Last Night in Cusco

• Posted by: Geo Kearley
• Comments: 1

We`re back from a four day hike on the Inca Trail, and the smell of us could have killed a pig at 50 meters. This did result in us getting great seats on the bus…

It was a fantastic hike of 45 km over 3 mountain passes (4200 m was the highest pass – the air was very thin, but it smelled thick in our vicinity…), past several impressive Inca ruins, up several less impressive endless sets of uneven stone Inca stairs, through cloud forest capped with glacial peaks, and finishing at Machu Picchu. We camped every night below the snow line and under the stars, and woke every morning to an incredible sun rise on the mountain peaks opposite us while the porters served us hot cocoa in our tents.

Did you know that there are only 123 distinct ecosystems in the world, and Peru has something like 74 of them? Wild orchids of every size and colour grew all along the trail, ferns that looked like miniature palm trees sprouted from cliffs, moss grew so thick on stone walls that you could shove your arm into it up to your shoulder and not touch the stone it clung to, miniature wide mouth frogs lived in this moss and chirped like birds all night. Clouds crept up mountain sides to reveal and then obscure ancient stone terraces and Inca foundations while stone and snow covered mountain peaks appeared as islands in the clouds all around us every morning, and overwhelmed us with their immensity when the sun rose in the afternoons. Waterfalls and streams ran down impossible cliffs to snaking rivers 4 km below us. Water was occasionally channeled by Inca aqueducts into terraced fountains, then disappeared again into unseen places…it´s amazing here…

The first day of the hike was a leisurely stroll through a river valley in the morning, followed by a challenging set of stone Inca steps (800 m of altitude worth of them…many members of the group were cursing the Incas in not – too – subtle ways well before they reached the first camp). The first night´s camp was set up just below the snow line on Veronica Peak (3800m.) in lama and alpaca territory (alpacas are like small lamas with a bad perm).

The second day was a hike up to the highest pass (4200m) then down 1000m to have lunch, then up another 600m of altitude to the second pass, then down to an impressive Inca ruin perched on an impossible peak before it started to lightly rain on our way to the night camp. It started to really pour when we got there, so we all sat in the dining tent and played backgammon with the lamas versus the condors on the board.

The third day we were woken up to the most amazing sun rise on the peaks opposite our camp (the highest peak in Peru – 6300m). The sun reflecting off the glaciers was almost blinding. We hiked up to the third and last pass, then past several impressive terraced Inca ruins down to our base camp. After lunch we went to explore one last ruin before we made it to the big one. We clambered over terraces and foundations and sat on the mountain side in the ruins and watched the sun go down as we ate popcorn and cookies (the porters are really amazing…)

The fourth day we were up at 3:30 AM to be the first group to line up at the control gate before the final leg to the Sun Gate above Machu Picchu. We had to hike for the first 40 minutes with our head lamps on in the dark, heeding our guide´s warning that some people have fallen off the right side of the trail to their deaths… We reached the Sun Gate first, only to be the first group to know that the view was completely obscured by thick clouds. We sat and waited for them to clear for about 20 minutes, and when they didn´t, we started the final 25 minute descent to Machu Picchu. About 3 minutes down the trail the clouds lifted and we got to see the postcard picture we have sent to everyone at home. It really is impressive and enormous. We simply sat and watched the clouds create various mysterious patterns around the ruins, until the sun finally burnt all the clouds off and we were allowed the complete view. There is no real way to see the entire site at once, it´s so big. We followed our guide through the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Condor, to the astrological clock, to the sun dial and through the houses of the nobility and normal people of Machu Picchu. It was amazing. The Incas were truly masters of architecture – the stone work of the temples was flawless in it´s joinery and consideration of earthquakes. Doors and windows lined up to exact east/west directional specifications to allow them to worship the sun and the moon. Water channels flowed underground, then appeared as fountains and disappeared again. Planting terraces were level and consistent in height and depth, and cut from impossible cliffs. Lamas graze in the huge central court yard… one of them broke down the enclosure fence while we were there and led the rest of the lamas into greener, tourist populated pastures. It was pretty funny to see a huge lama dragging a section of fence and a fence post with it while the rest of them followed into a crown of confused and startled tourists. A single lama that was trapped over where we were standing was obviously upset that it couldn´t find a way to join all of his escaped buddies, and made his frustration apparent by barring his teeth, putting his ears back, spitting, and making a run at our friend Brian. That was worth the price of admission to witness.

After a train mix up due to a national holiday (Peru´s Independence Day) and a train accident that happened when we were on day 2 of our hike (a train de-coupled and three people were killed)we are all back in Cusco and are getting ready to depart for the Amazon jungle tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who´s written us – we´re glad to hear from you. We´ll write again in a couple of days from Lima…

Noel & George

Post Information

Date posted :	Jul 29, 2004
Last modified :	Dec 24, 2007
Categories :	Peru, South America
Tags :	Cusco, Lima, Machu Picchu, Peru