2007-01-23T12:59:00.001-08:00

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And finally we are ready for the gem of my whole trip... Machu Picchu!!! The hidden ceremonial city of the incas on top of the machu picchu mountain... This part of my blog definitely has one of the best picture groups in my whole trip, so make sure that you finish this page or at the worst don´t leave without seeing the end..

Yeah, there is a surprise waiting for me at the start of my trip... Apparently our group consists of me, one couple from Canada, and 9 argentinian girls who go to college =).. (I can hear you guys saying lucky bastard =) )... And whatsmore, most of them are medics, ideal for a machu picchu trip right? =)... Let´s start with the escape plan, this is the first bridge you have to pass through guarded by peruvian officials...

Now we are officially inside the inca trail... I simply love the mountains with clouds around them, it gives them a mystic feeling (remember this)... In the second picture, the guy closest with half of him on the picture is a porter, those guys carry your bags for an extra fee, take an enormous load, leave 45 minutes after we leave get there 1.5 hours earlier than us and set up the tents and prepare the food.. They are amazing... The last one is a close up picture with some of the girls in my group =)

Me with some local village house on the trail (yes there are people who live on the trail)... The second picture is us going the rough way (this will go on for 3 days)... And meet Derek, he is the cool canadian guy who has his own business in construction.. He builds houses and sells, he is a smart guy who has been around most parts of the world by now, very fun to talk with and it is always nice to see someone energetic like me.... Trip would have been half the fun without him...

And we arrive at our first ruins, Willkarakay... This used to be a local village with population around 150, you can see the inca terraces. There are different kind of terraces used in Inca civilization either for defensive or for agricultural purposes. Those terraces were used for agricultural purpose..

Yes, you know I had to give the Inca "I am the king of the Mountain" pose =)

After a little bit more of walking, we finally arrive at our first camping stop for the night.. Before our dinner, we have some pop corns, yet no dvds there =(

Yes, we are ready for our toughest day, the second one. We go through the misty mountains, but nearly always upward. =O

After my cool pose with Jen in front of the mist, the mist starts increasing more and more with the altitude. My buddy in the last picture is Isaito, our second guide for our way to Machu Picchu. His knowledge is questionable to be honest (machu picchu was one of my largest kaziks in south america), but he is really friendly and nice to be with, and from him I learned a lot more spanish words (similarly he learned the english words from me). A nice company.

I told you, going up and up!!!! Finally towards the end of our climbing up, we see some llamas down. They only live higher than 3000 m. in nature. You need to move your hips to be able to see some in nature like that... =)

After all climbing up, we finally descend for our campsite.. The problem is, I need to change my tshirt... I start running after my porter downhill (which is not the best idea =), my porter is approximately 200 m. in front of me, it takes me around 30 minutes to catch him in my ultimate speed with my light backpack and my stick for protecting me from falling (normally people use stick as a support not stopper =)... Anyways, lesson 1. porters are fast!!! lesson 2. Don´t forget your damn backup shirt outdoors ever again...

The second picture is at our campsite with our porters. They were having fun on the rock, and I made good friends with them on the way. I wrote them some lines from Orhan Veli (turkish poet), and in exchange got some spanish poems from them...

This campsite definitely has much better views than the previous...

And so we start our third day uphill climbing =?,,, the first ruin we see is runkuraqay. It is a control post for the incas and also an observatory at the same time... It is a reconstruction though, much of the original ruin was in ruins =).. You can distinguish real inca and reconstruction from the size of the stones. Generally the larger stones are the inca stones... We pass through the magic lake, and get to our second ruin, which is sayaqmarka, the local market for incas. The goods from Machu Picchu, Pisac and Choquequirao (the sister city of machu picchu, which is larger than machu picchu with less buildings and harder to reach than machu picchu!!!), used to be brought here in the market...

Yes, this one is definitely more impressive than the reconstructed control point... The ruins below we see in the second picture is conchamarca, which honestly I have no idea what it was useful for.. Everything except for the guide was OK in our trip, yet our guide was much more interested in hitting on another guide lady than explaining us properly what the real stuff were. I was really disappointed by Senór David Choque, who simply redirected me to another guide who didn´t know any important knowledge about the inca civilization with an english as bad as my spanish... More on this on my kaziks page...

Anyways lets go on... As you see we got some rain from the mist down there, it is what you get if you go there in rainy season...

