Cusco & Machu Picchu - 1,000 meters too high for me
Written: Dec 03 '02
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Pros: 1. Incan ruins 2. Machu Picchu 3. Festive atmosphere
Cons: 1. Postcard hawkers
The Bottom Line: Highly Recommended. Few places in the world combine the sense of history, culture, and adventure that Cusco and Machu Picchu does.
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| edwardl26's Full Review: Cuzco |
Destination: Machu Picchu, Peru (9.05.2002 ~ 9.16.2002)
What a memorable summer it has been! As many of you know, I've been spending these last couple of months travelling the four corners of the earth. While all my trips have been memorable, some have been better than others. That's not to say that any of them have been bad, but my trips have definitely fallen into one of two categories: adventure or mis/adventure. And, my trip to Peru was definitely one very exciting mis/adventure that I'd like to share with all of you.
This trip started like any other. We spent our first two days in Lima taking the city tours and exploring the different neighborhoods in Lima. We even had time to visit Barrio's Chino (Chinatown) for some dim sum.
Days 3-5 were spent in Cusco, Peru. Virtually anyone who wanted to go Machu Picchu has to pass through Cusco. On top of that, anyone who wanted to do the Inca Trail was required by some unknown higher authority to arrive in Cusco three days prior to the start of their hike. Supposedly, the purpose was so that it would give us tourists time to get acclimated to the high altitude. Without any real plans, we signed up for some more day tours. As we listened to the each of the tourguides, we noticed an overarching theme. One, they're very proud of their Incan history; and two, they really hated the Spaniards. Their hatred was understandable. The Spaniards led by Pizarro (whose cousin ironically was Cortes, the conquistador of Mexico's Aztecs empire) pillaged the Incan cities, plundered their gold, and brought pestilence (smallpox, etc.) to the Incan civilization. While Incans have a lot to be proud of. And, while the Incan fortresses and ruins that we visited were very impressive and while I'm sure they were formidable warriors given that their empire stretched from Columbia down to Chile, I'm still dumbfounded by the fact that the Incans never won a single major battle against the Spaniards. I understand that the Spaniards had guns and horses, but the Incans had the home field advantage. The total casualty count in the 4 years of fighting was something like 20,000 Incans dead to only 300 Spaniards. We went to visit this massive fortress called Ollantayambo. It had these huge, steeped terraces which meant the Incans were stationed on top and could survey the entire field while the Spaniards had to painstakingly climb up and overtake each terrace one by one. You think with that sort of advantage, the Incas would win the battle, but they didn't. And the funny thing was that the tourguide kept emphasizing that the Incans had their best showing here by only losing 50 Incan warriors for every one dead Spaniard even though they eventually still lost. Go figure. I've been reading some history books about the Incas; maybe, they'll shed some light on this...
Back to my story, the last four days (days 6-10) were spent hiking. First, I'd like to sadly say that I did NOT make it all the way through the 4D/3N Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu. I can humbly admit that it was partly because I really wasn't in hiking shape, but it was also because I never really got acclimated to the altitude. I had what they called soroche (altitude sickness) which is essentially when you don't get enough oxygen into the bloodstream because of the thin air. (I should have brought the Diamox along which helps against the soroche like the Lonely Planet book recommended.) As a result, I had constant headaches and shortness of breath during the hike. Hey, I've lived most of my life in New York City, and I honestly don't think I've ever been higher than 500 meters above sea level (masl).
The Inca Trail hike was a 45 km odyssey. Our group (of 13) began our journey on Wednesday at KM82 (2,600 masl). We were set to hike 13 km that first day up, down, and around some pretty big hills to reach Wayllabamba (3,000 masl), our camping site that night. We hiked through the scorching sun in the morning and through the cold, wind, and the rain in the afternoon. Needless to say, I should have slept very well that night, if it weren't for the roosters that started to crow at 4am. (An organic alarm clock with an infinite amount of snoozes. I could have sworn that I had my own, personal rooster crowing right outside my tent!) The second day is where I encountered my problems (and where my mis/adventures began). We were set to hike 17 km over two mountain passes. The first pass at 4,200 masl was actually called Dead Woman's Pass (Dead Eddie's Pass would have been more fitting). After a 3 km descent to 3,500 masl, you'd hike up the second pass called Qochapata at 3,900 masl. After wheezing and coughing through much of that first night, by mid-morning our tour guide recommended that I turn back after my condition didn't improve and I started hacking up some very colorful stuff. I really wanted to continue for no other reason than the fact that hiking back to KM82 at that point was probably farther than hiking to our next campsite. It really was not a very pleasant experience having to explain to everyone I passed on the trail why I was backtracking.
I finally make it back to KM82 in the afternoon. First thing I had to do at KM82 was log in the fact that I didn't make it up (to add insult to injury). I was the first and probably the only person to sign in for Sept. 12. Since KM82 was virtually a ghost town by the time I got there (no one begins the hike in the afternoon), I spend a whole lot of money hitching a train to take me (and Victor, the guide who's accompanying me) to Aguas Calientes (2,050 masl), the closest town to us. The plan is for me to stay at Aguas Calientes for a night and then meet up with our group the next day (third day) at Winay Wayna (2,650 masl). I pick the cheapest hotel closest to the train station to stay the night which happened to be this dinky 1-star hostal which was an experience in and of itself (yan1 zhi1 fei1 fu2). On the third day, I wake up at 5am to wait in line to buy train tickets for the 6am train that passes through the KM104 checkpoint (where I'm going to begin my hike). I find out that for tourists, the train ride costs US$10; for locals, it's S/$5 (approx. $1.25). I will be riding in the foreigners car, and Victor, my guide, will be riding in the locals car, so he instructs me when to get off. He warns me that the KM104 stop really isn't a stop. Since no one really gets off that stop by themselves, there's no reason to make the stop identifiable. (Although KM104 is starting point for people doing the 2D/1N Inca hike, they usually take the special tourist trains for that purpose. But, they run a little later in the day, and I don't have the time.) And so he instructs me that half an hour into the ride, I'll see a dam on my right. Once I pass the dam, I should ride the train for another 5 minutes where the train will seemingly stop for no apparent reason, and that was my cue to get off the train. I actually find my stop without a problem, even though my eyes were a little sore from trying to find that damn dam. I hiked up 6 km while my group trek down 8 km and we meet up without incident. Our fourth and final day was definitely the most memorable. By 4:30am (still pitch black out), we're already packed, fed, and waiting in line along with 400 other hikers at the last checkpoint station which opens up at 5am so that we can finish our trek to Machu Picchu. From the station, it's a 5 km jog to Machu Picchu. I say jog because everyone's in one big line, and we're all racing time to try and catch the sunrise over Machu Picchu. And, what a sight it was! Machu Picchu is this city nestled on clouds on top of this one mountain while being completely surrounded by all these other bigger mountains. It's called the "Lost City of the Incas" because the Spaniards never found this city when they were conquering the Incas. No one knew about this city until an explorer named Bingham discovered it in 1912.
For me, seeing Machu Picchu was definitely bittersweet. There are only 3 ways to get to Machu Picchu. Doing the 4D/3N hike, doing the 2D/1N hike (only 15 km and without the mountain passes), or taking the afternoon train to Machu Picchu. Although I'm glad that I didn't opt for one of the easier options, I do wish I could have made it through the hike.
My twisted form of logic: If I try to ride a horse and it kicks me off, the only sensible thing to do is to find an even bigger horse to ride. See you in Tibet.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug
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Epinions.com ID:
edwardl26
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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