpentine two-way dirt road that’s wide enough for 1 ½ buses. There were several instances when we had to back up to let another bus pass. I was concerned that in backing up we would back off the mountain. Jesus said that they’ve only lost two buses in all the years.

To tell the truth I was disappointed when we arrived at the site. The first thing I saw was what looked like a stone construction tourist rest stop on the interstate. It could only go uphill from there literally and figuratively. When David was a boy he got a book called Richard Halliburton’s Book of Marvels. It told of all the wondrous places to be visited in the world. Machu Picchu was not in it. It had not become a tourist destination and it wasn’t very well known outside academic communities.

As we cleared the turnstile and walked to the approach we had to navigate a narrow ledge leading to a precarious path. All but three of us opted to use walking sticks. I was a non-user. I concentrated on keeping my footing and when I got to a wide enough area I looked up into the real life picture I’d only seen on posters of Machu Picchu. We were standing on Inca terraces facing llamas and the roofless shells of stone buildings stacked on rises like a pueblo village. The mountains shot up into the cloud cover. It looked like a Sugar Loaf Mt. Convention.

On July 24,1911, Hiram Bingham, a Yale scholar “discovered” the site. He’d been looking for Vilcabamba the Last City and stronghold where the Incas retreated before their fall. The Spanish mentioned that in their Inca Chronicles written in 1537. Vilcabamba is ten miles from here. Bingham stumbled over it earlier and didn’t realize what he’d found. Ironically, a farmer told him about Machu Picchu, which means Old Mountain. Because he was working with the National Geographic Society he got permission to go back in 1912, and begin excavation of the Lost City. He finished in 1917, and promised to return all the artifacts he took to the U.S. in ten years. The Peruvians are still waiting.

Why is the site sacred? The Urubamba river and many water sources are near; mountain tops are near the heavens; many temples were built here; mountains offered protection; it’s in the last mountains in the Andes mountain bridge; it’s hard to see from the valley; the Spanish never found it to destroy it.

Theories abound as to why it was abandoned. Some said there wasn’t enough water, but there are underground springs; natural infection may have killed off the residents, but a strong leader could have quarantined it until things stabilized. It cannot be checked since there were few remains of residents. The vegetation took over within three months of its abandonment and after a few generations no one remembered where it was or that it existed for sure.

After our history lesson we continued walking and climbing like mountain goats (or llamas). Tourists are permitted to climb anywhere and I’m concerned for the preservation of the site. The steps are uneven due to those that were restored. Inca steps are quite high and we learned that the ancient Incas were taller than the Indians today. They were probably 5’8”-10”. A gentle rain began to fall as we gazed out at the two sections of the ancient town. We were able to see the original drainage system at work as water was shunted to the stone conduits and down the hills. Like European towns, one part of the village was devoted to housing and one to agriculture. As the rain stopped we looked back to thatched roofed two-story restorations of some houses with outside staircases leading to the second floor and saw that a rainbow had appeared. It spanned the valley below and hovered over the town.

There are too many temples to recount and I ran out of steam with all the scaling of terraces and steps. There’s no evidence that these buildings were covered with gold. I’ll mention the Temple of the Sun. Round in shape, it was built upon a naturally occurring crack in a rock. It has the requisite altar and the double doors (inner and outer) that mark it as an important place. The two windows marked the solstices (winter-June 21 and summer Dec. 21) and the equinoxes (Sept. 23 and March 21). Remember, it’s south of the equator. More sacrifices took place on Dec. 21, since they thought the sun was disappearing and had to be coaxed to return.

The sundial with its flat-topped altar at the astronomical observatory was impressive but its placement and the placement of a diamond-shaped rock representing the Southern Cross was astounding. Jesus borrowed a compass and showed us that their corners lined up perfectly with North, South, East, and West. Then to drive home his point of the Incas brilliance he had us all stand in a large roofless room with lots of niches. We put our heads into the niches and hummed. The entire place vibrated. Our energy was distributed and grew as our humming got louder. I could have stayed there much longer enjoying the throbbing sensation. And then Jesus cell phone rang. It was so jarring and out of place I wanted to throw him over the side. After all, Ra could lead us back to the bus.

The Incas had it pretty easy here. They found the granite on site and didn’t have to transport it like they did for many other constructions. As we were leaving it occurred to me that Machu Picchu might be contemporaneous with the Taj Mahal. I looked it up and the best guess as to when Machu Picchu was built is mid-1400’s. The Taj Mahal was completed in the mid-1600’s. Two hundred years is a long time but the Taj is light years ahead of Machu Picchu. Although it’s architecturally impressive, the sophistication of Europe and Asia outstripped North and South America and made it that much easier for them to be vanquished.

The day ended on a humorous note. We missed our siesta and are exhausted. We had a quick dinner at a restaurant way downhill from us, of course. On the way back I was so intent on watching a baby take her first steps on the steep incline that I missed the turn-off for our hotel. Fortunately someone called to me or I would still be walking. I don’t know the name of where we’re spending the night.

Our room is very basic but clean. We have shelves and our closet is hooks and hangers on the back of the door. The bathroom fixtures seem newer. Of course there’s no heat. I shivered as I got ready to shower but there was plenty of hot water. Once I was under the wool blanket and comforter I was toasty warm. Hopefully the goat that has been serenading us will sleep well so that we may too.

Tomorrow we tackle the climb to the Sun Gate. It’s 11/2 miles long and uphill all the way. Jesus says that we’ll take it slowly, slowly. It will take three hours. At home we walk a twenty-minute mile. I’d say that we’ll be walking extremely slowly tomorrow.

Toby