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Macchu Picchu - At Last

We met our guide, Willy, in the lobby at 5:45 AM to catch the bus up the switchback road to
Macchu Picchu (means "old peak").  We arrived at 6:30 AM in the mist and light rain which just added to the mysterious and mystical nature of the place.  Certain places in the world will stamp your passport, so as we entered Macchu Picchu, we had them stamp our passports (I also had a stamp in the Gallapagos). 

At this time of the morning, there were not very many people, so we were really able to see and be.  In addition, even though we were on a group tour, Bill and I ended up with our tour guide, Willy, all to ourselves - a very personal tour!  Because of the hour, we really got to experience the ancient ruins and civilization in all its mystical glory.  You could practically feel the spirits of the people and the energy of the universe pulsing through the place.  All this with the mist rising and falling creating a different perspective and view every minute.

The city was founded by Hiram Bingham in 1911.  He thought he had found another Inca city, but was pleasantly surprised to find Macchu Picchu.  There are many stories about the purpose of the city.  Some say it was a military capital, others a religious capital, others a retreat for the wealthy.  In the 1500's, there were 2 Inca brothers that were fighting themselves for control of the region.  The one that won became friendly with the Spanish whom, in turn, turned on him once they got the riches they wanted.  Luckily, the Inca brother was smart enough as he fled to not lead the Spanish to Macchu Picchu.  Instead, when he fled, he took another route away from the city and had some of his men destroy part of the trail.  This is the reason the Spanish never found Macchu Picchu - the lost city of the Andes.  The inhabitants, though, went ahead and fled deeper into the jungle vacating the city for fear of the Spanish finding it.  Willy, our guide, believes there are direct decendents of these Incas living deep in the jungle today unaware of today's world.  Kind of an interesting idea!

Willy took us all over the ruins.  The site is naturally separated into 2 parts by a natural wall.  One part is all the agricultural terraces where they farmed using very smart and innovative technology.  They even did crop testing to create strains of grain that would thrive at this altitude.  Today, the terraces only have grass on them with a few llamas to keep it trimmed neatly.  The llamas have been imported here because the altitude is too low for their normal habitate.

On the other side of the wall, you enter the religious and residential areas for the upper class.  Here you go through the Hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock (great view of the entire city) before entering the primary doorway.  Inside, there was the Temple of the Sun, Ceremonial Baths (16 connected in a waterfall style), Sacred Plaza, Temple of the Three Windows, Sacristy (room with niches that when spoken into created perfect acoustics in the other niches - for conferences?), Intihuatana (the famous sundial or "hitching post of the sun" used for astronomical purposes, the Central Plaza (huge plaza that separates the industrial and functional areas from the high class residential areas and which is used for sports and activities), and the Prison Group (a labyrinth of complex cells, niches and passage ways guarded by a rock structure that looks like a condor in flight ready to carry the dead into the after life). We also visited other structures and saw many rocks which had been carved to be an exact replica of the surrounding mountains.  All this for special unknown purposes! 

There is only one tree in the entire Macchu Picchu structure.  Hiram Bingham cleared all the trees out after he discovered Macchu Picchu.  The lone tree supposedly took root from an Inca weaver's weaving post that was left in the ground after he gave a weaving demonstration many years ago.  The weaving post if part of the weaver's loom.  Weavers would pound one or more posts into the ground and attach their yarn to or around the posts making a loom.  I have a picture of such a loom in the Cusco pictures.  Pretty neat tree! 

After our 2.5 hour tour of the ruins, we went and hiked Huayna Picchu ("young peak" - another peak next to Macchu Picchu that you get to through the park).  They only allow 400 people per day to climb Huayna Picchu, so you need to sign in and start up before 11:00 AM.  It was not as difficult as the climb the day before, but it was still a good workout with hundreds of steps.  By the time we got to the top, the sun came out.  When we returned to the bottom, Macchu Picchu was crawling with people - hard to believe it was the same place we left 2 hours before! 

We wandered around a little more enjoying seeing Macchu Picchu in the sun.  There were several school groups going through and one was from a Quechua school all dressed in their native clothing.  It was so poignant seeing them in the ruins! 

As we were winding our way out of the ruins, we saw a tour guide pointing down into the valley.  Below us were 2 condors - a white male and a brown female - soaring and hunting.  Magnificent! 

We caught our bus back to Aguas Calientes so we could make our 3:30 train to Cusco.  On this train, we got a little musical show as well as a fashion show of alpaca clothing (of course, all items were for sale).  The bus and trains do a good job of merchandizing.

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