We were really there! The work that went into building Machu Picchu and the surrounding terrace farms and test farms is phenomenal. Remember that like the iceberg, we are only seeing the surface level. A lot of work went into building foundations to support everything we see, otherwise this stuff would have slid down the mountain side long ago. So if nothing else this place is a monument to human ingenuity, effort and engineering.
I don’t think any individual building or piece of ruin at the site was particularly awesome by itself. It’s the overall context, and the survival of so much that makes this such an outstanding place to be. And certainly being draped amongst the mountain tops is pretty cool. There are many theories as to why Machu Picchu was built and why it was abandoned after less than 100 years of use.
Yesterday we looked down from the Gate of the Sun at Machu Picchu, as you can see….we were feeling somewhat bedraggled….after our up, up, up hike.
Today we were clearly feeling young and sprightly! Ready to see this massive ruin.
You start above the ruin. Pavel took pictures of each of the tour participants, and we all posed for a group shot.
We then hiked up the hill to look at the western slope of the complex. The big hill behind the ruins is called Wayna Picchu (Young Mountain)…more about that hill later.
As you gaze off into the east, you are looking at the ‘Cloud Forest,’ the Amazon jungle lays slightly beyond these hills. The cloud forest is simply the rainforest with hills. By looking at the serrated mountain tops, you can begin to see how the Inca’s might notice patterns relative to the path of the sun. Obviously this would also require some patience and tenacity as they tried to understand & map the limits of the solar march from left to right and then back again, as the sun played amongst the mountain peak points.
Entering Machu Picchu
We then walked down from this overlook and through the Inka Punkö, or doorway to the city. During Inca times this was the only entrance. If you look closely you can see a porthole above the doorway and on the sides of the doorframe there were cutouts (not shown) to secure the door.
Here are two photo’s that show differences in stone quality. Lynn is standing by the walls of one home, that are nice, but pale in quality to the picture on the right. Which Fredy said was probably the home for the Inca Chief’s prime minister of the site/region.
Next are two views of the temple of the sun. The first from above, and the second down lower from the side. The window in this lower view, is different from the one on top. This window cast a shadow on the natural stone in the temple to show the Spring Equinox. So the Inca’s would know when to start planting.
There is another temple below the Sun Temple. This is where the sacred mummies were kept. The mummies were brought out to participate in major holidays and events. These photographs show several things moving from left to right. Fredy was giving us an explanation of this temple. The light and shade diagonal lines represent the after life and human life today. The staircase has three carved steps and in this instance a platform. The three steps is significant. The first step represents the ‘snake’ and the afterlife. The second the ‘puma’ and human life, and the third or highest step, the condor – the celestial/spiritual plane of the gods.
Wayna Picchu (Young Mountain) Climb
We had an opportunity to climb Wayna Picchu, which is pictured above at the back of the Machu Picchu ruins. For some reason, I was the only nut case to try this. Picture the ‘oh my god, 55 steps x some big number of steps…..and that was my hike. It was not only up, up, up…it was a very steep up/UP/UP! Here is a picture for 2/3 the way up the hill, the path (if one could call such a thing a path) is off to the right.
My reward was a picture of me standing on a rock with Machu Picchu in the background. So I got to see the whole complex from the left and the right. Cool eh? ;o)
Various Buildings & Monumnets at Machu Picchu
Here are a few pictures of the many wonderful buildings on the site. This one is the astronomical observatory, the Intihuatana and its carved stone, the corners of which are aligned with the four cardinal points (East, South, West & North). This may be the only surviving stone like this, the Spaniards destroyed the others, as they eliminated Inca icons and symbols.
The Temple of the Condor – with the condor’s head on the ground and his wings those massive boulders angling from side-to-side.
And finally the great stone, with both a group shot and another picture that shows you how the top of this stone was made to fit the natural slope of a mountain in the background. The parallax, points again used for calculating changes in the sun and the stars.
We slept soundly in the beautiful Pueblo Hotel that night. Here is pic of me, working on the Blog.
The next day (our last) we stopped by a local establishment to sample the ‘corn liquor.’ Fredy was showing us how to make an appropriate offer to the gods and to mother earth and to to play the game Sapo (Frog). Jane, Lynn, Bob & Martin were on one team. Bob kicked butt.
And that was our trip. It was a wonderful experience! Lynn and I enjoyed the group, learned much from our guides and would truly love to go back to Peru at some point again in the future.
Thank you for sharing our trip. We wish you all the best.
Lynn and Michael
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