Getting to Machu Picchu Was an Olympic Event

This year has been a spiritual journey for me, and Machu Picchu was calling out to me. I felt it and couldn’t ignore it, so I answered.

It was also my first time in South America, so everything felt new. What moved me most, though, was the people. Everyone we met was so kind and so hard-working. What resonated the most was seeing the woman who take their young children to work with them every day. I saw housekeepers, store associates, and bakery owners all working their jobs with their babies in tow. I came for the mountain, and I left thinking just as much about the people.

Seeing it in person was surreal. I had looked at so many pictures and watched so many shows about Machu Picchu that I half expected it to feel familiar. It didn’t. It felt like walking into a photograph and finding out it had a temperature, a smell, and a sky. It’s easy to understand why it’s one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

We were blessed with the most beautiful day! It’s one of the most sacred places I’ve ever been. This mysterious sacred mountain was so healing for my soul. Mother Earth truly provides the best medicine. It was magical ✨

The journey

Getting there was like an olympic event, and I mean that as a compliment to the mountain. Here’s the route my daughter Courtney and I took:

1. Landed in Lima
2. Took a domestic flight to Cusco
3. Spent two days in Cusco acclimatizing
4. A driver from our tour picked us up at our hotel and took us to Ollantaytambo
5. Took the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes
6. Rode a bus up the mountain, on a road of hairpin turns that I’ll describe kindly as “memorable”

That last leg on the bus was the scary one, and I laughed nervously through most of it. Every leg asked me to slow down, watch, and trust the process a little.

The two days not to skip

Cusco sits 11,000 feet above sea level, and the advice everyone gives is to go slowly. We gave ourselves two full days to let our bodies catch up before doing anything demanding.

It’s like the Gods knew we needed to rest because it rained heavily for those first two days, making it nice and cozy inside. We lounged around our hotel room reading, drinking coca tea (helps with altitude sickness), eating, and napping. It felt like an indulgence at the time. Looking back, it was the most useful thing we did for the whole trip.

Then, the mountain

The sky was a deep, cloudless blue. The terraces stepped down toward the valley, a steep green peak stood behind the ruins.

One curved tower was built right around a huge boulder. It’s the Temple of the Sun. The windows at the top align precisely with the sun on the summer and winter soltices! Like how is this possible?

Stone work fit together so precisely that I kept reaching out to touch it.

In another section, a stone window framed a mountain like a painting someone had hung there five hundred years ago.

A little history

Machu Picchu was built in the fifteenth century as a country estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. It sits on a ridge about 7,970 feet (2,430 meters) above sea level. It was part sanctuary and part working community, with roughly 200 structures. Farming terraces lie below, living and ceremonial spaces sit above, and a large plaza separates them.

Historians long placed its construction around 1440 to 1450. A radiocarbon study of human remains now suggests people lived there from about 1420 until around 1530, roughly when the Spanish conquest brought down the Inca empire. After that, the mountain kept its secret. The outside world didn’t hear of it until 1911, when American scholar Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention, and UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site in 1983.

A retreat built for an emperor’s rest was a thought I appreciated, as someone on a sabbatical of her own.

Jaime

Our guide, Jaime, took such pride in sharing his Incan heritage and everything he knows. When he spoke about his ancestors, it was with a reverence that made the stones feel less like ruins and more like a family home. He said the that the Incas didn’t build the original structures like the Temple of the Sun. He said some structures predated the Incas by thousands of years and that the Incas added on to the originals. Once he pointed that out, I could see that there was in fact a big difference in architectural styles throughout the citadel.

If you can, go with someone who loves the place. An experienced knowledgable local guide like Jaime can totally change your experience.

The llamas

Then there were the llamas, an unexpected delight. They wander the terraces as if they own them, which, to be fair, they do. One stretched its neck up over my head to photobomb us, while another napped in the grass behind us 😂

The souvenir I didn’t want

Here’s the part of the trip that didn’t make it into the photos. When the temperature rose, I unzipped my hiking pants at the knees and turned them into shorts. It was a big mistake. I came home with insect bites on my legs that got infected. Healing took one trip to urgent care, two trips to the ER, two strong antibiotics, and a steroid cream.

The lesson is simple. Wear insect repellent even if you don’t think you need it, and keep your legs covered. I’d prepared for altitude, weather, and even the bus ride, and I had underestimated something small. Preparation is a form of self-care too.

After Machu Picchu I was tired all the way through my body. Rainbow Mountain was on the itinerary for later in the week but and I canceled it and rested instead. Rest wasn’t a detour from the trip. It was part of it.

The five pillars, on the trail

• 💦 Nourished Body: Two days of acclimatizing, plenty of water, a pace that let me breathe, and (next time) bug spray.
• 🌿Rooted Mind: One step, then the next, with my attention on the ground under my feet.
• 🪨 Steady Foundations: Booking early, packing well, and having a backup plan for when plans change.
• 🌙 Connected Spirit: A landscape older than any of my worries, and a guide who honors the people who came before.
• ♥️ Open Heart: Sharing all of it with Courtney.

If you’re planning your own trip

1. Wear insect repellent, even if you don’t think you need it, and keep your skin covered. I learned this the hard way. Don’t scratch bites. If one gets red, warm, swollen, or spreads, or you develop a fever, see a doctor promptly. This is my experience and not medical advice, and a travel clinic can tell you what’s right for your trip.
2. Give yourself two days at altitude first. Even with a few days time to acclimatize, I highly recommend that ask your doctor for a prescription for altitude sickness before leaving home.
3. Book early. Machu Picchu entry is timed and limited, and trains sell out.
4. Carry your passport. It’s checked at entry.
5. Pack layers. You’ll see fleece and wool hats in some photos and sun hats in others.
6. Brace for the bus 😬. If hairpin turns bother you, look at the mountains instead of the edge.
7. Hire a guide who loves the place. Confirm the pickup time and place the night before.
8. Leave a buffer day afterward. Mine became a rest day, and I’m glad it did.

If you would like more details about our adventure, please reach out. I’m happy to provide specific logistics.

Bring it home

You don’t need a mountain to practice this. Where in your life are you rushing toward a view you’d enjoy more if you slowed down? If you’d like a place to start thinking it through, my Reflection Guide is free.

There’s more to Peru than Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is the headline, and it earned its place. But it’s one chapter of a country with far more to give than one famous mountain. Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Lima each showed me something different. Cusco was vibrant, fun, and offered a beautiful glimpse of Andean culture. The Sacred Valley was lush and picturesque. Lima was recently named the World’s Best City for Food by Time Out in 2026, and the sunsets were stunning!

If you go, let Machu Picchu be the reason you buy the ticket, but don’t let it be the only place you spend your time.

I’ll leave you with a few more of my favorite photos

With gratitude

I don’t take any of this for granted. I’m grateful to have the resources to travel and to immerse myself in my spiritual journey, and I know that isn’t a given for everyone. I’m also grateful to live in a country where clean drinking water is available 24 hours a day, wherever I go. It’s easy to overlook until you’re far from home and notice how much you rely on it.

Thank you for walking a little of Peru with me.

With love,

Amy