Peru 2005: Day 8 — Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes

DAY 8: Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes

Brutal Awakening

I don’t really remember being human at the hour we awoke (I think it was 4:30AM). We had opted to join the pre-dawn group so as to get an early start on the day and our leaders wanted our bags red-tagged and in the lobby. Breakfast was at 5:00am, and we were to meet to walk to the bus at 5:30-ish so that we could get to the front gates by 6:30. It sounds about as painful now as it was then (although they did have bacon at breakfast).

This was to be another day in which we wouldn’t see our bags (or a hotel room) until late that night. It was dark as we stumbled through the grounds of the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. During breakfast we ran into Monique and decided to hang out with her. Monique (remember the day 4 drama) was just starting to beat down the bug-in-her-stomach and she was looking much better at this point. On the way out the hotel that morning, I managed to grab a pre-dawn shot of the restaurant (where we had dinner the night before, breakfast was somewhere else that morning).

The group (about 10) of us began trotting towards the bus station. The other 7 in the group were headed up to Huayna Picchu that morning. Since they only let 200 people climb up to Huayna Picchu per day, it made sense for them to get an early start. The three of us were just hoping to be rewarded with some quiet time at the amazing archeological site.

When we got to the bus station, there already was a line queued up and we were looking to miss the first bus. Somehow, though, guide-master Harry “Potter” pulled some peruvian wizardry and managed to jump us ahead of the entire line. I did not recall seeing money change hands, and when asked about it later, Harry replied that he had simply done magic and that his friends call him “Harry Potter” (no joke, that was his answer!)

We arrived up at the main entrance at 6:30am and were stunned to see a throng of 200+ people amassed at the entrance. Evidently the Peruvian government had changed the opening time from 6:30 to 7:00 and had failed to notify people. This gave us a chance to hang out with our group buddies for a little bit and whine about lack of sleep and things like that.

At 7:00am, we clamored through the entrance. As I’ve already mentioned (in day 7), Machu PIcchu is best viewed early in the morning or late in the afternoon. It is quiet, peaceful, amazing and amazing (worth 2x of that word). You can grab awesome pictures, navigate and explore and not have to wait for tour groups to get out of your way. I am glad we got up at 4:30…our suffering was worth it.

Morning in Machu Picchu

Here is where I bore you with pictures.

From the lower guard house that morning we could see Huayna Picchu. (Here’s the same shot for fans of The Steph). You can see the lower terraces of urin Machu Picchu, which we walked across in the morning calm. Looking back at the lower guard house with no people in sight. Totally worth it.

And that’s about when we stumbed across THE SQUABBIT of Machu Picchu. Squabbits are a mysterious race of alien creatures (part squirrel, part rabbit) that thrive off the energy emanating from the intihuatana stones. They eat crystals and live forever. This particular squabbit was shy, and we had to sit still for 5 minutes to coax him out of his secret space ship entrance way. Warning: it’s got big teeth.

Permitted to pass, we marveled at the fountains still flowing after 500 years. Notice how the Incas cut right into the bedrock to make this water channel. Amazing.

Another benefit of being early is that the three of us got to clamor around the Condor completely undisturbed. Monique is seen here peering under the condor’s right wing towards a back room. With nobody around, we got a clear shot (max wide angle) with Steph at the apex of the condor’s wings. The condor’s body is the carved bedrock in the front. You can see the head (and eyes) with the semicircular stone representing the frills of the condor’s neck. The wings are two solid pieces of (unmoved) bedrock. This represents a wonderful example of the Incas modifying while being inspired by their environment.

From the condor, we wandered upwards towards anan Machu Picchu. Looking back again, we could see the central plaza and Huayna Picchu. There was one tree in the central plaza, and the sun lit it up beautifully that morning. Fans of Steph and/or Monique will like this one.

Temple of the Sun

We had gone “across town” to get to the main temple, the temple of the sun before anybody else could get in our way and destroy our photos. The Incas believed in permanence and built their important structures on top of solid rock. The windows high up on the wall each have 4 stone pegs. Presumably something was hung from these pegs so that on the summer/winter solstice the shadow cast on the intihuatana inside would align perfectly with a carved feature. Amazing (that word again), deadly accurate, and in a land of earthquakes, the Incas proved their worth by building a temple on solid rock with an alignment stone of carved bedrock. We were not allowed to get any closer (or go inside), since crystal-loving spirtualists (and squabbits) have been taking pieces out of the intihuatana.

