Let me start with this: If you are able-bodied, in relatively good shape (able to walk up a flight of steps without panting) and plan to visit Machu Picchu, DO NOT take the train!

OK, let me elaborate - it's not that the train is dodgy. On the contrary, the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (the last stop before Machu Picchu) provides one of the most scenic train journeys in the world. Coupled with impeccable service on-board (if you opt for the premium service, you get hot meals, wine, comfy seats, the full works), this 3-hour or so journey will no doubt be a memorable one. However, if you want the full Inca experience, where you visit at least 5 more sites other than Machu Picchu as you spend 4 days totally immersing yourself in Inca history and culture, not to mention enjoying 35 km of the most amazing trails most of which made originally by the Incas, you MUST do the Inca Trail!

Below is an account of the most incredible 4-day hike that you can possibly do in South America, or anywhere in the world for that matter.

Preparation
The planning for the Inca Trail must be made months in advance - not so much for the physical conditioning required - but simply because the Peruvian government is extremely protective of its national treasure and only allows 500 people on the Trail each day. And 500 per day including porters and guides really aren't that many slots. It was the first thing we booked for our South America trip.
7 months later, we found ourselves with another couple from Canada (Mark and Veronica) at the office of Ecoinka, the company we booked the Inca Trail with, receiving out Inca Trail briefing from our guide, Richard. We went with a very strong recommendation from a former colleague of mine, who had done the Inca Trail with the same company a couple of years back. They are certainly not the most cost-effective, but they are reputed to be one of the best. As it turned out, it was probably the best money we spent on the trip. More on their outstanding service later.

A Brief History of the Incas
So who are the Incas anyway? In my previous entry, we mentioned that they were an extraordinary race of people who built one of the largest empires in South America between the 12th and 15th centuries. In fact, most of the expansion of Tahuantinsuyo, or 'empire' in the Inca language of Quechua, took place in the last century of its existence due to its visionary emperor, Pachacutec, who was responsible for building impressive cities (including the magnificent Machu Picchu) out of precisely-cut stones that fit perfectly like a jigsaw without the need for mortar. Many of these structures remain standing today, having survived some of the worst earthquakes ever recorded. It really blows your mind when you think about how an ancient civilization were such incredible builders - and there are loads of evidence throughout South America to substantiate this fact.
Other than being master builders, the Incas also perfected the irrigation system. They did not pioneer this method of farming - it is believed that a previous civilization had started using this method before the Incas - but they improved on it such that it is still in use by farmers today. They figured out a way to channel water from mountain springs to their agricultural sites via a complex system of channels and terraces, so that they had continuous water supply, even during the dry season. Believe it or not, some of the channels that they built are still functioning today. The terraces that they cut into the mountain slopes also allow them to grow a wide variety of crops - from potatoes to quinoa - due to the differing temperatures and amount of sunlight each terrace receives. It's easier to visualize this when you see a picture of one of these Inca terraces.
Under the leadership of Pachucutec and the next 2 Inca emperors (his son, Tupac Yupanqui and grandson, Huayna Capac), the Inca empire expanded to include what is now Ecuador, Columbia, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Peru. Its capital was Cusco, Peru. In order to connect such a vast empire in that time, the Incas built thousands of kilometers of trails, made mostly of stone. What we know today as The Inca Trail is actually only a very tiny sub-segment of this incredible network of trails, a lot of which are still being restored. If a message needed to be sent across Tahuantinsuyo, they did not have the internet, TV or the telephone - their method was to have a few thousand "chaskis", or messengers, to run along these trails and pass the message from one chaski to another.
As much of a super-human race as the Incas appeared to be, they had a few flaws. For one, the weapons they used were relatively primitive. They were also extremely superstitious, believing in many Gods. So much so that when the Spanish arrived in Peru in 1532, they were caught off-guard. To add to their problems, it was a time of civil war - two of Huayna Capac's sons were jostling for power following the sudden death of their father. The empire was divided and when the Spanish arrived, many thought they were sent by the Gods to sort out the conflict. The use of firearms and their arrival in large ships and horses further sealed the Spanish position as Gods (a bit like when the Ewoks first saw C-3PO in Return of the Jedi). But little did they know, the Spanish were not interested to end any conflict. They were there because they had received news about a kingdom full of riches and wanted a piece of it. No, they wanted all of it. Thus, began the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire. By the end of the 16th century, the Spanish had invaded most of the empire and defeated Manco Inca, another son of Huayna Capac who had attempted to launch a rebellion but to no avail. That marked the end of the Inca empire.

