“The thing to remember when traveling is that the trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for.” –Louis L’Amour
- Day 1: 15 kilometers, upto 4000 meters
- Day 2: 25 kilometers, upto 4600 meters
- Day 3: 15 kilometers, 1600 meters
- Day 4: 25 kilometers, 1000 meters
- Day 5: Arrive to Machu Pichu, at least 10-15 kilometers
On the last day of our trek, we woke up at 3:30 in the morning so that we could start the climb of over a thousand steps that leads to the famous ruins of Machu Pichu. By 4:55, there were at least fifty tourists in line and you could feel the tension rising as 5:00 approached and they opened the gate. The sun wasn’t even up yet, but people were cramming together in line by the gate, despite the fact that everyone already had tickets (you have to buy them ahead of time) and the ruins are open until 5 pm. When the gate finally opened, we were slowly let through and started the steep climb up all those stairs, and the further we got to the top (the climb takes 40 minutes to an hour), the faster people climbed, ran, pushed others aside to get there first. It was all generally polite, and of course I shared in the excitement – these famous ruins were a large motivating factor for my trip in the first place – but I couldn’t stop laughing ironically to myself, thinking of the image of “The Tourist,” face pressed up against a chain link fence, head to toe in high tech outdoor gear, camera in hand, ready to “shoot.”
It turns out that, in my humble opinion, Machu Pichu is one of those hyper-touristy places that actually IS all that it’s cracked out to be. The day was beautiful – blue skies, warm air, lush green mountains and snow capped peaks in the distance. The ruins are magnificent and way bigger than I thought they would be and the beauty and power that this ancient Incan site holds really is palpable – like cutting through warm butter, except you can feel that warmth throughout your body and mind. A city perched on a hill in the middle of Andean slopes bordering the jungle; 360 degree views of green; temples with un-mortared perfectly situated stones and windows set so that the sun shines through them perfectly on the winter and summer solstices; terraces built to take advantage of the different altitudes for the cultivation of agriculture; a near-by peak that you can climb and see all of this from above; thousands of years of history and culture and magical energy, culminating in this epic space.
After our tour of the ruins with our group and guide, with whom we had hiked 80 kilometers in the preceding days to arrive there, we split up and explored the ruins, quickly figuring out that one could spend days there and still not see it all. I eventually noticed that, much like everyone else, I was taking so many pictures that I was failing to actually just sit and appreciate the place to begin with. So eventually, I found a good spot on the top of the ruins and just took it all in, camera in pocket, eyes and mind outward.
The anticipation I felt and saw in others that morning, with the image of “The Tourist,” complete with Westernized anticipation and tourist productivity, the need to “make the most” of one’s visit to this famous site: this all reminded me of the need to SLOW, DOWN. I can look at my pictures later as much as I want. When will I actually have this all in front of my face again? Take it in and breathe in the beauty, the reverence, the gratitude, the warm sun on my face and the magic before my eyes.
So I did. And I’m also happy to report that the days on my trek leading up to our arrival to Machu Pichu were so epic that I kept forgetting that that was the “purpose” of the trip to begin with. In five days, we hiked nearly 100 kilometers, reaching heights of over 4600 meters, passing through eight micro climates, walking for 12 hours in a day, having endorphins for breakfast and staying in several rural communities. I learned that it is difficult to breathe when hiking up switchbacks at such a high altitude, but that it is actually not as hard as I thought it would be; that there are many “Inca Trails,” not just the one all the tourists like to do, and that that “Classic Inca Trail” is actually just dubbed as such due to tourism more than anything else. There is nothing like walking through the jungle with views of snow capped peaks, because even though you have duck tape around your ankles to keep your feet from getting wet, the air is so fresh and the sky is so blue you can’t focus on much else.
Now that I have entered the post-Machu Pichu phase of my travels, I am again reminded to slow down, take in each moment as it comes, and continue each day living and traveling as I have intended – with gratitude for this epic experience, with an open mind to the people and situations that I am presented with. I am speaking and studying Spanish and using travel as a tool to appreciate the simple things in life. And hopefully being more relaxed and present minded than “The Tourist” while I’m at it.