Thursday - Machu Picchu to Cusco

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  of the albatross - it takes some imagination but still cool.






City market in Agua Caliente which is the village at the valley below Machu Picchu 


Train pics - they out on a fashion show and sold a ton of beautiful alpaca articles








Look at this stadium below - every village no matter how small has a beautiful and well maintained soccer ‘football’ stadium.  This city is only 7,000 people 


We stayed at the Monastary in Cusco.  It housed the Nuns for a century but is now a beautiful hotel 












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friday - Last Day Exploring

Image
  We were both sad and excited for our last day exploring:  We had an easy morning and took a zodiac to the beach for a leisurely back and forth of about a quarter mile.  There were many sea lions on the beach which were having a wonderful time. There were crabs in the rocks and mocking birds on the beach and lava lizards as well.  There was a hawk high on a post at one end of the beach - the first hawk we had seen.  Finally it was time to head back to the ship.   We had meetings about getting ready to leave the ship.  Only 8 people are going on the Machu Picchu from our ship and the rest are headed home or on to other places.   In the afternoon we had our final on island walk on Espanola island.  We saw so many creatures and birds but the highlight were the albatross and the American oyster picker and the last boobie which is the Nazca boobie.  The baby albatross birds are brown and not very pretty but still fun to look at.  They a...
Read more

Wednesday - Galapogos Penguins and Diving Boobies

Image
>  > We travelled to Antarctica in 2019 and saw several different species of penguins. One of the most rare species of penguins is here in Galapagos and we were lucky enough to see it today! It's is mostly black with a white belly and stands about 18 inches tall. Like all penguins it is awkward on land but when it enters the water it is suddenly very graceful and fast. > > We started the day with a zodiac ride along the west shore of Isla Isabela and very quickly saw our first Galapogos penguin! It was quite a moment having planned this trip for many years and knowing even if we came we might not see the penguins. But we were lucky enough and it was a special moment. > > We also saw a ton of other wildlife and flora and fauna. The highlights were blue footed boobies and pelicans and flightless cormorants and turtles and sea lions and marine iguanas and so many more. We finished the zodiac ride in the mangroves. These trees can survive in brackish w...
Read more

Tuesday - Sacred Valley

Image
Today was spent in the Sacred Valley high was important to the Incas and many older civilizations. We had another wonderful breakfast then enjoyed a lecture by Peter Frost who is an expert in Incan history .   He covered a wide range of history and archaeology that was mostly driven by Incas but also other older cultures. He has investigated several sites showing how specific structures were build to align with how mountain shadows fell onto specific sites below at specific days of the year - mainly the solstices . It was very interesting and he answered many questions. Then headed out to visit a wonderful Inca site that displayed some of the best examples of stone joinery we have seen yet. Many of the huge stones were fitted to an unbelievable precision that still has us scratching our heads. We know where the rock came from which across the valley then back up the hill. The blocks were tens of tons each. They were joined together in stages with some of the ston...
Read more