Day 13, Thursday, September 19th: Our Machu Picchu Day!!!

We both decide to get out of bed around 06:20 as we are awake and we can hear noise from people downstairs given breakfast begins at 04:30. While our guide told me yesterday not to rely on weather forecasts here the forecast is a high of 22 degrees Celsius with mostly cloudy conditions. As long as there is no rain and we have good visibility up top, we'll be fine. We both got a good sleep last night so that is a good start. 

What we think is our best picture of the two of us above Machu Picchu. We were soaked. 

This is our intrepid English-speaking guide Victor Hugo. Yes, that is his real name. The total cost for us inclusive of a very generous tip was $100USD. Worth every penny!

This is a photo of our return Bus Ticket that will be scanned at least twice both ways. We were closing in on the front of the line to board the bus when I got frantic as I could not find my bus ticket which eventually showed up in my jacket pocket and not in my backpack as I was trying to keep it dry from the rain. Yikes, high anxiety for about 2 minutes!

This is a photo of our Machu Picchu entry ticket that I purchased through a reputable Peruvian third party months ago. It will be stamped by a fellow while we are standing in line in Aguas Calientes and then scanned with our passport as we are at the entry point up the mountain. This is Lana's ticket as she kept her ticket pretty dry. 

We went downstairs for our complimentary breakfast and ensure we had some food in us. We were down before 07:00. We both had scrambled eggs and then choices from breads, fruit, cereal, juice, pastries and ham/cheese. Lana had a great idea to use some sliced bread and add avocado, cheese and ham so we could eat something if needed during our Machu Picchu experience. 

From this point onwards I will try to use MP for Machu Picchu. 

We have our backpack, Lana's umbrella, our tickets, passports, my journal and we hope the right footwear and clothing. You line up/queue based on your entry time for MP. Our entry time is 10:00 and we arrive at that sign around 07:40 and are the first in line! That sounds great, but is very misleading and we know that already. The 08:00 and 09:00 lines are monsters with many hundreds of people already in those lines and they will have priority over our 10:00 queue. In other words, they will load the buses with the earlier times first no matter what time you show up for your particular queue. We knew that in advance courtesy of friends and our guide. 

We are the very first in line for 10:00 entry! Dry right now too.

Yesterday, when I asked Victor about the weather forecast today he went into a diatribe about how you cannot count on forecasts in these mountains and just hope for the best. Much like our BC mountains and I am certain all mountains around the world. 

Interesting when people watching these incredibly long lines is they are comprised of all ages, body shapes, footwear, clothing, makeup, skin colours and I am certain persons from all over the world. Around 08:10 the rain/drizzle begins and out come the locals selling ponchos. What a great way to make an easy profit and help us out as the forecast was not for any rain. Also, it happens that where our line starts the locals start sorting garbage/plastic/metal/glass etc. right in front of us in huge bags. Not so bad except for the rotting organics!

By 08:52 the last person in the 08:00 line passed by us, but we are 1/2 way up this super long hill. Yikes, not too optimistic to make our 10:00 entry at MP. At 09:05 a fellow grabs our 10:00 sign and marches down the long walk to place it in the 09:00 slot as that line has moved over and is hundreds and hundreds of people long nowhere near the bus pickup. A fellow scans our bus tickets and another fellow stamps our MP entry tickets. Light rain now and I don't mean drizzle - this rain by Vancouver standards!

Poncho city! Money to be made here! Plus, check out the garbage bags in front of us.

We get speaking with a couple and their eight year old son from Santiago, Chile. They are from Argentina originally. The guy was a former Argentine Naval officer and has been around the world. They all speak very good English, inclusive of their boy. Plus, the wife gives me their extra poncho as she gave her son a better poncho. It is raining pretty good so I need the poncho and am trying to protect my backpack from being soaked. Fortunately, there is a stone wall that we could sit down. Lana has an umbrella and is fine and adamant that she is NOT buying a plastic poncho that makes everyone look like they're wrapped in jello!

OK, just to lead into Lana's video this is one of the buses that goes to and from MP. It carries 32 passengers.

Lana's VIDEO of the buses that transport Machu Picchu visitors up and down the mountain. They drop passengers who have done Machu Picchu lower down then drive up the street to turn around and head back to pick up the next batch.

While we were chatting with the couple and their son we were talking about the number of buses used to move these crowds. Victor had told me yesterday there were much less buses recently and did not state why. Well, the husband indicated that three days ago, one of these buses went off the road and many passengers were seriously injured, but no fatalities. After that occurred they needed to check on all the buses for safety and that would mean some buses were not road worthy. Hmmm, we did not catch that on the news, but we have not been following the Peruvian news sources. 

Lana's Newspaper article describing the horrific crash of one of the MP buses leaving the road and crashing September 16th!

