Machu Picchu

Huayna Picchu with the town of Machu Picchu in the foreground

Machu Picchu. One of the Seven Wonders of the Tourist World? Or over-hyped?

The mountainsides are steep which means a slow drive up to Machu Picchu on a road with plenty of switchbacks.

Machu Picchu is located in the jungle, at about as high as the jungle can get before it stops being jungle.

Soon the terraces came into view.

And, soon, we were at the entrance to Machu Picchu.

Access is limited to prevent Machu Picchu from being destroyed from over-tourism. Guides are required because tourist do stupid things. They walk where they're not supposed to walk, off the well-marked trails. They fall off cliffs backing up to get that perfect selfie. And your precious time in the park is limited, again as a crowd management practice.

During high season, a tour of Machu Picchu has to be booked months in advance, High season is the Northern Hemisphere summer, which is also when it is drier in Machu Picchu, Cusco, and the Andean Highlands. The rainy season is the slow season, which is why I was able to book a trip a few weeks ago. One of the people in our group actually booked her trip the night before. That is not happening during high season.

Your guide will lead you on a tour of either Circuit 1, Circuit 2, or Circuit 3. Circuit 2 and 3 include the walking through the "town" part of Machu Picchu. Circuit 1 is the higher elevation walk, above the "town," where all the best photography viewpoints may be found. For absorbing the "town" part of Machu Picchu, Circuit 2 would be preferable. For getting the perfect photo, Circuit 1 is King.

We drew Circuit 1.

So this is me before I get all winded climbing up the mountainside to get to all those perfect photo spots because, as any true tourist-about-the-globe will tell you, it is much better to get the perfect photo than it is the perfect experience.

By the way, as an aside, any reference to "going high" and taking Circuit 1 is not a reference to the fact that I've had a few cups of the coca tea to deal with the altitude sickness in Cusco. It really does help. And you want to know what coca tea tastes like? Spinach. It tastes just like spinach. Not what I was expecting.

I am most definitely ready for my close up.

This is our guide Roy. Standing much closer to the edge of the cliff than I would were I him.

But I'm not. Not only am I away from the cliff's edge, I am holding on to this sign as if gravity itself required me to do so.

Looking over at Huayna Picchu.

By the way, most of the mountains here have "picchu" in the name. Machu Picchu is one, must less photographed moutain. Huayna Picchu, which translates to "young mountain," is another. But the whole place is lousy with picchus.

There is a structure visible in front that is believed to have been used by the Inca as a guard house.

Let's talk about some myths and realities about the Inca and Machu Picchu. The Inca Empire lasted for a little more than 100 years before the Spanish arrived in South America. It was not a long-standing Rome-style empire. The Inca had consolidated power only shortly before the Spaniards arrived, but, in their defense, they consolidated power quickly.

The Inca capital was Cusco. Machu Picchu does not appear to have been politically important, religiously important, or militarily important. It was at the outer edge, maybe even beyond the outer edge of actual Incan control. And it was built relatively shortly before the arrival of the Spanish. It may not have been even completed. But the lack of political, religious, or military importance is probably why Machu Picchu survived and, eventually, was lost for a few hundred years. It just wasn't a big enough deal for the Spanish to hunt it down.

 

And the lack of empirical importance is evident from the fact that it was a relatively small town. This was an outpost. It was not a key city in an empire that dominated the western half of the South American continent.

I am looking stern as I contemplate the fate of Machu Picchu.

So, yes, there is an element of the popularity of Machu Picchu being a triumph of marketing. It's not a mysterious and mystical "lost "city. It's a city that "lost" its importance when the empire of which it was a part collapsed.

And being "lost" meant it was not built over, as the Spanish repeatedly did to important political, religious, and military centers of the New World lands it conquered. The irony of Machu Picchu is this: If it were more important, it would not have survived for us to see it for it was in the late 15th Century, on the verge of Spanish conquest of the New World.

And it has llamas:

These, we were told, are definitely llamas because the "jungle" of Machu Picchu is too hot and humid for the furry alpacas.

