Daily Archives: November 28, 2017

Huayna Picchu

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If you entered Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes and you had a good nights sleep and are well rested – or if you entered Machu Picchu from the Inca trail and woke up at 3am to get to the sun gate – you should consider hiking Hyayna Picchu (it’s pronounced Wayna Picchu) for sweeping views of the site (and an elevated heart rate!)

On the right you see Huayna Picchu.  Doesn’t it look like an easy hike?

Unfortunately you cannot hike it on a whim as they only allow 400 hikers per day and they sell out quickly (people seem to like paying for pain around here).  I suggest you take 2L of water with you and some salty snacks.
After doing 45km I (along with several other hikers from my group) was convinced that this would be a walk in the park.  I mean we ascended 1000m in Dead Women’s pass, how hard could this be?
It’s very steep.  In fact, some sections are almost vertical where there are ropes to help you.  Allow 45 minutes to one hour to get to the top with frequent breaks to catch your breath.  Be aware that there are steep cliffs and no safety rails, so be careful.
That’s me on the top showing off the Alpaca Expeditions shirt.
Personally, I think it’s worth it because every time I see a picture of Machu Picchu now and I see Huayna Picchu mountain towering over it, I can say that I got to the highest point!  It’s certainly a good challenge though – I don’t think anybody would say it was easy.

Flying Llamas

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I just got back into civilization from hiking the Inca Trail. 4 days in the wilderness to hike 45km from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes. It’s a very challenging but scenic hike.

I will post about the hike later, but first I need to talk about my llama friends.  The Inca’s built a lot of terraces for crop growing.  As such the llamas tend to spend their days chilling out on the terraces eating grass.  In many cases you will walk on a terrace below the relaxed llama.
Is this llama chilled out or is he going to jump off this cliff?
Now, I think that llama suicide rates are fairly low (reference needed) but I was unlucky enough to see a fight between 2 llamas on the terrace above.  They were probably arguing over territory, although my hiking group seemed to think they were trying to get to me.  Either way, one of them almost came off the cliff and landed on top of me!
He just managed to regain his balance and jump back as a significant amount of soil fell three meters or so to the ground at my feet.
The wounded llama sticking out his ears while the aggressor goes back to munching his grass.  You can see the soil in the middle of the picture.
The lesson here is to always look around while you are hiking (even after 45km).
As a history lesson, llamas are not native to Machu Picchu, a male and a female were introduces there and now you see lots of them on the inca trail.