Peru: Machu Picchu

And there I am (/was): Machu Picchu!!

The magical, mystical, spiritual Inca town that is seen as the most important place for them…well, seen by ‘us’ as it is the ‘Lost city of the Incas’, the one the Spaniards did not find and therefor did not destroy…(actually, the Saksaywamam (‘Sexy Woman’ 😉 ) site just out of Cusco was the true most important site for the Incas, and that one got for 80% destroyed by the Spaniards…)

Day 14, Lares Trek to Machu Picchu

As I wrote yesterday; on Day 4 of the Lares Trek, we took the first bus from Aguas Calientes and were among the first 50 people to enter Machu Picchu on Saturday (at 6am). A truly amazing experience to walk around at one of the New7Wonders of the World, being constantly amazed by the the fact that the Incas made these structures between the 14th and 15th century, without the help of any modern tools, while still able to lift stones weighing more than 15 tons (!!) and shape/polish them so precisely that no mortar was needed to keep the construction in place!

We got an early morning history lesson by our guide Hector, who deconstructed some myths around the Incas at the place he believes was an University city for the Incas. After that we got the rest of the day off to wander around and we decided to hike up to the Sun Gate to see what we missed out on (not that much) by doing the Lares Trek instead of the Inca Trail. I also had entrance to the Machu Picchu mountain (after which the Inca site was named) which proved to be a tough hike to 3082m, coming from 2430m. The hike was especially tough since the entrance closes at 11:00am while we arrived 12.05pm, uhhh. We talked our way in (the fact that it was a lady behind the entrance-desk helped 😉 ) and promised to be back before 2pm, as the mountain would ‘close’ by that time. That meant less than 2 hours for the hike up and the rolling down. As most people use between 2,5 and 3 hours for this, we knew we were up for a challenge! Well, we kept our promise with 3 minutes to spare and made it in a whopping 1h50 (!) which includes 10 minutes at the top to enjoy the view, take pictures (and catch our breath 😉 )…oof, I think I lost 5 kg weight in sweat! 😉

All in all a breathtaking day, being there gave me a lot of energy!

 

 

 

The Lares Trek team:

 

 

 

Our guide Hector:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do I have hanging between my legs?! 😉

 

 

Sexy Llama at the top of the Machu Picchu mountain: