Peru 7

2019-05-16

After the ascent of Huaya Picchu, several of us decided to make the hike to the Sun Gate before we had to leave midday to head home.  We left early and got on one of the first buses to Machu Picchu.  This is the end of the official Inca trail but the start of the Inca trail back to the Sun Gate.  I would have liked to hike Machu Picchu Mountain but we simply ran out of days.

The trail started out paved with flat rocks but quickly turned into steps, then rock steps as it got progressively steeper as we neared the top.  We ultimately wound up at about the same altitude that we were at across the valley at Huaya Picchu Mountain.

This is our rest stop at the Moon Gate, a little over halfway to the top.  Three of us (plus Vidal) made the trip this morning.

Looking back at Machu Picchu, you can see the trail coming up the hill at the left side of this photo.

We had a little fog obscuring the views in the morning but expected it to clear up.

The trail is getting progressively steeper.

Here you can see the lower buildings of the Sun Gate.  If you continue down the hill you will wind up back in Ollantaytambo where we saw the porters loading up a few days back.

This was the last real climb to the top.  Just past the group down the trail is a series of larger rock stairs.

Here is the final push to the crest of the hill.

This is the structure at the very top of Sun Gate.  I met a group of women soccer players from Kennesaw State (GA) here!

While resting this little guy befriended me looking for food.  He managed to find a piece of bread that was left by a previous hiker.

 

Our group photo at the top.  Only three of us braved the early morning to make the climb. Vidal went with us up the trail.  Vidal grew up in the area and has probably hiked every possible trail in the area and has a vast hiking/climbing knowledge base.

We made it back to the hotel with plenty of time to pack for our return trip to Cusco.  The restaurant was across the tracks from the hotel complex.  No OSHA here!  The Inca train is arriving.

Looking up the tracks, the Peru Railroad is preparing to leave towards Ollantaytambo. We are traveling via the Peru Railroad.

Our seats were great, with large picture windows and the railroad provided lunch, a fashion show and the wildly dressed dancer in the third photo.

Looking back at some more of our group. . .

These are some of the glaciated Andes mountains that we passed on the way back to Ollantaytambo where we will transfer to a bus to take us into Cusco.

We departed the train at rush hour and headed toward our bus.

The bus stopped at Skylodge, a set of three hanging pods that are about 400m up the wall in the Sacred Valley, about 90 miles from Cusco.  To access the pods, which are rented similar to a hotel room, you must climb 400 steel rungs that are imbedded into the hillside (tethered in of course).  It takes about two hours to reach the pods from the road.

Returning to the road is somewhat easier, you use a zipline for the trip down!

These pods have been in place since 2013.

It was amazing that, as soon as we stopped here, a group of several very young children approached us out of nowhere, looking for something!  The group gave them a dollar each, apparently that was what they were asking for.  When the brother (who appeared to be about five-years-old and was carrying his baby sister) received his gift, he asked for something for the baby as well.  Apparently, this big brother was not intending on keeping all the loot for himself!