Fifteen years ago, married for only one year, Greer and I decided to pursue our passions for travel, exercise, beautiful landscapes, and history, so we ventured to the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains of Peru to hike the Incan Trail. It was truly a spiritual, visual, physical and emotional experience; so much so that we told each other that we would bring our then unborn (or even conceived) children to experience this fabulous vacation. This year, while living in Ecuador, we took the opportunity to share this great experience with our children. But let me tell you...this is not your mother and father's Machu Picchu.
On our first visit, Machu Picchu and the Incan Trail were just becoming one of the venerated places for tourists. In the ensuing years, threats to the ecological characteristics of the trail and site have led to efforts to limit its use. For Machu Picchu 1.0, we flew into Cuzco and our taxi driver at the airport set us up with a five-day excursion including a four-day hike on the Incan trail for $70 a person. This included meals, tour guide, camping equipment and a one-night hotel stay in Aguas Calientes (the town at the foot of Machu Picchu) and train ride back to Cuzco in first class, which only meant you were guaranteed a seat. Machu Picchu 2.0 was not quite so simple... or cheap.
For Machu Picchu 2.0, our initial inquiries revealed that the Incan Trail was closed during for the entire month for maintenance and because of heavy rains during the rainy season. However, for a mere $385 per person, we could get a two-night, three-day hike on an alternate trail with entrance into Machu Picchu. Of course, we Machu Picchu veterans scoffed at such extravagant expenses and figured we could map out our own economical adventure to this archeological temple. However, this is not your mother and father's Machu Picchu, and we were shocked and dismayed at the costs of entrance fees as well as train ride to and from Aguas Calientes, the only other way to get to Machu Picchu without hiking. We settled on a two day adventure that included a Sacred Valley tour of additional ruins that we missed our first time around. Needless to say, the cost for one person of this two-day excursion (and no hotel stay) was significantly more than the total cost for both of us for our five-day adventure 15 years ago. However, we were even fortunate to get tickets at all, as it was the rainy season. If we tried to do this last minute purchase during high season, we would have been met with the equivalent of a Do Not Enter sign, as entrance to Machu Picchu is limited and it fills up well in advance.
After multiple plane rides and multiple hours on multiple buses, we finally made our triumphant return to Cuzco, the base of operations for travel to Machu Picchu. The sleepy little hamlet of backpacking travelers and local indigenous people, 15 years prior, had become a bustling hub of upscale shops and sophisticated tourists. Gone were the Incan women with their young children in tow hawking their wares, where Greer had bought her alpaca sweater and gloves to weather the cold, mountainous air. They were no longer lining the streets of the Plaza de Armas. It was as if Rudolph Giuliani had swept in and cleaned up Times Square of local street vendors and replaced them with Starbucks and trendy upscale shops.
Our first stop (after Starbucks, of course) was to the ancient ruins of Sasayhuaman (pronounced like sexy woman). Fifteen years ago, Greer and I enjoyed a leisurely daytime excursion where we freely wondered onto the sight and slid down rock formations that were a naturally created sliding board. It was also the place where I climbed on an ancient monument for a photo op and a guard chastised me in his spoken English… “it is not possible.” Greer and I both chuckled (even to this day), that not only was it possible, but that I was, in fact, doing it. But now, Sasayhuaman had become a major tourist attraction with entrance fees that had become cost prohibitive (well over $100) for this family of four. Garrett (my 10-year-old) lamented that after Lake Titicaca (our first stop in Peru – and with a name this adolescent boy couldn’t resist) he was looking forward to some “sexy women.” In hindsight, I wish we had forked over the money so that they could have experienced it as well. However, we knew that in the coming days there would be plenty of ruins to explore, even if there were no sexy women.
On our first trip, Greer and I took a wild and crowed bus trip to a local village for sightseeing and shopping. At each bus stop, we assumed that it was to let people off; as we were certain that no more people could be squeezed into this sardine can of a bus. Our assumption was wrong. And it seemed that as more people got on, the faster and crazier the bus ride got. Upon our arrival we poured out of the bus and explored the sights. We took pictures with the locals and their herding livestock; in return, we gave them some change for the privilege. This time around, we enjoyed the trip from the comfort and luxury of our tour bus. And now, instead of tourists going out to the locals, the locals come to the tourist, with livestock in hand, primed and ready for their photo shoot. They know a cash cow (or cash llama) when they see it…Next stop Machu Picchu.
To our delight, the efforts to maintain the integrity of Machu Picchu have been successful as it was as majestic and magical as the first time. While nothing can compare to our first time seeing the splendid spectacle that is Machu Picchu nestled in the mountainous terrain, peaking its way from beneath the cloud cover, it was just as magical to witness the awe and amazement of Grant and Garrett. Despite the build up, they were able to appreciate their first visions of this miracle in the mountains, conveying that it was even better than they had imagined. In this case, it was your mother and father's Machu Picchu.
The remainder of the day was spent hiking the one portion of the trail that was not closed (and a little portion that was, as the boys just HAD to step beyond the rope that cut off passage to the trail - to say that they “hiked” the Incan Trail.) Garrett had already declared that he was going to become a certified trail guide and come back with his own tour group. And after an exhausting day of hiking and sightseeing, he even wanted to climb up to the top of Mt. Machu Picchu. What more could we ask for?
Even Aguas Calientes was markedly different. The natural hot springs for which the town is named were not even functional on our first visit. Now they have become a literal and figurative hot spot of new age spirituality and gringo resort. The streets and sidewalks were lined with newly laid bricks and adorned with overpriced restaurants and shops. Yet, it was a welcomed improvement. However, lest we felt nostalgic, our old hotel was still intact (but the outdoor shower was now enclosed), and the shrine of the Virgin Mary still remained outside our window. And, in order to get the feel of real hikers, we stayed at the Backpackers Hostel where my smelly pillow probably stayed in someone’s backpack a few days too long.
As mystical as our first trip was, Greer and I will be forever scarred by our train ride home. We had paid for reserved seating to avoid the onslaught of locals and tourists fighting for limited seating in economy. People cramming into the train brought back the haunting images of people hanging onto helicopters in the final days of America's withdrawal from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. We stayed calm knowing we had secured our seating, only to be told that our tickets were for economy. We gringos had been taken for a ride, but not with assigned seats. We were fortunate to be given "seating" on the less crowded reserved train, on the floor between two cars, and next to el baño. However, we faired better than the people who were hanging outside the train, only given refuge inside when we passed through a tunnel that would have severed a limb.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, our children did not have to experience such a traumatic train ride home. All were assigned reclining seats (car B seats 38 - 41) with on board food service to boot. We were able to share a table, play cards and relax, sharing and comparing our Machu Picchu experiences.
And while I am sure that, in our kids' minds, the reality did not quite live up to the hype, for me, as a parent, the hype did not quite live up to reality. I envisioned hiking the trail, reliving our experiences with our children. However, as circumstances would have it, we made good with what we had.
Although it wasn't your parents' Machu Picchu, I wish in many ways that it had been. It was such an awe inspiring trip for us that first time, that we wanted our children to be equally awed. Yet, with such high expectations, it would be hard, under any circumstances, to live up to them. But maybe, some day, our children will take their children on a similar adventure, and they can say..."this isn't your grandparents' Machu Picchu.”