Machu Picchu: The Lost City of the Incas; Huayna Pichu: Teetering on the Edge of Death

First things first: The photos I mention below are actually in this link on Facebook. Click here to access all the photos! Blogger was not letting me efficiently upload them to this blog, so unfortunately, from here on out, they will be posted to my Facebook albums. Don't worry, if you're not my friend on Facebook, you can still see them because I made it public.

Now for the blog!

Wifi drives me nuts! You really know you're a spoiled, impatient American when the wifi takes more than 5 seconds to load, let alone not work at all. We become uninterested and sometimes even give upon the task athand. Which maybe, if you think about it, means the task really wasn't that important top begin with? Not professional tasks, but for example, perhaps you don't even need to be watching that Drake and Rihanna music video for "Work." Maybe you can go the rest of today-nay-the rest of your life without ever seeing it. But I'm getting off topic.

After we took the train in the afternoon, PeruRail, from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes or Machu Picchu Pueblo (1.5 hours); we found our hostel. Interestingly enough, Aguas Calientes wasn't even a thing until Machu Picchu started gaining serious tourist action. It used to be just a railroad town prior to the attraction, but now the town is only there to serve tourists who are staying the night to tae the 20 minute bus ride in the morning to the ruins. Though that is true, people do live here (because people also have to work here). We've seen a lot of residency buildings, a school, and even a futbol stadium right by our hostel.

Because it only caters to tourists, everything here is extremely pricey. I recommend eating out as minimally as you can. Make sure you choose a hostel/hotel with free breakfast, and you can bring snacks from whatever town your coming from on the train, they don't check bags. You also get snack included in your train ticket. Take these opportunities! If you're a frugle traveler like me, it'll cost you more to fix your mistakes.

Big news....we went to Machu Picchu today! Our main reason for this trip in the first place. We also had the Huayana Picchu trek included in our ticket. We have a few comments on that as well. Best way to do it is this: Get in on the PeruRail to Aguas Calientes at least the night before you plan to see the site. Stay there the night, then wake up early for the first trek (Machu opens at 6am, but the Huayana Picchu site starts at 7am) and buy a bus ticket at the booth for about 24 USD roundtrip per person. It's way better to go early to avoid the tourist rush in the afternoon, and even at around 11am.

Firstly you should know, Olivia and myself are fairly out of shape. We bought the tickets for Machu Picchu and Huayana Picchu without actually researching Huayana Picchu (the hike portion). Only after buying the tickets, did we see the death defying mountain we'd be climbing. Just search it in Google, as we were too scared for our lives to take pictures during it. It's mostly VERY steep and narrow steps going up roughly 1,180 feet higher than Machu Picchu. Or 8920 feet above sea level. It's not as high as it could be, it's just terrifying to climb up. There are ropes in most parts, but also there are parts with no rope and your right side is just exposed. Meaning from left to right it goes the rock wall, you on the stairs, then just cliff. You could fall right off. I]m not trying to scare anyone, because we almost bailed and we're so glad we didn't. It's a kickass workout and a great view. Especially if it's wet like it was today....good luck. Plus a milestone for those of us who don't hike as much :) Please do not climb Huayan Picchu if you:
Suffer from any heart problems
Have vertigo
Are chlaustrophobic
Are afraid of heights
Are very out of shape

Check below for the pictures we DID get. I also have to give credit to Olivia for unintentionally peer pressuring me to go. We got to the gate, and not only was I feeling scared, but I was having tummy problems as well from something I ate. She said "don't feel pressured, because if it was me with stomach issues, I wouldn't go. But I'm gonna go. I have to. You can just come back and meet me here. Wrong. So she told me to take the antibiotics the doctor prepared for me just in case, and I made it! Nothing terrible happened the whole time. Had she not unintentionally made me go, I wouldn't have this awesome experience to share with you today.

Machu Picchu was next. After triumphantly defeating the dreaded Huayana Picchu (which our avid Hiker friend even warned us was frightening), we made our way to the less-scary ruins. It's amazing what the Inca's built there. My biggest question is how? The stones are so tightly compacted and the structures are still so stable. How did they gain the resources, let alone the manpower to build such an amazing lost city on such a steep mountain?

A bit of history in lamens terms: Hiram Bingham III "discovered Machu Picchu" as the lost city of the Incan Empire in 1911. This was the first expedition of many. He is the grandson of Hiram Bingham I, a New England diplomat. His family wanted him to follow in those footsteps, but he was like "nah, I'm cool." So he went on a very dangerous trek to find this site, where he came across others such as Espiritu Pampa and Choquequirao. He originally though Choquequirao was the lost city due to their resemblance until he found Machu, so you can think of it as the runner up. Espiritu Pampa is an old refugee camp where the Incas stayed during their time is rebellion. Backing up as to why they were rebelling, Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizzaro invaded their Empire (naturally) and killed Athualpa (the current reigning Incan Emperor). He installed Manco Inca Yupanqui as a sort of puppet king after having Athualpa executed. Long story short, Manco was like "okay cool, I work for you," then later he was like "lolz, jk, sike!" and decided to lead the Incan citizens out of their empire in an attempt at self-liberation. Here we come full circle back to Espiritu Pampa, one of the refugee headquarters for Manco and his group of Incan citizens to hide from the Spanish.

The reason I put "discovery" in quotes, is because Bingham "discovered" the lost Incan city kind of like Columbus "discovered" the Americas. Bingham did bring an amazing lost civilization to the world that would have otherwise not had the chance at discovery, but he wasn't the first one. Feel free to research it yourself, but there were some before him. Another reason it's in quotes is because like all discoverers back in the day, they get credit for their finding based on material merit. So what did he do? Stole unauthorized artifacts from the sites he found and smuggled them out of Peru to display at his alma mater, Yale university, of course. Since then, he continued to unlawfully take artifacts during his expeditions, and when Peru did finally agree to give him permission based on the condition that they could take them back whenever they wanted, he failed to do so. To this day, Peru is still fighting with Yale in the court of law for their artifacts. Even former first lady of Peru, , brought up the lawsuit against Yale again in 2011 for the return of their lent artifacts. Lent is the key word here. Anywho, I have a lot to say on the matter, but I think this is sufficient for now.

An excellent book to read to find out more about the Incan history and it's relation to Hiram Bingham's "discovery" of Machu Picchu, is Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams. 292 pages of great narration, as well as a helpful glossary of Incan/Spanish terms.

All in all, we had a great day of adventure, fear, panic attacks (Olivia and I at the top of Huayana Picchu huddles in a corner), and sunshine. We were so luck it didn't storm like the weather said it was going to. I have some recs for this blog on hiking essentials you'll want to check out!

1. Ahnu Sugarpine Hiking Boot: These boots can be seen on me basically in every full body photo. Olivia is also rocking a different style of the same boot. I'm not going to lie, these boots. saved me.  I usually have foot muscle issues when I walk a lot,, but these are so comfortable and wereespecially appreciated hiking up. Huayna Picchu. Thanks Mom!

2. Squarebar Protein Bar: This can also be seen in a picture of me sitting on a rock after our hike. Perfect after workout snack #whenhungerstrikes. My mom loaded me up with these for my trip, and I have 0 regrets. They've come in handy on multiple occassions. Whether it be food budgeting, or just wanting to pack a snack to avoid hunger in a pinch.


Don't forget to check out my moms blog for a review on the Squarebar, as well as other great recommendations and life hacks in general. Click here for the link :)