Huayna Picchu

From this view at Machu Picchu you can see Huayna Picchu in the distance. Machu Picchu means "old peak" in Quechua and Huayna Picchu means "young peak". Look closely at Huayna Picchu and the small peak to the left of it. It is said that the two peaks together ressemble a reclining side view of an Inca. We were also told that from Huayna Picchu to the right is the representation of the puma, one of the sacred levels of the Inca religion. I think Huayna Picchu represents the condor and the Rio Urubamba, which curls around the base of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, represents the snake. The three levels, the condor, which represents the afterlife, the puma, which represents the present, and the snake, which represents the underworld, are all represented in most Inca structures.

400 people a day are allowed to climb Huayna Picchu and if you want to be one of them, you must go directly to the Huayna Picchu entrance gate and acquire a ticket as soon as you get to Machu Picchu. We did that---in retrospect, I wish we wouldn't have made that rush. First of all, on the day we went, there wasn't a crowd at Machu Picchu and I don't think 400 people even made the climb and secondly, rushing through the gates to get to the other side took away some of the serenity of the experience of just being at Machu Picchu. But, we got in line before 7:00 to get our tickets. The first group of 200 is admitted to Huayna Picchu at 10:00 and the second group at noon.

We decided we would make the 10:00 group, so after we got our tickets, we took our time to leisurely retrace our steps across Machu Picchu. We went up to the guardhouse for the standard post card view and pictures.

Just before we were to go up Huayna Picchu, Grant was not feeling well and decided that he would stay and rest. I decided to go ahead with the climb---mostly because I wanted to see how it compared to our hike up Putukusi the day before.

In the picture above, you can see the trail as it crosses from Machu Picchu to Huayna Picchu. Follow it starting in the lower right hand corner, up through the middle, and finally up to the upper left hand side of the picture. It was about here that I started thinking I really didn't know if I wanted to go ahead with the climb. The clouds were starting to come in and it wasn't going to be an easy hike.

Here is one view of the trail---mostly just stone steps---steep stone steps. That's a person at the top. It was very misty and that made everything very slick.

Another view of the steps was previously posted with the pictures of stairs at Machu Picchu.

Well, here I am at the top! Yes, that's the view. An hour climb and this is the prize. There are ruins at the top---more buildings, but with the clouds and mist, I didn't try to take many pictures.

The clouds did break up a bit while I was at the top. Look through them and you can faintly make up Machu Picchu. I didn't want to spend a lot of time up there because I felt that I was missing precious time in Machu Picchu, and Grant was there.