Below the temple of the sun is a “cave” of sorts. We heard a few possible explanations for the cave’s existence, and given Machu Picchu’s multifarious nature all of the explanations probably hold water. The exit/entrance hall to the temple section had its own unique section of stonework. It was clearly used as the one-and-only security entrance to the temple compound. How it was used, however, is a topic still up for debate.

You’ll also note that the stonework in this section is all perfectly cut….this is your signal that the Incas cared about this section of Machu PIcchu. And yes, I mean perfect. I, too, had my doubts about how well stones could be fit together. I, too, was certain it was simply guidebook exaggeration. Well, pictures don’t lie (no photoshopping, I promise) and in this case you can see what I mean. You couldn’t fit a razor blade between those stones, even if you tried (I didn’t). To make this wall even more amazing (key that word again) is the fact that the stones actually interlock together (something you need either x-ray vision or permission to hack apart the wall to see).

Nearby the temple of the sun lies the grand cancha of the sapa inca. Unlike the other canchas, this one clearly was special (hint: stonework). The 9th and greatest sapa Inca, Pachacutec (aka Picachu) was perported to have slept in the very same spot in which I chose to take a nap.

Personally, I’ve always preferred a cancha with a view. ‘Nuff said. Oh, and here’s another photo for those fans of Steph and/or Monique. Scatter-hopping some more, here is some kick-ass stonework. That hole that you see is carved out of solid rock and is only 1 inch in diameter. Most likely it served as a tie-down for a roof beam.

We had to meet up with the rest of our group soon, so we crossed the central plaza again and walked back towards urin Machu Picchu and the condor. While exploring around a carved bedrock slab, I heard Steph and Monique gasp and tell me to move “very slowly”. Evidently, my friend here, had decided not to take my head off (although he had come close). Perhaps he was hunting The Squabbit of Machu Picchu, but he was willing to pause for a second and let me frame a shot with Huayna Picchu in the background. Well, maybe he wasn’t hunting The Squabbit of Machu Picchu and was instead hamming it up for me.

Dana Street Roasting Company

So, a little background….there’s this local coffee shop that I have been going to for some time. They roast their own beans and brew the best coffee I have ever had (especially that Zimbabwe La Lucie! Tasty!). They recently started selling t-shirts and I felt it was time to start a tradition for them. This shot doesn’t give enough of a sense of place, though. This shot, while cool, looks back towards our campsite from 2 nights prior. While nicely framed and offering a greater sense of place, this shot still could be better.

Now this picture of Red in his Dana Street Roasting Company shirt at Machu PIcchu is so cool it deserves it’s own line.

In fact, that last photo came out so nice, I printed it up and expensive photo-paper and framed it and gave it to Nick (the owner) as a gift. It now resides on their front counter for all to ask “Is this photoshopped?”. AS IF! Cheez…

Back with our group

And so we re-joined our group and Professor Rick gave us another great (albeit short) lecture about the site. This was a frustrating part of the day, since moving a group of 30 peole around the tight confines of Machu Picchu is a very difficult task. We kept bumping into other (equally sized) tour groups and having to wait for areas to clear out. This was simply more affirmation that getting up at 4:30am was worthwhile.

The sun climbed higher and the day warmed up. This photo, as unbelievable and photoshopped as it may look, shows the impressive backdrop of the Urubamba River Valley with Elizabeth pulling foreground duty.

The group then continued up towards anan Machu Picchu where we walked among the boulder fields. One of the giant boulders up there happens to have the Inca symbol for snake carved in it (worn away, faint, but it is there). Our guides, Harry (Potter), Ruben and Miguel chose this as the rock for their global adrenaline album cover photo.

From the top of Machu Picchu, one gets to see several cool things. Off to the North side (the vertical cliff side) the Urubamba flows past. There is a scar on the hillside from a fairly recent (1,000 foot) landslide that buried the PuruRail tracks. PeruRail, seeing an excuse to terminate a not-so-profitable line of service, has since chosen to not fix the tracks and conveniently end the rail service at Aguas Calientes.

