Macchu Piccu – I'm finally going
there today. Like most people, I've always wondered how the Incas
settled there – high up in the Andes. Well today I'm finally going
to see it. It's one of the main highlights of my whole trip.
My scabby little cab is coughing it's
way through the dawn-lit streets of Cusco towards the railway
station. I'm taking the train up to Macchu Piccu. I've a four-hours
journey on the train – not too bad. Especially when considering the
alternative is a four-days trek on the 'Inca Trail', No thanks!
The Perurail Viewdome train is quite smart with windows in the roof of the carriages. It's a very slow and complex route the train takes to negotiate the steep climb out of Cusco. It sort of zig-zags it's way, first going forwards, then backwards, then forwards and so on for around an hour. It's a kind of massive 'three point turn' - bizarre!
The streets of Cusco are quiet. It really is a charming town – or city really. Founded around 900 years ago it was the capital city of the Inca Empire – which controlled land all down the west-side of South America, down as far a Chile. The Inca nation were great innovators – especially in terms of construction – far in advance of any other in those times. Better than a lot of Spanish builders that are around now.
The Incas ruled until defeated by the
Spanish during the late 1500's. Amazingly, the Spanish never found
the Inca settlement way up in the Andes named 'Macchu Piccu', even
though is only around 50 miles away from Cusco. It was only in 1911
the the American historian Hiram Bingham 'discovered' the Inca
settlement – and even this was only by accident, when a farm
labourer reputedly mentioned 'some ruins in the mountains'. Hiram
wrote a book entitled 'The Lost City of The Incas' and this is the
monika still used to describe Macchu Piccu.
It was as recent as late 2008 when the international traveller, frequently known as 'Woz the Explorer' almost lost the 'Lost City'.
Well honestly – what a disaster, almost. I ride the very pleasant train up to the small town charmingly named 'Aguas Calientes' (warm water – or springs). At the booking office to buy a ticket for the ruins – I can't believe it – they don't take credit cards. I mean – the most popular tourist destination in Latin America – and probably in the world Top 10 – and it's cash only. Which is fine – only I don't have any. Even worse the town's only ATM doesn't have any either!
This is not good. I've come all this way to see one of the worlds most amazing places -and I can't get a ticket. I don't feel good and don't have a ready solution. I decide for some strange and inexplicable reason to have a rummage through the pockets of my backpack. This is a sort of panic measure.
Amazingly, and I have no idea whatsoever how it was there, but staring me from the inside of my little first-aid kit is a US$50 bill. I have a quick calculation – it's s/122 for the entrance ticket about USD41 and another $7 for the return bus that transfers visitors between the train station and the base of Macchu Piccu. So I just make it with two bucks to spare.
I still can't explain where the 50 dollars came from, it was almost as though the Inca ghosts were willing Wozzer to be there. Just so they can say that they've met me, I suppose.
So finally – through the checkpoint into the ruins and then a steady 15 minute uphill slog on a stone path and all of a sudden, turn a corner – and there it is, The Lost City.
I don't know which one superlative to
use that conveys the view: Amazing, Awe-inspiring,
Magnificent – so
I'll use them all. It is the most amazing, magnificent and
awe-inspiring view. There, unfolding below me is ancient settlement.
No one is really sure what the actual purpose of Macchu Piccu really
was. Some say it was a rest or retirement village for the Inca
rulers, other's say it was used as a prison. Others still suggest a
fortress. What is certain that this as a place that has withstood
maybe 800 years of weather, battles and at least two major
earthquakes. Granted, some of the ruins are now just outlines of
their former selves, there are other structures with walls just as
complete as the day they were constructed.
I have around five hours to spend up here – I just walk around, just marveling at the place and taking pictures.
Back down in Aguas Calientes, I meet a couple from the Toucan Tour that joined in La Paz. They did the four-day trek. We arrange to meet in Cusco the next evening. It'll be my last there before I fly to Santiago, Chile and then onwards to New Zealand.
I can't believe my South America adventure is now rapidly drawing to a close.
it was cash only at an Austrian Ski resort - St. Michael am Katchburg, amazed us and certainly caught us out - spooky about the US$50 though - maybe a grateful fellow traveller left it there for you :o)
Steve
Posted by: Steve | 15 January 2009 at 23:40