By day four of our Inka Trail trek most of us were feeling pretty knackered. The combination of beers followed by a four a.m. rise made for a very unenthusiastic group hiking though the dark towards the Gate of the Sun.
When we reached the forty-ninth kiometre of our hike and final goal, Machu Picchu, there was initially not much to see. Still quite high up at the entrance we were anticipating the classical postcard views, but instead we got the blurry, grey, misty scene we were all to familiar with. But miraculously, as we began to descend into the ancient Inka ruins, the mist lifted and sun came out in full force, revealing before us a majestic and wondrous site.
Still too early to be littered with day-trippers and ‘tourists’, us ‘real travelers’ had the whole Mecca pretty much to ourselves. Our energy quickly returned as we took in the whole scene and tried to capture it with our cameras. Unfortunately, my hardy, but ancient camera, which had been acting temper mental for the last couple of months, decided it was a great day to stop working altogether. Our guide Carlos took us around some of the famous sites and explained about the different theories of how and why Machu Picchu was created (nothing is know for certain as there no records were ever found). We had a very informative couple of hours, but were soon feeling sleepy in the late morning sun.
But despite the exhaustion, a couple of us chose to take advantage of the perfect weather and climb Waynapicchu. Waynapicchu is the steep mountain always seen off to the right in the background of the stereotypical Machu Picchu photograph. It is very beautiful and affords fantastic views of the ruins, but is notoriously steep and involves crawling up on all fours at certain points.
Ignoring our burning legs and aching lungs we clambered to the top. It was absolutely amazing. Stunning views on all sides and a real sensation of being miles and miles from civilization (as we were). Kiwi James took a bunch of photos as I looked on jealously and then we sat on a ledge of rock taking in the sites and resting our weary bodies. Just as we started to descent, the clouds appeared overhead and drops of rain fell from the sky. As we put on our ponchos we took a moment to realize how lucky we were to see the sights when we did. For me, being on top of Waynapicchu, exhausted and camera-less, was the highlight of my four-day hike along the ancient Inka Trail.
Note: All photos on this post are courtesy of James Clark (see photo). Thanks a million James.
When we reached the forty-ninth kiometre of our hike and final goal, Machu Picchu, there was initially not much to see. Still quite high up at the entrance we were anticipating the classical postcard views, but instead we got the blurry, grey, misty scene we were all to familiar with. But miraculously, as we began to descend into the ancient Inka ruins, the mist lifted and sun came out in full force, revealing before us a majestic and wondrous site.
Still too early to be littered with day-trippers and ‘tourists’, us ‘real travelers’ had the whole Mecca pretty much to ourselves. Our energy quickly returned as we took in the whole scene and tried to capture it with our cameras. Unfortunately, my hardy, but ancient camera, which had been acting temper mental for the last couple of months, decided it was a great day to stop working altogether. Our guide Carlos took us around some of the famous sites and explained about the different theories of how and why Machu Picchu was created (nothing is know for certain as there no records were ever found). We had a very informative couple of hours, but were soon feeling sleepy in the late morning sun.But despite the exhaustion, a couple of us chose to take advantage of the perfect weather and climb Waynapicchu. Waynapicchu is the steep mountain always seen off to the right in the background of the stereotypical Machu Picchu photograph. It is very beautiful and affords fantastic views of the ruins, but is notoriously steep and involves crawling up on all fours at certain points.
Ignoring our burning legs and aching lungs we clambered to the top. It was absolutely amazing. Stunning views on all sides and a real sensation of being miles and miles from civilization (as we were). Kiwi James took a bunch of photos as I looked on jealously and then we sat on a ledge of rock taking in the sites and resting our weary bodies. Just as we started to descent, the clouds appeared overhead and drops of rain fell from the sky. As we put on our ponchos we took a moment to realize how lucky we were to see the sights when we did. For me, being on top of Waynapicchu, exhausted and camera-less, was the highlight of my four-day hike along the ancient Inka Trail.
Note: All photos on this post are courtesy of James Clark (see photo). Thanks a million James.
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