Cusco, Peru: The Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

First things first: Dad and I both made it!  For those of you who didn't know, my father flew down to Peru to do the trek to Machu Picchu with me.  We did the four day/three night Salkantay trail, which goes to Machu Picchu around Salkantay Mountain from Cusco (the opposite route from the classic Inca Trail).  The trail winds its way through mountains, rocky ground, and rainforest, ultimately ending up at the base of the mountain whose top contains the well-hidden city of Machu Picchu, one of the new seven wonders of the world.  As with many of my South American ventures, I have a ton of great pictures, but here I have posted twenty or so that capture the essence of our trip, the first (above) being our trekking group right before we started.  I hope you enjoy reliving the last four days with me.

On the first day, we hiked 9km (5.6mi), from a starting elevation of 3250m (10,660ft) to an ending elevation of 3900m (12,795ft).  Once we got to our campsite and got warm (the last hour of our hike was in the cold rain), two of the other trekkers and I hiked up to this beautiful glacier-fed lake (an elevation increase of 450m, or 1,475ft).

Because it started raining again once we got back from the lake, we camped under this shelter, which meant we were warm and dry while we rested up for day two.

The second day of our trek was the hardest.  We started by climbing 5km (3.1mi), which wouldn't have been so bad, except the elevation increase was 700m (2,300ft), from 3900m to 4600m (12,795ft to 15,091ft).  This is Dad and I taking a rest on the way up...

...and here we are at the top, with our guide Joel!  It was a great feeling to be up there, and Joel led us all through a traditional Quechua (the Inca people) ceremony to give thanks to Mother Earth for all the gifts she has given us, which was awesome.  After that, we had a bit of a walk to our campsite: 15km (9.3mi) with an elevation decrease of 1700m (5,577ft) to 2900m (9,514ft).

When we finally got to our campsite after the 20km (12.4mi) hike of ups and down, beers and sodas (brought up horseback!) were enjoyed by all.  The horses you see in the background were the same ones who carried our tents and extra clothes, and let me tell you, they were much faster than we were!

The third day of our hike was beautiful: we started in the forest, and as we continued to lose altitude, we saw more and more flowers and rainforest-looking plants.  We were hiking along the river that runs through one of the mountain valleys, so we also got to see some of the bridges (some safe, some ridiculously unsafe), roads, and 'towns' of the native people who still live in isolated communities in this valley.

Because we were near the river, there were also a lot of feeder waterfalls.  Here is one that Dad and I took a rest at along the way.

We ended our third day after 16km (9.94mi) of hiking with an elevation drop of 1000m (3,280ft), though we had to go the last 200m (656ft) by bus and train, as the trail doesn't quite reach to the town at the base of Machu Picchu.  We spent our third night in this town, Aguas Calientes, and we did explore the main plaza with a statue of one of the Inca kings (see above), as well as the hot springs that give the town its name.  We had to go to bed early, however, because...

...I made Dad get up at 4am to climb the ancient Inca trail that leads into Machu Pichu!  I am so glad we did this walk (even though there is a bus), because we really understood how the city is completely invisible from below, even when you are only a few meters from the top.  Anyhow, 1,450 steps and 300m (984ft) of elevation gain later...

...we got to watch the sun rise over this 500-year-old city before any of the 2,500 daily visitors arrived.  It was truly amazing to be one of only a few in this ancient place.

Even though it was cloudy, it was still beautiful.  Among the many amazing things about this city is that it is still in such great shape, even though hundreds of earthquakes (big and small) have rocked Peru in the last 500 years.  The Incas truly were masters of stonework, and it's even more impressive to think that they held their stones together simply by carving them to fit each other--no cement!

The scenery is certainly another spectacular thing about this city.  There are sheer drops with rivers on two sides, which allow these beautiful mists to constantly surround it, and mountains on the other two sides, which results in an amazing panorama (which I was unfortunately not able to capture on film).

After our tour and first circuit of the city, we went up to the guard house to get a view of the city from above, and then decided to go higher still.  See that tall mountain in the background?  Well, there are a set of narrow Inca stairs that lead up to the top of it, so we climbed them--all 400m (1,312ft) straight up--and then...

...and then we found another city!  This mountain and city are called Huyana Picchu, and it is also hardly visible from below.  This city is perched on the top of a mountain (literally one wrong step and you are falling 2,000ft), and to me, is even more impressive than Machu Picchu because there was no quarry on the top of this mountain: the Incas hauled all these stones up.  By hand.  Insane.

Sitting on one of the terraces that the Incas grew potatoes in on the top of Huyana Picchu, contemplating the 700m-drop into the canyon below.

In the course of exploring the city atop Huyana Picchu, we had to crawl through caves...

...and climb backwards down tiny steps.  It was a bit scary at times, but it was totally worth all the climbing!

When we got back down to the bottom, there was only one mountain left to conquer: the comparatively small Huchuy Picchu.  This is Dad on a ledge, halfway up the 100m-or-so climb.

I took this picture of Machu Picchu from the very top of a Huchuy Picchu.  See how it's shaped like a bird (use your imagination)?  That's because, to the Incas, the condor represented heaven and the gods; therefore, they built their royal city in the shape of a condor.

After Huchuy Picchu, we had to make our way through the city one last time.  This is me in the boys' school.

Here is Dad near the still-working 500-year-old aqueducts.

After leaving the city, we caught the bus down to Aguas Calientes, where we rewarded ourselves with a nice tall glass of Peruvian beer in the shadow of Machu Picchu mountain.  It was an amazing trek, and Machu Picchu was really beyond words.  I'm so proud of my Dad for doing this, and so glad I got to experience it with him.  It was truly the trip of a lifetime.