The cherry on top

BAM!  Talk about shock factor.  Without much in the way of warning, this is the view you have almost immediately walking thru the gates at Machu Picchu.
Although the trip was immensely satisfying up to this point, there was an undeniable excitement in the air among the group when "Machu Picchu Day" finally arrived.  Also exciting, in a roller coaster kind of way, was the bus ride up the mountain on this crazy sequence of switchbacks.

     







After an hourlong guided tour, we were turned loose on our own for a few hours.  We left enough gas in the tank for a 'bonus' hike up to the Sun Gate, which served as the formal (and only) entry to the city, the last stop on the Royal Inca Trail.

Here's a small section of the trail, which is paved with rock.  That's an original Inca retaining wall to Rhonda's left.  I imagine the Inca royalty had an entire 'department' devoted to engineering.

Some more of those thigh-burning steps.

After 40 huffing-and-puffing minutes of climbing, we arrived at the Sun Gate.  (The trip down was much quicker.)

The view once you come through the gates.  It was an awe-inspiring experience to see the city spilling over the mountaintop.

After taking a nice long break to have some snacks/water and soak in the views, we headed back down, stopping along the way for a photo op that will end up on the wall at the Lucky Lab in Portland the next time we go back.  By the way, wearing cotton tee-shirts while hiking in the heat and humidity?  Not the best idea!

Back down the mountain to admire the Inca engineering and how the city is incorporated into the landscape.  I'm not sure these pictures come close to doing Machu Picchu justice, but hopefully they give some sense of how incredible the place is.   

There are terraces all around the city.  Some, like these, were for agriculture.

Others, like these, were strictly for erosion control.

While not exactly move-in ready, many of the structures have held up remarkably well for being built atop a set of craggy peaks 600 years ago.  Some of the walls are still remarkably close to perfect.

Here's part of the area where the nobles lived.  Nobles up top, workers down below.

Not much of a yard with this house, but man, that's some view.

These niches in the walls of homes would have been for decorations, and perhaps idols as well.

Plenty of information about the history and structure Machu Picchu can be found online.  With these pictures, I'm more interested in passing along general impressions of the site. 

A metric crapton of photos are available on CDs on demand, but hopefully the few I've added here over the past few days give some sense of how enjoyable and rewarding the trip was.  A bucket list-worthy trip for sure.

Last day of trekking

One last full day (5ish hours) of hiking, then an evening of rest at a proper hotel before heading up to Machu Picchu.  The day started out with a climb of from ~7,000 to ~9,000 ft, but it was a long steady downhill to ~5,800 ft after that.  At this point we're travelling on one of the original Inca trails.  Here's one of their original retaining walls on a section of the trail.

And an original set of steps.  The Inca were a diminutive bunch- as are there mountain-dwelling descendants- but most of the steps we encountered were of the "big boy" variety.  I'm guessing not too many of the Inca had chicken legs like me.

After 2.5 or so hours or so of uphill grinding, here we are at the Llactapata Pass, the high point for the day's hike.  Everyone was pretty pumped at this point, as the hard work was over, and thoughts were straying to Machu Picchu. 

We were in some pretty muggy jungle conditions for a couple of hours here.  Once I found out how to recognize citronella, I rubbed it on my legs to supplement the Deet. 

Soon we arrived at the Llactapata ruins.  Their exact significance is unclear, but they are aligned across the valley from Machu Picchu, and it appears they were somehow affiliated with the sacred city.

Machu Picchu is off in the distance to the left of Rhonda's right hip here.

The next stop was one of my favorites on the entire trip, a backpacker pitstop/restaurant that is owned by a relative of our assistant guide, Wilder.  If there's a meal that beats fried local trout and taters with Machu Picchu off in the distance, I wanna hear about it.

Nothing but downhill for the rest of the day, but we got some great views out the deal.

Once we finally got down to the valley floor, we couldn't help but marvel at the mountain we'd just descended.

Nice team celebration moment as we spent a little cerveza time down at the train station down in the valley.  We'd have a short train ride to the town of Aguas Calienties for a hotel stay, and then Machu Picchu the following day.  For now, though, we were all firmly in celebration mode.  Here we are toasting to a successful trek with Wilder.

After a brief, but interesting train ride (Fashion show?  Carnival characters?) we arrived in Aguas Calientes.  Nice hotel with a great restaurant.  Rhonda indulged in a massage while I had a couple of male bonding pisco sours with 2 of my Alabama pals.  Reality setting in all around; we're going to Machu Picchu tomorrow!

Getting lower, getting warmer

Today's trip would take us from the Colpa Lodge (~9,400 ft) downhill 4 hours or so of hiking, then a van ride of 30 minutes, then another half hour of hiking on an original Inca trail back uphill a bit to the Lucma Lodge (~7,000 ft).  A good chunk of today's route was essentially a "plan B" dirt road hike to bypass a huge landslide that wiped out much of the "plan A" trail a couple of years back.

Here's our fearless leader Antonio at the start of the day, dropping knowledge while floating atop a sea of chicken and horse crap the way only a 125-lb man can.

















We're heading down into some rather warm and humid conditions here.

Always gotta watch out for those traffic signs.

