Inca Trail: Machu Picchu

 

Machu Picchu is one of the seven wonders of the world.  Visited by 1.5 million visitors each year, people from all over the world travel great distances by plane, train and then bus to be here.  Many are checking off bucket lists.  

During the week before hiking the Inca Trail, we talked to an older couple from Canada who had just returned from their hike.  We asked whether the journey to Machu Picchu had been worth it?  The guy laughed and said that the Inca Trail was amazing but not to fall in love with the idea that Machu Picchu was going to be some kind of climax to the hike.  

"It's amazing, don't get me wrong," he said.  "But it doesn't compare to the hike itself."  

We didn't really understand until we were standing at Machu Picchu.  In many ways, it wasn't different from the other ruins that we had seen:  just on a grander scale.  It did have a more colorful name.  Machu Picchu translates to "Old Penis." Most people in the U.S. also pronounce it wrong.  It's Ma-chu Pic-chu.

We were excited about the how it represented successfully finishing the hike.

We began touring the ruins at about 7:30 a.m.  The hikers had the entire place to themselves because people arriving by train/bus weren't allowed in until about 9 a.m.

We could have stayed there all day amongst the hordes of tourists. In truth, we were exhausted and didn't even last until 9 a.m.  As we left the control point, the first crowd of people from the early bus/train waited to get in.  We could hear their guides explaining that we had hiked the Inca Trail so had gained early entry.  There may have been a small measure of pride as our smelly bodies and grizzled faces shouldered through the crowd.  First stop was a real toilet.  Next stop was a beer.