Day 0: "The Sacred Valley"
I could go on for hours discussing the Inca empire but in the interest of time, let's move on to the Inca Trail itself. Fortunately for us, the short but colourful past of the Incas have been immortalized by the many impressive sites that these guys left behind. Our education about the Incas started even before we set foot on the actual Inca Trail - with a pretty impressive tour of what is known as the Sacred Valley the day before the Trail. We, along with Mark and Veronica, and our guide Richard, were picked up by a private van from the main plaza in Cusco at 7 am sharp.
The very first site we visited - Pisac - was less than an hour's drive from Cusco. It was a sizable Inca site where we immediately got our first taste of expert Inca masonry. Here, Richard pointed out a number of things:
1) How the stones were made to fit snugly like a jigsaw puzzle. No mortar / cement / dried mud required.
2) How the difference in the finishing of the stones indicated who used to live in a particular building - buildings built with smooth, geometric stones were for royalties, noblemen and high priests; those built with rougher, less elegant stones were for the common people.
3) How when there is a single circular structure (amidst square and rectangular ones), it is usually a temple dedicated to an Inca God, most likely the Sun
4) How one section of the site resembles a bird, or more specifically a partridge, when viewed from above (Pisac means "partridge" in Quechua)
5) How what looked like thousands of holes in a nearby mountain wall were actually Inca tombs. The Incas buried their dead in mountains so they could be closer to their Gods.
We spent about an hour and a half exploring the site, climbing up and down a few flight of steps - some Inca-made, some made more recently. Richard referred to our little workout as training for the Inca Trail.
Next stop was the amazing terraces of Moray. When we first arrived at the site, we all had the same reaction: "WHOA!". Imagine a Roman coliseum cut into the natural valley of a mountain, except bigger and more impressive. But it was not used for mindless gladiator fights. These terraces were used as some form of laboratory where the Incas experimented with different crops in different conditions (each 7-foot terrace represented a slightly different climate). Traces of some 250 different species of cereals and vegetables were found here. To be honest, we were not too interested in what the Incas used it for - we were just stupefied by the sheer size and geometric exactness of the place.
The third stop of the day was not particularly mind-blowing but fairly interesting nonetheless. It was the Salinas (salt mines) de Maras, consisting of over 3000 man-made pools of salt water, left to evaporate so that the salt could be harvested. What's interesting is that the source of the salt water comes from a natural underground spring which have supposedly supplied salt water continuously for the last thousand years (even before the Incas). The method of harvesting the salt from these waters have remained unchanged for hundreds of years.
After a buffet lunch at a decent restaurant nearby, we visited the last site of the day - the Inca town of Ollantaytambo. This town have the distinction of being the longest continuously inhabited town in South America, i.e. since the 13th century. It has somewhat of an interesting history too - the town was named after an Inca general, Ollanta (while "tambo" means refuge or rest house in Quechua), who fell in love with Pachacutec's (the Inca emperor) daughter. The emperor was not too happy about this so Ollantay was forced to flee Cusco and found refuge in this town. He was thrown into jail anyway but was eventually freed and reunited with the Inca princess after the emperor died. Nice story but of course, that was not the reason we visited this place. Up on a hill is the Inca fortress, Araqama Ayllu. Its highlight is ironically the unfinished Temple of the Sun - in the middle of it are six giant stones locked together with a seventh lying on its side, seemingly being prepared to be connected to the others but never actually getting there. These stones were cut from a nearby mountain - we know this because similarly large stones were found along a trail connecting the mountain to the fortress. How the heck did the Incas transport these stones down one mountain and up another is beyond me.
At 6 pm, we found ourselves at Ecoinka's private campsite at KM 82 - the starting point of the Inca Trail. This was one of the reasons why we paid a premium for these guys - rather than waking up at an ungodly hour the next morning in order to catch the 6 am train to KM 82 to start the hike, we would camp there the night before and take our own sweet time and still be the first people on the trail the next day. Furthermore, the campsite is extremely well equipped. We slept in tents (2 person to a 4-man tent) but that's where the "camping" part ends - we had hot showers, electricity, freshly-cooked dinner and get this - a sauna! They are the only company that have their own campsite at the starting point of the Inca Trail. The most amazing hiking / camping experience was just about to begin.