At the top of Machu Picchu, the style of stonework changes. There are a few structures (appearing unfinished) that employ the use of megalithic stones. These megalithic stones also have inset cuts in a style that is similar to the stonework found in Ollantaytambo and at Sacsayhuaman. This style appears to coincide with the twilight of the Inca culture. There were several impressive structures up there, and also evidence that Machu PIcchu is beginning to suffer the effects of time. The ground is subsiding and Machu Picchu is starting to either (a) split apart or (b) slide off the hill side. Perhaps in a few thousand years (when you are reading this for the second time) some of the stonework will finally have toppled.

There is a small intihuatana at the top/northern side of Machu Picchu. This one is shaped and aligned (to within one degree) like/to the Southern Cross. Too bad we couldn’t hang out there at night and check it out for ourselves.

From there we followed the spirtual lines towards the large intihuatana at the very top of Machu Picchu (what some call The Intihuatana). For whatever reason, this stone also appears unfinished (although many theorists have pontificated their theories on the shape of the stone). Steph had forgotten her crystal and neither The Squabbit of Machu PIcchu nor the buried Inca Alien Trail Treasure were able to provide her with one.

To avoid the crowds, our group trekked back down to urin Machu Picchu. With fewer “major sites” there were less people down in the lower section. One particular item of interest was tucked away and totally unmarked. Used for sighting one of the solstices (summer? winter? octoberfest?), the narrow tube is more than 10 feet long and only permits sunrise one day a year. Inside there is a small room with two polished rocks for reflecting the sunlight further into the room.

At this point the group split up and Monique, Steph and I walked up towards the Huayna Picchu entrance. From there we got ourselves stuck on the unfinished review platform looking out over the main plaza. The review platform is higher than the old one (low and across the way) and was being constructed by flattening a boulder field. Even its unfinished state, it offers an impressive view of Machu Picchu and Machu Picchu peak.

After re-tracing our steps (we were starting to get hungry and tired at this point as it approached 1:00pm) we went for a quick jaunt through the massive artisan cancha. We came across an interesting stone that appears to be cut in the shape of a person lying on their back. Does anybody know what’s going on here? I did not think the Incas carved represetational figures. There was no evidence of this type of work anywhere, so why 2 examples lying in the middle of Machu Picchu?

Lunch in Aguas Calientes

We were exhausted as we walked towards the bus station at the main gate. Leaving Machu Picchu, the end of the Inca Trial, you will find the final resting place for trekker bamboo poles. These most likely get re-sold (4 soles) at the start of the trail the next day.

Our final bus ride down was as nerve racking as our first. The three of us arrived in Aguas Calientes and from the bus station took the alley heading away from the river (this is the Alleyway coincident to The Upstream Bridge in The Town formerly known as Aguas Calientes). We were in search of a restaurant that was recommended as tasty (and safe) by 2 of our tour guides. When the alley dead ends, we took a left downhill towards the town square. On the corner on our left (river most side) stood the Pueblo Viejo. There is nothing unusual about this place (heck, we counted at least a dozen pizza places in the town), but it was a tasty place to grab a bite and I would have no problem recommending it. The beer was cold, the pizza was wood-fired and the company was superb (Matt & Jenn had also found the place).

After our lunch (pizza names of which I forget), we decided to stroll down to the town square and pay homage to Pachacutec (aka Pikachu), the 9th and greatest Sapa Inca. In the town square you will also find a few hostels, a tourist police headquarters and lots of gringos with cameras. Yup, it’s a safe place to hang.

We decided to head back to our hotel from the night before (the one which we had spent a scant 10 hours at) in hopes of doing the self-guided humming-bird (orchid, bushmaster) tour. We opted for the right-er most alley on the way back up to The Upstream Bridge in The Town formerly known as Aguas Calientes. This was a mistake, as we neither felt safe or comfortable in the close environment with loud teenagers bumping into us. Word of advice, stick on the main street and avoid the afforementioned alley way. Nothing bad happened, but the vibes were definitely there.

