Geraldo Pelayo
Discovering Peru’s ruins, people, and beauty
Take a trip to Machu Piccu, the ancient ruins of the Inca
By Cynthia Pelayo
Published: June 23rd, 2008 | 7:40pm
Peru was on my travel list as soon as I learned about Machu Piccu, the mountain kingdom of the Incas built in the heavens. I had a little less than two weeks to explore the ancient ruins of Machu Piccu, as well as surrounding ruins and towns. My stay in Peru was isolated to an area called the Sacred Valley.
After traveling over 14 hours with connections, I crashed at a hotel in Cusco to rest up. The next morning, I was off for my Machu Piccu adventure, and yes, I opted out of the Inca Trail, a four-day hike popular with backpackers seeking to reclaim the spirituality the Inca found in trekking to this city in the clouds. I instead choose the modern means of arrival to Machu Piccu; a train and then a 20-minute bus ride up the mountain, which was still quite spiritual.
Finally, I arrived at one of the most famous picturesque scenes, with the mountains and ruins laid out before us. After seeing dozens of photographs, postcards, and travel shows on Machu Piccu, I really didn’t think I would be taken back by my first sign of it, but I was – it is that large, that grand, and that beautiful. I spent a full two days at the ruins marveling at the architecture, detailed masonry, terraced farming system, and of course, the dozens of llamas who roam the green grass.
Machu Piccu was extraordinary, but it was just the beginning. I rested for the day in Aguas Calientes, a small town known as Machu Piccu Pueblo. Almost every restaurant had a host outdoors trying to get tourists in with happy hour promotions. It worked on me, and so I sat down to try the local Peruvian cocktail of choice, a Pisco Sour. Pisco is made from grapes and tastes like a strong brandy, while the sour comes from lemon juice, sugar, and egg whites for froth.
I also visited smaller Inca ruins; many of the ruins surrounding Cusco were mere crumbles in comparison to their former grandeur. In the towns of Pisac and Ollantaytambo, the ruins were immense, in good condition, and beautifully structured on hilltops. Today, Peruvian descendants of the Inca still live in these communities. Their modernized homes are built on top of Inca ruins and their steep cobblestone streets are the same streets their Inca ancestors built hundreds of years ago.
Today, the descendants of Inca throughout the Sacred Valley have kept many of their traditions while working with the modern world. Some speak their native language Quechua primarily, then Spanish, and then maybe English. The economy in many of these towns is almost solely dependant on the tourist. In the town of Chinchero, I went to visit a colonial church, which was built on top of Inca ruins by the Spanish. Gift shops and vendors were situated all along my way to the church on top of the hill. Then, once I arrived to the top, dozens of vendors had their arts and crafts laid out before them on the floor and would try to entice tourists to buy. The scene of the vendors at night, most of which were Andean women in traditional dress, was as dramatic as the church itself.
My journey through Peru made me feel as though I was in a dream: seeing marvelous ruins, and seeing their beautiful descendants. The setting of the ruins is almost magical as the ruins themselves as huge mountains, clear blue skies, and rich green grass surround them.
Issue #35
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