I have to say the expectations for the whole Inca trail for me were high. High on many levels. 4215 metres high. Then there’s the emotional level of making it through a 4 day hike to one of the worlds most magnificent sites. Lastly for me also on a somewhat spiritual level, knowing Incas 500 years before us used these trails to commute between their kingdoms and surrounding cities (Cusco being the centre of their empire) I have an absolute respect for the Inca clan. They were people that believed in balance. For every male there is a female (e.g. Pachamama and Inti – the earth mother and sun father) and they were respectful to the earth and all living things and were generally a kind people (unlike the Mayas for instance who were quite violent). When they did sacrifice humans, which was rare, their sacrifices were usually willing and to make it as pleasurable as possible they were handed some good strong hallucinogenics. Death was quick and pain free. In either way, none of the Incas just died. They all crossed over to the underworld and continued on there.
Unfortunately their kindness and welcoming nature are also the reason of their downfall and why the Spanish didn’t struggle all too hard in conquering them in a relatively short period of time.
On a very lucky note, Machu Picchu is one of the very few sites the Spanish didn’t find in their quest to conquer Latin America. This it’s why it’s preserved in almost all it’s splendour from 600 years ago and hardly a rock is out of place. If they are it’s due to nature taking over. It was only inhabited for about 100 years before it was abandoned. The theory is that the King ruling at the time (Pachacuti) died and so the whole kingdom was abandoned. It was either that or that diseases brought in by the Spanish swept the country. Damn those European germs.
I could spend hours marvelling over anything Machu Picchu related. I still feel I didn’t spend enough time there and I was lucky enough to got to see it twice in 2 days. With rainbows. Yep.
As my sister has already captured in her blog post ‘Machu Picchu and Me’ (click here to read) the journey to get to this incredible site was no easy task.
For me the most emotional part of the trek starts after our third morning. The day prior we had conquered not one but two big peaks in one day, not to mention in the rain and cold. Our chosen trekking company Llamapath (I highly highly recommend them to anyone!) takes you just that little bit further past the standard campsites to ensure you’re not stuck with lots of other Trekkers. I cursed them at the time for making we walk further than everyone else, but am so thankful as it made the experience so much more enjoyable. It also gave us the freedom on day three to decide that after lunch that we would power on, make use of the incredible weather and head up to the sun gate right then and there. We would then be able to come back up the next morning and marvel at it again in the morning light (if there was any…in rainy season the chances are slim..)
In any case, as we took a vote at lunch to head off right then and there, my heart started racing and a permanent grin imprinted itself firmly on my face. It’s an incredibly scenic path from there to the sun gate, that heads through what is the beginning of the Peruvian Amazon, thick vegetation hung to the side of a cliff with views over the incredible green Peruvian Andes. Neither of us probably gave it as much attention as it deserved as we were all half running, trying not to slip down the vertical drops on one side of the path.
Just to keep things real in your sprint to the trophy at the top of the hill, there’s a set of 75 steps that are near vertical right near the end. After that it’s a fairly steady incline on large steps all the way to the end. And then you spot it, right at the top of the stairs.
The sun gate. Excitement was at an all time high for me here. Emotions started building up trying to imagine what lies beyond the gate. You just can’t. Nothing prepares you for what your eyes are allowed to see when you walk through that gate.
This doesn’t even come close to doing it justice:
For me it all ended it in a big bunch of tears of happiness flowing freely. I wonder if the Incas got the same feeling every time they got to walk through this gate. Just getting the opportunity to do it once was enough to make me incredibly thankful. To me there’s something very spiritual about the place. I was overcome with emotion and gratitude and took a lot of time to reflect about a lot of things.
As we all got to walk to the site at our own pace with the Inca city in our view we had another 40 minutes to reflect along the way. As if to confirm, that everything right this moment was perfect right the way it was, a rainbow appeared over the Andean mountains.
As you get closer, you see just how well preserved she still is. And then you marvel at her some more. Being here quite late in the afternoon, we were lucky enough to have the entire site of Machu Picchu completely to ourselves. And we had sunshine and rainbows. Pachamama certainly put on a good show for us that day and I’ll be forever grateful what we got to experience.
The next morning we got to go in again for a full tour of the city. We were given another rainbow, would you believe?! However, after brief bit of sunshine for the first two hours the mystical rain followed and covered her up. I get it, we got our quota of ohh and ahh moments and that was it.
It’s without a doubt a highlight of my life. If you ever get the chance, don’t take the shortcut and just take the train to see her. You will appreciate the culture and just how fantastic a city she is if you get to see all the Inca sites along the trail and learn about their way of life a little. I for one will be taking at least one page out of the Inca way of life with me in the long run.
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