Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Machu Picchu, newly crowned member of the "New" seven wonders of the world. And every bit deserving of that title. Throughout the world, only the Inca would have the patience, determination, and know-how to build such a magnificent city in such an inaccessible place. Photographs simply do not do it justice, though I sure tried. This place broke my record for most photos taken in one day, of one place. The record was previously held by the ancient Roman ruins of Merida, Spain. I came armed with a 2GB memory card for my camera, and plenty of extra batteries. Here, the Inca were safe from the Spaniards, who never found (or at least never attacked) the city. Here the Inca royalty and high priests fled to safety during the conquests. This city would later be abandoned, and forgotten by all except the local indigenous people, until Hiram Bingham's dramatic rediscovery of it in 1911. In Bingham's time, it had been abandoned for nearly 400 years, and was utterly buried under dense jungle. Now cleared and restored, we can see the true achievement of this place.
From Aguas Calientes, we caught a bus at 5:20am, aiming to reach Machu Picchu before sunrise. After about 25890 switch-backs up the hill, we reached a parking lot and disembarked.
Despite our anxiousness and impatience, we took a minute to step out of the entrance line to meet our guide for the day, Gilbert. Gilbert was a very disappointing guide, who did little other than herd us from place to place, urging us to ignore much of the fascinating sights around us, and pay attention to his broken English. He was a very nice man, so I felt bad, but he lost just about all of our attentions after a while. Any way, after our little meeting, we got back in line and passed through the gate. It was readily apparent how the Cloud Forest earned it's name, and it added a stunning backdrop to an already stunning place. As I've said before about sites in Peru, this place would be amazing even if nothing had ever been built here.
We did manage to beat the sun to the top, and this ancient city appeared before us, rising out of the pre-dawn mist.
The mist overtook us after a while, as did a herd of the local Llamas, which are allowed to roam as they please at Machu Picchu.
The Inca had ingenious water drainage systems that still function to this day, as they have for many centuries.
Under the Machu Picchu version of the Temple of the Sun, there is a royal burial chamber. It was long empty by the time Hiram Bingham explored the site. The mummies were probably removed by the Inca themselves, at the time they abandoned the site.
Compare the Machu Picchu Sun Temple to the one in Pisaq.
Notice how organic the masonry is, it almost seems to meld into the natural rock outcropping it was built on.
Next picture shows what was believed to be their Royal Bath.Can you imagine taking a bath with a view like that?
A while into our tour, the sun rose over Machu Picchu, an incredible sight.
The bad thing about having a guide that wants to rush you, is that it takes away from your time to appreciate exactly what it is that you are seeing. How can you not stop and stare?
A particularly creative archaeologist labeled this "The Temple of the Three Windows".
All 3 windows have a spectacular view.
The structure of this doorway seems to mirror the natural landscape beyond it.
I've mentioned before that Inca stonework is virtually earthquake proof. one thing that it is vulnerable to is settling. This is what we see at work here.
What a glorious morning to be at Machu Picchu.
And speaking of glory, we were treated to a rare optical phenomenon called "The Glory". It is a complicated process of refraction and reflection that creates the effect of a circular rainbow in the clouds in the opposite direction from the sun in the center of which is your shadow. It gives one a powerful feeling to see one's shadow, encompassed by a rainbow, in the clouds.
By bringing my arms up, bent at the elbows, I gave my shadow the impression of an Angel, complete with Halo.
I wonder if any biblical tales were inspired by a sight such as this?
The ever present Inca terracing, drops precariously straight down hill, on the backside of Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu's famous sundial
View from temple hill. The Inca believed that these three smaller mountains made up the profile of a sleeping god, lying on his back. You can see R-L, the forehead with eye socket, very large nose (aka Wayna Picchu), pursed lips, and a pointed chin.
At this point, we basically ditched our poor guide. Our excuse was that we needed to get in line if we wanted to climb Waynapicchu, the "nose" of the profile shown above. While in line, we were informed that only the first 100 would be allowed in, and another 100 would be allowed in 2 hours later. It's a small, rough trail, and they can't allow too many people on at a time. So, back off to wander through the city we went, this time without a guide to herd us around. We were free to wander the city, as the llamas were.
One place we all wanted to go was to watchtower hill, the vantage point from which all the famous photos of Machu Picchu were taken. We were not disappointed with the view we had there.
Shortly after the following picture was taken, Tom, who's leg you can see on the far right, was stung by a wasp. This is significant because he is allergic to bee and wasp stings. He had to rush back to the buses, and to the hotel to get his Epi-pen, which would give him a dose of antihistamines to stave off the effects of the sting. Fortunately he got to see the majority of the commonly visited parts of the city before having to rush off.
After this, I was able to go off on my own, alone, around this magical place. I quickly found a quiet, shady spot to sit and contemplate where I was, and the power of this place.
I tried to imagine what it might have been like to live here, and see these views every day. Were the Inca as impressed as I am, or were these amazing vistas just ho-hum to them? What if you opened your front door to this view in the morning?
I also decided that I would have to skip the Waynapicchu climb. One reason was that I was out of water. The main reason was that it would've used up the remainder of our time at Machu Picchu, and there was still so much of the city I wanted to see. So I remained wandering on my own for the next 2 hours, with less visited portions of the city all to myself.
After wandering for a while, I found a quiet spot below the front side of the city, on one of the upper terraces, with a spectacular view, to sit and meditate for a while.
During my meditation, I sought a sign, a feeling, anything. I could sense the power of the place, but I believed it didn't make itself accessible because of how many people were there, and how many people had been there every day for so many years. The effects of thousands of tourists each day can be profound on a sacred site. I would not receive a sign, at least not at Machu Picchu. It would come later, very dramatically. It was difficult to try to get a sense of the people that lived here and built this place. I think another reason could be that the natural landscape was so powerful by itself, that it overwhelmed any resident energy left behind by the former inhabitants of this once forgotten citadel in the Andes.
Here's Waynapicchu in it's entirety, so you can appreciate how massive it really is.
After my meditation, I was wandering back towards the end of the Waynapicchu trail to meet up with Lindsay and Nick, when I started a conversation with one of the "watchers" named Claus. He asked if I had meditated, which I said yes. He spoke of the power of this place, and how he was drawn here so much that he came to be employed here. He then showed me a large quartz crystal that he carried with him at all times. He claimed that it was from a secret "Temple of the Moon" that was nearby. I was fascinated, and it sounded like an exciting tale, but I was running short on time, and didn't want to miss my bus, then train. So I had to bid Claus farewell and returned to meet up with Lindsay and Nick. I took a few shots on the way out, including the one of myself in front of the ruins at the very top of this entry, and this one.
I was very sad to leave Machu Picchu. It had been a lifelong dream to come here, and the 7 hours or so I spent here didn't seem adequate. I would've given anything to spend the night there amongst the ruins, and have another day to explore. Perhaps I will return some day. But for now, we headed for the exit. Then we caught our bus back to Aguas Calientes, met up with the group for lunch, then hopped the train back to Ollantytambo, where we then caught a bus back to Cuzco. Once back in Cuzco, we all looked forward to finally actually having HOT showers. I wound up with Steve as a roommate, and deferred to him to shower in the evening. I'd get one in the morning. He did, and I got up at 4am only to find that there was only about a minute of hot water that had recharged since Steve's shower. So, no hot shower for me until after The Trek, which would begin on this very morning. It was the most anticipated and dreaded part of our trip, and it was upon us. To be continued...
