Machu Picchu via the Salkantay Trek

“Dave, Cary, Bart.” The youthful voice of our Peruvian guide Daniel stopped me from descending further on the muddy trail deep in the dense rainforest.

“Machu Picchu,” he said and pointed.

I retraced my steps to where my husband Dave stood with Daniel and Bart and looked in the direction that our guide pointed but saw nothing. “Where?”

Daniel pointed again. I looked and looked, and finally spotted the renowned terraces etched into the opposite mountainside. A shiver ran down my spine.

Miraculously, Machu Picchu survived the Spaniards’ plundering and destruction of the Inca empire in Peru in the 1500s.

Just fifty miles away, Cusco, the capital of the Incas, suffered much looting and ruination at the hands of the Spaniards.

Why did Machu Picchu go unscathed? It’s location — built around 1450-1460 on a ridge top surrounded by towering mountains and deep river valleys—hid it well from intruders.

The Spaniards simply never discovered this Inca estate reportedly built for an Inca emperor. Its remote location and Sun Gate and the Inca Bridge, two access points to the estate, provided additional protection because entry could be easily shut down.

Machu Picchu was never fully constructed before it was abandoned for an untold reason after about eighty years of habitation.

Dave and my first view of Machu Picchu came on the fourth day of the forty-plus mile Salkantay trek with Bart and eight other fellow hikers, all flatlanders. Dave and I often hiked at the rear of our group to soak up the sounds of nature, and so Dave could spend time taking photographs, often of birds spotted by Daniel.

After taking a few photographs, the four of us hustled down the trail to join the rest of our group at the ruins of Llactapata, where workers, who helped build Machu Picchu, had lived centuries before. Two buildings have been partially restored.

Our lead Peruvian guide Juan explained that workers, who lived at Llactapata, hiked down more than 2,000 feet each day to cross the Urubamba River before they climbed up to work at Machu Picchu. Llactapata also served as a lookout to protect Machu Picchu, he said, because workers could flash warning signals across the vast valley.

Our group hiked down about three hours to reach the river valley and then along dirt roads to the nearest railroad station where we boarded a hydroelectric train that took us to the tourist town of Aguas Calientes. The following day, we’d take a twenty-to thirty-minute bus ride along a windy, switchback dirt road built to bring tourists to Machu Picchu that sits at an elevation of 7,972 feet.

The Peruvian government appears proud of its Seven Wonders of the World and UNESCO world heritage site. It charges tourists $50 for a half day admission or $100 for a full day. The roundtrip bus ride costs $48. Individuals must pay an additional fee to climb either Machu Picchu Montana (mountain) or Huayna Picchu, another mountain at a slightly lower elevation. Only 400 individuals may try to climb each mountain every morning and are assigned time slots.

We were among about 200 other individuals allowed in with tickets between 7 and 8 a.m. to attempt the climb of Machu Picchu Montana along a relentless stone step walkway to an altitude of 10,111 feet. The majority of our group climbed to the summit in an hour-plus, mostly out of breath and drenched in sweat thanks to the 2,540 steps and humidity. Climbing up sometimes wide, tall and short, and at other times, narrow stairs not only gave us an appreciation of the hardiness of those who built Machu Picchu but rewarded us with views of the ancient site, the surrounding mountains and river valleys.

Most of the 1.4 million tourists who visited Machu Picchu in 2017 never attempted the climbs nor the Salkantay or Inca treks, all of which give an understanding about the seclusion of Machu Picchu.

According to our guide Juan, the French discovered the site about 1860 but not until 1911, was the world made aware of the ancient city by an American explorer/historian, Hiram Bingham. By then, trees had grown on top of the city’s buildings and infrastructure. To this day, the Peruvian government continues to unearth ruins at Machu Picchu but much has already been uncovered, restored or reconstructed. The precise fitting of polished stones, without any mortar, to construct terraces and buildings and the trapezoid, slanted doorways can only amaze visitors.

Before we reached Machu Picchu, we’d toured parts of Cusco, a city with a 400,000 population, other Inca sites,  and an ornate and stunning Catholic Cathedral adjacent to Plaza de Armas, Cusco’s main square. The downtown tourist area, that sits at about 11,152-feet, appeared remarkably clean and devoid of feces from the countless street dogs that seemed well fed and often napped in store doorways, squares, or under an occasional tree. But the city’ poverty showed its face just blocks from the main tourist areas: lots of garbage and falling down buildings.

On the first day of our trek, booked through REI which contracts with Mountain Lodges of Peru, we were driven to the ruins of Limatambo, once a farm operated by the Incas. Later, we traveled in a van along miles of windy, dirt roads before stopping for a warm up hike to the Salkantay Lodge.