Day 1: "Easy"
The day started at 7 am for us - relatively late by Inca Trail standards. This morning was when we were officially introduced to our amazing team of porters. For the 4 of us participants, we had a support crew of 10. That's a ratio of 2.5 support personnel for each participant - sounds a bit of an overkill but each have their respective roles:
- 2 porters to carry our personal belongings including sleeping bags (we only carry our own daypack during the hike)
- 1 porter to carry the 20 kg gas tank
- 1 porter to carry the cooking equipment
- 2 porters to carry 5 tents (2 participant tents, 1 guide tent, 1 kitchen tent, 1 dining tent)
- 1 porter to carry the chemical toilet (yes, you read right)
- 1 porter to carry the food and utensils
- 1 porter to carry the foldable table and chairs
- 1 chef
And all these are on top of their own personal stuff. Here's the really amazing bit: the oldest guy on the team was 62 years old! Over the next 4 days, the porters' daily schedule would look something like this:
1) Wake the tourists up with their selection of hot drinks (and by this, I mean literally setting up a table in front of our tents first thing in the morning, wishing us "buenos dias" and asking us if we would like to have coffee, coca tea or Milo while we're still lying snugly in our sleeping bags - true story).
2) Prepare hot breakfast while the tourists wash up. This usually includes another round of hot drinks, a selection of breads, spreads, cookies, and cooked food that ranges from pancakes, omelets, sausages, fried eggs and everything else in between.
3) Wait for the tourists to set off on their hike, remembering to smile and be polite at all times. Once they're gone, break camp like a hurricane is coming.
4) Take off after the tourists with 25 kg bags on each back. Overtake the tourists with their tiny day packs along the way. Still smiling.
5) Arrive at the lunch site. Set up the kitchen, dining and toilet tents. Start cooking lunch.
6) Welcome the tourists when they arrive. Give them hot towels. Serve lunch.
7) Watch with amusement as the tourists succumb to post-meal stupor and then struggling to get back to their feet when it was time to hike again.
8) Repeat steps 3 - 6, replacing lunch with dinner.
Yup, our porters were pretty amazing.
But back to the Inca Trail. We started off on our hike after registering at the checkpoint at KM 82 at around 8 am. The weather couldn't be better - high teens / low 20s (Celcius), i.e. warm enough to hike in a t-shirt and a light jacket. The first 2 hours were done at a very leisurely pace as we enjoyed the view of the Urubamba River flowing right next to us. It took about that same amount of time for the reality of the situation - that we were finally on the Inca Trail after talking about it for 8 years - to sink in.
Soon after we left the river and hiked up a moderate incline, we arrived at the first Inca site, Llactapata. Technically, we didn't actually "arrive" as we were maybe 50 meters above it. From our vantage point, we could clearly see that it was of significant size and that the Incas had cut terraces into the mountain sides for agriculture. We used this opportunity to take a short break as Richard filled us in on more Inca history in his engaging, story-telling narrative. We learnt about Pachucutec, his two successors, the civil war and how the Spanish took advantage of the situation to conquer the entire empire.
Not far from there, we arrived at Huaylabamba, a small village with an official campsite where most hikers would be setting up camp for the night. But because we were with Ecoinka, we did things a bit differently. Rather than sharing the campsite with the other 485 hikers, we get to camp at a private campsite about another 45 minutes' hike from the village. We did however make a stop at Huaylabamba anyway for lunch - hiking continuously for 4 hours can make you quite hungry. As expected, everything was set up by the time we arrived. We just needed to put our bags down, get a hot towel each, clean our hands with soap and sanitizer and make ourselves comfortable in the dining tent as we waited for our lunch to be served. Sounds ludicrous but that's what you really get with these guys. Lunch usually consisted of bread, hot soup, cooked mains (in this case, fried quinoa with avocado, ham, corn, cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes) and tea/coffee - not the canned beans / soggy instant noodles that you'd expect on camping trips. And there was usually more than enough for seconds although we refrained ourselves, knowing that it was probably not a good idea to be hiking with overfly full stomachs.