I get a phone call from Victor on WhatsApp and he states he will send down a fellow tour guide to move us into the 09:00 line to save us a lot of time. Man, I hate queue jumpers, but here we are taking advantage of a local tour guide's moxie. We are now in the 09:00 line and it is really raining right now! Victor is with us and then he says we can walk down about 10 metres and join the same line. We think he wanted us to avoid the guy checking the bus ticket times as we would be caught. Yup, we move up and both of us are feeling pretty guilty, but happy we will board the bus much quicker.

We are on the bus at 10:43 so when you count when we were in the 10:00 lineup to loading the bus that works out to more than 3 hours. The last person on this bus is Victor who was way behind us. Obviously, the guides have pull so they can move up much faster and help their clients. First thing is take off your ponchos on the bus.

We learn this is the high season for tourists at MP. Today, they will have around 5600 MP visitors not inclusive of guides. I cannot use my journal to take notes of what I observe and what Victor covers so I use the iPhone Recordings App to speak and it saves what I say. Plus, it was my first time trying this and it worked pretty good. When we returned to our hotel room I listened to each audio and then made written notes in my journal. I guess I could have tried to type them in, but I need to coordinate with the photos.  

It is about a 25 minute bus trip to MP entry point. The road once we hit the mountain is gravel and very bumpy. So many switchbacks and hairpin turns. These drivers are amazing. There are two other options to gain entry to MP. One option is hiking from Aguas Calientes up the mountain on a path. The other option is to hike the Inca Trail with a guide. At least you avoid the incredible delays with the lineups for buses in Aguas Calientes!

We are physically through the MP entry gate and both pretty excited! It is raining so not the best weather start. As the time unfolds we are treated to an awesome day at MP! Circuit 2 is our best choice given you have great vantage points for photos and you can get access to the structures. We really appreciate this Circuit for these advantages. Plus, Victor knows all the best places for pictures! 

This is the official entry into Machu Picchu. As you can see there is nothing to see here. Bit of walk into the area and then you can see Machu Picchu. 

OK, before we share our hundreds of photos of Machu Picchu, I will provide some details we heard from Victor that won't fit with our pics below. Well, we don't have hundreds but more than fifty (50):

- Lana told she cannot use her umbrella during our Circuit 2 so she needs to get bamboozled by a fellow selling ponchos for an outrageous price 10 Sols, but she only has 8 so gets a deal. She's super miffed that she's a jello person LOL. 

- you walk for a bit and then come to some stairs and then around one corner voila you see Machu Picchu below!

- the Spanish Conquistadors had zero knowledge of this structure on top of the mountain, but for some unknown reason the Inca abandoned the site around the same time (apparently)

- nobody knows the real name for this site and it is called Machu Picchu as that is the name of the giant mountain to its South

- there are many speculations for the purpose of this place, but none are compelling in my opinion:

1.  built to house the Temple of the Sun as the temple position captures the Winter and Summer Solstice's sun rays each year in a special way so perhaps an Observatory for agricultural reasons

2. they have found a number of buried skeletons on the site with a composition of 60% female, 30% male and 10% children so they believe it was a female monastery

3. the Incan Emperor Pachacuti (1438-1471) built this for his family as a getaway from the capital of Cusco by being very remote and quiet

- on entry you get a lanyard with your Circuit # and they take it away 2/3 of the way up the stairs as their method of stopping guests from changing circuits or doing more than their paid for circuit apparently

- there is a natural spring above the site that provides fresh water 

- the famous Inca Trail runs from Cusco to Machu Picchu so took many weeks for the Incans to travel between these sites among the other stops in the Sacred Valley

- stone walkways are original Inca

- at 11:55 stopped raining and warmed up to the point I was just wearing my shirt

- many of the walls were to separate the agricultural tasks/spots from the residential areas

- simpler walls for Granary, but more complex/finely finished for residences and temples

- Professor Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu in 1911

- Incas had no writing system

One of our first photos of Machu Picchu below. As you can see it was raining and the cloud mists covering parts of the scene below. Lana is strawberry flavour, Randy is blueberry :)

There is MP!

One of the walls and terraces dropping below. 

Another angle. Unfortunately, still have cloud cover.

Granary structures.

Pic of MP below us although still cloud cover. 2430 metres above sea level.

One our favourite photos. 

This is a guard house that would protect MP from an invasion from above. Quite common in the Incan empire to have guard houses at all key points. 

This is a panoramic photo taken by Victor where he started at one point with us and then we walked around to the right to point to MP in the distance. Very clever. 

OK, the next three pictures need an explanation. Both the first two photos show how these features were expertly used by the Inca to lash a wooden barricade to the space. 

Great example of the terraces. 

This is an Incan "wishing well" for good fortune. The Incas threw cocoa leaves into a small cave. 

Much finer stone and workmanship.

