Wednesday - Machu Picchu
The day has finally arrived - we are headed for Machu Picchu. We start with a narrow gauge train ride that actually very interesting. The tracks were laid down in the early 1900s before anyone really knew much about the Machu Picchu site. The goal was to connect Cusco and the Amazon area of Peru with a reliable means of transportation and at that time rail was the best approach. In reality without the train Machu Picchu would never have become as famous as it has.
We had nice seats and great views as we headed downward to Machu Picchu. The mountains on both sides were spectacular and the river was running white. We saw some hikers on the Inca Trail which runs next to the train in some places.
We arrived at Agua Caliente and immediately boarded a bus to arrive at the entrance to the site. We ate a nice lunch there before we entered at exactly 2 PM.
Your first view of anything is always interesting and Machu Picchu didn't disappoint. It is a spectacular site on the slope of a mountain. Below is a beautiful forest and above sharp peaks all around. Why exactly they built here is unknown but it was very amazing.
It is made up of many levels of buildings and terraces. The stonework varies based on the level of the people who lived there. The Inca King had rooms where the walls are of high quality and the joinery is wonderful. In other areas the stonework is simpler and less beautiful but it has still held up after more than 400 years in very good shape.
We climbed to the top for the best view of the site and it was amazing. Below is a series of terraces used for farming and areas for housing and flat areas for dancing and meetings. The Inca culture still uses songs and dances to communicate their history since they did not have a written language.
We worked our way downward going thru different levels of buildings and arenas. The quality of the stone work throughout is amazing and we really don't know exactly how they were able to do it.
We believe they had a solid understanding of the calendar and knew how to adjust for leap years. That in itself was a big achievement. One of the rooms has windows aligned perfectly for the solstices which suggests they were well versed in the ratio of sun to earth.
We continued down and finally exited after 3 hours. It's hard to explain how beautiful the site is but the pictures are pretty amazing. It was a very special day.
We had nice seats and great views as we headed downward to Machu Picchu. The mountains on both sides were spectacular and the river was running white. We saw some hikers on the Inca Trail which runs next to the train in some places.
We arrived at Agua Caliente and immediately boarded a bus to arrive at the entrance to the site. We ate a nice lunch there before we entered at exactly 2 PM.
Your first view of anything is always interesting and Machu Picchu didn't disappoint. It is a spectacular site on the slope of a mountain. Below is a beautiful forest and above sharp peaks all around. Why exactly they built here is unknown but it was very amazing.
It is made up of many levels of buildings and terraces. The stonework varies based on the level of the people who lived there. The Inca King had rooms where the walls are of high quality and the joinery is wonderful. In other areas the stonework is simpler and less beautiful but it has still held up after more than 400 years in very good shape.
We climbed to the top for the best view of the site and it was amazing. Below is a series of terraces used for farming and areas for housing and flat areas for dancing and meetings. The Inca culture still uses songs and dances to communicate their history since they did not have a written language.
We worked our way downward going thru different levels of buildings and arenas. The quality of the stone work throughout is amazing and we really don't know exactly how they were able to do it.
We believe they had a solid understanding of the calendar and knew how to adjust for leap years. That in itself was a big achievement. One of the rooms has windows aligned perfectly for the solstices which suggests they were well versed in the ratio of sun to earth.
We continued down and finally exited after 3 hours. It's hard to explain how beautiful the site is but the pictures are pretty amazing. It was a very special day.
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