After a half hour's rest post-lunch as some of the other hikers started to arrive at the campsite (remember we were the first people to hit the trail that morning), we gathered our stuff and set off for our campsite. It wasn't far to go - just 45 minutes - and before long, we see another Inca site (can't remember the name) situated on top of a hill. At the foot of the hill was where we would camp for the night. This campsite is not owned by Ecoinka, but the company had made arrangements with the owner of the land to allow them to use the place in exchange for building a few basic amenities such as toilets and little huts to shield our tents from the cold wind. And the best part - there were hot showers!
As the porters went about setting up camp and preparing dinner, we explored the nearby Inca site on our own. As it's not technically along the official Inca Trail, there isn't awfully much written about it. According to Richard, it is likely to be a 'tambo' or rest house for the Incas. It would have been really cool if we could actually camp within the ruins but all Inca sites are protected by the government of Peru so that was out of the question.
Dinner, like lunch, was carefully selected for its energy-rich ingredients and every bit as delicious. We had vegetable soup, grilled fish (trout) with sausages and potatoes, and chocolate pudding for dessert. Plus hot herbal tea at the end to ensure we slept like babies that night. And slept like babies we did in our warm sleeping bags and tents.

Day 2: "Challenge"
The toughest part of the hike awaited us the next day - we would be climbing from an altitude of 3000 meters to 4200 meters in less than 4 hours. The last time we did something close to this was when we climbed Mount Kinabalu 5 years ago - back then, we climbed from 3270 meters (Laban Rata) to 4100 meters (Low's Peak) in about the same amount of time. Fortunately for us, we had been at altitude for almost 2 weeks by this time, so we were spared the worst of the altitude sickness symptoms.
With the knowledge of a challenging day ahead, we had an earlier start at 5.30 am (as usual, with our lead porter Thomas, waking us up with a hot cup of Milo) and a hearty breakfast consisting of bread, pancakes and more hot drinks. By 6.30 am, we were on our way, first making our way back to the official Inca Trail, and then beginning the steep ascent up to Abra de Warmiwanusca, or Dead Women's Pass (the mountains we were crossing are supposed to resemble the outline of a woman lying on her back but to be absolutely honest, I don't see it). At 4200 meters, it was the highest point of the trail.
The climb was divided into 3 roughly equal sections, with resting points at the end of each. There are no Inca sites along this part of the trail, but with our minds focused on reaching the Pass and our bodies gasping for air with each step, we were not in the mood for exploring Inca ruins anyway. We did however notice the changing vegetation as we climbed higher. We also noticed the other hikers who had now caught up with us on the Trail. Shouting (ok, more like muttering under whatever breath we had left) encouragements to one another, we slowly but steadily made our way up. Occasionally, some of the hikers would ask their guide how much further to the next rest point, and the answer would always be "5 more minutes". But we all knew it was 5 "Peruvian" minutes, i.e. anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour.
At the end of each section, we celebrated with a 15-30 minute break as we topped up our energy tanks with snacks (sandwiches, chocolate bars, biscuits and fruits) that the porters had prepared for us in the morning. The final section was the steepest - it was as though nature designed it that way on purpose. The emotional high that came with making it to the top was perhaps not as exhilarating as summiting Mount Kinabalu, but it was still pretty sweet. Apart from the congratulatory cheers from fellow hikers who had reached before us, we were also rewarded for our efforts with a stunning view of the valley below us and the seemingly endless trail that we just conquered.
Too soon after arriving at the pass, it was time to leave the amazing view and get going again. Instead of a steep ascent, we now faced a steep descent towards Pacaymayu, our campsite for the night. From the Dead's Woman's Pass, we could see the campsite as a little dot in the distance but because it was downhill all the way, we covered the distance in just over an hour.
Up till this point, we hadn't had lunch because when Richard presented us with the option to either break for lunch somewhere before the Pass or to hike all the way to our campsite before stopping for lunch, we opted for the latter. And for two reasons - one, so that our porters won't have to set up camp at two separate locations; and two, so that we didn't have to take on the steepest part of the climb with a full stomach. As a result, we were done for the day by about 2 pm, quite tired and hungry. We wolfed down our lunch for the day - soup followed by Peruvian-style chicken rice (chicken cooked in a creamy and slightly spicy sauce) - and retired to our tents (all set up by the time we arrived, of course) for an afternoon siesta. An hour or so later, we woke up to - get this - the smell of freshly-made popcorns! And that was just for tea. For dinner, we had the customary soup starter followed by beef cooked in stew with creamy mashed potatoes. And for desert, we had ice-cream - don't ask me how they managed to keep it frozen for the last 2 days.