And finally some more breathtaking ruins, which really made my inca trail worthwhile.. Now the better half of the trail starts, and my energy levels make a sudden jump... In the second picture you can see me not talking anymore and pissed saying was this the inca trail... My idea is soon about to change... Meet our new ruin friend Phuyupatamarka.. This was another citadel for religious purposes. The terraces you see this time are used mainly for defensive purposes rather than agricultural. And on the left side of the ruins, water runs through an area specifically designed for offerings to gods. We offer 3 coca leaves, which is also the symbol of the inca king, for a good weather for the day of the machu picchu the other day. After all this information, I still think, no matter what the purpose of the place was, seeing this place must have been amazingly impressive for the regular inca people walking by around that place. It simply has this amazing athmosphere, especially with the help of the mist from the rainy season (I am actually happy that I was there in the wet season, I was really lucky about the clouds most of the time though (remember this) ). Even I am simply amazed by the views and have seen so many ruins so far, I can not imagine what feelings those people had...

And I am telling you guys, those views are especially your bonus.. The first three pictures, to go to the place took me like 10 additional minutes of running on top of the mountain. Nobody else from my group went there, and as far as I can tell not many groups go as far as I go.. But I was simply awarded with the best views I have seen so far until that part of the trip. Just look at the first and the third picture... Isn´t it amazing to see what the clouds are really hiding far far away?? Doesn´t it make you feel so small helpless and like just a grain of sand in an infinite beach? It does to me... And it was amazing to watch those clouds changing positions and showing different hidden parts on a far far away land...

Second picture is another bonus view of Phuyupatamarka with the previous ones. For the last picture, I was back with my group again and wanted to enjoy the comfort and make my ma and pa happy with a picture after that long of unnecessary views of the mountains =P..

Some more views from inside Phuyupatamarka the religious fortress. This time we see what the clouds actually were hiding in reality very openly in the last 3 pictures... The amazing ruins of Intipata. Starting from this one are the top 4 ruins on whole trail (including machu picchu). It is an amazing ruins, and from my group you are the only one to see those pictures, because I was the last one in the group and let my guides pass in front of me in order to wait for those pictures.

And now we come to the best parts. The ruins of intipata. Nobody else in my group was energetic enough to come here, they just simply took a shortcut to the campsite. In my opinion, they made a huge mistake believing our guides, and our guides were lazy. It may be resulting from the fact that they were not using additional porter. But still it makes it even worse, you climb 3 day and night in this trail and then you miss the best part... Anyways, being the fully functional rapid traveler there, I took the pictures that I will never forget in my life... This is the view from Intipata to the valley, with furious river urubamba sneaking in between the mountains.

Moment of sensory completeness: As soon as I get to this gorgeous ruins with an amazing view of the valley, with sweat on my back, smelling freshly cut grass from the ruins (workers are working there non-stop) and a cool breeze within this hot afternoon, I hear this song "un vaso de leche" (one glass of milk), which is this cool children song explaining how cool milk is, singing about how my parents drink milk and they are so healthy and happy etc. But this is such an energetic song that positive energy filled in me and this is my song for my inca trail.. It just gave me another shot of energy and I was hyperactively jumping over all the ruins after that song.

I would never get this kind of a feeling from the inca trail without those clouds up there.. I am really lucky that I went there in the wet season.. Just check the shadows in the first picture, aren´t they amazing? And our ruin is nothing less...

In the first picture you can see the next amazing ruin on this inca trail, winaywayna...
Yes, as if everything was simply not amazing by itself, nature and the wet season rewards my sweat with a second favor... A rainbow on the valley.. You can see my self portrait with the rainbow on top of me and my un vaso de leche in my ears... =)... Yes, this is Umut, I am in Peru, my rainbow country....

Yes, after all this amazing trip, I am back into the camping site, where I meet Javier (our "guide") for showing us our next ruins. He simply tells me that it is optional.. I am way too disappointed... What the hell means optional? Optional for you or for me? I want to see those ruins,,, damn it.. I go there without a guide alone again... And I am again blessed with those views that all others missed. I guess our guide was one of the worst possible guides ever possible. Thank you Senór David Choque.

Anyways, I bite my lips, and go for my next ruins which is only 5 minutes of walk from the camping site: Winaywayna... It is simply amazing. Similar to the structure at intipaka, but this time with more residential areas around.

Unfortunately my knowledge is very limited from this site thanks to my nothelpfulatall guide. Its purpose other than residential and its stories. I will welcome any comments about the site here, and I may update this place after I learn later about the ruins...

Anyways, tomorrow is the big day, the day for Machu Picchu. So we get ready with a feast of stomach before a feast of vista... Damn, I haven´t shaved for 3 days!!!!

Yes, the day of magic starts with a magic of its own as you can simply see. Wait machu picchu I am coming, somebody stop me!!!