Juan set a good pace, perhaps to assess the fitness of our group, as we hiked the five miles, with a total elevation gain of about 1,700 feet, to the lodge situated at 12,690 feet. Fortunately, all of the group except two had trained for the trek. Lodge workers greeted us with hot wash cloths and cups of tea, welcome amenities after our short climb under drizzly grey skies. Salkantay Lodge, and the three other lodges that we stayed in along our trek, were built about ten years ago and are owned and operated by Mountain Lodges of Peru. They all provided warm, deluxe accommodations; delicious food; and fantastic views, especially under clear skies, or so we thought.

Over the next several days, whenever we reached our nightly lodge, employees greeted us with a warm or cold drink and wash cloths. Two lodges situated at the highest altitudes had heaters in the bedrooms- a real luxury after our last trek to Nepal!!

After a good night’s sleep at the Salkantay Lodge, our group hiked up a muddy trail, steep at times, under threatening skies to Lake Humantay situated at 13,779 feet. The turquoise-colored lake appeared to be surrounded by towering peaks hidden by low cloud cover and rain.

The day’s highlight, however, wasn’t the lake or hike but a personalized blessing ceremony conducted by two Andean priests, Santos and Lorenzo of the Quero community from the village of Paucaartambo. They’d brought along their offerings as they hiked with us to the lake to conduct the ceremony in the rain. Hours later at a fire pit near the lodge, they burned their offerings and then hugged us.

Our trek really began the following morning. We all donned rain gear and hiked in fog, sometimes drizzle and snow on a well-worn dirt trail up the Rio Blanco Valley next to the Salkantay River. Juan led our group, Daniel acted as the sweep hiker and a Peruvian woman, brought up the rear with two pack horses- one carrying oxygen and other supplies and the other saddled up in case one of our group needed a ride. Pack mules and horses frequently passed us but we saw few other hikers. Unfortunately, we saw discarded trash along our route, especially at a clearing just before the final trek up to the 15,213-foot Salkantay Pass. Peru clearly hasn’t adopted a leave no trace policy.

Juan set a slow pace which made for an easy climb to the pass that was socked in with fog, spitting snow and some rain. Dave and I had hoped for a good view of Salkantay which had teased us with fleeting views the previous two days, but, alas, we could only see a few feet in front of one another. After our group photographed one another in front of three signs, all listing different altitudes for the pass, we hiked down the trail towards our second lodge, the Wayra, at 12,690 feet. It was our favorite- perhaps because it is only accessible by foot.

Sunshine greeted us the next morning, lifting our spirits and energy as we took photographs of surrounding mountains. After breakfast, we trekked down through twelve ecosystems near the Salkantay River. Only one horse continued on, perhaps because the remainder of the trek was mostly downhill and well below 15,000 feet so additional oxygen wasn’t going to be necessary!

Dave, with the help of Daniel, also an avid birder, hung back and captured shots of often colorful yet fleeting birds. The fast-moving river provided music to our ears as we tramped down through the ever-thickening rainforest which showed off more flowers and even a corn tree. At our third lodge, we ate a huge barbecue dinner cooked in a fire pit covered with dirt as our midday meal which included guinea pig, assorted other meats and vegetables.

We trekked down towards our fourth and final lodge the next day also amid partially clear skies and joined part of the Inca trail where we saw more day hikers and backpackers. The day’s true excitement came when the lone horse, untethered and happily eating grass at our lunch stop, decided to head back up the trail.

Daniel ran after the disappearing horse and managed to catch up to it.

That afternoon, a van drove us for about 45 minutes  thanks to washouts along the trail. When we joined the Inca Trail, we observed lots of coffee trees, unshelled coffee beans and shelled coffee beans drying in the open air.

The following day, the trail led us farther into the rainforest and then up to the 8,974 Llactapata Pass but not before Daniel spied a snake close to the trail.  I scrambled up to the front of the group while Dave tried the photograph the fer de lance snake which Juan said was poisonous!

Before our trip, I’d anticipated the trip’s highlight would be cresting Salkantay Pass. It wasn’t, perhaps due to the rainy-snowy weather that obscured any views AND because we’d trekked in the Himalayas. But the trek’s approach to Machu Picchu and the site’s history more than compensated for the lack of views and wetted my appetite to explore more of Peru, especially in good weather. And, Peru is much closer than Nepal!

That said, Dave and I, and another couple on our trek, who also had trekked in Nepal, agreed that it’s best to hike in Peru before the Himalayas.

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