Peru: Day 6 (aka Inca Trail: Day 4)

On our last day on the Inca Trail, we had to get up at 3:30am. At least we were treated to cake at breakfast, along with all the usual goodies:


We were in line at the checkpoint before 4:30am, with only 2 or 3 groups ahead of us. At 5am, the checkpoint opened, and we were on our way. It took over an hour and a half of pretty fast hiking for us to get to the Intipunku (aka the "Sun Gate"), but as a result, we got there in plenty of time to see the sunlight creeping towards Machu Picchu:


I took a billion pictures in the twenty minutes that we spent there, and then realized afterwards that time-lapsed video would probably have been more effective. Oh well. Here's one closeup:


It took another 45 minutes or so to walk from the Sun Gate to Machu Picchu. We stopped a few times along the way, to look at some interesting rock formations, and to take some photos as we approached the site itself.

It was a little strange arriving at the entrance to Machu Picchu. There were tons of people, a restaurant, bathrooms (with toilet paper!), baggage storage facilities (where we were forced to check our trekking poles), etc. Generally, it just felt like there was too much infrastructure, and there were definitely too many people, many of whom looked like they just stepped out of an air-conditioned bus.

After a quick snack outside the gate, and some creative rearranging of our daypacks (Raul advised us that bags of a certain size were not allowed inside, and in fact some people ended up having to check their packs), we finally arrived at Machu Picchu.

For the first hour or two, we continued to follow Raul around while he showed us the important sites and gave us historical background:


After that, we were on our own. Raul gave us our bus and train tickets, instructed us on how to get to the stops and stations, and then we said goodbye to both guides.

I think we all felt a little lost without Raul and Edison, but despite that, we spent another hour or so wandering the (very large) site.

Many of the walls in Machu Picchu have been restored, and indeed we saw some people working on restoring the Temple of the Sun:


I think this particular wall had been left as is on purpose; I don't remember seeing another crumbling wall anywhere else:


The mountain in the background is Huayna Picchu. If we had wanted to climb it, we would have had to run from the Sun Gate to Machu Picchu, in order to be one of the first 400 people in line to buy a ticket. We decided not to bother, and spent our time enjoying the sunrise instead. I think in the end we were all quite happy with that decision:


There were some nice valley views, too:



As we were walking around, we spotted a chinchilla! Unfortunately I had my wide-angle lens on at the time, but Tina managed to snag this shot:


Around 1:30pm, we decided to head down to the town of Aguas Calientes, as we were all starving. It turned out to be about 20 minutes away, via air-conditioned bus. Upon arrival, we went directly to the Apu Salkantay restaurant, where our duffel bags were being stored, and decided it was simplest just to eat there. Their thin-crust brick-oven pizza was quite good (or we were very hungry), and their dessert crepes weren't bad either.

After lunch, some of us decided to check out the famous hot springs. We were unfortunately quite disappointed, as the pools were crowded, lukewarm, and not entirely clean. We spent maybe 30-45 minutes there and then showered and left.

Generally, the town of Aguas Calientes was too touristy for my taste. At first I thought the marketplace looked fun, but we soon found out the prices were ridiculous. So, we walked around and checked out some of the squares and shops, but didn't buy anything:


Our train was scheduled to leave at 7pm, so around 6pm we went back to the restaurant to grab our bags, and then headed to the train station. The station served both the local train and the backpacker train, but there were separate entrances. It was interesting to notice how the local side was crowded and not very well maintained, while the backpacker side had a waiting area with a deli and pretty decent bathrooms.

When we got on the train, we discovered that somehow we'd gotten put on a Vistadome train (one level up from backpacker). As a result, we even had food service on the 1.5 hour ride; a sandwich, a piece of apple cake (pie?), and hot tea. The train took us to Ollantaytambo, where we caught a Llama Path bus back to Cuzco.

We arrived back at our hotel around 10:30pm, after having to walk several blocks with our luggage, due to some kind of street fair in the Plaza de Armas. After re-checking in (D and I got a much nicer/bigger room the second time around), we decided against more dinner. Instead, we took nice long hot showers, and then hung out watching TV, checking email, and catching up on news, before going to sleep.

After nearly four days of camping, it felt really great to be clean, comfortable, and in a bed. Nevertheless, we all agreed that it had been an unforgettable, challenging, but awesome experience, hiking the Inca Trail.