Why hike the Inca trail..?

There are many astounding treks in the Andes… some likely better than the one to Machu Pichhu! Then there’s that charming train that rumbles up right to the base of Machu Pichhu! Why then should one trek it up? Why indeed….!

If I were just to say “because it is an unforgettable experience”, I’d fall incredibly short on describing a very unique trek – a trek that could be as short as two days, just a knapsack on my back, but the weight of fascinating tales from six centuries, all around us!

To acclimatize, we spent a day ambling around in the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley (9160 feet), an idyllic pastoral surrounded by mountains, river Urubamba sinuously slicing through it, is a perfect introduction to Inca heritage. Exploring the ruins of Ollantaytambo, our guide gave us insight into the marvels of Inca engineering, their knowledge of astronomy, and their keen sense of “architecture in harmony with nature”. A Peruvian guide was mandatory to explore Inca ruins – and to have their heritage explained by one of their own, I do believe, is like the Inca experience on steroids!! ?

Early next morning we set off on the trek itself. The visual treats typical of a trek in the mountains were everywhere – lofty tops half lost in the clouds, waves upon waves of grassy slopes, the trail itself fluttering like a ribbon up the mountainside! It was not immediately a stiff climb but a gentle path upwards, meandering through trees, waterfalls and, expectedly enough, ruins! Sounds of the gushing river Urubamba, reminded us it was not too far away.

As we plodded along I ruminated on the name – the Inca Trail…! Indeed around 1450, it was along this (or similar) trail, the Incas decided to forage through the virgin mountain forests, and find a secluded plateau to build a city upon. But why? At the height of their reign, the Inca’s were likely not in imminent danger! Did they just have an elevated sense of peekaboo?! ? Much of why Machu Pichhu was created, is really unknown, so much of it is just our conjecture — the mystery of it all, in itself, lends a certain aura to this trek.

A city on a mountain ledge at almost 8000 feet, with baths, temples, and granaries on five square miles, would be daunting construction even today! And yet here they were, almost six centuries ago, designing terraces that held the city to the mountainside, crafting interlocking stone to make rock solid walls! I visualized the frenetic activity, the engineers and workers wearing this very path into existence! I paused, my gaze sweeping the now quiet trail. Knowing the trajectory of this tale and its fateful climax, I reflected on the Circle of Life, on the transience of all our grandiose plans. No wonder they chide, never read a book, back first!  ?

For Alas! The life of this stunning hidden city, was short-lived after all…! Why?! Again, it’s a mystery! No one really knows! Within just a century, it declined! What led to its fall from grace…?  The dreaded pox? Fell out of fashion…? Honey, valley homes are all the rage now…!

I struggled with the questions myself as I huffed up. Engrossed in my musings, I’d missed when the trek had slyly increased the gradient on us! We were now lumbering up Winay Wayna (8,858 feet).  The beauty at these heights had an almost ethereal quality to it!  Had the trek ended here, it would still have been a great trail with an awesome culmination! But we had further to go!! And believe it or not, it was still further up! ?

Our next goal was Inti Punku, the “Sun Door” to Machu Pichhu. At this brink we would cross over this range into the range containing Machu Pichhu. My thoughts pulled back again to the mid sixteenth century, when Machu Pichhu declined. From studies we know indeed it got deserted, not invaded, and much before the coming of the Spanish marauders. Which means Machu Pichhu had been lost even to the Incas themselves – abandoned, like some over-hyped mega housing project!! Fascinating story, but like this trek, it doesn’t end there!

Impatiently, using both hands and feet to clamber up the last few steep steps, we finally stood at the brink, looking down at a magnificent vista. Nestled inside a ring of the higher range of mountains, the ancient Machu Pichhu, was laid out in front of us on a large elevated ridge. The ruins were spread over a wide area, arranged in neat geometrical patterns, one after the other like a completed jigsaw puzzle, a bright grassy green covering the rectangular patches between the grey-white ruin walls. As we watched enraptured, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds appearing to shine a spotlight on the ruins – it was like being shown the elaborate set of a stage production! It felt almost incredulous that a place such as this really exists – so high up, hidden from direct view, so remote yet elaborately planned. The ruins themselves, were so much in harmony with the surrounding ranges, they seemed to have belonged there from time immemorial. 

Descending the steep steps down to Machu Pichhu, concentrating on getting there in one piece, I reflected on the long period of silence… post its decline (approximately 1550), the centuries when Machu Pichhu remained “lost”, forgotten! Yet the quirk in the ditty is how the absurd curiosity of a man faraway, brought it all back center-stage again! More than three hundred years later, with only vague “ol’ man’s tales” of a great Inca city somewhere in the mountains, along came this American lecturer, Hiram Bingham III.  Bingham was not even an archeologist, he just taught South American history at Yale! To me he comes across as the ultimate romantic at heart! ? Armed just with a thrilling desire to unearth, Bingham set off in July 1911, in search of the lost City! Yes! The future fictional Indiana Jones had been born! 🙂

With the help of knowledgeable locals, Bingham slashed through centuries of overgrowth, likely along this very route again, to reach Machu Pichhu. More importantly, Bingham shone the modern world’s attention upon it, with the support of Yale and the National Geographic Society. Ironically at this point of such a narrative, I would say “and the rest is history…”, when “history” is all of the events that led to the rise and fall of Machu Pichhu, its flourish and decline, and lying hidden for centuries, with much of the why’s still shrouded in mystery…

So many stories were made right here on this trail, it reads like a romance mystery, a mystical tale and a history tome, all rolled into one! That’s why this is a trek like no other — an experience multilayered with snippets from various pasts interweaving into the present, with as much fact as fascinating possibilities! This is why I would trek up to Machu Pichhu, to retrace the ancient trail, to understand the depth of its past, at the height of these mountains!

 

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