The Inkas

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From Lima to Ollantaytambo to Pisco to Machupiccu to Cisco et al. We have seen a small number of the incredible sites relating to the Inca legacy in Peru.

Of course the most famous is Machupiccu and we arrived there by train from the hotel where we were staying in the Sacred Valley. When the hotel was built a few years ago they extended the line (as you do) so we walked to the station for the ride to Machupiccu. We arrived and with tunnel vision walked through the markets for the bus for the ride up to the site. The ride can be a bit hairy as there is a lot of stopping on bends to allow buses going in the other direction to pass.

After the obligatory passport check at the gates (it seems that everyone in Peru likes to check your passport at some stage) and the souvenir stamp obtained in it we started our tour of the site. No amount of photos can prepare you for the size and extent of the site and its location. There were palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and houses carved from the granite of the mountain top. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more but are so precisely cut and fitted together and are so exact that you could not even fit a thin knife bladebetween the mortarless joints . The terraces that they built are amazing and you cna only wonder how they bulit everything particularly considering the weight of the blocks, the steep terrain and the height of the terraces. We continued our tour over the site for a few hours and after lunch left.

The Urubamba river cuts through the town and our hotel that we were staying in that night. The noise and the strength of it makes it look like an ideal white water rafting site but the treacherous rocks rule that out.

Once again a magic day with perfect weather

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