We woke on the fourth morning of our hike at 3:45 a.m. After gathering our things and eating a hasty breakfast, our bleary eyed group got on the trail at about 5:15. Just past the final camp, there was a checkpoint that didn't open until 5:30, so we had to wait. Since all 500 people who had entered the trail on the first day camped there as well, it was a long line; we were somewhere in the middle.
At about 5:25, the park rangers for the checkpoint walked down past the line. There was some scattered cheering and then the line began moving. We made it through in a few minutes, and we began making our way down the trail in the pre-dawn light.
It took us about an hour to reach the stone pillars known as the Sun Gate. The gate marks the entrance to the valley were Machu Picchu site, and offers your first glance of the sacred city. We walked up to the gate with hushed anticipation, and walked through to see...nothing. The sun had not yet risen and the morning mist was still heavy in the valley. The city was blocked by a white wall of cloud, so we, along with several hudred other hikers', sat down to wait.
Shortly after 6:30, the sun rose over the mountains behind us, and the mist began to lift. Slowly, at first, and then more rapidly, we started seeing the outlines of the famous terraces. Then, the clouds parted for a moment, and the city lay there, shining in the sun. It was as beautiful and as breathtaking as we'd hoped for. We sat there for a minute until the clouds covered the city again, and then began the 45 minute walk down to the city.
As we got closer to the city we began seeing people walking up the opposite way toward the sun gate. These were people who had come up that morning from Aguas Caliente, the town at the base of the mountain. Aguas Caliente is the last stop on the train from Cusco. These people had taken the train in the day before. They looked clean and smelled of shampoo. Each time we passed a group of them puffing their way up the trail, I felt a wave of irrational resentment. Not because they had gotten there the easy way, but because they had not gotten there the hard way. I could tell by the looks on there faces that, for many of them, this was just another tourist site. It would be hard for them to imagine the meaning and spiritual importance of this place. They could hear the words that, centuries ago, important people from the Inca capital of Cusco would walk here to take part in the summer and winter soltice ceremonies. That this place was intesely sacred to the Incas and was entirely devoted to the worship of nature. But, until these people had made that pilgrimage, and walked the trail, they would never understand. I felt privilaged to even have the chance to attempt to understand, and even then I felt like I just had the barest comprehension of the meaning of it all. If you have been there, and gone by train, I apologize if I have offended you, but I can only write how I felt.
We made our way down to the base of the trail. It ended at a terrace overlooking the city. This is the spot of many of the famous pictures you may have seen. We took a group photo, and some individual pictures, and then it was time for the city tour.
We rested for about a half hour, and then regrouped to enter the ruins. Hilbert and Valentine took us up the stairs of the city, and one of the first places we visited was the Temple of the Sun. Every Incan ruin has a temple of the sun, they are semi-circular rooms often with niches built into them. But here, they took it to another level. There were two windows in this temple. Each one was aligned so that when the soltices occurred, one in June and the other in December, the sun would shine a direct beam at sunrise through the window onto the alter inside the temple. These solstices were the basis for the major religious ceremonies and celebrations in Machu Picchu.
The city was full of tributes to nature. Below, you can see the edge of one of the walls. If you look closely, you'll see that the wall nearly exactly imitates the line of the mountains behind it. The incans worshipped the mountains, and this was one more way for them to pay tribute.
After the temple, we walked through the main square and up to the sun dial. This was the highest point in the city and was also where the Incas would sacrifice llamas, guinea pigs, and yes, sometimes humans, during their religious ceremonies. Human sacrifices were very rare, and when they did happen, the sacrafice was chosen from the nobility. It was considered an honor to be chosen.
There are stories of screaming victims being dragged from their homes. In fact, common people's children were never taken for sacrafice, and the practive was only done rarely and only during the most sacred ceremonies.
Just below the Sun gate, there was a large open lawn. It was kept short by a resident group of Llamas that were brought in every day for the tourists. They are kind of an endearing animal, and we couldn't help but to stop and take a couple of photos.
We wandered the city for a while longer, and then the tour ended. We left the group to go check in to our hotel. One couple was going to try to climb Waynu Picchu, the tall steep mountain that rises behind Machu Picchu. The authorities only let 400 people climb it per day, and that many had already been let through, but they were going to try anyway. I'm not sure if they made it through.
We spent the remainder of the day recuperating from the hike. It was strange to be back in a proper building again. It seemed unreal that several hours before we had been hiking down the trail. It took some time to get used to. Below is the town of Aguas Calientes, where the rest of the group left us to head home. We stayed an additional night.
The following morning we got up early and went back in to see the city again. We felt we had run through it before and wanted some more time to sit back and take it all in. We got up there pretty early, but there were people who were already there. There were three girls who looked like they had gotten there extremely early and took a nap while waiting for the sun to come up.
We watched the same mist show, but from much closer, and listened to music all morning. The first album we listened to was Billy Breaths by Phish. It seemed to match the mood perfectly, and we wanted to leave you with a few lyrics that fit well:
"It was blurry and green, outer space in between. With a depth and form unclear. Then we saw it up ahead...". - Scott
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