Halfway thru the hike, we came across a fairly substantial landslide blocking the road.  I found out later that it's the joint responsibility of the folks in the 2 communities that bookend any given slide to clear it.  No Bobcats or bulldozers; just shovels and elbow grease.

Quick stop to catch our breath with a glimpse of the "plan A" trail off to the left.

Pitstop at a backpackers' "roadside diner" with a well-earned cerveza.

Our van ride may have only been around 30 minutes, but their were enough hair-raising moments to last us several days.  On a couple of different occasions we had to hop out of the van and walk while our driver passed through a section too dangerous to risk the extra weight of the passengers.  Here's one of those stretches of road.  Not clearly visible are the CRACKS that made it seem like the landslide could give way again at any time.  Our driver had stones of steel, I'll give him that.

This day ended at the Lucma Lodge, adjacent to a small local coffee plantation.  After cleaning up, we headed to a local residence for a demo of the "old school" method of making Peruvian coffee (in a shed that housed, among other things, a herd of guinea pigs destined for the plate at some point).  We got to sample the freshest coffee imaginable, beans cooked right in front of us in a cast-iron pot above a clay oven.  Earthy, aromatic and wonderfully flavorful stuff.  We bought a pound to take home and would have nabbed some more if we had more space in our luggage.

All downhill from here

At least for the day, anyway.  We got to sleep in a bit this day, not hitting the trail until 8AM.  Another big breakfast, another pot of fine Peruvian coffee and we were on our way.  Eventually we'd end up going down about 3,400 feet to the Colpa Lodge.  Here's a look back up the valley, with the Salkantay toward the left side of the shot.

Another look up at the closest snow peak over the Wayra Lodge before we start heading downhill.

Before long, we found ourself down in the high jungle, with much more leafy vegetation and much less grass.  Bugs and humidity would soon enter our life; a taste home in Peru!

A small landslide in the trail that happened the night before.  (The guides from different groups keep in touch about trail conditions.)

And here's a big slide that happened a couple of years ago, but has never given way entirely.  Our next lodge is around the bend to the right.

Spirits were high on this day; warm temperatures, sunshine and a steady stream of downhill will do that for ya.  We were in such a good mood, we had no problem with this:

And just what the heck is that thing, I'm sure you're wondering.  A guinea pig!  The big meal of the day was what Antonio dubbed "the meat orgy", a Peruvian BBQ, luau-style with meat and hot rocks in the ground, featuring lamb, chicken, pork and our formerly furry friend in the appetizing photo above, plus several different potatoes.  (Peru has thousands of varieties of potatoes, dozens of which are edible.)  So how's the guinea pig?  Not bad, really.  Kinda like squirrel: a little dark, a little greasy, a little more trouble than it's worth with all the bones, but fairly tasty. 

A post-meat orgy Cusquena or two was enjoyed in the late afternoon sun.

Even down here at lower elevations (~9,400 feet here at the Colpa Lodge), the slope of the mountains and the narrow valleys made for impressive views all around.  Check out how narrow that valley is behind me. 

Not visible in that picture are the rows of angry mosquito bites above my sockline.  The mosquitos were mean little b******s who seemingly laughed off my weaksauce 25% Deet 'smell good' product.  The next day I fared better after borrowing some Jungle Juice from a fellow traveler (although I didn't smell nearly as pleasantly fruity).

Rhonda banged out a hard-earned nap while I soaked up some more healing sun and Cusquena.  Given the post-meat orgy belly swell, a relatively light supper was in order, but we still got more than our fill.  Evening conversations among the group began to turn toward Machu Picchu.

We were just gonna go hiking, and then we got high...

15,200+ feet.  The highest we've ever been and, yep, it was a pretty cool accomplishment.  What Antonio called "D-Day" was indeed easily the toughest day of hiking on the trip.  From Salkantay Lodge at ~12,700 feet, we went up to ~15,200 and then down to ~12,800 feets.  Antonio's words of encouragement included telling us to treat it like Jack the Ripper ("take it piece by piece") and Johnnie Walker ("just keep walking!').  At times the going was slow, but eventually (7 and a half hours later), we got 'er done. 

Looking back down at the Salkantay Lodge.

Our mules "911" (in case of emergency) and "912" (in case of BIG emergency).

Getting higher.

Here's Rhonda going up a particularly brutal sequence of switchbacks.

Taking a well-deserved break.

It was at this point that I started feeling a little "off".  Sluggish and cold, with no appetite for lunch (definitely not the norm for a Combs).  I ended up having a bit of a fever and bundled up for a "sweaty nap" for an hour or so before dinner at the end of the day.  By the time breakfast came the next day, I was good to go again.

Not a bad spot for a snack break.

Post-snack, the pass beckoned.  Before too long, we were getting pounded with wind, snow and rain.  To be on the safe side, I had to put the camera away for a few hours.  The first thousand feet or so on the other side of the path were navigation of various temporary and permanent creekbeds; good thing we had guides along!

Finally out of harm's way, here's a look back up at toward the pass a few hours later.  Nice and peaceful down below; back up top, not so much!

Home sweet home!

After I shook off the fever, I had much more of an appetite for supper than I'd had for lunch.  Another evening of good food, good company and a glass or two of Cusquena beer, the miracle cure-all.