My son Andy got married (officially in the eyes of the Catholic church) last Saturday. He met his wife while on a work study program in Peru (he's finishing up his third year of med school) and brought her back here to the US, where they had a civil ceremony so he could get her on his insurance. They now have an eight month old baby girl, my second granddaughter. Being both Catholics though, the church indicated that they would like to play a role in the union, and since his wife, Claudia, has always wanted to be married in her family's church in Lima, last week we packed everything we would need for a wedding (suit, evening dress, dress shoes, etc) into four bags and boarded a plane for South America. We also squeezed in everything we would need for a hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (backpacks, hiking boots, sunscreen, bug spray, power bars, etc). I'm not sure how we fit all that in four bags, but we did. And off we went.
The wedding went off relatively well Saturday night, followed by a reception at a posh country club. All I can say is... Peruvians can party. At one point I looked on the dance floor and there among the writhing, sweaty bodies, bobbing to the pounding disco music, was a six foot tall Guinea pig, an Uncle Sam on stilts, a ninja warrior, and a Power Ranger. Yeah, I was drunk... but those things were actually there (I have video) and not just the product of some Hunter Thompson-esque fever dream.
The next day, with throbbing heads, we boarded a plane for Cusco, taking just the stuff we could pack into backpacks for the hike. There would probably be a better way to plan this for a fifty (almost sixty) year old. But my son set it up in such a way that when we left Cusco, we had to take everything that we had brought with us in our packs (since we wouldn't be returning to Cusco).
Cusco is a beautiful old mountain town and actually sits at an elevation several thousand feet above Machu Picchu. The architecture reminded me a lot of Bavarian Alpine structures, but it was pure South America. The locals all wear brightly colored hand made garments and you see a lot of the tall bowler hats that I thought were specific to Bolivia, but are actually an Andean thing you'll find anywhere from Colombia on south to Chile. I got a panorama shot with my phone camera. Unfortunately there was a little movement by a couple of the people in our group, but the shot gives you a sense of the layout of Plaza Armas, where we spent most of our time.
Since we weren't returning, when we were dropped off the Inca Rail train at km 104 to begin the “short hike” up to Inti Punku (the Sun Gate), where you can look down on Machu Picchu, I was carrying about thirty pounds of clothing, gear, and water, and my wife Teresa was carrying about twenty five pounds.
I describe the trek we made as the “short hike” because the full trail takes about four days to traverse. The “short hike” can be done in roughly eight hours, and is “only” 9.6 miles up 2600 feet of mostly vertical mountain side. The hike would probably be arduous enough with a light load, but with the gear we were carrying, it was pretty rough. There's a lot of this:
And around the next corner, more of this:
Followed by some of this:
The trail actually undulates, up and down as the mountain terrain dictates. Initially you welcome the descending sections as a respite from the unrelenting up-up-upness of the climb. But you soon come to realize that every time you come to a section that goes downhill, you're losing altitude that you've already achieved and you will pay a price for that later by having to re-attain the altitude you just surrendered.
At several points when stopping for rest I checked my heart rate. It was usually running around 120 beats per minute. I'm not sure what it settled back to before we started hiking again, but I'm pretty certain that for the better part of the day my heart was beating at over 100 beats per minute.
It was, however, very much worth it. Sure, we could have taken the train all the way to Aguas Caliente (literally “hot water”, named after the hot springs there), the little village at the base of Machu Picchu mountain, and then taken a bus up to Machu Picchu. But we would have missed out on some breathtaking scenery:
Eventually we came to the first major archeological site, Winay Wayna, at 8679' elevation. This was, obviously, early terrace farming.
Our crew, with Winay Wayna in the background; l to r, my son Andy, his wife Claudia, Andy's friend Bryan Fender, Claudia's friend Michelle Lim, me, my wife Teresa (forever in pink), and Andy's friend Derek Vary:
Somewhere between Winay Wayna and Inti Punku Teresa decided to take a dive over the side of the mountain. Of course, she didn't actually decide that, but the moss covered stones at the outside edge of the trail extended an invitation to go cliff diving that her hiking boots just couldn't refuse. If it were not for the fortuitous presence of a couple of four inch saplings, I'd probably be writing this as a widower. But we got her pulled back up to safety, and with the exception of some nasty scrapes and one gash on her hand, she was no worse for wear. I'll give her credit, she's no whiner. She immediately began apologizing for slowing us down, and after we got her cleaned up and bandaged, she threw her back pack on and kept right on going. Nary a whimper. She's a tough old girl, and that's why I love her.
At 8859' elevation we finally came out at Inti Punku. The last set of steps up to Inti Punku are virtually vertical and are not so much like a staircase as they are like a slightly tilted ladder – sort of a last “f@#% you” before you reach your destination. If some enemy ever intended to attack the Incas, they had better have been in good shape. From Inti Punku, you get your first view of Machu Picchu:
The next day we came back by bus from Aguas Caliente, and spent several hours traipsing around the site. Our guide, an amiable young Peruvian name Leo, explained the history of the ruins, including the following little bit, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Leo: “The city was discovered in 1911 by an adventurer named Hiram Bingham, who was looking for the lost city of gold. We know this as El Dorado. Hollywood made a movie about his many adventures. I not know how to say the name in English, but... (he then started humming the theme song music from “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”... I almost doubled over laughing)
I have to admit, Hiram's resemblance to Harrison Ford's character is striking. The rest of the morning was ours, and Machu Picchu is a photo friendly site. About the only way to get a bad pic is to accidentally get your thumb over the lens!
http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums/...psr11aegvn.jpg
I had deliberated about which watch to take on the trip, but after thinking I'd go with a G-Shock, I changed my mind at the last minute and took the Precista PRS18Q on a vintage Tropic rubber strap. I think it was perfect in a lot of ways. It's quartz, so I never had to worry about it running down; water resistant, so I could be outside in the rain or go swimming; bead blasted, which seems to be a pretty mar resistant finish in my experience; and low key enough not to attract undue attention. It made the entire trek up the mountain, and I thought it deserved its own picture at the the top:
Thanks for sticking it out to the end. I hope you enjoyed it!