50 Issue # 5 , March 2017
The ruins had a completely different feel once the hordes of day tourists had left . I remember asking my friends to join me to explore the place ( we had free access to the ruins as guests at the lodge ) after the last day tourists had been herded off and before the sun goes down . It was a rude and memorable shock to me when they told me to go ahead first as they wanted to finish watching ‘ All About Eve ’ from a video they found in the lodge ’ s library ! God , did they come all the way to Machu Picchu to watch ‘ All About Eve ’?
So I went on my own . And contrary to what most people expected of the place when deserted or at twilight ( there was no sunset anyway , it just slowly and gradually got dark ), I felt nothing spiritual nor frightening . What I felt was a tremendous amount of peace , calm and ENERGY ! I found a solitary orchid flower growing out from a crack on a wall . And I had the whole place to myself , save for a few solitary people wondering about at a distance , and one man meditating on one of the higher points .
Next morning the three of us were up early to catch the place in a different mood before the tourist crowd arrive from Aguas Calientes . We encountered a whole group of people who had been hiking for 3-4 days from the Sacred Valley on the Inca Trail , and had finally reached their destination in the same tradition the Incas did hundreds of years ago .....