Machu Picchu Trek

The mystery of Machu Picchu did not start in 1911 when Hiram Bingham stumbled on the snake-infested mountaintop citadel hidden by a vast tangle of vines and trees. This site on the steep summit overlooking the raging Urubamba River was always a mystery because only a chosen few in the Inca Empire were allowed to glimpse it. To call it a “lost city” is misleading – it was more like a sanctuary.

Machu Picchu means “old Peak”, and the higher Huayna Picchu (Young Peak), stands vigil over it. The site is accessible on the four-hour bus and train service from Cuzco or by hiking the Inca Trail. The area is semi-tropical at 900 meters (3000 ft) lower than Cuzco.

Machu Picchu was home to priests, high functionaries, craftsmen and servants and most importantly the mamacunas, or virgins chosen to dedicate their lives to the sun god. It was a city of streets, aqueducts where crystal clear waters still run, fountains and walkways. Even after Bingham’s discovery, the city remained inaccessible until the 1940s, where an archeological expedition working at the site discovered the Inca Trail cutting through the valley.

The mystery of Machu Picchu

The fate of this city’s inhabitants remains unknown. Spanish chronicles of the Cuzco area make no mention of it. Theories of its demise range from epidemics to suggestions that the occupants were ostracized and forgotten in the bloody political disunity sweeping the empire before its fall.

Excavations have only added to the mystery. The skeletons of 173 people were found, 150 of whom were women. No gold objects were discovered. At the tomb of the high priestess, a Bingham called it, the remains of a woman and a small dog were found with some ceramic objects, two brooches and woolen clothing. The woman had suffered from syphilis.

The magnificent architecture of Machu Picchu

Today’s visitors enter the ruins near the Hotel Turistas, but the only entrance to the city in ancient times was the narrow doorway at the southwest section of the citadel. The city’s cultivated land was farmed on narrow terraces on the steep slopes of the mountaintop, and the thousands of steps connecting them have survived for centuries.

Puyapatamarka (“cloud-level town”) is fascinating for its circular walls and finely engineered aqueduct system, which still provides spring water to the ancient baths. Along the road to Winay Wayna, a long stone staircase leads down into dense jungle. Tenaciously clinging to a steep hillside, the last set of ruins is also the most stunning. That something so complex was constructed in a ravine so vertical is almost beyond comprehension.

Hiking Machu Picchu

An hour away lies the jewel in the crown – Machu Picchu. To see it at sunrise, most trekkers stay at the rather precarious camp beyond Winay Wayna, where rainy nights are filled with the howls of campers trying to sleep in leaky tents. The high pass of Intipunku, the Sun Gate, provides the first glimpse of the fabled city. Arriving as the Incas did centuries ago, the trekker begins the final descent into Machu Picchu. However, the sheer number of visitors hiking up the trail (up to about 500 per day) to visit Machu Picchu has caused the tourist board to contemplate controversial changes, such as increasing the hiking trail fee and constructing a cable car from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu.

Lodging in Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu Luxury Hotels and Motels

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