The hype is for real – Machu Picchu will blow your fucking mind.
I’ve seen the Taj, sat in the Colosseum, climbed up the ancient steps of Tikal and the massive Pyramid of the Sun – but Machu Picchu takes the cake. No contest.
Temple walls made of massive, mortar-less, perfectly fitted stones stand strong 500 years after construction because they were engineered to be goddamn earthquake proof.
Water still trickles through the original aqueducts of the city as if the inhabitants had just stepped away. Temple walls made of massive, mortar-less, perfectly fitted stones stand strong 500 years after construction because they were engineered to be goddamn earthquake proof. While standing next to these stones thin clouds float by in a slow, ever-changing procession, reinforcing the ethereal power of the landscape. The rarefied air in this ancient cloud forest is thin but smells sweet. Crisp air combined with the surrounding horizon of even taller peaks makes stepping into Machu Picchu a dizzying, awe-inspiring, and powerful experience.
Machu Picchu was a university in the clouds, a religious Mecca, and an astronomical headquarters. It was a permanent city of 800 Inca nestled at a height of over 7,900 feet in the Peruvian Andes. Twice a year, the sun still rises between the sacred mountain peaks and the beautiful Sun Gate on the seasonal solstices. Surrounded by peaks of even greater magnitude it’s hard not to be overcome by a profound sense of reverence for the ruins, their settings, and the delicate harmony of the two.
The other thing you need to know about Machu Picchu is that it means “Old Mountain”, but if you accidentally leave off a “c” in Pichu it means “Old Penis.”
This is important, as you wouldn’t want to be caught tweeting that you “can’t wait to see the Old Penis;” something our guide kindly warns us about.
The trail we hiked was the Inca’s original trade route, their equivalent of an interstate between cities. Along the way we passed countless smaller settlements and ruins, the ancient way stations and Quik Stops on the route to Machu Picchu. Arriving via a 2 day hike on the original Inca trail, the first site of Machu Picchu reduced my small group to tears, new found spirituality, and euphoria. For a group composed of a former U.S. Marine, an aerospace engineer, and an experienced travel photographer – that’s saying something. The trek wouldn’t have been complete or even possible without the expert knowledge of our guide, Alex.
A true man of the forest, Alex gleefully admitted his love for flowers, delighted over every insect we encountered, and was genuinely at one with nature and his surroundings. There was no false sense of separation, elitism, or superiority over nature for him. Alex knew he was one part of the greater ecosystem, and a protector of the earth to which he would one day return. He humbly echoed the teachings of the Inca in his talks and showed us how this philosophy is built into the very blueprint of Machu Picchu itself.
The Inca built around existing features to both supplement and accentuate their natural beauty. Rather than dynamite a natural crack or bulldoze a plateau to make a square, natural existing cracks were now part of their aqueducts. Mountain peaks became sacred seasonal solar checkpoints. Andean caves and crevices became elaborate ceremonial tombs. And as far as mummies go – 167 have been found at Machu Picchu so far. One Hundred and Sixty Seven! For comparison there were precisely zero inside the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
167 mummies have been found at Machu Picchu so far.
So even if you’re well traveled and road weary, or jaded about the manufactured hype for most places – I say go to Machu Picchu. And go now! The intensifying struggle between UNESCO and the Peruvian government about how many visitors to allow in each day is widely speculated to result in severe restrictions sometime soon.
But for now the doors remain open to this university in the clouds. And the people who visit Machu Picchu are still learning there, as the Inca did centuries ago. Today, something close to 3,000 people still come here to learn and be enlightened every day. The power of Machu Picchu is still alive. The Inca vision of reverence and harmony with mother earth can still be experienced and explored, for now.
Check out how absolutely exhausting the Inca Trail is, and how Chewing Coca Leaves can help get you there.