In every photo of Machu Picchu: magazine, travel brochure, book, you see a mountain at the back of the photo. That mountain is Huaynapicchu! Or Hauinipichu or Waynapicchu- however it is spelled:-). The website tickets spell is Huaynapicchu, the signs at Machu Picchu spell it Waynapicchu, and the town and Facebook spell it Hauinipichu.
For an extra fee with your Machu Picchu ticket, you can climb this mountain! The extra fee is about $25, and you have two time periods to get to the gate: 7-8 am or 9-10 am. After these time periods the gate is closed. There are only 200 people allowed, per day, to climb it, so buying your ticket in advance is quite important (http://ticketmachupicchu.com/). You should also buy your tickets to Machu Picchu in advance as they only allow 2500 people per day. There are ticket offices in Cuzco and Aquas Calientes- but there were lots of people frustrated that the tickets were soldout.
Back to this cool mountain:-). so you get to climb it! It is steep- very steep!- and many parts have the tiny little stairs next to the cliff, so one wrong step and you plummet! Many of the areas of stairs have either rope or cable for you to hold onto and pull yourself up. The other areas you crab-crawl up. And there are areas that are somewhat easy to walk up. But just do it! The climb is amazing and the view is incomperable! Plus there are ruins, and terraces at the top, along with staging areas you can stop, sit and enjoy the view. From atop there, the view of thesurrounding mountains is just incredible!!
Also, just know you will get dirty- you are climbing up narrow stairs with granite wall encrusted in slimy plants on one side and a cliff on the other:-). Huaynapicchu is at 8,000 feet- be sure to get your photo at the sign!
 |
| The sign that gives the altitude- it is in meters, so just multiply by 3 (a meter is about 1 yard) |
 |
| Orchids everywhere! |
 |
| some of the stairs |
 |
| View of Machu Picchu from the climb |
 |
| The terraces- the steps are VERY steep, but just do it! |
 |
| Rich climbing up the steps to the terraces |
 |
| Doorway of an old stone structure |
 |
| Terraces from another view of the top |
 |
| Rich doing Yoga at the edge of the cliff |
No comments:
Post a Comment