South America

Hike to Machu Picchu

(5:58 am) Ollantaytambo, Peru

Today my wife and I start our first day on the Inca trail on our hike towards Machu Picchu. Last night we stayed in Ollantaytambo after arriving early yesterday afternoon. Ollantaytambo is a compound Quechua word derived from "Ollanta" that is a personal name, and "Tambo" that is a Spanish form of "Tanpu" and refers to a city offering lodgings, food, and comfort to travelers. It seems appropriate we should start our jouney from here.

We are at a moderate elevation, 2,601 m (8,534 ft), and have been acclimatizing for the past 2 days in Cusco. Upon arrival in Ollantaytambo, we began preparing for the journey ahead. We met our guide and porters and received the final instructions before being left to explore the city. Ollantaytambo is the jumping off point for almost everyone hiking the trail to Machu Picchu, and we could feel the excitement in the air. As we walked throughout the city streets we watch others preparing for the journey ahead. And, as the night wore on, the excitment everyone felt translated into energy that had to be released. As large groups congergated around various hostels and local motels, you could hear music, laughter, and singing which lasted into the early morning hours.

Cachi in The Salta Province of Argentina

The town of Cachi is found in the Salta Province, in Northern Argentina. The Natives initially mistook the top of the nearby Nevado Hill for a salt mine, so they named the town Cachi, which is the local word for salt. This virgin area is now called the Chalchaqui Vallies of Salta and is quite remote. A two hour flight from Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, takes one to Salta City. From there, it is another 4 hours by car, some of it unpaved, to get to Cachi.

Choquequirao - Peru

Machu Picchu is one of those things you can’t miss, even if you hate crowds and band wagons. It is undoubtedly gorgeous and profound. However, all that “lost city” stuff sounds like a cheap cliché these days. What is so lost about a shiny train, a bunch of new coaches, international cuisine, inflated tourist trap prices, tactical formations of retired Japanese and millions of North-American kids screaming for mommy?

Machu Picchu is a Very Much Found City of the Inca.

Then I heard of Choquequirao. And… I smelled fish. Another city nearby, bigger than Machu Picchu? You mean a proper lost city where no-one goes, close to Cuzco? What’s wrong with it? Is it just a bunch of rocks? Or are you giving me another “lost city” pitch? Too good to be true. I mean, it’s not that unknown – a few tour shops in Cuzco advertise it, yet it falls on deaf ears.