Close-up view of llamas:

Would it have been nice to explore the town part of Old Machu Picchu?  Yes. But given the limited amount of time you get to see as much as you can by guide -- the alternative being over-tourism that means hardly anyone can enjoy it -- the top-down view did make for great photos.

So, was this one of the Seven Wonders of the Tourist World or just another over-hyped tourist magnet? Can it be both?

I present to you for your consideration, Machu Picchu.

I do have a theory about what the true purpose of Machu Picchu was for the Inca leadership. Read no further if you think this might destroy the magic and mystery. But it shouldn't. Machu Picchu is beautiful and extremely preserved because of -- not in spite of -- the fact that it just was not a critical political, religious, or military center. I also don't think it was a season getaway "country club" for the Inca elite, and some historians have surmised.

Given its location just outside the area of Incan control, I think it served as an intelligence gathering post for potential future conquests as all empires live by the inviolable rule of expand or die. Why else built it here? I know that answer is not romantic. There is no aura of mystery to it. And Machu Picchu does not need to mysterious and magical to have a reason to be. Being a well-preserved, well-maintained glimpse into a world from 500+ years ago, isn't that enough?

The Road to Machu Picchu

Train's on time.

The road is long. With many a winding turn. An overwrought pop song? Or the story of the trek from Cusco to Machu Picchu?

The first leg was by bus.

Not that bus. This bus.

The "many a winding turn" line clearly refers to all the switchbacks getting out of Cusco and then up the hill to Machu Picchu.

Then there was a train.

Not that train.  This train.

A blue PeruRail VistaDome, with glass roofs to see upward into the sky.

Which really isn't necessary because all the scenery you want to see you can see from looking out the windows to your side. You don't need the "up" view.

What, you may be asking, am I doing on the Road to Machu Picchu? You may remember me once saying that Machu Picchu wasn't really on my list. And it wasn't. Until I changed my mind. Which I did. So I went.

The train is the most common, most tourist-friendly way to go. Of course, you could hike the four-day hike along the Inca Trail that runs roughly alongside the train tracks which run roughly alongside the Urubamba River for the journey from Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley to the tourist town of Aguascaliente, the terminus of the rail line to Machu Picchu.

The Urubamba River looked very angry today.

I'm not sure if it is like this all year long or just the rainy season. This is, by the way, the rainy season.

The forecast was for a thunderstorms at Machu Picchu all afternoon.

These last few pics, by the way, were shot looking outside the window of the train car. That's usually not ideal, but it worked because of the amazing scenery, going from the desert-like environment around Ollantaytambo (you can see trackside prickly pear cactus growing a few pictures up) to the jungle area of Aguascalientes.

The travel from Cusco to Aguascalientes was a fairly major decent, going from the 11,150 feet elevation of Cusco, to 9,160 feet above sea level at Ollantaytambo, to a mere 6,790 feet for Agauascalientes. (We will re-ascend to 7,972 feet for Machu Picchu.) Essentially, we go from where altitude sickness is a major problem (Cusco) to maybe a little shortness of breath but no headaches or nausea (Ollantaytambo) to a problem-free elevation at the end of the line (Aguascalientes), with Aguascalientes being the elevation of Flagstaff, Arizona. And no one ever got altitude sickness in Flagstaff.

This is the tourist town of Aguascalientes.

 

Lots of bars and restauraunts, souvenir shops (usually selling stuffed llamas), and some hotels for people who have not scheduled a killer 16-hour one-day round trip to Machu Picchu from Cusco.

The final mode of transit will be another bus.

I love Andean flute music. Who doesn't. It is appropriately atmospheric for the journey from Cusco to Machu Picchu. But after listening to a steady supply of the atmospheric Andean flute on the bus and then the train, a change of pace was nice. This is what was playing on the bus when we started the drive to Machu Picchu.

Next post: Actually being at and seeing Machu Picchu. This post was just about the journey. And isn't that what's it really about it? Well, maybe not when you're talking about one of the world's major tourist destinations.