After this photo shoot we followed our experience guide Jamie, up a very steep set of steps that branched to the left. By now the sun was high in the sky, we were extremely hot from the heat and high humidity and our breathing was laboured because of the thinner amount of oxygen available at at this altitude and the steep climb. But when we finally reached the top of the stairway we found ourselves at an even more fantastic vista point. Yes it had been worth it! We threw ourselves down on the grass at first, to revive and to enjoy the panoramic mountain views before us. 
This was to be our highest and best view of the ruins. Here is where ALL tourists juggle to take their iconic photo shoot spot of Machu Picchu. Photos taken from this spot, are in all the tourist magazines and trip to Peru advertisements, so of course we took our own photo of one of the most beautiful, tranquil places (apart from the Himalayas in Nepal) that we've visited. We relaxed, revived and "drank in" the incredible mountain scenery and experience an unforgettable sight.
From this vantage point we got a greater appreciation of the scale and ingenuity of the various ruin structures and terraces that we were going to explore. We couldn't help but wonder, why choose to build a city in such an isolated, high altitude area?
Talking to Jamie our guide he offered 3 suggestions.
1 A religious reason: Machu Picchu is surrounded and aligned with many of the mountains in the area which the Inca people considered to be sacred. They built their temple so that the rising and setting sun's rays lined up with their altars.
2. Safety reasons: Landslides occur all over Peru but at Machu Picchu's elevation there is less chance of the city being damaged by landslides. In the valleys and lower mountain areas landslides mean not only death by the relocation of villages becomes an ongoing activity which disrupts community life.
3. A political reason: Defensively Machu Picchu is in the perfect location with a 360 view of the surrounding mountains and a view into three different valleys the Inca warriors could easily prepare for any invasion. Then too it may have been for the peacefulness and incredible beauty of this isolated spot that it was chosen.
From where we stood we were able to look down and over all different sections of these ancient city ruins and came to the conclusion that there was going to be a bit of walking and climbing up and down the varying height of the different contours. Jamie told us that overall the site the height difference is about 70 metres. One thing was for sure. We'd be much fitter and maybe a tad more tired at the end of the day.
We'd be walking on narrow pathways, open grasslands and many stone stairways often without handrails and with vertical drops of 500 meters or more on all sides. Jamie revealed that people had died exploring Machu Picchu. They'd lost their footing or had attempted too much in one day or had succumbing to heart or asthma attacks. We were not alarmed but had been reminded to be aware of where we put our feet and to stop and survey our surrounding before taking photographs, especially at the most scenic points. After my (Joy's) backward 4 metres summersault fall from a parapet onto a marble footpath, in India 30 years ago I was not wanting to repeat any acrobatic activities here in an steeper, more isolated spot in Peru) Needless to say we were vigilant in reminding one another when the contours and pathways changed in height or pathway conditions. We watched out for each other and others in our party. We spent some time relaxing at this high level-grassed vantage-point area (used for growing crops in the past glory days of the Incas) which had huge vertical drops on three sides its perimeter of this area. When we all stood up to have our group photos taken, we were all mindful of the 10 metre drop behind us so the group photo set-up was organised very gingerly and took some time. You can see the thin guide-rope, at knee height behind us and the drop behind us. Not that it would have prevented a fall but at least we were aware of the 'point of no return.'
To the left of this spot and looking over and beyond the workers homes ruins we could see a terraced mount with a staircase leading to temple ruins. The tourist we saw climbing these steps, looked like coloured jellybeans moving slowly up and down this mound-sized mountain set amongst an impressive backdrop of mountains towering all around.
Looking straight ahead from our vantage point, we were able to trace pathway trails leading across several levelled green plaza areas where llamas were resting or grazing and into stone labyrinths of building ruins. Then to the right lay other crops of building-ruins that had been built into the mountain contour and continue over and down the slopes for as far as we could see.
Look at the iconic-spot photo of us, standing on the edge of a terraced area with a huge drop off area behind us. You'll notice how tightly Ken is holding me. We are standing on a safety feature of rubber gauze matting added to the site to prevent people slipping over the edge in rainy weather. Now look at the mountain peak in the middle of the picture. It's called Huayna Picchu and is much higher than Machu Picchu, with an altitude of 2693 metres. People trek up to its peak but it is torturous journey, with almost vertical steps and no hand rails at one point. People refer to this climb as, "the stairs of death ". Permits need to be purchased to do this insane hike but these are limited to 400 people a day to prevent overcrowding and accidents. Several people have fallen to their deaths trying to reach the pinnacle of Huayna Picchu. It has fantastic views but the considerably more hazardous climb back down from this mountain through areas exposed to steep drops makes this hike even more treacherous.
Since 2011, the National institute of Culture of Peru has implemented a number of measures to regulate climbing activities on Huayna Picchu. Restrictions regarding the times that the mountain can be ascended have been added. The 7am-9.am group is limited to 200 people who must descend from the mountain before 10 am to avoid crossing over with the 200 group 2 climbers who climb from 10am-12pm. It takes at least 60 minutes to climb up and 45 minutes to descend but in reality people take longer because the altitude takes its toll on energy levels.
Being in our mid 70's we'd not planned to do this hike, but we could think of nothing worse than slogging it out with 200 climbers at a time. We guess that climbers would be spread out along the trail but Jamie pointed out that the gruelling nature of the climb meant that often keen starters would tire, turn back and begin to descend as newcomers were climbing up. On an extremely narrow single file track with slippery vertical drops and the danger of clouds enclosing the slopes in thick mists "at any time", without warning, this hike is filled with risks and is not for the faint hearted.
