Peruvian Inca Adventure: A Magnetic City

 October 11, 2024

Approaching Machu Picchu!

The haze in the sky somewhat hampered our view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate.  It was visible, but a bit hazy and too far away to see well.  From there we made our way down towards Machu Picchu along a trail with a few other smaller ruins.  But for the most part we were keeping our eyes towards Machu Picchu which was getting closer.  This looking towards Machu Picchu thing was really not a good idea because you needed to watch your feet too.

Along the way I took many photos and for the most part this post will probably be mostly pictures and less story.  

This short story is something that amused me, but seemed to be less amusing to others. I had set my backpack down briefly to get something put something in it. A little while later I noticed that the magnet that attached my water hose to my pack had soil magnetically attached to it. There must be iron or something metallic in the soil around Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu Soil

Machu Picchu has multiple circuits that tourists can take.  Your ticket determines which circuit you take.  Since we hiked the Inca Trail to get there, we got to visit the Sun Gate which few others get to.  And then we got to take the Panorama Circuit, which is the circuit where you get all the great panoramic views of Machu Picchu.  

After getting all our photos, we headed down to the main gate to enter Circuit 3.  With this tour, provided by Ronaldino, we got to visit the Royalty sector of Machu Picchu.  

Walking along the terrace wall.  What you can see here are are stairs sticking out from one terrace to another.

Huayna Picchu is the mountain in the background.

After walking into Machu Picchu’s Circuit 3 gate, we walked across the terraces that made up the agricultural center of Machu Picchu.  Up on one of the terraces we got to sit down for a bit while Ronaldino gave us another history lesson, this time about the discovery of Machu Picchu by American Hiram Bingham in 1911.  Of course Bingham didn’t really discover the “Lost City”, as it was still known by those who lived in the area.  He did however, bring wider recognition to the site by “rediscovering”. At the time it was "found" much of the village had been swallowed back up by the forest. There were trees and plants covering it (go look up photos of what Machu Picchu looked like when discovered).

Ronaldino telling us about the Machu Picchu.  He was 23 and very passionate about hiking and teaching people.  He tried being a porter when he was younger and realized it wasn't for him, but guiding was something he loved.

The terraces of Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu is likely not the actual name of the site, but is widely recognized as the modern name for it.  It means “Old Peak” in Quechua, which was the language spoken by the people known as the Incas, and is still spoken by many (including our guides) today.  Technically speaking, “Inca” was only used to refer to the ruler of the Quechua people.  So basically it was like “King”, but now all the people the Inca ruled over are considered Incas, so it would be like all the people a king ruled over being called Kings.  Today, they believe the site was actually known as Huayna Picchu (also the name of the large mountain that stands behind it that you see in photos), but it is too late to change names now.  Machu Picchu is believed to be a royal retreat for the Inca.  It is unknown exactly when it was abandoned, but they are sure the Spanish never made it Machu Picchu because of how much of the city still stood.  It is likely that citizens of the city either died by diseases introduced by the Spanish and brought there, or they abandoned the place when the Spanish started their conquests in the area.

We went through the building where the Inca would have stayed.  He was the only person at Machu Picchu to have a private bathroom and toilet.

Doorway to the Royal Toilet

We also visited the Temple of the Sun.  Ronaldino said you could tell how important a place was by how well it was built and what type of stones were used.  Well-crafted stones with straight edges that lined up perfectly were used for the most important buildings, namely the temples.  Buildings of medium importance had well-built, but not perfectly aligned stones, likely flat, but not all the same size.  Things like terraces didn’t need perfection so they were built of irregular stones.  Anyways, the Temple of the Sun was built perfectly with well-hewn stones that lined up.  In fact, it if you remember correctly, on the winter solstice, the sun will rise directly through the Sun Gate and straight into the window of the Sun Temple.  Ronaldino said he’s been there to see it.

The Sun Temple - Notice the nice stonework?

Terraces and their irregular stonework.

Housing with their rows of stone, but not perfectly fit together.

The perfect stonework of the Sun Temple.  Not even a piece of paper would fit between these stones.

We climbed up a bunch of stairs (Please! No more stairs!) and looked across the square to the Temple of Three Windows.  Then we headed a little further down to the Sacred Rock and the entrance to Huayna Picchu Mountain where half of our group was heading to hike up more stairs and get a view of Machu Picchu from a different angle.  Mom and I did not get tickets to do this because I felt we’d be done with stairs by then and would be more interested in the tour of Machu Picchu (I was right).  The Sacred Rock was a flat rock in between a could of buildings, carved to match up with the mountains behind it.  It was pretty neat to see how close it was.  

More steep stairs 😭

The grass was starting to turn green.  Remember we were there in September, which is their March.

The Sacred Rock near the entrance to Huayna Picchu.

Temple of the Condor is named due to the shape of the rocks.

We passed by the Temple of the Condor, which is in the shape of a condor (a sacred animal to the Inca).  After that we started to make our way out of Machu Picchu.  After we left, we had about 15 minutes to chill before taking a bus down into Aguas Calientes.  The road traversed by the buses is an insane series of switchbacks.  Only 4 days later, a bus went off the road and fell about 30 ft to the road below, injuring a load of people. 

A section of Machu Picchu getting worked on.

Work being done on the Temple of the Three Windows

The part of the group that did not climb Huayna Picchu.

A local resident.  The llamas at Machu Picchu ended up there thanks to a beer commercial shot there in I believe the 90s.  They were left there because they make great lawn mowers.

Down in Aguas Calientes we had about an hour to wander the city before meeting back up at a restaurant with the rest of our group.  Those who had climbed Huayna Picchu were obviously not with us as they had some climbing to do instead.  They did arrive at the restaurant for one last “family” lunch.  Then we headed to the train station to catch our ride back to Ollantaytambo, where we got on a Alpaca Expeditions van to take us back to Cusco.  

Upon arrival in Cusco we experienced the first of a few travel snafus.  I had booked a hotel near the airport, since we had already experienced Cusco and had a flight out in the morning.  A driver from Alpaca Expeditions drove us to the hotel.  When we arrived there was no one there to answer.  We waited a bit and then the driver called the hotel.  The owner said he was on his way.  We waited and waited and eventually about 30 minutes later he showed up.  Our driver was amazing and stayed with us the whole time.  Putting us back in the car when it was apparent he wasn’t going to be there anytime soon, which was good because it was not on a well lit street or anything.  He actually ended up calling 2 more times to make sure the owner was still coming.  Eventually he showed up and got us checked in.  Mom and I then enjoyed nice long showers and started the process of repacking our suitcases.  Our hiking clothes were extremely stinky after 4 days of hiking and sweating.  We packed them in some plastic bags and they didn’t see the light of day again until we got home.