Blow Us All Away

I’ve seen the pictures countless times, the money shot at the top of Machu Picchu looking down on the settlement with the mountain rising above.  The blog post that follows this may have too many pictures of it from slightly different angles, but there’s a reason people flock to Machu Picchu in non-COVID times.

Now, there’s another reason I was speechless. . .I was not in shape for the steep hike up from the entrance to the high vantage point.  Between my knee, my sciatica, and my not having worked out much lately, I had a tough go.  I don’t think I had altitude issues, but that may have contributed.  Meanwhile, our new friend Charles Dolab, a 78 year old fellow in robust shape, moved deftly around Machu Picchu like a 45 year old!

That aside, I perked up when we got to the stupendous view.    And, we got to see it from various angles and levels.  And then there was the llama bonus, as they were just contentedly munching on grass just a few yards away.  

We snaked our way around the upper part of Machu Picchu, stopping for photos, posing as couples and as groups, and listening to our guide Alvin share his semi-crackpot theories about the use of Machu Picchu.  

Alvin was a very nice guy, but not the best guide we’d ever had.  He was more interesting than the boring guy we ditched in 2007 on our tour of the Roman Colosseum, and far more likable than our guide in Iceland (guides who dislike people shouldn’t be guides), but Alvin was a lot  long-winded and a bit pedantic during his talks.  And, it wasn’t just me, the six of us found him a bit irritating. (We did dub ourselves Alvin and the Chipmunks, but we supplied all the fun.)

He was hard to follow, so I focused on the views and taking photos more than listening to him.  He did have legitimate points that, given the cloudy, rainy weather that Machu Picchu was unlikely to be used for astronomy or as a summer retreat for the royal family, but he was very dismissive of any theory but his, which is that it built as a key hub of trade half-way between the rain forests of the beginning Amazon and the rest of Peru, such as Cusco.

Well, now his theory is on the Internet, so that must make it true.  One question I thought of but didn’t ask was “why would a trade hub be so difficult to get to?  Why wouldn’t it be in the valley?”  I didn’t ask it because I didn’t want to be berated.

Anyhow, despite Alvin’s long-winded approach to everything, Machu Picchu is stunning.  The river snakes around the mountains, and the mountains are stunning in their beauty.  We got lucky, as Machu Picchu was largely bathed in sunshine while we were there, even though there were rain clouds on the surrounding peaks.

As we were towards the end of our lengthy journey walking throughout, we saw four rainbows, one double and two individual rainbows.  A common occurrence there, I never get tired of rainbows.

We spent hours up top – I never looked at my watch the whole time.

It was quite the journey, both in the getting there, and, more importantly, in the being there.  I never dreamed of going to Machu Picchu.  It just seemed too remote, too unlikely, but let me tell you, it is definitely worth the journey.  It wasn’t the grueling hikes that adventurers do, but it’s also not an easy “fly into Lima, go to Machu Picchu the next day” kind of trip.  In the words of Dwight Yoakam, it’s “a long way to go before I get there.”