Machu Picchu

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Machu Picchu
I saved this trip for the day with the best forecast. I had a very early start and walked down to the railway station for a coffee to wake me up. The train was smart with windows that curved up into the roof, slow though. Half way there the rain started and by the time we arrived at the town at the bottom of the hill it was pouring. I decided to wait it out and have breakfast. I joined the queue for the stream of busses shuttling people up the hill, road road was a mix of mud and gravel and had a series of steep hairpins as it clung to the side of the cliff. It reminded me of the road to Alpe d'Huez, but unsealed. The bus skidded round the hairpins on the wet muddy road, I tried to take photos, but I needn't have bothered as the view from the top was unbelievable. Having seen so many photos, the site itself, while incredibly impressive, was what I expected. What the photos fail to convey is the sheer grandeur of the location. Machu Picchu is set on a col between two amazingly steep mountains surrounded by a a deep, narrow, river valley on three sides. More mountains rise steeply from the other side of the river. Rich, green cloud forest clings to these steep slopes. The rain had passed but the occasional patch of cloud passed between the mountains giving an incredibly atmospheric feel to the place. Reading up on the history of the site showed a typical farming year of preparation, planting and harvesting, dotted with ceremonies to encourage rains, a good harvest and so on. On no less than three occasions during the year these ceremonies were accompanied by the sacrifice of small children! Exploring the site took much of the day and I arrived back in Ollyantaytambo after dark.

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Photos

Machu Picchu
The river valley, way below, Everything is covered in cloud forest, unlike the Sacred Valley, which is much drier.

Machu Picchu
An old Inca route crosses this cliff!