Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas

This time the blog post isn’t from Ecuador, but from the most popular destination in South America, Machu Picchu or also known as the Lost City of the Incas.

Machu Picchu  is situated in the highlands of Peru, near to a town called Aguas Calientes. The altitude for Machu Picchu is 2,430 meters. The view there is really magical and probably one of the reasons for the popularity of this place. Not much is known about the history of Machu Picchu. The Incas abandoned the site after the Spanish conquest, around year 1572. Only the locals knew its existence before Hiram Bingham brought the site to the attention of the western world in the year 1911. When Hiram Bingham entered Machu Picchu for the first time it was hidden under a dense jungle. Nowadays the site is highly restored and the buildings are rebuild, using the stones found from the site.

 

HOW TO GO THERE

• By train from Cusco or Ollantaytambo
• Hiking the Inca Trail. If you want to hike the Inca Trail, book months in advance, it’s really popular and the amount of people per day is limited.
• Alternative trek, for example the Lares or Inca Jungle Trip to Machu Picchu.
• Minibus to Hidroelectrica and walking from there by the rail tracks to Aguas Calientes, about 3 hours.

 

Inca Trail is the only trek that takes you straight to Machu Picchu and this explains the popularity of this trek. The path on the trek in many places is an original Incan construction. On the last day of the trek, you will arrive to the Sun Gate at the Machu Picchu, early in the morning. Booking a guided tour is obligatory and you have to do it months in advance, since the number of the visitors on the trail is limited to 200 per day. The trail is closed on February for cleaning.

If you want to take an alternative trek you can book a guided tour or also go by yourself if you are experienced trekker. I took an alternativeguided trek, the Choquequirao to Vilcabamba, to go to there. The Choquequirao to Vilcabamba trek was really nice with beautiful views, in total eight days plus two days for Aguas Calientes and the Machu Picchu extension. The trek route goes through few high passes, so acclimatize enough before doing this. For me the altitude over 4000 meters starts to make symptoms for altitude sickness, so few days of the trek went with a dizzy head. When I did the trek, I met only few people on the route, so if you like to enjoy the nature and silence I would recommend this for you.

PLACES TO SEE AT THE MACHU PICCHU

• The Sun Gate. It’s the place where the Inca Trail ends. You can also visit the Sun Gate at the site, but the Inca Trail is the only way to enter to Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate.
• Wayna Picchu. To go there you need to be at Machu Picchu early because they limit the number of the people there to 400 per day. Ticket to Wayna Picchu has to be bought separately and its 15$. Wayna Picchu is the steep mountain behind the archeological site, you can see it in the most of the pictures from Machu Picchu.
• Temple of the sun. A temple to honor Inti or the sun, is one of the ceremonial temples at Machu Picchu. The temple is famous for the stonework.

Machu Picchu mesmerize the visitor with the beauty of the nature, but you can see really beautiful landscapes in Peru also without visiting the site. To be honest the ruins it self didn’t really impress me. Sure the Incas were master constructors building the site in the high mountains, but the place it self felt quite like a tourist trap to me. Also during my trek I saw other really beautiful landscapes and two other archeological sites from the Incas, Choquequirao and Vilcabamba. My personal favorite was the Choquequirao, because with good luck you will have the place all just for yourself. To Choquequirao its possible to go only by hiking, but if you are fit its a place worth a visit.