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Published: December 27th 2013
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as you enter the site, this is one of the most breathtaking views if the cityat the moment i'm under the covers in room number 3 at the hostal corihuasi, a really bare bones but inexpensive establishment here in cusco. the city of cusco is the gateway here in peru for anyone planning to visit machu picchu. cusco was once the capital of the incan empire for over 400 years, from the 13th to the 16th century, but now in the 21st century there's free wi-fi everywhere you go, tons of cute little restaurants, some swank clothing stores, lots and lots of hotels and hippies, young and old, swarming the cobblestone streets. but instead of describing cusco, or the various, excruciating experiences i had yesterday just getting to machu picchu itself, i want to say something about the way i felt being there. machu picchu is a place that is always listed among the seven wonders of the world. i was thinking about how i felt seeing the pyramids in giza and the sphinx in egypt, the taj mahal in india, and now this, the "lost city of the incas"---each one unique and beautiful in its own way. but seeing this city yesterday was a spiritual experience. it swept over me with an unexpected power that
second shot
probably exactly like the one before, but why not? i'd never felt anywhere else on earth.
to begin with, the mountain the city sits on is staggeringly beautiful. even if there had never been a single stone put in place, the site itself is amazing. but all of the mountains in the region are. they jut up like fingers straight into the sky, crushed close together, covered in lush vegetation, and since the altitude is what it is---nearly 8,000 feet above sea level---clouds are constantly slipping between the mountains, sometimes completely hiding them, then in a matter of minutes, floating aside and exposing a hidden peak. the weather changed constantly the day i was there. misty, damp, foggy in the early morning. less cloudy and more sunny later in the morning until the most amazingly bright blueness began to take over, claiming more and more of the sky, pushing the clouds out of the way. i started removing layers of clothing, looking for pockets of shade because of how intense the sun was. when you're this high up, sunburns are even easier to get and the heat seems scorching. then just when the tropical heat seemed to have conquered the afternoon, a bank of clouds swept in and a warm
third shot
again why not? rain began to fall. sometimes just a light drizzle but then heavier downfalls forcing tour guides to shuttle their followers and themselves under a thatch covered roof for shelter. as he continued with the tour in spanish, i'd have gotten more than a chance to stay dry if my spanish had been better. when i left in the late afternoon, the rain had stopped, but the heat was gone and the air had started growing cooler.
the clouds, the mountains, the blueness, the trees, the warm rain, the beauty of the light. it was dramatic, exciting to be in the midst of all that. then i started to look in amazement at what had been constructed here. walking on six hundred year old pathways. how long did it take to build this? some stones are there for function. walkways, walls. but some are symbolic and much bigger and harder to move. although i could imagine people living here, the steep angle of the mountain itself creates such a worshipful relationship between the man made structures and the sky and the earth before you that it seems less a city and more a holy place. machu picchu spread out before me like
beauty
you know it when you see it.... a cathedral, meant to offer front row seats to the inexpressible beauty of the earth itself.
every now and then i would stop and notice the complicated irrigation system, the terraces for growing crops, and i was reminded that these were sophisticated people. this city had been very carefully constructed and it functioned as a city. like stone henge, these enormous rocks were part of a complicated building project that had enormous significance to the incans. so many questions. how many men did it take to move rocks this big up the side of this mountain? why build the city here? how did they do it? what would it have been like to live here? who was allowed to live here? why was it deserted? what in the world happened? i thought of these questions while i climbed the steps, sat on the rocky dividers, looked through the windows inside the rooms. but if i got too tangled up in thinking about this day in machu picchu i'd miss the feeling of just being here. it is impossible to describe other than to say it was like being in a church where the earth is god and you get to become
higher and higher
climbers scale the peak in the distance a part of an enormous collective prayer.
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Carolyn DeLany-Reif
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Dear Friend!
I have the book, "Turn Left at Machu Pichu" at my bedside. It has always been on my list. Last year we visited our daughter in New Zealand and boated throught Milford Sound on the South Island on a rare sunny day. I wept. I am thrilled for you and your wonderful experiences old friend.