The nights aren't typically very long on the Trail. We would go to bed soon after dinner - that's usually around 9 pm. There isn't much else to do anyway. We were not allowed to make a campfire, much to our disappointment (memories of the many hours spent around a campfire to keep warm in the Pantanal comes to mind). That night would be the first night we camped in a public campsite, i.e. without electricity, hot water, permanent toilets and the protective straw hut that shielded our tents from the wind (which we had the first two nights). And because we were also quite high up - about 3500 meters above sea level - the night got pretty cold. Freezing cold in fact, judging from the frozen towel that we had left outside to "dry" when we found it the next morning. Inside our tents, it was only marginally warmer but we got by with our super-warm sleeping bags, multiple layers of clothing, double socks and a traditional beanie-like headgear made of alpaca wool that we had bought in Bolivia to protect our head and ears from the cold.

Day 3: "Beautiful"
Day 3 on the Trail is known to be the most scenic. We would visit 3 more Inca sites by the day's end and camp at a site with a spectacular view of the mountains around us. But before that, we had a bit more climbing and quite a lot of hiking to do. We started at 6.30 am this morning with breakfast consisting of fried eggs, sausages and fried bananas. I could really get used to this. Making sure we cleared our systems (i.e. use the portable toilet that the porters had been carrying along with us) as we were told that the next toilet break would be in 3 hours, we then set off on our hike for the day.
Climbing towards an altitude of 3900 meters, we arrived at the first Inca site of the day - an egg-shaped outpost built on the edge of a cliff. Hence, its name Runkurakay, or "egg-shaped enclosure" in Quechua. Like many other Inca sites, experts can only guess at what it was built for - and based on its position and shape, they believed that this particular site was used as some sort of a watch tower by the Incas. Whatever it was, it provided us with some nice views over the valley beneath us.
A bit more climbing beyond this site and we arrived at the second pass - nothing as challenging as the first one we did the previous day, but it was still nice to know that the rest of the day's hike would be either flat or slightly downhill. About an hour beyond the pass, we found ourselves at the bottom of a flight of stone steps leading up to the second site of the day, Sayacmarca. It means "inaccessible town", so named because the only way in and out of the site was through the narrow flight of steps that we were about to climb up. A wrong step and we would fall off its side into oblivion. We didn't need reminding to be careful. Sayacmarca is one of the larger sites on the Trail - almost like a little village with an excellent view due to its elevation. There were a number of fascinating things about the site - for example, we noticed little holes cut into the stones next to some of the doorways. According to Richard, the Incas had likely used these holes to hold doors, indicating that the rooms that they were guarding were important and restricted to only a privileged few. These holes were so smoothly cut, it was as though the Incas had used electric drills to make them rather than whatever primitive tools they had available to them at that time. From here, we could also see another, smaller Inca site below us, although I can't remember if Richard actually mentioned its name to us.
Hiking downhill from there, we made our way to our next pitstop for lunch. We were not terribly hungry, but we needed to use the bathroom. Fortunately, where we stopped was another official campsite on the Trail, equipped with basic toilets and running water. Not so fortunate for us is that we were not the first people to arrive so the toilets have been pretty "well-used"...anyway, I'll spare you the details. By the time we arrived, lunch was almost ready. We had a very generous helping of macaroni, spinach omelet, fish, sweet potato and half a hard-boiled egg. We wished we could siesta again after the heavy meal but there was more hiking to do. So we carried on.
The section of the trail between lunch and our campsite was what Richard referred to as his favorite part of the trail. We hiked through some pretty interesting vegetation, stopping a couple of times to take a closer look at some of the different species of orchids that he pointed out to us. Personally, I wasn't too excited about the orchids but I was quite amazed by the trail itself - I found it hard to fathom that the stone trails that we were hiking on, cut neatly into the walls of the mountain, were made over 500 years ago. Sure, some restoration and a lot of maintenance have been done since the opening of the Trail in the 90s, but most of what we see today existed way back in the Inca times. And the view...if I had been an Inca and given a choice of vocation, I would almost definitely be a chaski (assuming I can't be the emperor himself) - I mean who wouldn't want to run the trails everyday and enjoy that awesome view??
