Machu Picchu
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2008
1
5
Trip End
Oct 20, 2008
Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, Peru
Sunday, October 18, 2009
It's an amazing place. Ruins everywhere. Mountains everywhere. No way to explain it other than to tell you to look at the pictures. We took a guided tour and then headed over to check on the availability for climbing Huayna Picchu peak (the big one towering over the city in all of the photos). Unfortunately, the park service only allows 400 climbers per day. Tickets were sold out, but we managed to find a guy with one extra ticket. Mike graciously allowed me to take the ticket, and he headed out of the city down to the town of Aguas Caliente for a relaxing remainder of the day.
I set out for the hour hike to the top. It was very steep and required the use of fixed cables for support in some of the steeper sections. I've only seen steeper hiking in Zion National Park and on Half Dome. The view at the top was amazing (the main picture for the Peru blog is from the top of the peak). I spent thirty minutes on top and headed back down to the city, which by then was populated with all the lazy tourists who ride the buses into Machu Picchu. A city built for 500 was holding about 5,000. Tough. I've heard rumors that the government has tentative plans to place further limits on the number of peeps who can hike the trail and enter the city.
After another hour or so in the city, I caught the bus down to Aguas Caliente, and Mike and I were off to Cusco for our flight the next day. All in all, a great trip. I'm glad my cousin got to go with me, and I finally visited Machu Picchu.
