Dan Will Travel

Sunday I had a special limited access ticket to climb Machu Picchu mountain.  Obviously I did not fully research it.  The elevation gain is 3,608, far beyond my limits, particularly when you start at 7800 and need to get above 11,000, but I did not determine that until writing this.

And, adding to that it was totally in the clouds the whole way. Pea soup.  Well, at least until it turned into just rain.  For those of you that hike, have you ever been on a trail that never stopped going up at all?  Just up and up, mostly on steps. Cool that they were 500-800 year old steps, but steps none the less.  The guide books said allow 2 hours. I went 1:15 before quitting, so I will state that I was well over half way.  And no one can prove otherwise, right?  And the many 20 year old’s just kept going.

But, you can see I was able to shoot many great flowers while resting along the way.

The valley far below

Looks like a Begonia that we purchase at the nursery.

in the fog

600 year old steps. On and on they went, never ending it seemed.

Cannot figure out how to rotate on this medium, but this is a good shot of the never ending steps.

This is going to be difficult to write about.  For me, it is a similar experience to my first time seeing Angkor Wat.  You have it on your “list” for many years, and finally you get there, and it is better than all of your expectations.  All of us have seen the classic photos of the place, but I guess my main surprise is that it is larger in scale than I anticipated.  Amazingly well preserved, probably due to it being lost for many centuries.  And, that kept the Spaniards from looting it.

I opted to stay at the one small hotel that is here at the entrance.  Sanctuary lodge if you want to look it up.  The option was do it and work a few more years to pay for it, or take the bus up and down each day.  Nice room, similar to a chain motel room in the US, but the price does include everything.  When they see my beer consumption, they will be glad to see me leave!

All others arrive and depart via a bus system.  2500 per day, but they really do spread out so that it is not too bad, crowd wise.  My room looks right at the entry gate. You should have seen the lines at 6 AM, but by 3 or so it has pretty much emptied out.  For a place such as this, the Peruvians have done a nice job in crowd control. All arrive by train to the town in the valley and must take a bus up to the park.

Using a hotel guide, I hiked up to the sun gate (1000′ up with tons of steps).  The day was clear and the views were the famous ones we have all seen.   Then later we did 2.5 hours in the ruins themselves.  Just a few photos below.  If you know me, you know there are many, many others. And this is just day one.

The classic view

Same classic view, but from 1000′ above at the Sun Gate

Machu Picchu lawn mowers

Temple of the sun

A most perfect wall, 700 years old

Not something I normally do, but it was necessary to get these shots.

Yes, the ladies outfits are nice and the child is cute, but look at the baby sheep!  Sooooo cute.

Look at how each animal looks right at the camera. who says you cannot train llamas and sheep?