A Spark of Adventure: Bucket List: Machu Picchu

Photo by Dan Merino

Machu Picchu is the ruins of a 15th century Incan city near the southern end of Peru. The site is well-preserved, large (about 80,000 acres), and is surrounded by stunning mountain peaks. The buildings are made of granite cut with a precision that, even just looking at photos, never ceases to amaze me (much like the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza). It is believed that this city was built at the orders of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, who created an Inca empire across much of the eastern region of South America and wanted Machu Picchu to be constructed as a royal estate. As with so many ancient civilizations, however, the Inca of Machu Picchu were killed by the diseases of European explorers, leaving the city to fall into the ruins we see today.

Source: wwwnc.cdc.gov (Click to enlarge)

There are several routes that lead to these ruins (six of them are listed here), but the most frequently used (and surely the most crowded) is the Inca Trail. No one treks alone, as deterioration of the trail led Peru to require all hikers to hire a guide, and it is common to also hire porters and a cook... the porters carry gear and food AND a cook will prepare dinner at the end of the day? I don't even know what to do with that idea, it sounds so cushy.

A major factor that contributes to hiring these extra helpers, I'm sure, is the battle with high physical exertion while acclimating to altitude. The highest part of the Inca Trail is 13,780 feet, which is almost 6,000 feet higher than where Andy and I lived in the Rocky Mountains (and we were way the heck up there). So while the trail is only 26 miles long, most guidebooks recommend that it be broken into 4 or 5 days to allow your body to adjust to the altitude. If there's one thing you learn quickly in the Colorado Rockies (or in our case, having visitors in the Colorado Rockies), it's that you want to take every precaution to avoid altitude sickness. But it doesn't seem like the sort of trip you'd want to race through, anyhow.