Blog Post #10 Machu Picchu

The Incas built the working sanctuary around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. (Some believe that ‘abandonment’ came about from widespread death through small pox carried by the Spaniards.) Although known locally, it was not known to the Spanish during the colonial period and remained unknown to the outside world until American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911. Legend has it the Incas, wishing to keep the sanctuary hidden from the conquistadors, deliberately destroyed the trail leading from the Sacred Valley to the site. 

Viefrom train on the way to Machu Picchu image

According to the stories told by my guides and with enhanced details from Wikipedia, I learned Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca sanctuary/city situated on a mountain ridge 7,970 feet above sea level. It is located near the Sacred Valley, 50 miles northwest of Cusco. Its name means mountain with a broad base that ends in sharp, or “old” peaks. Most believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate, or a “Camp David”, for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472).

From the top

It’s possible to trek for four days along the original Inca trail to Machu Pichhu and that’s what I originally had planned back in January. Regretfully, that trek requires the purchase of a ticket from a pool of first-come-first-served applicants and the trek is booked as much as a year in advance. I took the train. It was a lovely, soul satisfying trip along the Urabamba River as it wound its way downstream in a froth of roiling whitewater.

Up the farming terraces, ancient stone structures with new thatched roofs

It had been my plan when I arrived late morning in Agua Calliente*, the tiny village at the base of Machu Picchu, to spend the day in town and go up to the sanctuary on the next day. I was literally too excited for that. So, I bought my ticket and hopped on the bus for the ascent.

Steps carved from  existing stone

The trail at the top just beyond the entrance presented two options, one down and the other up to the Inka Bridge. To get out of the crush of people going down, I chose up to the Inca Bridge and was not disappointed. Taking the final steps from multiple switchbacks on the side of a mountain, I came to that iconic vantage place I’d seen a thousand times displaying the entire village down below and before me. I let out “God” in an unintended, audible reflexive gasp. No other word comes close to what I saw, and no other word is adequate. It’s that majestic, magical, mystical, and reverent.

Vista from Machu Picchu

A nearby woman heard my one word, smiled, and nodded agreement. I stood there for several minutes trying my best to understand what I was seeing, and combining that with just doing nothing, paying my respects to the wonder of it all.     

View up from farming terraces

For several hours I slowly and in silence walked the grounds of this sanctuary and with occasional delicate touch, ran my fingers across the stones here and there. I tried to pull from my imagination the civilization that conceived of this and then brought it to life. To imagine this paradise before it was carved out of a mountain ridge, then to plan in laying it out, to apply the inconceivable math, engineering, and agricultural skills, and of course to then actually perform all the hard work with only bronze tools to make it a reality—all that is evident everywhere I looked, along with what I imagined as a pastoral life of those who lived here. Divine Inspiration is a phrase that came to mind time after time.

*(Agua Calliente literally means “Hot Water”, and indeed hot springs are there. The town is also known as Machu Picchu Pueblo.)