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machu picchu gateway
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Trekkers normally take three or four days to complete the "Classic
Inca Trail".
It starts from one of two points: 88 km (55 miles) or 82 km (51 miles)
from Cuzco on the Urubamba River at approximately 2,800 metres (9,200
ft) altitude.
Both of these trail segments meet above the Inca ruins of Patallacta
(aka Llaqtapata), a site used for religious and ceremonial functions,
crop production, and housing for soldiers from the nearby hilltop site
of Willkaraqay, an ancient pre-Inca site first inhabited around 500 BC.
The trail undulates, but overall ascends along Rio Cusichca (aka River
Kusichca aka "happy river").
