It is about a two hour ride up to Aguas Calientes and also about 2,000 feet below that of Cusco. The train follows along the Urubamba river which eventually flows into the Amazon river....but the river is not the only beautiful sight along the way....
Upon arrival in Aguas Calientes we transfer the luggage to the hotel and board a bus for the climb some 1,500 feet to Machu Picchu. Believe me....when I tell you this bus ride was not one of my favorites! It is a very narrow road to begin with - gravel mostly - with few barriers on each side....and often another 'BUS' is coming down when you are going up...so someone must back up to a space to make room. I learned very quickly.....do not look out the windows...and if you do...do not look down! Now that I have set that up...here is the little town of Aguas Calientes.
This is before I wised up...I not only looked down...I snapped these photos....the first is a hotel....way...way....below...
...and this one where you can see the river and just make out the train that I had just arrived on at the station below!!
Look up Bobby...look up....and see the beautiful Eastern Andes....
Finally....arrival at Machu Pichu the most recongnized symbol of the Incas. It was thought to be constructed in the 1500's, but not discovered until an Hiram Bingham, an American, did so on July 24, 1911- 100 years ago.
This is not a picture of what he saw....when discovered the village and ruins were engulfed in thick tropical brush. When uncovered...it was true beauty...
The watchtower....
Built at the top...facing the East....an entire Inca population lived and cultivated their living on this site...
It is truly difficult to imagine the amount of time it took for construction...or how it was 'really' conceived and built. These stones used for homes and other buildings - some weighing in the 50+ tons....but the craft-manship that it took...is beyond belief. This is the 1500's....think of what tools they must have used...to do this...and not a sign of any mortar to fuse the stones together...
This is a storage place for grain and has the typical type of roof that was used on almost all the buildings....
Inside...there was adequate ventilation to prevent the grain from mold or rotting....
...this is one of the windows...check the thickness of the walls!
These photos are looking down and out at the ruins that were frozen in time....
This is a photo looking out across from one side of Machu Picchu to the area to give some perception of how vast these ruins were...
The symmetry of the buildings....just brilliant....
The temple of the Sun....a most remarkable temple. Not only is the stone rounded...yes rounded....but it's construction also affords the Inca people the ability to know the coming of the Sumer and Winter solace.....but the placement of the widows in such a fashion that when June 21st came the sun would penetrate the Temple through the window to a fall on an slab of granite inside the temple. The same was true of another window for December 21st...
These were homes thought to be of high priests or members of the elite....
There were only 3. Interesting to note that there was not sign of cooking in the homes...all of that was taken communally in one area of Machu Picchu.
Water flowing form an underground spring flows throughout Machu Picchu..
it was also used for cultivation of the crops....
These are the steep slopes of Machu Picchu terraced for cultivation of crops. The terracing improved fertility of the land and reduced erosion while ensuring a rational use of the natural water sources. Terracing continues to be used extensively to this day in Peru for cultivation of crops.
Okay...that is just part 1 of Machu Picchu....I have another part that will follow.
Photo of the day? Sure....this photo depicts what I have observed in travel around the World. Children on their way to school....in very poor countries....often with and entire family of 5 to 8 people living in 2 rooms...walking to school or to catch a bus to school...in beautifully colored school uniforms that are spick and span....what a beautiful site.....education at work!
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