Let's Go to Machu Picchu!

Machu Picchu is the gem of Peru. Actually, it’s the gem of all South America. It stands as the #1 tourist destination for the entire continent. What makes this place so special? It’s just a bunch of ruins, right? Wrong. A former Inca city and stronghold, it sits perfectly positioned on top of Machu Picchu mountain (the real name of the city is still unknown to this day). Unable to be seen from the mountain’s base and hidden from invading Spanish forces in the 1500s, it was never plundered or destroyed as many other Inca cities were. It sat hidden from the outside world until American Hiram Bingham from Yale University discovered it in 1911. Since then, visitors from around the world have flocked to this site, over 1 million in 2013 alone. It is officially a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

As my husband, Dan, and I laid the groundwork for a 16-person mission trip to Peru, we considered whether or not to take the group to Machu Picchu. We didn’t go there on our 2012 mission trip. Could we make it happen this time around?

Our first view of Machu Picchu...postcard perfect!

The only right choice in the matter seemed to be the addition of an excursion to Machu Picchu. We were already going to be in the country, and of our 16-person group, I was the only one who’d ever been to Machu Picchu. Plus, the journey to Machu Picchu starts in the city of Cusco which sits at 10,000 feet elevation. Since our team would be hiking at elevations equal to that or higher once we started the trekking portion of our ministry, we needed to give our bodies time to acclimate to the altitude. Machu Picchu sits at about 8,000 feet, so we could use the time to acclimate to altitude, plus see an amazing historical site. On paper, this all made sense, and it sounded great.

Our team on the mean streets of Aguas Calientes. There's nothing
quite like an international trip to bring people together.

Even though the journey from the United States to Peru is a long one, we knew that once in Peru, getting to Machu Picchu would still be quite an endeavor. International visitors must enter the country through the capital city of Lima. Machu Picchu isn’t close to Lima, and many mountains stand in between. Getting to Machu Picchu then includes a plane ride to Cusco, a bus ride through the Sacred Valley, and a train trip to the small town of Aguas Calientes. From Aguas Calientes intrepid tourists can hike up the side of the mountain, but most people take the bus up a narrow switchback road.

As our team embarked upon this journey to Machu Picchu, something wonderful began to happen. A tight team bond started to form. Even though we all knew each other before we left the USA, there’s something about traveling that brings people together. We started to know the “real” people, the ones that sometimes live behind facades. This process cannot be forced...it has to unfold naturally through a series of experiences.

Another unique component to this process was that even though we had tour guides and taxi drivers who could get us to all the right places, Dan and I were the true leaders of the group. We had the ultimate responsibility of making decisions that impacted everyone. We don’t speak Spanish, and we didn’t have any special insights, except for my previous trip to Machu Picchu. This “feet on the ground leadership” honed our skills and further brought the team into a tight-knit group.

The team begins to form a bond...one that would serve us well
on the entire trip.

So, our journey to Machu Picchu was more than just seeing ruins. It was about forming a team, a “family,” which would benefit us later when we trekked into the mountains to deliver Bibles to the Quechua people.