Victor provided this photo from the MP archives. The photo was taken by Hiram Bingham when he first discovered Machu Picchu. As you can see the entire site was overgrown with bushes and shrubs. 

This is the "after" picture showing what Bingham and his small team accomplished in clearing and excavating Machu Picchu. 

This is the Temple of the Sun structure which is not in its original condition. As described earlier it captures both Solstice's in a unique way. 

Mostly residences. 

More steep terraces. Steep drop below. 

Mountain to the West of MP. 

Other mountain to the West of MP.

Residences. 

This is the stone quarry where our guide indicated all MP stones originated. The stone quarry is on the site itself. 

Coca plant in the new garden on site. There are wild orchids as well. 

These Inca stones are simply massive! Not sure of their weight but many tons and hard to imagine how they were fashioned with Incan technology and then moved into place? Plus, fit perfectly together. 

You can see the stones on the right are disordered and Victor indicated the story has to do with Hiram Bingham. He wanted to know the foundation and asked workers to started digging as deep as he needed to discover the foundation itself. As a consequence where he dug, the stones sank with the dirt foundation disappearing so he immediately stopped the digging but it was too late. 

The Temple of the Three Windows. Yes, there are three 'windows'. More beautiful work. 

OK, there is a long story to this green tent and what is inside. I will give you the Coles notes version. Some years ago the Queen and King of Spain wanted to visit MP but arrive in a helicopter. There is a large open field but the local authorities decided to lower the tall obelisk that stood there so the helicopter could land. Then following years, wealthy people hired helicopters to arrive as well. Now the project is to put the obelisk back in place. Earlier photos of MP do not have a bright green tent in this area LOL. 

Hey tuck that paunch in and stop pointing! Pointing to the top of Machu Picchu mountain to the south of the site. 

Another photo of Machu Picchu mountain. We did not realize that the actual MP mountain is actually south of the site. 

The story here is that the Inca shaped the front stone into the same line as the mountain behind. 

The stones sticking out are to attach the thatch roof onto the structure. 

This is Huayanapicchu Mountain which is part of Circuit 3 where you climb to the very top from MP. 

I finally got Victor Hugo to pose for a proper picture! This is a typical Inca residence for one family with a kitchen, dining area and bedroom. Of course, this is all speculation. 

Randy took this photo as I thought it was a great shot from the doorway out to the Happy Mountain. 

View of MP from a different angle as our tour is almost over and we started in the bottom left corner and will do a loop around (Circuit 2). They estimate that with the residential areas there were up to 70 individual homes and maybe 600 people to be housed. 

Our last picture of the site. 

We finished our tour with Victor around 13:25 so about two hours on Circuit 2. We decided to give Victor a very generous tip and he was so appreciative so we felt even better. He deserved it. Not only was he knowledgeable, but he saved us at least 75 minutes being in the long bus queue. We are at the back of the bus lineup to return to Aguas Caliente. It takes 26 minutes before we are on the bus. Much shorter than this morning! 

We arrive back at Aguas Caliente at 14:20. Lana decides to approach two ladies in the bus queue going up to MP and offer our two ponchos for free. At first they think Lana is a street vendor, but realize it is a free offer and accept the ponchos. 

Back to our room in great spirits as we saw and experienced Machu Picchu! Time for Lana to figure out which photos to save and then email me. I had a few photos and then need to follow process to load the pics into our draft blog. Eventually Lana had a nap while I am working on the blog.

Eventually, I am hungry for dinner. I put my hiking pants in the dirty laundry as I won't be needing them any longer on our trip. I can start wearing my blue jeans again with proper socks and a decent shirt. Lana showers and we are on our way to dinner. Usual long lineup at our side street for locals waiting on the nightly Peru Rail train. 

Our guide asked what we were doing for dinner tonight. He recommended Chullos for great food. Plus, we needed to mention his name and the name of the owner of the restaurant and we would get two complimentary Pisco Sour drinks. Probably our guide gets some type of monetary consideration for this? No problem for us as I wanted to go to this place in Cusco. Easy to find as we ate close to this place last night. We will let the pictures do the talking. 

OK, these are our free Pisco Sours and probably the smallest drinks ever?

Lana's order of Four Cheese Taglatelli although the menu reads Chicken, but she doesn't want the chicken as her stomach still isn't wanting meat right now. But at least she's eating and she did finish this plate. 

Randy's order of Grilled Churrascon which is grilled tenderloin with a house chimichurri sauce, accompanied by native potatoes and salad. Wow! This steak was brilliant. Perfect medium rare and juicy and very tasty. Yummy!

OK, my stats for the day are 8,500 steps and 48 floors. When I think of the time to do the blog today it might have been more time than the actual tour itself?  😊

The Machu Picchu experience was more than I/we could have imagined. It is a special place and full of mysteries. An incredible place on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Yes, our blog today is a long one, but it will assist with our memories years from now.