No one enters the Sun Gate and front door of Machu Picchu without it being on purpose. Tucked in the interior of Peru, this Modern Wonder of the World is not easy to access on the eastern side of the Andes mountains and entrance to the Amazon rainforest. In only having a few weeks to research and plan for the perfect 40-year-old gift to myself, this South American expedition seemed like the perfect fit in combining history, adventure, proximity and interest. Two of my best friends, Burt and Chanel, would be joining me on this unforgettable trek deep into the interior of a continent none of us had visited.
Hiram Bingham was probably the only visitor to Machu Picchu to ever visit the site without meaning to. The archaeologist that was also a lecturer from Yale accidentally discovered the site on July 24, 1911. The site Hiram had studied for was supposed to be the Incan retreat HQ deeper in the Amazon jungle, now named Vilcabamba or Espiritu Pampa. Hiram was interested in discovering this lost location because this ancient site was said to have hosted the Incas as the Spanish conquistadors were pillaging and occupying their empire in Cusco, and was rumored to be filled with gold and riches left for hundreds of years. The Spanish were vastly outnumbered, but they had two key elements that turned the tide of war, horses and guns.
Local farmers in the region pointed Hiram in the direction of a mountaintop saying ruins of some kind had been taken over by vast vegetation and he may want to take a look. This look would change the course of his life forever and currently brings 1.2 million visitors through the welcoming arms of the Peruvian Citadel every year.
Perfectly preserved, the ruins of Machu Picchu sat untouched for almost 500 years until Hiram arrived. There was a supposed Inca civil war that broke out prior to the Spanish arrival and Machu Picchu was abandoned. The Spanish conquistadors never found or knew about Machu Picchu, or possibly knew and didn’t care because they knew Cusco was the true “City of Gold” housing the riches they desired. Regardless, this 8,000 foot high Citadel slept as the sun continued to blaze its rays every year at the solstice through its Sun Gate, beaming a perfect line straight into the belly of the Sun Temple. Keep in mind, the Sun Gate is a two-hour hike on the Inca Trail high up on another mountaintop adjacent to Machu Picchu. This would have taken immense engineering skills.
Here is the Sun Gate that marks the entrance to the Citadel of Machu Picchu for Inca Trail hikers.
The below picture shows you the staggering distance from the Sun Gate to the ruins of Machu Picchu straight ahead and the length of the beam of light the sun would offer.
Hiram III came from a long line of explorers in which Hiram himself was a part of the Royal Geographic Society. The same society in which Isaac Newton was a part of and Percy Fawcett from the famous book and movie The Lost City of Z, also exploring the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon jungle was the final unexplored surface area on Earth in the early 20th century, and now in the early 21st, I boarded a Delta flight to walk in those same footsteps.
But, before taking off from KCI, Burt and I needed to get a pic of our missing friend Nate that couldn’t join us on this journey. (It’s a running joke with our group that we have to print out or find the most ridiculous picture we can find of the missing friend and take pictures of him along the journey with us. This dates back to our baseball stadium trips we had taken). So, we took our customary picture with Nate at the Royals Grill at the airport, and off we went.
Burt and I were taking off from KCI and headed to our connecting flight in Atlanta at 12:20p. The PA system goes on at the gate in KC announcing there was a plane issue upon landing of the plane we were about to board. So, there was a delay of 15 minutes before we were able to board. We had a 2-hour layover in Atlanta, so time was on our side.
Upon landing in Atlanta, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at food court and were ready to board our night flight to Lima, Peru. The flight to Lima was going to take just over 6 hours and was also in the Eastern Time Zone, so no jet lag. We’d take off at 5:54p and arrive in Lima at 12:35a. Chanel’s flight coming from Miami would arrive an hour before ours in which we’d meet her at the baggage claim. We’d land on my actual 40th birthday. The adventure began.
The Delta flight was uneventful as I was continuing reading “Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time” by Mark Adams that also followed in Hiram Bingham’s footsteps across the Andes and Sacred Valley in Peru. It was fairly reassuring since this author was no professional hiker and gave a layperson’s account of the journey across all the major ruins that Hiram found. We would not be getting this adventurous, but it’s a fantastic read and a NY Times Bestseller for those interested in learning more about the history and current day Machu Picchu.
You can find the book to purchase here, no pun intended, but on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Right-Machu-Picchu-Rediscovering/dp/0452297982
There was one side note on the flight, in which the light that burns above you as you read on night flights, I could not for the life of me figure out how to turn it off. It had been left on by the previous passenger and I just kept it on reading for a majority of the flight, however, the one moment I wanted to turn it off to sleep and the stewardesses disappear, there was no “off” button or stewardess call button to ask how to turn it off. So, I proceeded to jostle with the light, pound on it, twist it, nothing. I pulled out my facemask I had brought to Iceland and was the lone seat with lighting the rest of the trip. Fifteen minutes before we land, I finally see a stewardess and ask her how to turn it off. She starts pushing buttons under my monitor on the monitor in front of me, nothing. Then, she tells me to try going in the settings on the monitor on the monitor. There, it finally is, in the settings section of my monitor. How in he world would anyone have found that? No directions anywhere. Ahhhh technology.
Lima’s morning comes early. Effects of the late hours were creeping up on us as we touched down at Jorge Chavez International Airport. Both Burt and I did not check a bag so we hit the ground running to meet Chanel in the baggage claim area. A tip I read on Peru transportation is to use Uber wherever you go. The background check on Uber is at least minimal protection against scam artist taxi drivers in which taxi’s are not regulated by the country. You are HOUNDED upon exiting the airport. I had ordered the Uber while a taxi driver told me he’d charge me $1 less than my Uber. They haggle you constantly and it’s one after the other. We found our Uber parked in the lot across a few lanes from the departure area.