Because some other stupid official overslept, we leave for Machu Picchu late from the control point... I have way too much energy for waiting.. I pass through my group and 6 other groups in front of me (trust me it is really tough when you are consistently going uphill in a stony narrow road with one side mountain other side free fall!!!). After all my effort and consistent running passing more than 80 people,, I am among the first 25 to enter Intipaka, the gate of the sun!!! I don´t have doubt that I was absolutely the fastest (I was running and the only one running). Normally you can see Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate, yet this time as we are in the cloudy season we can only see Wayna Picchu (the ruins just near machu picchu on top of another mountain) . I hate the wet season (or do I? Remember this point)... I still got those amazing pictures of Wayna Picchu... And I know those pictures would never be the same without the clouds down there... And I told you I was running right? Can´t you tell really?? =)

I am not done yet, I have much more energy, there are 25 people waiting on the viewpoint really tired... I am not.... I won´t stop, I am the first to leave that point....

Yes, on my way to Machu Picchu from Gate of the Sun, another surprise is waiting for me... The llamas... I look at them, try hard but they don´t spit on me =), and get happy by the pictures and the fact of me being there alone with llamas without any other tourists at all.

And now the most amazing moments of my machu picchu trip... I am ashamed to say this, but originally because my guide was not there and somebody else told me wrong, I thought that Wayna Picchu itself was Machu Picchu, and while I was walking through to Wayna Picchu, this amazing city just appeared from nowhere all of a sudden. I was simply astounded by the views, all of a sudden only clouds around this mystic legendary city cleared and a view worth for kings was just in front of me... The legend is real, the cloud castle is in front of me... What can I say, I simply love the wet season!!!!!! And YES, I did not know at that time, BUT THIS IS MACHU PICCHU, THE MYSTIC CITY OF THE INCAS, FLOATING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CLOUDS!!!!!!

I get some more views of Wayna Picchu and Machu Picchu from my walk... It is simply breathtaking...

And now comes another amazing point of my inca trail.. I am sure that not many people has seen this in the history of the inca trail... And you are one of the people to see it in the picture without actually being there... It is my first full circle rainbow in my life... I mean it.. The picture doesn´t show it totally as a full circle, but it was a full circle.. I am not sure how many people have seen a full circle rainbow, and I am not sure how many people have seen it actually inside Machu Picchu (this picture is inside Machu Picchu). I was even in doubt myself when I saw it whether I was in a dream or not... But I wasn´t... The picture proves it =)... I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE WET SEASON... This is Umut, I am in Peru, my Rainbow Country....

Yes, and after some time, the clouds leave us some more generous poses for Machu Picchu leaving the mist out... Of course I will use this chance totally.. By that time Derek and others caught up, so I enjoy the comforts of having my photos taken again... My reward for all my running was the athmosphere with llamas alone, Machu Picchu inside the clouds and a full rainbow nobody else saw there (you really needed to look hard in order to see it, and I was the only one looking among 30 people around to there trying to understand if I was dreaming or not)!!!! Not a bad deal for some excercise, right ?=)

It took me 4 days 3 nights to get here, of course I will take zillions of pictures of this amazing city =)

And now we are officially inside the tour for the ancient city of Machu Picchu... I was just about to start getting pissed with our "Guide" Javier real bad if he was going to tell us the kid stories he told for the other places.. Just at that time Javier told us that our guide was going to be Willy, known with the name "Big Willy" in the mountains... Then I understood how a guy is supposed to be... He was simply the best guide I have seen so far with a wealth of knowledge, funny and pretty much friendly too... But this on the other hand makes me remember of Senór David Choque.. He is the guy that I found off from the internet, asked a bunch of people, with references, and they all told me that he was the amazing guy knowing so much about all natives. I booked my trip through him, and what I ended up with was that he played the unfair businessman and just redirected me to a stupid guide. So I don´t want to really suggest willy right now as he may be redirecting in the future using his name too. My suggestion for people who want to go to machu picchu with inca trail is to use a known company like United Mice which is relatively budget (250$) and will need to keep their reputation high to go ahead... But I have to admit that Big Willy did an excellent job explaining us about Machu Picchu.

Anyways, enough for my complaints.. Time for Machu Picchu... As you can see, it is a city in the mountains =). It is used as a ceremonial center and also residential area, although most of the people living here actually were high level priests and royal people. The reason it was not torn down by spanish is that, it was actually abandoned 50-100 years before spanish arrived, and spanish simply passed through nearby mountain but did not see the ruins.. The ruins were hidden by the grown grass. The reason for the abandoning is not known for sure, yet there were some dead bodies found with an autopsy result of sphyllis... So it is thought that it may be abandoned because of disease.

