Jack and Dianne Galapagos and Machu Picchu 2025

It's interesting that we are finally at the most famous city of the Incas and it's at the end of our tour. This is the city where the kings built their palaces . There were more than 14 total which spanned the roughly 400 years of the Incas. Each one built a new palace and also had to keep paying for the previous palaces which needed servants and upkeep. They believed in afterlife another old kings were still there in spirit. The city sits at 11,400 feet which causes problems with some of our crew. Oxygen was available to help but mainly you drank a ton of water and walked slowly. It has 14 million people and is still growing - in all directions. Traffic is completely crazy!!! We started at one of the many palaces to understand the quality of the work. This is the absolute peak with joints so tight you can close your eyes and run your hand across the stone and not feel the joint - crazy. Koricancha was the name of this king. Then we headed to the top of the h...

We returned to Machu Picchu this morning to visit some special places lower down the hill. Both are very interesting. One was an altar with very unique stone work that they believe was an altar. Sacrificing animals is still a ritual of the tribes and this area is similar to others found throughout Incan villages . The second is a rock formation that suggests the wings of an albatross which is a sacred bird for the Incas . Along the way we saw other wonderful stone work.  After the visit we boarded the train for the trip back to Cusco . It was a long day of travel but we are getting close to the end of our trip. ation but still cool Look at this wonderful stone work above - tight against bedrock . Below are pics of the ‘altar’. Stonework is the finest in the whole site.  Below is the average stone work - still very functional and has survived for 400 years Below is a pic of the ‘ observatory ’ where windows align with solstice sunrises .  Below is the wings ...