The big draw for our time in Cusco was to visit Machu Picchu – it’s a place that many people dream of seeing and we were no exception. When we arrived in Cusco, we considered our options for visiting and ultimately decided to take a tour with South Adventure Peru Tours. They were very friendly and helpful and in the end, we loved our tour so much that we booked two more tours with them (one more in Cusco to the southern part of the Sacred Valley and one in Puno to the Uros Islands). The first part of our tour was spent touring the northern part of the Sacred Valley (Pisaq, Urubamba, and Ollantaytambo). Once we were finished with our tour in Ollantaytambo, we boarded the Inca Rail train to take us through the mountains to the town of Aguas Calientes. This is where we spent the evening before our trip to Machu Picchu, so that we could wake up early to get a jump start on our tour.

There are some wild llamas who live in Machu Picchu and hang out on the terraces.

We met our guide, Jesús, and two others who would accompany us on our tour (two friends from Montreal). The bus ride up the mountain from Aguas Calientes was full of switchbacks but provided glimpses of the valley below. After ascending to approximately 2,400 meters (almost 8,000 feet), we disembarqued and got in line to enter Machu Picchu. With our ticket, we could exit and enter the site three times in one day – a necessity since the only bathrooms were located just outside of the site itself.

Our guide, Jesus, used a book about Machu Picchu to help illustrate some of the topics we discussed during our tour.

At 7:00am, Machu Picchu was enveloped in fog and mist, and clouds covered views of the nearby mountains and valley. Jesús led us around the lower part of the complex, taking about 2½ hours to show us around the urban sector of town. He would stop in each new building or next to various monuments or stones to describe a bit about the history of the Incans and what the particular item was used for. He was a wealth of information, answering all of our questions about the architecture, communication during Incan times, and rituals. Using a book about Machu Picchu as an aid, he showed us pictures of the site when Hiram Bingham first visited back in 1911 and drawings of what they imagine it looked like in the 1400’s and 1500’s when the Incas lived there. We were very happy to have Jesús as our guide in the morning, but also enjoyed our free time at the site after he left.

The mountain was covered in fog and mist in the morning, giving it a slightly mysterious feel.

A Brief History of Machu Picchu

The city was built somewhere between 1435-1450 by the Incans. The site is split into an urban sector and agricultural sector, and the urban sector is also split into a lower town and upper town. The Incans selected this site to be closer to the Sun God, whom they worshiped. The King, priests, and elite all lived in the upper town, where the temples are located, while the commoners, peasants, and workers lived in the lower town, where the warehouses are located. Although Machu Picchu is located at the top of a mountain, the elevation is actually lower than the city of Cusco, which is where the King lived most of the year. During the cold winter months, he would move his entourage to Machu Picchu to take advantage of the warmer weather at a lower altitude. When that happened, there would be 600-800 people who would live and work in Machu Picchu.

A crack in the wall caused by an earthquake shows how well-built the stones and buildings were.

In 1911, Hiram Bingham was exploring the Sacred Valley in search of the Incan capital of Vitcos. During his search, he would ask locals about any nearby ruins and would then visit in the hopes of finding the lost city. One such local was Melchor Arteaga, who led them up a path to a farming site, occupied by a few farmers. The farmers’ 11-year-old son, Pablito, took Bingham along a trail to jungle-covered ruins. Since the vegetation concealed a majority of the ruins, Bingham just took a few notes on the site and then left on his journey to discover Vitcos (which he did eventually find). The next year, in 1912, Bingham returned to Machu Picchu and spent four months excavating and cleaning the site. The buildings used to be covered with thatch roofs, with wooden doors, but all of that was destroyed when Bingham set fire to the site to clear out the overgrown jungle. In subsequent years, more came to Machu Picchu to study, document, and restore the site, eventually attracting tourists.

Take a look at the size of the stone that Jon is standing next to – it’s huge!

Since Machu Picchu is undoubtedly the most popular tourist destination in Peru, the government has tried to strike a balance between allowing tourists to visit and preserving the architecture of the site. Therefore, there is a limit on the number of people allowed in Machu Picchu each day (2,500) and the Inca Trail (a trek that leads to Machu Picchu) is completely closed in the month of February for maintenance. A lot of people visit as a day trip from Cusco, making peak hours mid-day. However, by spending the night in Aguas Calientes, we had five hours at the site in the morning and left when it was starting to get busy (and rain!). Although 2,500 seems like a lot of people to visit one site in a day, the size of Machu Picchu allows everyone to spread out and find their own private areas to sit and reflect on the enormity of the ruin.

We were standing by ourselves on one of the terraces when we took this picture – it was like we were all alone with Machu Picchu in front of us.

During our tour with Jesús, we learned a few fun facts. These don’t necessarily go together, but I thought they were interesting pieces of information about Machu Picchu and wanted to share them.

• The thatch roofs that are seen today have to be redone every five years. Historians assume that this was also the case during Incan times, with ongoing maintenance of the buildings.
  

  The guard tower, with a replica thatch roof showing what it would have been like during the Incan period.

• There was no written language during Incan times. They would communicate by using runners who would run approximately eight kilometers at a time to a nearby city or resting place. Instead of leaving notes for other runners to take to the next location, they used knots. A piece of wood would hold pieces of string; strings would be different colors and lengths and contain a variety of knots in them. The color, length, and type and quantity of knots would equate to a particular message that they wanted to pass along.
• Approximately 70% of Machu Picchu has been restored, but there is still about 30% that is covered by jungle and left in ruin.
• Coca leaves were used to preserve mummies after people died.
• There are around 200 types of orchids in and around Machu Picchu.
  

  I don’t think these were orchids but they were still pretty against the backdrop of Machu Picchu!

• There were no human sacrifices at Machu Picchu, but the Incans would sacrifice llamas and guinea pigs. The animal sacrifices were carried out as a plea for rain.
• Most of the stones used in the construction of Machu Picchu were from the local quarry, located within the site. The stone is primarily white granite. Masons and stoneworkers would cut the stones so precise that no mortar was needed to fit them together. An earthquake caused some of the buildings and rocks to shift, allowing us to see in between the rocks at the precision used by the stone carvers.
  

  In the construction of buildings, they first used what was already on the mountain, such as the rock used in the base of this building.

Jon and I spent the first part of our morning with Jesús in the lower part of town, learning about the history of the Incans and the site. After a brief break to use the bathroom and have a snack, we were on our own to explore the upper part of town. We climbed up the stairs and pathways that lead to the guard tower, which is the point where many of the postcard images are taken. While that area was fairly crowded, we were able to find a terrace running alongside the mountain that was fairly empty, and we walked along by ourselves admiring the view and marveling at the fact that we were actually at Machu Picchu.

There were a lot of stairs to navigate throughout Machu Picchu, but it was worth it!

Visiting the site was something that we had talked about since we first thought of the idea to take this big trip and to actually be there was an amazing feeling. At one point, I teared up just thinking of how lucky we were to be traveling and visiting places like Machu Picchu. Touring Machu Picchu was an incredible experience and well worth the expense (it’s not a cheap destination!). Jon and I took our time and have wonderful memories (and pictures and videos) that we will carry with us forever.

We climbed up to the guard tower to get the postcard view of Machu Picchu and we were not disappointed!