It was later rediscovered by Hiram Bingham, an american archeologist.. And the way he found the ruins is even more interesting, he simply asked people living in the andean villages about inca ruins around and they showed them here!!! There was even a family living in one of the houses at the top when he arrived there!!!! And this was the most important archeological discovery of the whole Peru, which transformed cuzco from a side slum city of unimportance to the most touristic city in Peru!!!! Bingham took all of the artifacts he found from the site to USA enjoying its early discovery by him. But there are still more left on the site, the last mummy was found actually 2 years ago!! I should have looked more carefully when I was there I know =)
Anyways, the deal for the inca trail is that, to preserve the site, unesco declared that no more than 50-100 people should visit Machu Picchu in one day!!! This is nowhere near 500 people who do the inca trail daily, and unlimited number of people who visit Machu Picchu without the inca trail by train or bus (in my Peruvian kaziks page there is more information on different ways to visit Machu Picchu and some more good suggestions)... I guess within 5-10 years, there will also be further limits on the number of people that can visit Machu Picchu in one day, and as Big Willy said, "We are one of the rare people to enjoy machu picchu with this beautiful weather sitting on top of the place and explaining every single stone here with ultimate care. The next generations probably will not have this chance, appreciate it."

Now more details on Machu Picchu... The first picture shows Templo del Sol, sun temple, the most important temple in Machu Picchu.. It is used for offerings made to the sun god, the most important god in inca civilization.. The stones in the temples are made perfect with four corners and each same with each other... The stones for the places people live are not like that and big stones with a lot of corners are used for robustness. This shows that the inca people gave more importance to gods (which is sort of expected). The construction in machu picchu for the walls always has a slope of 15 degrees, which provides additional support and protection from earthquakes.

This is the temple of three windows. In Equinoxes, the temple half inca cross in Machu Picchu completes with its shadow into a full inca cross. The half inca cross is seen in front of the temple of three windows in the first picture. The second picture is taken from top of the center of ceremonial offerings, which also contains the intihuatana stone, that was central in ceremonies and is also believed to have significance in astronomy and calendar. The third picture shows the plaza mayor of machu picchu where people actually gathered. Now nobody but llamas. The last picture shows the temple of the condor.. It was used for tombs of high level royal people (son of the king etc.). The tombs under the condor is believed to be carried to heavens with condor there. Can you see the condor? The carving on the floor shows the head of the condor, and the rocks on top actually are the wings of the condor...

According to the inca beliefs, there are 3 levels level of the condor, puma and serpent. Serpent symbolizes the underworld which is the world of dead, condor symbolizes the level of gods and puma is the level of human beings... So the temple of the condor takes the dead bodies from serpent level and flies to the world of the gods...

The first picture here shows the wayna picchu, where I will climb later, which is just the mountain just near Machu Picchu. Just look carefully and you will be able to see the ruins. The second picture is me from the main ceremonial place.. The third picture shows the important stone of Intihuatana I explained before.. It also has an ironic answer to how stupid can people be. In the year 2000, peruvian government allowed some beer company to have a commercial filmed in Machu Picchu. The idiot cameramen placed the camera on top of the most sacred stone of machu picchu, and when the camera fell, it broke the corner of this sacred stone!!!! So now, the corner of this sacred stone is broken as you can see from the picture. In the last place I am at the location where the priests actually did the offering to gods during ceremonies while all the other people are watching from below.. Isn´t it very athmospheric?

And finally listening the suggestions of people, I head towards Huayna Picchu, another inca city just looking over to Machu Picchu... It is in the mountain just near Machu Picchu and that mountain is the one seen in famous pictures of Machu Picchu. Anyways, it is not an easy ride, definitely not at all after the inca trail I am telling you!!! And I was stupid enough to forget having water with me this time. I was able to get to the top of the mountain where the city starts, but I didn´t find the energy in me to climb the extra 100 stairs on the city.. So I only have the beautiful views of Machu Picchu here. Just imagine how hard it is because I don´t give up, yet this time as I didn´t have water I gave up for security reasons... ( I was really down to last drop of water in my body, and I wasn´t sure if I could make it back if I climbed those extra 100 steps!!!!)...

But anyways,,, the views are amazing. Something else interesting about machu Picchu itself obvious from those last pictures, when you look at the city it is formed as a reverse condor shape!! The top part is the head of the condor and the lower parts are the wings...

Yes those are the last steps that I couldn´t dare to take =)..

Once again, don´t cry for me Machu Picchu, I will not forget you.. Give me your best poses just before I leave...

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