Machu Picchu was amazing. Beforehand I had wondered if it might be one of those very touristy things that is underwhelming when you actually see it. It was not. It was truly very impressive and beautiful. Machu Picchu was built by the Inca in the 1400's and abandoned only 100 years later as a result of the Spanish conquistadors. Experts believe it was both a sacred place as part of their religion and a place where the royals may have lived. There are a number of temples and other things relating to their worship of the sun god. Unlike many of the other ruins we visited it had not been discovered by the Spanish, and as such, was very intact. The Spanish carted off many of the stones from Inca sites that they discovered to build their own cities, so Machu Picchu is an impressive intact example of Inca architecture. It is also in stunning surroundings.
We woke up at 4 in the morning to head up from Aguas Calientes. We wanted to climb Wayna Picchu which is the pointy mountain you see in the background of many pictures of Machu Picchu. It is an incredible viewpoint of the whole site, but only the first 500 people there each day get the passes to climb it. We arrived at the site at about 5:30 am just as it got light. It was amazing to see the sun come up over all the surrounding mountains and we had an absolutely perfect blue-bird day which helped us forget about any rain we had seen up until that point. Lucky for us, almost everyone there was in a group with a guide and they all take the same circuit around the site. We quickly darted away and headed in an opposite circuit from the rest of the people. It was great to get there early and be able to explore and take pictures without the hoards that arrived later.
There's not a whole lot else to say besides showing the pictures. It was incredible. I ended up getting sick, so didn't make it up Wayna Picchu with the three others, but they had a great climb up the very, very steep path. I made friends with a local guide while waiting for them. :)
Ash + Steven
Terraces for agriculture
That mountain in the background is Wayna Picchu, the one they climbed
lil baby Alpacas. Cute!
A view of the whole complex from Wayna Picchu
Late afternoon the three non-sickies went to the hot springs in Aguas Calientes. No pictures because...who wants to carry around a camera at hot springs. We took a train and two buses back to Cusco late that night arriving at 2pm after being up for 22 hours. It was a long, but fantastic day.
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