Machu Picchu 

After two and a half months in Peru, I finally made it to one of the new Seven Wonders of the World: Machu Picchu. Since coming to Peru, I knew I was going to go there, but just never made plans because there are so many options of how to get there: biking (my preference), train, Inca Trail trek, trek all the way from Ollantaytambo, or take a couple buses then walk for a couple hours. My roommate is leaving for Ohio soon and made it convenient for me to make the decision to go. But since I waited so long to figure this out, it was too late to bike to Machu Piccu. The Inca Trail trek sold out a few weeks ago, because this is turning into the high season to come here.

The train option was feasible, but I woke up on Thursday morning with the desire to trek from Ollantaytambo. The information that I was given was that it would take about seven hours, but when I consulted a local, he discouraged going because it was already too late and not really a feasible trek to do alone without a guide. So I decided on the bus/walk option- take a bus from Ollantaytambo to Santa Theresa for another bus to get to the Hydroelectric Plant, then walk about 2.5 hours along the train tracks to get to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu.

But I must backtrack. Since I was going to Ollantaytambo, I decided to bring my mountain bike along for the sole reason that I have only been to this town twice and never did any biking. The first time here was for the Easter BBQ and I met a few people who told me of the many great trails. It also turned out that there was a downhill mountain biking competition on the same weekend, the Inca Avalanche. I know my and my bike's limitations, so I didn't have any desire to partipate in the race. But after writing to the main bike touring company there, he convinced me that I should enter the race, if just for the fact that it would be fun and that it wasn't just for professional riders.

By the way, lemme plug KB Tambo http://www.kbperu.com/ as a bike tour company and hostel (DO NOT confuse this with KB Tours). The owner, KB, was very helpful in pointing me to a couple biking trails (and even wrote some basic, but easy to follow maps). He has some solid bikes for the tours that he offers and the tours are reasonably priced, compared to other Peruvian tour packages.

I arrived into Ollantaytambo on a Tuesday with the intention of getting some more info from KB Tambo and just to see more of the town. Throughout the day, I heard many brass bands playing and parades of youth wearing costumes. I followed the crowd to a field outside of town to see where everyone was gathering. It was the final day of a 4-day celebration of the patron saint of Ollantaytambo (whose name I did not catch). There was music, food, lotsa beer and contests.  Packs of men on horseback would race down a lane and try to get a cob of corn that was dangling on a rope overhead. There was someone holding the rope and would jerk it around as the horses approached. In the past, instead of corn, a live chicken was hung by its feet, but that was stopped after someone got the idea that it was inhumane.

Later at night, the costumed people (not only youths, but adults, too) paraded back to the town square, carrying back the patron saint and also this structure made of sugar cane stalks and sticks and gathered in front of the church. After some words were said by the church, the structure got lit up for some firework action. Every piece of this structure had some sort of firework attached to it and would go off in stages. Pretty impressive, especially considering that this structure was right in front of everyone. That's right - many fireworks were going off just yards from the crowd, safety be damned. When that structure finally burned itself out, there was a delay, then real fireworks shot off in the sky. At first I was impressed by the size of the explosions. They were simple explosions that would radiate from a center spot in a big ball... nothing that formed any shapes like a box or smiley face. Then I realized that the fireworks were really low - I mean the shrapnel was falling on people just as the colors would fizzle out. The rest of the night was filled with a Peruvian concert.

this was the structure that has fireworks attached at every stick and angle.

The next day, I hit the bike trails. The first map that KB drew for me was to get to Puma Marca.  The trail took me ten kilometers outside of Ollantaytambo up to the ruins called Puma Marca. When I arrived, there was no one in sight. It was definitely off the tourist list of things to do, but I was glad to be here. After walking around half of the walled fortress, I made my way inside. I walked into the first building and there was a man with a machete. He was here to maintain the grounds, cutting down weeds and other upkeep.

We talked for a while and with my poor Spanish skills, I determined that this sight was to pay tribute to the puma, the national symbol. I am not sure if he meant that this fortress was supposed to be the shape of a puma (which I couldn't see), the valley had the shape of a puma, or if the fortress was just a tribute to the puma. Whatever the answer, here a some photos:

The next day was my journey to Machu Picchu. As mentioned earlier, it wasn't feasible to trek it all the way so I had to get a bus to take me partially there. The bus picked me up in front of my hostel,but from the start I knew I was in for an adventure. The only seat available was in the front, between the driver, a passenger sitting shotgun and the gear shifter. My feet had to share the well with the other passenger, a skinny six-foot Israelian. During the whole trip he was making loud conversation in Hebrew with his buddy who was sitting behind us.  To keep the international flavor going, in the back of the bus were three Germans, one of which never stopped talking during the five-hour journey. The other passengers spoke English, but were drowned out by the other languages. I was making friends with the driver, talking in Spanish, but I really didn't want to distract him because of the winding roads that we were on.

The beginning of the journey was actually to the same spot where the Inca Avalanche was to start. There were some bikers on the hill, which gave me the feeling that I was in over my head for the race (which I already knew, but now I have seen part of the trail and know what to kinda expect). By bus, it took over an hour and about 30km on road to get to the top. After reaching the summit, the driver whispered a few hail marys and did the cross as we descended on the other side into fog and clouds. It was a long descent down winding roads at slow speeds. At some point, we got a flat tire that delayed us not once, but twice, because we stopped at the next town to repair the flat that was then placed in the spare tire well.

We eventually made it Santa Theresa, where I expected to get off and catch another bus to get to the hydroelectric dam. The driver informed me that was where he was going and that I should stay on the bus... after eating a late (3:00) lunch.  This now made sense for me because the driver charged me a really high price for this bus ride... to include lunch and an additional distance to the destination I really wanted actually made it a great deal.

The final leg of this journey was possibly the most treacherous road I have encountered so far in Peru. Basically, they carved a road out of the rocky mountain, high above the river to get to the power plant. The road was only a single lane, with just enough room at certain spots for crossing traffic, but the drop down to the river was quite steep, as glorious of a view as it was. This was almost an hour before getting the hydroelectric plant at around 4pm. From here on, it was a simple walk along the tracks before arriving at Aguas Caliente, named after a hot spring at the top of town.  This town's sole purpose is a staging point for Machu Picchu. From here, there are coach buses that take people from town and ascend up a mountain to get to the ruins. There is a trail that people can hike up, but that's nuts to do early in the morning.

Machu Picchu's reputation as being super-crowded with tourists has caused many people (me and my roommate, included) to try to get there as early as possible to avoid Disneyworld-like crowds and lines. We left at 5:30am to catch the bus and arrived at 6:15. After spending about eight hours there on a Friday, I would have to say that the reputation is either overblown or else we went on an off-day. The biggest lines and crowds were at 6am. By high noon, I would estimate that a good third of the crowd that was there in the morning had already left and there was elbow room at most of the areas.

With that said, I have no regrets for going so early. The morning fog that covered the ruins made for some nice dramatic effects as you can see in these photos. Also, our first move was to hike up the Inkipunktu trail, a great idea while the weather was cool and no hot sun beating us down as we ascended to the top.

this is a sacred stone that is said to draw energy from the Earth. No one is allowed to touch it.

this is the mountain that Machu Picchu sits atop of.

millipede!

Overall, I would have to admit that as awesome as Machu Picchu is, I was more impressed by Ankor Wat in Cambodia.  It may be just personal preference, but the scale of all the ruins and the variety of ruins, not only stupas, temples, faces, but also the condition of the structures were more impressive in that some were renovated, but also some were in original/decaying condition, untouched by modern hands.