Leaving Civilization Behind

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Up bright and early and opened my door to an incredibly clear and bright morning. It was beautiful - the mountains were glowing and it was a perfect 65 degrees or so. Everything just seemed to stand out in the sun. I started my day at the Ollantaytambo ruins just up the cobbled street (with a stream of mountain water running down the middle of it) near my hotel. This was the place the Inca made their great stand against the Spanish. They stood on the terraces and basically never gave the Spanish an inch. While this history is interesting, actually seeing and exploring the ruin requires basically walking right up the side of the mountain.

You start at the bottom, climb past the terraces up over 200 stairs, until, at the very top, you have the great reward not only of the view, but some of the most impressive stonework and temples in Peru. I mean the stones fit absolutely perfectly together. Some of the stones are cut nearly 5 or so times - it's kind of like a gig-saw puzzle, where every piece fits perfectly with the next. At the very top you also see the Temple of the Sun, or at least the single side that the Inca managed to build. This is a marvelous building, but what really struck me at the top of Ollantaytambo was how perfectly the Inca built into the land. They used the land as a model, not as something to destroy (kind of like Frank Lloyd Wright). And then, even bigger than this, the buildings match the sun and moon - all perfectly aligned to catch the sun and moon during certain times of the day and year. The Temple of the Sun for instance glows in the early morning sun.

I also hiked a ways around the cliff side of the ruin, but basically finished up, ate, had some coffee, bought a few things, until catching my afternoon train for the ride to Machu Picchu. This was awesome because on the train you realize that you truly do leave civilization behind. You're only allowed to take a single back-pack first of all (I'm wearing the same clothes for the next 3 days!) and the train is the only way to Machu Picchu - unless you hike in. This just truly is a remote, remote area. A single rail line connects it to the outside world. And then the way up the valley takes you from nice mountains, to more of a volatile river, to towering mountains, until finally by an hour in you're surrounded by a thick forest that spills down from the mountains. It surrounds you.

So, I'm now in Aguas Calientes, the little hamlet with no cars just below Machu Picchu. I'm waking up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise over Machu Picchu (just like I did in Cambodia at Angor Wat). The long voyage down the Sacred Valley peaks tomorrow morning.

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Photos

Ollantaytambo Terraces
That's where the Inca lined up, on each terrace, to fight against the Spanish below.

Mountain of the Moon
The Temple of the Sun is behind me, and the Mountain of the Moon right in front there. Everything connects with the Inca.

Amazing Stone-Cutting
Look how that one stone in the middle has been perfectly cut to fit perfectly in place. Amazing.

Wall of Niches
Wonder why it's called this?

In the Quarry
The Inca never finished this place, and here are some of the stones they never got around to cutting.

Follow the Path
Never go off the path, trust me.

Temple of the Sun
How beautiful is that! The snow-capped mountain in the distance is in the valley the train goes up to Machu Picchu.

Way to Machu Picchu
My afternoon train went up that valley for 90 minutes.

Mountain on Train
From the train on the way to Machu Picchu.

Aguas Calientes
This is the main square. Machu Picchu is just up the ridge. That's Pachacutec by the way, the Incan who probably built Machu Picchu.