The sun’s heat was fierce on my back. Our local guide, Holver, smiled down at the nine of us willing to climb the additional one thousand harrowing steps to the Watchman’s Hut above Machu Picchu, what he called the “view of a lifetime.”
Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of my face. “Can we take a short break?” I asked Holver.
He nodded and we stepped aside onto a stone-alcove along the narrow stairway, sat down and caught our breaths.
I felt a sense of urgency, wanting to make this journey to the Lost City of the Incas while I was still young enough to handle the grueling challenge of high altitudes. I also feared the Peruvian government would one day deny access to the site in order to preserve its integrity as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A few years ago, the government finally imposed a limit of 2,500 visitors a day.
Holver said, “When I look down at Machu Picchu I see it crawling with people, many more than 2,500 people. But this place generates so much revenue that no one is enforcing the limitation.”
At 8,000 feet above sea level, Machu Picchu sits majestically on the jagged hillside of the Andes above Urubamba Valley. Built by the Incas in 1450 using an elaborate technique of levering and rolling the gigantic rocks into place with no mortar, Machu Picchu is an engineering and mathematical feat.
I asked Holver, “How was it humanly possible for the Incas to move these rocks?”
He smiled. “They chewed a lot of coca leaves.” He was serious. Coca is a mild stimulant which suppresses pain and fatigue. For visitors, coca leaves are used to combat altitude sickness and many of the hotels offer coca tea to their guests. Although I drank coca tea daily, I was not sure it served any medicinal purpose because I neither felt stronger or less nauseous in the high altitude.
The stone structures in Machu Picchu are clusters of living quarters, temples, plazas and watchtowers, connected by an intricate network of stairs and pathways. As Holver guided us through the labyrinth of passages and hidden chambers, he explained that 60 percent of Machu Picchu is underground including a network of irrigation and aqueduct systems that were used for flood control and transportation of human waste.
The abandonment of Machu Picchu a century later is still a mystery and in much dispute among historians. Were the Incas escaping the Spanish Conquistadores who were arriving in Peru during the 1500s? Did a deadly disease obliterate the population? No massive graves were discovered on the site. In 1911, an American historian and Yale University professor, Hiram Bingham, discovered the “Lost City of the Incas” with the help of local farmers, though other historians claim European archeologists had arrived at the site long before Bingham. Regardless of the ongoing dispute, I was grateful that Machu Picchu was discovered at all.
Our guide, Holver Vizcarra, was born and raised in the now bustling town of Cuzco located 75 miles from Machu Picchu, and once the hub of the Incan Empire. Holver introduced himself as being 75 percent Inca and 25 percent Spanish. “I am not proud of the 25 percent because of the Conquistadores’ violent aggression against the Incas,” he said. I asked if he felt any animosity toward the Spaniards, and he said, “Not really. It is simply the history of our country.” Holver explained to us that Cuzco was a small, sleepy village when he was growing up, but with the popularity of Machu Picchu in the last couple of decades, the town grew exponentially. “Eighty percent of the population now works in the tourist industry. In fact, the Cuzco economy is so dependent on Machu Picchu that when we had a disastrous landslide on the only road to Machu a few years ago, it caused economic havoc for Cuzco.” Tourism came to a dead halt until the roads were cleared.
Yet with the popularity of Machu Picchu, the locals earn very little. “Even now,” Holver said, “we locals can barely make ends meet. We hold two and three part-time jobs to support our families.”
He remains optimistic about his country’s future especially with the influx of American tourists. “Tourists from other parts of the world have been coming to Machu Picchu for decades. Americans have only been coming in masses for the past ten years. Americans tend to wait until the “tourist” infrastructure is in place — like the presence of hotels chains, upscale restaurants, paved roads, and clean public bathrooms,” said Holver.
I had to smile because I, unfortunately, am one of those Americans.
I looked toward the Watchman’s Hut and then quickly glanced down to see where we started the climb. It looked to be another third of the way up, which meant 333 more steps to go. I felt the burn on my quads.
“Okay, shall we push forward? Are we ready?” Holver asked as he studied our faces.
The nine of us wearily got up and continued the trudge upward.
When we finally stood in front of the Watchman’s Hut looking down on Machu Picchu against the backdrop of the Andes, I was suddenly humbled and overwhelmed at the same time. The landscape was jarringly spectacular. Several snow-white llamas wandered the grassy slopes below us, oblivious to the hordes of visitors surrounding them.
Holver was right. This was the “view of a lifetime” and it will forever be etched in my memory.
