The ancient Inca hilltop city, found by Hiram Bingham in 1911. We were lucky to make it up, as the rail line was hit by a rock slide on the morning we had intended to go, forcing our train to turn back. We had heard conflicting opinions of the Inca Trail, and didn’t feel like spending several days staring at the back of another hiker’s backpack, and so planned to just spend a night in Aguas Calientes before heading up to the site in the early morning. As it turned out, we ended up organizing a taxi to Ollantaytambo, the last stop before Aguas Calientes, before managing to get on the last backpacker train arriving around 2 a.m.
All views from above in the second half of the photos are from Waynapicchu, a steep and muddy ascent limited to around 350 people a day — we were #8 and #9.
The kid in one of the last pictures is a little local boy, who ran like the whirlwind in between the switchback, arriving at each curve before the bus got there to yell HELLOOOOOO. He more than deserved the tips he collected at the end.
Antony Baker Photography
Paper Shadows Photography
Peter Norby Photography
In Focus
The Big Picture