Back at the entrance way to the hotel, we were stopped by a dude with a clipboard. No, he wasn’t soliciting for handouts, he was checking our name against his uber-guestlist. We were not on that list, but he seemed to accept our English for “We just spent 10 hours here last night and want to check out your bushmaster, hummingbird, orchid tour.” Unfortunately, in spite of his pity, he sadly could not let us pass. The “self-guided” tour was at specified hours only and we were not on schedule. Boo-hoo…

Killing Time in Aguas Calientes

So, with an hour to kill, we turned around and walked (again) past the train, and then walked across The Upstream Bridge in The Town formerly known as Aguas Calientes. This time, we decided we would tool around that same alleyway (parallel to the river) and walk upwards towards the Aguas Calientes of Aguas Calientes (I think that is what the hot springs are called). I needed to get some more AA batteries (at an ungodly price, $1USD/battery) and we all needed some water for the train ride (con gas for me).

We saw some cool things on that little stroll in the sun. To recap the coolness in that short section of street:

Dogs. Cool dogs. Friendly dogs. But you’ll have to check out the Bonus Feature for more.

A shrine made of concrete with offerings to Jesus. Colored red with a unique style of offerings, it seemed vaguely buddhist to me.

Swim Suit Rentals (yup….1 soles) in case you felt that there weren’t enough bugs already in the Aguas Calientes of Aguas Calientes.

Kids playing volleyball in the street (with no cars). They were having a blast, too!

The one, the only, the incomperable Sexy Burger.

Amazing Peruvian Fusion Cuisine.

Drinks to wake you up served any time of day.

The Aguas Calientes of Aguas Calientes. Well, actually we didn’t really feel like paying the 10 soles for entrance to the warm bacteria infested waters (and risk ruining our clean rental swim suits).

All things tasty. Mmmm….dinner at the top of the menu.

And so with time running out, we ambled slowly back towards the train station. As we crossed The Upstream Bridge in The Town formerly known as Aguas Calientes, I nonchalantly pointed my optics upstream-ward. That last one should give y’all a good feel of the town and how small it really is. With the sun starting to go down over the mountains, I chalantly framed downstream Aguas Calientes and the Urubamba River. You can see The Downstream Bridge in The Town formerly known as Aguas Calientes in that last shot, as well as the bus pick up spot and about a half-dozen pizza joints.

After crossing TUBinTTfkaAC you land square in a little market. This market sits adjacent to the train station and offers a fairly good shopping opportunity while waiting for your train. Since trains don’t leave all that often, you’re better off killing time in this little market than cutting it close coming down from Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, the market in Aguas Calientes did not have nearly the values that we found in the Pisaq market. In fact, the values in Cusco would turn out to be better. While there, Monique was looking at wood flutes (for her brother) and the outstanding shopkeep gave her a 15 minute lesson to seal the deal. We found a cool deck of cards, but couldn’t justify paying $5USD for them and the shopkeep just couldn’t be talked down. However, we did manage to pick up a few “I am Inca Trail Survivor” T-Shirts.

All Aboard PeruRail

And so we entered the train station. Clean and nice with a small snack stand, we hung out while people smoked outside the station. The inside was crowded and our group preferred to cling together for the time being. While this map of TTfkaAC would have been useful to have outside the station (say on TUBinTTfkaAC) it’s still quite useful (for you now). You can see it’s a small town and the bottom chunk is made up entirely of the Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel grounds.

Once on board the antics sort of began. Seat swapping commenced (yes, they had assigned seats) even as the porters (recruited by the guides) were loading our luggage onto the train. The train ride was going to be 3 hours long and thankfully there was a (nice, clean) bathroom inside each car. As we got rolling, the guides handed out snacks that they had purchased for the trip (chips and other yummy goodness). Sitting by Ruben, Steph and I grilled him a little bit (about the bushmaster bite the day before) but didn’t yield much from that line of questioning.

The train ride was around dusk and we watched the Urubamba river rushing by outside the window. The PeruRail train from Aguas Calientes moves S-L-O-W-L-Y. We’re talking a top speed of 20-30mph (a blazing 60kph perhaps) with a significant side to side sea-sickness rolling shimmy. There were two (or was it three) tunnels early on and we did well to make sure our windows were closed and we were holding our breath to avoid inhaling the thick black smoke belched by the old diesel engine in front. As it got dark, we sat back and enjoyed the view of the high valleys and stars through the side and top (yes, top) windows of the car.

Somewhere, perhaps halfway, the train stopped (Ollantaytambo-esque station me thinks) and people got on and off. One of our guides ran outside to the station gates to pick up something (forgot what) and then ran back onto the train. After what seemed like a long stop, the train crossed the Urubamba and then headed up a different valley towards Cusco.