And like the proverbial cherry on the sundae, we arrived at our campsite to find the most awesome view of all. The name of the campsite (as well as the Inca site right below us), Phuyupatamarca, simply means "town above the clouds" - a huge hint of what to expect, except that we were obviously too busy drinking in all the other stuff that was going on up till that point. So when we arrived and we saw the snow-capped peak of Mount Veronica and the Andean mountain range framing our campsite, we were quite blown away. Momentarily forgetting that we've been hiking for a good 8 hours that day, we climbed up to the highest point we could find to take pictures of the view. Soon after we got back down to the campsite, it was time for tea - if we had thought having popcorn yesterday was pretty cool, seeing an entire plate of fried wanton (filled with cheese and apple) waiting for us in the dining tent was even more amazing. But with the sun setting and throwing all kinds of crazy colors everywhere, Mark and I were darting in and out of the tent trying to capture the moment with our cameras (btw, we've got nearly identical DSLR cameras) while stuffing our faces with the delicious wantons.
Dinner that night (seems like we were always eating because we were!) was surprising - first, because there was no meat (we had quinoa soup, fried rice with dil, and a Peruvian desert made from black corn - I guess it was only so long meat could be kept fresh without electricity and/or ice); and second, because we had a half-bottle of Peruvian red wine (a Malbec-Merlot mix). In my years of camping, I've never had the opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine while camping, neither have I seen anyone pour the first sip on the ground in tribute to the Pacha Mama (Mother Earth). Richard did this in thanks to the Pacha Mama for having provided for us throughout the Trail so far, which we dutifully followed. Later that night, we also paid tribute to our amazing porters who played a significant part in making the Inca Trail such an amazing experience for us. Richard invited all of them into the dining tent after dinner, where they described their respective roles, with Richard doing the interpretation. Following that, we gave our own note of thanks, both in words and a small tip. Other than that, we also gave away one of my hiking shoes (I had a spare pair) and a tube of antiseptic cream, seeing that the porters had nothing on their feet except very cheap-looking pair of rubber sandals and some of them looked like they had some pretty bad cuts. It was the least we could do.

Day 4: "Machu Picchu"
The last 4 days of exploring Inca sites and hiking the ancient trails made by this civilization have merely been dress-rehearsal, one that would culminate in us arriving at our final destination on Day 4. Up till this point however, we have yet to see Machu Picchu at all, which is a pretty amazing fact given the size of the site. The reason is because it is so well-hidden between two mountains that the Spanish never found it during their invasion of Peru. So much so that when the American explorer, Hiram Bingham, stumbled upon it on 24 July 1911, he found one of the most well-preserved Inca sites ever discovered.
But before we even get to see the place, we still had a good amount of hiking to do. Because we wanted to have sufficient time to explore the place when we eventually get there (Richard advised that we allocate about 4 hours), we started the day early - at 5.30 am. Following another hearty breakfast, we set off at a slightly quicker pace, no doubt fueled by our excitement to get to Machu Picchu as soon as we could. Along the way, we came across two more Inca sites. The first was Winay Wayna, an impressive site complete with well-preserved buildings and terraces, which also happens to be the last official campsite along the Trail, about two hours' hike from where we were. Some of the hikers camped here the previous night as it would allow them to catch the sunrise from Intipunku (or "Sun Gate", so named because it faces due east), the next and final site before Machu Picchu - if they started at 4 am, that is. We had a quick bite here but didn't stay long - too much to look forward to in the next few hours.
It was another hour's hike to the unforgettable Intipunku - unforgettable because after 8 years of talking about it, 7 months of planning and 4 days of hiking, we finally get our first glimpse of the mystical Machu Picchu from here, albeit from 2 km away. Despite all the hype and expectations that comes with being voted as one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World" in a worldwide poll back in 2007 (see other winners here: http://world.n7w.com/new-7-wonders/the-official-new7wonders-of-the-world/), it was still every bit as incredible as we had imagined it to be. Built majestically but yet so well-hidden between the mountains of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, it was no wonder the Spanish never found it. After high-fives all around and taking what seemed like a thousand pictures, we found a spot and just sat there for awhile, letting the moment slowly sink in - we were staring at the Lost City of the Incas afterall!
