Machu Picchu

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First thing in the morning, Renato (our guide from the trek) collected us from our hotel and hustled us to the bus station a block away. We queued with a huge number of people, got the eighth bus of the day despite being so early, and then queued outside the gate to Machu Picchu. Why the rush? Although several thousand people will visit the site, only 400 can climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain peak towering above the ruins that you see in all the postcards (and we wanted to climb it). Thus, as soon as we got in the gate, we ran (literally) along with many other tourists to the Wayna Picchu gate, queued again, and got our tickets to climb later in the day.

After an introductory speech about Machu Picchu by our guide, he then gave us a short tour (and then left us for good). He showed us a room dedicated to the condor. It was a huge natural rock shaped as a condor, and a small cave-like room at the base of the bird. The Incas believed that the first men came from caves, and since they also observed condors living in caves, they held the birds sacred as a link to humans' first existence. There is a stone at the base of the condor statue where sacrifices were made to the gods.

Renato also showed us a temple of the winter solstice and a sundial used to mark the summer solstice. We saw some examples of how the number Pi and the Incan cross come out of some geometric shapes in the Incan stonework.

Machu Picchu was strategically located; high in the unclimbable mountains with a river on one side, making it impossible to attack. In addition, the mountain Machu Picchu is home to a variety of poisonous snakes found nowhere else in the Andes.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the site alone, and then climbed Wayna Picchu. This was exhausting (and sweaty) but very rewarding, offering a sense of accomplishment and amazing views.

We (Laura and Blair) went for a walk with Simon to see the "Inca bridge" which was pretty neat, but the best part was the walk. It led around the side of the mountain Machu Picchu, and it rained and was foggy and generally looked very neat. We took a break beside the bridge and ate chocolate and took pictures of ourselves. Then we saw a bunch of llamas! (Apparently they are there to trim the grass all over the site, since the management doesn't want to bring motors into the grounds.) Altogether a fantastic day.

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Photos

Postcard view
Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu ("Old Mountain" and "Young Mountain").

Mountains
Mist in the early morning

Machu Picchu I
We managed to get some pictures early in the morning before the ruins were covered with tourists (other than us, that is).

Agricultural area
The terraces are layered so that each bit of land has a very slightly unique climate - then each crop is placed on a certain level to give it the perfect environment.

Wayna Picchu
and some ruins

Quarry (find Simon!)
The Incas split big stones not with stone tools, which damage the stone, but by shoving reeds into already-formed cracks. Then they added water - the reeds would expand and neatly crack the rock.

Blaise emerging
There is a tiny cavern you have to climb through to get to the top of Wayna Picchu. No one warns you about it! It is dark and wet, but not too scary. The hardest part is squeezing out the other side.

Boys
At the top of Wayna Picchu. What a trek!

Cluster
At the top, it was pretty hilarious - the four or five big rocks at the peak of the mountain were covered with precariously-balancing young hikers. No one smiled for this picture.

Laura on other mountainside
On Wayna Picchu there were other paths around the peak... but not enough time to explore all of them.

Wall
On the walk to the Inca bridge.

Comments

[Theresa]

wow!
You had better weather than when I was there (in 2002 I think)! It was great reading your text and seeing the pictures, it brought lots of memories back!!!

[Margaret]

enjoy it while you can
snow here everywhere, blowing snow, pelting snow, snow thick on the ground. . . glad you are enjoying warmer climes before you have to come back to the this Love MB

[Chris and Nikki]

Wow, great picture!