Macchu Pichu

I woke up to, "LAST DAY YEAH YEAHHHHH!!" ricocheting down the stairwell of our hotel...This was the end. The homestretch, 27 hours until departure to the states. Thinking of our time with Maria, so full of grace, as done and untouchable twisted my heart.

It was one of those rainy, misty mornings where there wasn't a ray of sun, the kind that of weather that made you feel like you're part of a Lemony Snicket novel and the weather has been bad for days, months, years, you've lost track.

It was about 7 in the morning, and our fuel for touring one of the wonders of the world would be a complimentary breakfast of an omelet, a piece of ham, and coco tea. Berta, our faithful tour guide who gallantly swept us through Peru, led us into the hazy fog.

We hitched a ride on our noble steed (a bus) and took the half hour winding route that thinly snaked up to the top of the mountain. The bus was completely enveloped in a cloud--we could only see about fifty feet in each direction--so whenever a view beyond the trees developed, it felt as though we were traveling higher and higher into a grey oblivion (pic below). Losing a reference point for how high we were, it felt as though we entered the lands of the Gods.

The bus dropped us off near a bathroom, a couple overpriced restaurants, a dark-wooden gateway with workers feverishly checking passports, and a hotel (the type Oprah could afford). And this was the entirety of our world--the rest was fog.

And we shuffled through the entryway. I think we were all quiet. We didn't know if letting our stomachs boil with excitement with the wonder we were about to see was appropriate or if the whole place had been swallowed by the cloud and the beauty had been lost.

Berta, our guide, took us to our first outlook--and this spot is supposed to be the chariot that oversees all of the mountain range--and it looked like this (below). She started laying down her knowledge, and we learned that the phrase Macchu Pichu had no meaning, that the Incans worshiped the sun, and that they built Macchu Pichu high in the clouds to be a sort of resting sanctuary to worship the sun.

Even though the view at the time seemed anticlimatic, the rock structures were impressive. We could see some of the famous Incan terraces wrapping around the mountain, an already impressive feat knowing that they must have been carved through an Amazonian jungle like domain (click for visual). We could see people exploring the same pathways the Incan people must have walked, except today the people walking up the paths looked like a pathway out of the board game Candyland via all of the colored ponchos (below).

But Sellvy insisted the day would clear up, and we would not leave disappointed.

Have you ever felt some sort of determination, or a visceral longing, pulsate through your ribcage...? I really wanted the showers to pass. And slowly...ever so slowly...

The paradise in the clouds slowly revealed itself to us. Something about the llamas (or alpacas?) grazing in the fertile, healthy grass and the perfect terraces that delicately carved the earth made it feel like such an escape, a sort of bliss in the most unexpected place.

On a quick side note, Berta, our knowledgeable guide through the back alleys of Peru, grew up in the mountains, and she saw a llama being sacrificed when she was very young. I will probably never be able to understand what seeing that meant to her, or to her people, but I was happy she felt comfortable enough to share an insight to her culture.

We continued to wander through the sanctuary of the Incans, seeing things like tombs, their homes (the stone base with a straw top), and old sewage systems, all while the clouds decided we were becoming more and more worthy of seeing the beauty surrounding us. Maybe it was a good thing the clouds receded slowly--let me explain.

Think of someone you love, and looking at them after a liaison. They are golden, perfect, and the overwhelming emotion in your chest ascents to your smile. But, if you saw them a little at a time, you could have time to appreciate everything-- the mole on the side of their face, the curve of their body, the depth of their eyes--and they are infinite. Witnessing the golden pieces of them unify allows you to have time to treasure everything about them.

And as the entire structure had so much beauty with the mountains, the terraces, the structures, and the great people around me--Macchu Pichu was infinite too. And I'm thankful the clouds let us focus on little pieces before admiring the bigger picture.

This is actually the view from the overlook that was foggy earlier in the day

 

And since the clouds cleared, we could climb Wayna Picchu! A mountain at an altitude of 2693 meters (8835 feet) above sea level (compare that to an 838 feet right now in Ann Arbor in my apartment)...this is Wayna Picchu below!

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And so the climb began! I'll do you a favor and leave how much I sweat as I trekked up the mountain. It was a rough climb in the thinning air, but we climbed and climbed...

And it was worth the pain! The mountain's peak we climbed to was only jagged rock, and we were rewarded with a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountain range, with Macchu Pichu casually resting on the mountain in front of us (below).

If the hike up was like trying to pass a calculus test blindfolded with a pen as a writing utensil, then walking back down was like drinking a juice box. But after the climb, it was maybe three in the afternoon. Most of us were starving and thirsty, and the energy from the omelet had faded at about 9AM.

Worth it.

We left the mountain sanctuary and went out for Jamie and Leif's birthdays--Sellvy arranged for some pizzas for us along with cheesecake for dessert.

And we did a little last minute shopping (aka I bought chocolate for the train ride), and departed. During the journey home, I witnessed the end product of an evolution. We began the trip, all of us getting to know each other with questions like, "What is your favorite Disney movie?" (Mulan obviously) and "Do you have any siblings?" On the way back to our homebase (about a 4.5-5 hour trip by train and bus) our questions had grown to, "What are the two or three things in your life that are most important to you?" and "Could you date someone with a different religion from you or your family?" We answered each other with uninhibited honesty, and I think this goes to show how much we matured as a community.

I am thankful to be a part of EGL. I am thankful I was challenged by all of the fellow EGLs to push my body for six hours a day. I am thankful to have seen something purely wonderful. I am thankful to Sellvy, Maria, Angelica, and Ramiro....I am so thankful, and I won't forget this day.

"I know already that I will return to this day whenever I want to. I can bid it alive. Preserve it. There is a still point where the present, the now, winds around itself, and nothing is tangled. The river is not where it begins or ends, but right in the middle point, anchored by what has happened and what is to arrive...There is no way to find a word to fit around this feeling. Words resist it. Words give it a pattern it does not own. Words put in time. They freeze what cannot be stopped."         -Let the Great World Spin

I'll miss my time in South America...and even wringing out my heart wouldn't be able to make words for how happy I am to have gotten this chance.


Best,

Katelyn Rowley
Junior in Biomedical Engineering