We covered the final 2 kilometers from Intipunku to Machu Picchu in less than 30 minutes - we would have ran all the way there if it wasn't for the legions of tourists crowding the narrow path. And half of them were going in the opposite direction as they were not the people who have been hiking the Inca Trail with us, but rather the majority who have taken the train directly to Machu Picchu but wanted to see the same view we just left behind. The crowd was even more massive when we arrived at the site, such is the popularity of the place. While the Peruvian government have imposed a 500 per day limit on the Inca Trail, there are no existing limit for the people who are allowed to visit Machu Picchu itself - during peak periods, there can be up to 6000 visitors a day!
Nevertheless, we didn't let the crowd ruin the highlight of our hike. Richard took us on a tour of the site, starting with a brief history on how Hiram Bingham had made it known to the outside world (Machu Picchu was discovered by locals long before he did), and then visiting the more interesting parts of the site (it was simply not possible to go over each of the 140 structures that make up the site). Here are some of my favorites:
1) Temple of the Sun - Like many other Inca sites we've seen, the single circular structure amongst a complex of other squarish / rectangular structures was likely a temple dedicated to the Sun. No different with Machu Picchu. What's interesting though is that this structure, which was built into a natural stone outcropping of the mountain, has two windows that are aligned perfectly with the point where the sun rises during the summer and winter solstices. Experts believe that the Incas used this feature to help plan their crop cycles. It also boasts the most intricate stonework in Machu Picchu.
2) The Caretaker's Hut - Located at a slightly higher vantage point than the rest of Machu Picchu, it is believed to have provided the Inca caretakers with an excellent observation point of the entire city, particularly the entrances to and from the site. For us, it was simply the best point to take pictures of the place. This is also where the classic photo of Machu Picchu (as seen in almost every advertising / marketing material) is taken from.
3) Intihuatana - An amazing piece of carved stone that uses the sun to indicate precisely when the summer / winter solstice dates are (useful to remember that the Incas didn't have the luxury of watches or calendars). On the day of the winter solstice (can't remember which date), the sun will be directly above the stone and cast no shadow. To achieve this, the stone has to be slanted by exactly 13 degrees to take into account Machu Picchu's position relative to the equator where it is 13 degrees south. Pretty amazing if you think about it.
4) The Sacred Rock - So named because experts believe that the Incas had used this specially carved rock as an altar to worship the mountains. Its outline appear to follow the outline of the distant Mount Pumasillo behind it.
5) Mortar Building - A highlight of mine simply because experts are still baffled about the purpose of this room. It's the only structure in Machu Picchu with an open roof and in it are two curious-looking bowl-like protrusions from the floor made of stone. When Bingham first arrived at Machu Picchu, one of the local boys that have been living there showed him how the Incas may have used these 'bowls' - as some kind of an ancient mortar to grind crops. However, experts have since debunked this theory due to the lack of evidence of crops in these 'mortars'. The popular belief now is that they were used by Inca astronomers as a mirror to study the stars (as when they are filled with water, they reflect the night sky). But let's face it - no one really knows.
At the end of our 2-hour long tour, it was time to say goodbye to Richard as it was officially the end of the Inca Trail for us. While we stayed on for another two hours to explore the rest of the site on our own and take even more pictures, Richard made his way out of the site for a well-deserved break, before he starts the whole thing again in a week's time. He did an excellent job - both in getting us to live and breathe Inca for 5 days, and also in ensuring that all our needs were more than taken care of along the Trail. We couldn't have asked for a better guide.
Nobody knows for sure the primary purpose of Machu Picchu - some believe it to be a royal retreat built by Pachacutec, the Inca emperor, but abandoned during the Spanish conquest. Others think it may have been some kind of Inca university, given the existence of tools and structures to study the sun, stars, agriculture, etc. Regardless of what it used to be, it certainly deserves its place as one of the existing wonders of the world. Machu Picchu, plus the Inca Trail, will rank right up there amongst the highlights of our 3-month South America adventure - and thanks in no small part to Richard, our amazing team of porters, as well as excellent hiking companions, Mark and Veronica. And of course, the thousands of Incas who built Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail over 500 years ago. Thank you all!