Choose another map, showing:

• Amazon
• South America (central)
• South America
• The World

Other entries in Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Wow, WOw, WOW!!

We just got back from our trek and how wrong we were about our preconceptions of the infamous Machu Picchu trek.  We REALLY were not excited about signing up to do this trek and almost bypassed the whole thing and took the train.  But we eventually signed up for the 4 day/3 night trek through the most amazing scenery and gorgeous landscape!

Our early morning bus picked us up at 6:30am and we drove for about 1.5 hours to the trail head of km82.  Here we met the 2 guides, cook and 13 porters for our entire group.  Normally this hike starts at km88, but we knew we were doing a slightly different itinerary where we would have to walk a little more on day one and day 2 and eventually arrive at Machu Pichu after about 45 km of trekking.  Here we were given our roll mats to carry which was a complete surprise to us because we were told that we would only need to carry our sleeping bags, clothes and any snacks we wanted to take with us, which already made for a big pack.  And these roll mats were not the top quality, light weight ones either.  So we reluctantly attached them to our packs with various straps and made sure to cover it with any plastic we had.....and they didn't smell very good.  Probably damp from the last trek, but now it was mine, bad smell and all for the next 4 days. 

The first day was a very easy day of only 5 hours of flat terrain through gorgeous farm areas, surrounded by mountains and Inca sites.  Our guide Carlos, gave the tour in both English and Spanish as our group of 16 consisted of 3 couples from Argentina.  The first night we camped in a small village just outside the Machu Pichu park surrounded by mountain vistas and forest that twinkled with the lights of hundreds, if not thousands, of fireflies!  It was an absolutely amazing site to see!  Being outside the park the first night was a factor that definitely made our tour cheaper since we weren't paying park fees this first night but we never lost out on the sites either, so it was a win-win.  Carlos informed us that our next campsite for tomorrow was behind the mountain range we were camping at this evening.  After a dinner of soup and trout with rice, we hit the sack at 8pm knowing that the early morning wakeup call of 5am would come all too soon.

Throughout the night the rain came and went and eventually we found ourselves starting our Day 2 in the rain, which wasn't surprising considering that this is the rainy season.  Our first stop was at the ticket control where we were checked into the official park area and took the opportunity to weigh our backpacks.  Mine was 10kg and Andre's was 15kg - no small amount.  We donned our rain jackets while others wore the infamous ponchos in various colors.  Surprisingly, after only 1 hour, the rain stopped and we continued on for the remainder of the 10 hour day in the cool misty weather.  This day, we passed by many Inca ruins situated in amazing pasteur lands and between a valley through the mountains.  Literally, the mountains shot up on both sides of our unmarked trail, a trail that was obviously not used by many tour groups and was overgrown with grass and other vegetation.  We had to keep stopping and looking behind us, because the views were stunning.   Our group were the only people we spotted for the first 2 days......very different trail than used by the normal 500 trekkers everyday.  The clouds were low in the morning but as the sun came up, the clouds burned off and gave us spectacular views of glacier topped mountains and blue skies.  Then came the ascent to Dead Woman's Pass.  What a name, huh?  WOW.  We were so happy that we had our walking poles with us as we watched others struggle on the upward trek to the pass at 4233meters.  Three weeks at the gym working my legs EVERY single day was a definite help as I quite easily humped myself past others on the trail and continued up and up and up!  The pass was beautiful and we just had to wait out the clouds that came and went every couple of minutes, each time giving a slightly different view of the valley below and the mountains all around.  Soon it was time for going down, down, down.  We walked about 1.5 hours to our lunch site afterwhich we had to walk down 3000 VERY steep stairs...... For the next 2 hours, we beat our knees to goo as we made our way to our next campsite.  This was where we met up with all the other groups that started from km88 and it was an extremely busy campsite.

We were lucky enough to have the 'room with a view' as our tent was high on a little hill and opened up to the mountain terrain just outside the doorway.  As the sun set, the small crescent moon gave way to a sky completely filled with stars.  We sat in our tent forever just gazing at the night sky without any distractions from light pollution.  What a perfect night.

Day 3 we started at 5am and made our way up the hill to our breakfast campsite.  Since the campsites were overflowing, our tent was put in a spot down from the main campsite so we had to make our way up to dinner, up to breakfast and then back up to the start of the trail.  The extra 106 steps was not fair after such a long 10 hour day!  Our trailmates started to complain about their 1 trip down the 106 steps to the toilets until they realized where we were camping......thank god for Ibuprofen and Tylenol!!

We soon started our way up another 45 minutes or so to another Inca site that looked down into our campsite from the night before.  Again, we had an amazing sunrise and clear skies and made sure to slather ourselves in sunscreen.  Everyone was looking forward to the end of this day as we would be coming to the end of day 3 and to a campsite complete with a bar and restaurant.  Some people started to crack under the stress of all the up and down trekking but everyone made it to our day 3 campsite.  Again, the sites were packed and our tents were set up outside the bar......nice but noisy!  We ran to the bar, bought our beers and went onto the deck to celebrate.  Tomorrow would come soon enough, but we knew it would be easier than yesterday.  With our 10 hour days behind us, and knowing that Machu Pichu was closer than ever, even our 4am wake up call would be wecomed as this would mean an end to a grueling, yet perfect trek.  Our dinner this evening was buffet style, with our chef trying to outdo the other chefs fom the other groups.  We had steak, chicken, beet salad, french fries, rice, pasta and wine.  It was amazing considering that our chef only had a 2 burner contraption that he made this feast fit for kings!

I think I went to bed around midnight, but Andre was apparently having a better time and decided that 2am and only 2 hours sleep would be ok with him.  At 4am, we got up, had breakfast and made our way to the next check point into Machu Picchu park.  BUT the check point doesn't open until 530am so we stood for another 20 minutes in line waiting and waiting.  That extra bit of sleep would have been amazing!  But soon enough we were on our way and with only another 2 hours of trekking we were happy to take our time.  We could see that the clouds we coming in and so Andre and I hung back to enjoy the last bit of mountain scenery before the rain came.  At the sun gate, we were greated with FOG....so we kept going.  Lots of people ran past us trying to get there before sunrise, but it was apparent that the sun would not be seen this morning.

The entrance into Machu Pichu from high above the site was really great.  The clouds were starting to move out as the sun became warmer.  We arrived around 7am and had another 2 hours before all the tour buses arrived.  We made our way down into the site where our guide spoke to us for 3 hours!  It was really fun and he was so full of information!  Then we were on our own until 4pm when we had to catch our train back.

Machu Picchu is such a humungous complex.  Seeing the site in postcards and travel shows never did it justice.  Even in the 3 hours that we walked around the place, it was apparent that we would not see the whole thing.  There were small rooms, little tunnels that I had to push Andre through so we could squeeze his pack into the small openings, there were lots of look off and places just to sit and enjoy it all to ourselves.  We wish that we had more time, or that we weren't completely  exhausted from our trek because we wanted to see so much more.

Our train ride home came all too soon and we had to say goodbye to all the amazing people we got to know from our group.  At the first, the language barrier kept the English speakers from talking to the people from Argentina, but after we got to know them, we realized they were an amazing group of people with a fantastic sense of humour and we miss them a ton already!  We all exchanged emails and hopefully we will keep in touch.  We realized how sad and depressing it was to travel with people and then have to say goodbye.......It made us miss our friends back home even more.

But what a time and an absolutely spectacular trek.  We are so happy that we did it!!!

Photos / videos of "Machu Picchu":