The first night in Lima I selected an Airbnb in the Barranco District. This is an older cultural area of Lima, much like the Crossroads District of Kansas City. There is a lot of art and older buildings and more a true, foreign downtown compared to its brother in Miraflores that is the high tourist area with JW Marriott’s and top retailers. I wanted to immerse in both districts and we’d stay the final two nights in Miraflores in a condo overlooking the ocean to unwind.
After 45 minutes in the Uber, we arrived at the Airbnb and punched in the padlock numerical code and in we went. The view inside the apartment was breathtaking. We had the ocean to our right on the balcony and main city in front of us and to the left. We had arrived. We were injected with adrenaline and gained our second wind and were up until 4a in the morning.
The master suite:
Hiram Bingham married into money in which his in-laws in NY gave their daughter and him $10,000 per year. This was more than three times his salary at Yale and allowed him the freedom to explore the world and his passions. Hiram was the inspiration behind the character Indiana Jones that George Lucas would later create. You can see the similarities in Hiram being a lecturer at Yale, while Indiana was also a college professor. You see the sun playing a significant role in the map room scene trying to find the Ark of the Covenant in the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” much like the sun’s rays beaming into Machu Picchu.
You can see the map room scene here as a reminder, one of the most impactful scenes of my early memory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFDM7JGHGYo
Peru is sitting on the edges of the Nazca and South America tectonic plates and is an earthquake hotbed. Another impressive feat of the Inca were creating structures and architecture that lasted hundreds of years through many earthquakes. While Spanish buildings would topple, Inca ruins would remain underneath after the Spanish built on top of the Inca structures but never duplicating the fine architecture of the stone the Inca used. You could not even fit a piece of paper in between the Inca stones and the edges were rounded to fit perfectly. A mastery of their art.
So, it was no surprise that we wake up on my actual birthday later that morning at 8a to text messages and missed phone calls from Burt’s father-in-law Dave and wife Amber making sure we are all ok. Overnight, there was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake at the Ecuador and Peruvian border. We were fine since we were far south of the border as Lima is southern Peru, but we found it odd there was no news story on TV discussing the earthquake, it was that commonplace, but it was all over Fox News back in the states.
The sun brought with it incredible balcony views of the ocean we hadn’t seen the night before. After months of freezing temps in KC, the warmth embraced us like a missing child while never promising to let go again.
We stored our luggage in the owner’s private storage room and we were off exploring this new, foreign summer-infested continent.
Lima is built up on a bluff with the ocean and highways down below. We walked breathtaking views and watched as gliders took off near us with passengers inhaling views you dream about. If this was how 40 was going to start off, I didn’t want to leave it.
We decided to take an impromptu photo, while Burt and I were prepared with sunglasses with the summer sun, Nelly had to purchase a pair once we arrived on the beach…..
After strolling alongside the ocean we headed more inland to find an Uber to take us down to the beach and restaurants. We passed some inspirational architecture and churches along the way.
Of course as I walk into the church below and visit the extremely quiet nave where Christians are lighting candles, my cell phone starts blaring for all for God to hear. It was my brother Paul calling to wish me a happy birthday. I couldn’t imagine him having more typical timing as I run out of the church.
Not long afterwards, we hail an Uber that takes us down to the beach. We walk a ways to find sunglasses for Nelly and then head to a restaurant we see in the distance.
We arrived early around 11a, but the restaurant did not open until 12n. They had some benches were we relaxed for an hour before they opened and we inhaled the ocean breeze.
The buffet and setting was staggering. How we just landed upon this lunch paradise was pure luck as we had no idea where we were. The views offered the perfect breeze. The best birthday lunch I could ever remember.
We didn’t want to leave the setting. We stuffed ourselves as much as humanly possible. We found how cheap it is to eat and Uber in Peru. I believe each person paid $30USD. The Uber rides within the same district were $2-$5USD. The currency in Peru is the Peruvian Sol. The exchange rate approx 3:1. We had exchanged some Peruvian Sols at the airport in Atlanta as we knew we’d need them for the ruins on the ATV tour in a couple days.
We’d then head from the restaurant back towards the Airbnb where we took a quick catnap out by the pool before our Uber took us to the airport.
We’d be headed back to Jorge Chavez International Airport en route to the Andes mountains and to an elevation of 11,0000 feet to the City of Gold…..Cusco. Cusco had been the center of the Incan Empire and where many brave souls began their trek on the Inca Trail on a 4-day journey to Machu Picchu. This hike is not for the faint of heart as the elevation will bite you and bite hard. We all were taking Diamox, which are altitude sickness pills to help offset the effects. You start taking them 2 days before entering the new elevation. We were going from sea level to 11,000 feet in 1.5 hours of a plane ride.
In my next entry, I’ll break down the travel on Latam Airlines for the evening of my birthday, the domestic airline of South America that would take us to the City of Gold. Our flight would depart at 6:16p, or so we planned. There were disruptions I’ll explain in my next blog post, including a power outage at the airport, but what journey goes always according to plan? God knows it didn’t for Hiram Bingham. That’s where you make the greatest of memories and the grandest of discoveries.
Until next time…..
Moonlit Wings Reflect the Stars That Guide Me Towards Salvation 