Machu Picchu

It was an early start from our accommodation at Yucay heading for Machu Picchu. We didn’t realise Sacred Valley was so long. We had already travelled 30-40 minutes ‘through’ the valley to get to our hotel. We then travelled another 20-30 minutes before turning off to Ollantaytambo, from where the train leaves. The road along the valley floor took us through many small towns - and past many eucalypts.

The parking for the train station was extensive.

Then we walked quite a distance but there was excitement in the air.

  

 Gotta get a selfie as we head for one of the world’s most iconic sites. 

The views were superb as we travelled along the river. 

 

Glaciers were evident in the mountains.

   

The roof of the train had windows which meant views were breathtaking but hard to photograph.

 

After an hour or so, we arrived at Machu Picchu station, but this meant we still had quite a way to go.

The rock type had certainly changed. I was aware that the structures in Machu Picchu were built from granite, but had seen little evidence of that rock until now. The characteristic granite weathering pattern was evident on the surrounding mountains.

 

 

The locals are hard and wiry. These large girders or posts were being shifted on modified wheel barrows, and clearly, it was hard work pushing these uphill. There was quite a lot of transporting of materials going on, but all done by hand. Minimal automation here!

 

The next stage of transport was to catch one of a fleet of small buses (~28 seater or thereabouts) up the winding road to the top. There are numerous ‘switch-backs’ and the buses have to pull off at strategic moments to let oncoming buses pass. At least there were no other vehicles allowed on the road, so drivers obviously developed their own safety protocols to cooperate and survive.  

Visitors disembarked from buses, passed through the turnstiles and then walked to explore the site.

 

  As the path climbed, the rugged terrain became obvious.

 

A plaque on the side of the path commemorated Hiram Bingham who uncovered the overgrown site in 1911 with the help of some locals. 

If one does not want to, or cannot, climb steps and stairs, then don’t go to Machu Picchu. My phone and watch, admittedly not precisely accurate, nevertheless suggested we climbed about 190 flights of stairs in our visit to Machu Picchu. That's a lot of stairs, even if they assess a flight as a conservative 8-10 stairs instead of the usual 15-17 stairs! 

Visitors are directed to vantage points overlooking the site, especially the spot where the iconic photos are taken.

 

Just one more photo before we move on. 

The observation point for measuring the sun movement, solstices and equinoxes is not accessible to tourists but looks impressive from above.

We then lined up to access the ancient city through a gate in the stone wall. 

The drainage around the city is quite sophisticated. This is a large drain, presumably to handle storm water. Also, they had separate drainage for waste water and latrines for human waste. 

The Incan observations over time of sun movement and movements of other celestial bodies (especially the moon and particular stars such as Alpha Centauri) were remarkable.  

 

Despite limited tools, they fashioned a large rock to mimic the outline of the mountains behind.

Their wall building skills are legendary. The walls around all buildings were well constructed and capable of withstanding earthquakes.

However, the walls around their temples and sacred spaces go to ‘another level’ in terms of precision and placement of rocks in the walls.  

Given they had no tools other than other rocks, they were able to create precise joints between rocks. (They may have had simple iron tools but the available analyses suggest they did not)

Some rocks have multiple faces and joints with adjacent rocks. Clearly they have been fashioned to fit in that one spot. 

Some rocks were too large to move so the large rock was incorporated into the wall.

The track out of the site included a long flight of steps, fortunately heading down.

 

The terraces where crops were grown were impressive from any angle.

After an hour waiting in line for one of the fleet of buses, it was a quick drive down from the peak to the township below.

 Another Incan warrior!