Machu Picchu

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Today we moved from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, a four-hour train journey through a canyon with the Urubamba river flowing. This time, we went backpacker class although the train went past the Hiram Bingham, a sort of Peruvian vresion of the Orient Express. Costs a cool 500 US Dollars to ride on that train.

Upon arrival at Aguas Calientes, we dashed to our hotel, dumped everything and reported promptly for the first trip to Machu Picchu, armed with cameras and spare batteries. The fleet of buses were surprisingly efficient and we had not long to wait before we were tearing round hairpin corners and climbing up to the site. A good 30 minutes later, we had arrived!

THe first sight of the place is unforgettable. We climbed to a vantage point and came out onto a terrace with a gorgeous view of Machu Picchu. The whole site lay before us, a mist in the air. Magical.

Our guide let us absorb the view and take photos before he began talking, telling us the history of the place and how Hiram Bingham discovered the place. The Spanish Conquestors had never found the city.

We then walked down to the entrance gate into the right-hand (posher) side of town and explored the Priest House and the King´s House before moving to the Temples and the Astronomy Tower. It´s remarkable how intact the place is, although much of it has been sympathetically restored. For example, in the King´s House, we could see where his bed would have been, the tiny, Kingly en-suite bathroom and the courtyard with the rock. Now the Incas didn´t have sunglasses and like us, they knew better than to look directly at the sun, so what they did was create bowls for water at a strategic point, fill it with water, then look at the sun via the reflection in the water. Rather ingenious I call it.

We also checked out the stone quarry where most of their building stones came from, and had a good walk round the site, admiring the views. Machu Picchu is perched right on the edge of sheer cliffs that go straight down to the Urumbamba River, a good 500metres below the site. Gulp!

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