For some time, the lights were left off and we were able to witness the valley walls getting steeper around us, obscuring the star-filled sky. For some reason, they switched on the lights, yet we were still an hour or more away from our designated stop. Evidently, one of our group tried to ask the conductor to turn the lights back off, and the conductor (in a flurry of super fast spanish) came up to talk to Miguel and ask him to explain the situation. At that moment, I had forgotten (I had been warned) what this was all about.

An Abrupt Turn of Events

I was distracted mometarily by the train slowing to the stop (Oh, no…we were being hijacked in the middle of a desolate Andean valley). Then the train started GOING BACKWARDS! Was there something in the way? Were we falling backwards down hill to our eventual doom as we jumped track while going back over the Urubamba on a moonless night in September? Would a hero need to save the day (not it)?

Nope…the train was doing switchbacks. I kid you not. The train did about 6 switchbacks over the course of 15 minutes! It would stop and reverse direction, move for about 1 minute and repeat the entire process over. Miguel had to explain to me that (no hero was needed…he must have seen the panic on my face) the valley got so narrow and the train had to go up 10 meters, so instead of grading the track up the cliffside over the course of a mile or so (the Inca Way), PeruRail figured switchbacks were easier.

Oh, and to jump ahead, we were going to get off the train one stop before Cusco in Poroy. Evidently, the train does an hour of switchbacks between Poroy and Cusco (easier than building a tunnel, I suppose). An hour of train switchbacks versus a 15 minute car trip is a no-brainer to an intelligent tour group….(that’s us).

Back to where we were….just having finished (or somewhere in the middle of) the first set of train switchbacks, Peruvian music started blaring over the train cars loudspeakers. Then I heard laughter from the back of the train car and then I saw the Gimp. Not to be confused with StrongBad, or a Schtroumpf, this was one of the conductors dressed up as GimpaMan.

You see, although I had been told by several people, I had failed to recall until that moment that the conductors of each train car did a fashion show for the passengers. No joke (you thought the switchbacks were bad), the Gimp headed back (where the other 2 conductors were changing into Alpaca sweaters and scarves) and the 80’s cheese music started blaring. Yes….80’s cheese on a PeruRail train with conductors swaying their hips and spinning down the aisle in a fashion show. Who would of thunk it? Evidently, with our rowdy group in the train car (and the flirtatious guides whisteling), this was more attention than the conductors typically get….so they hammed it up all the more. Oh….and when it was all done, they wheeled the goods around ($90USD alpaca sweaters…not on your life….$200USD for one of them….as if).

Finally, the train exited the canyons and started travelling on a plateau. Ahead we could see city lights of Poroy, and the stop where we would be getting off. At the stop, there was this amazing lawnmower chained to a tree (think sheep) that made the deepest, hoarsest, smoking-induced Baaaaahhhh (sounded like Baaggghhhhuffff). Great for laughs, but I didn’t want to go wetting my pants. A quick pitstop at the train station bathroom (which incidentally was sparkling clean and had fresh cut flowers in vases on the countertop) and the group boarded 2 short-buses for the 15 minute drive into Cusco.

We arrived at the Hotel Novotel in Cusco sometime after 9pm with a free night. In case you didn’t laugh at that last sentence, you probably should have—remember we had rolled out of bed at 4:30 and the last thing on our mind was wandering around an unknown city in the dark looking for a bite to eat.

Turns out the room service was well priced and darn good! The ravioli alfredo was super tasty and Steph’s grilled cheese sam’ich wasn’t bad either. A few Cusquena beers from the mini bar and we found ourselves just shy of collapsing.

Of course, prior to collapsing, we had the unpleasant task of yanking out our wet and smelly trail clothes and setting them around the room to dry. Several items were portioned off to the side to leave for the cleaning crew (powerbars, water bottle, shirts and a few neuvo soles). Our full day in Cusco would have been a great day to have laundry done (professionally)–had it not been a Sunday. So, before I could collapse, I also had a small load of hand washing to do (lest I be left wearing underwear for the third time).

The beds in the Hotel Novotel were the best in Peru, as we were going to have 2 full nights there. Yippeee!

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