There was a big item in each of the countries we visited on this trip that was on my bucket list. For Peru that place was Machu Picchu. This would be the day. And what a grand day it was. We would travel in our bus to the train station.
The train ride was just delightful. Seating was very comfortable. Refreshment was served like on the airplane. We got to know our table mates better. Nathan actually showed me how to use a feature on my camera so I could take pictures as we drove past things without the blur of movement. There were big windows on the side and nice windows overhead. We really enjoyed this train ride.
The train takes you to Machu Picchu Village at the base of the mountain. We would walk from the train station through the Mercado to the bus station.
The bus would take us up a very windy road to the Citadel. We felt like we were at Mt. Hermon in Egypt with that bus ride.
From this location we went into Machu Picchu. Dream realized. These are first views of a place I really wanted to visit.
Machu Picchu could be sectioned off into three areas. The first is the terraced area which was for agriculture. The next section would be for temples. And across would be the area of homes and business things. These areas didn't seem to me to be absolute. There were some homes in the temple area. And there was a temple in the home area. But you could definitely tell there were three sections to the entire community.
We entered at the agricultural end. There were buildings at the edge of the terraces. We were told they could have been used as a guard house and storage buildings for grain and things. Franklin showed us a diagram of the building of the terraces. So they drained well they had a rock foundation with stones that gradually decreased in size. The soil on Machu Picchu is not conducive to growing anything. Every bit of the soil in the tops of each of these terraces was hauled up this mountain in bags on the backs of the workers. A monumental effort to say the least.
We saw the Temple of the Sun.
Then we walked through what would have been the home of a royal person near the Temple of the Sun. They are sure this would have been a royal as there was a bathroom off the bedroom. The picture is Franklin standing in the bedroom in the spot where the bed would have been located. The next picture is looking through the window into the windows of the next rooms.
As we got to this point the fog started to roll in and we all put on our rain gear or jackets. I appreciated this part of the day. It didn't last all day and it gave us a real feel of the many faces of Machu Picchu.
While we waited out the fog and misty rain, Franklin explained the quarry for building the structures in Machu Picchu was actually at the top of the mountain. This must have been a blessing after carrying up soil for their gardens!!
Then we entered and area where there were several temples. The first was the Temple of Three Windows. No surprises as to how it got its name. This temple had a slab along the wall that was half of the Incan cross. When the light came through the windows it would cast a shadow on the ground that formed the bottom of the cross. Cool!
Next to this was another temple which was just a part of the temple zone. There was clear earthquake damage visible at the back. But you could tell the precision with which the Inca did construction.
There were other temple buildings on this piece of ground as well. However, between the two buildings in these pictures was the top of a hill. Claude and I would climb this hill next. While at the top where the person is standing, my cell phone started to play Hayden singing "Raindrops keep falling on my head!" That is my ringtone. Appropriate song for the mist we had been walking through. However, we were holding on for dear life to any edge we could reach and I was not about to answer a cell phone call during my Machu Picchu experience. My goodness...I was on VACATION!! After we climbed down from this height and found flat ground, I checked my cell phone. The call was from CVS. I didn't listen for any message. I knew the call was about Papa's prescription renewal. It would just have to wait another week until I got back to Kentucky.
The amazing thing to see on top of this piece of the mountain was the drop off on the back side of the mountain. These two pictures show that. The first is more of the terracing for crops on the back of the mountain. The second is a rainbow over the river below.
The clouds were lifting and the sun was coming back out. The views would change with this change in the weather. I loved that.
We passed what looked like a very big sun dial. It turns out it was used to tell the calendar year not just the time of day.
And across the way we could see men working diligently to keep the jungle from taking over. This is a year round job. There are workers there every day with tiny picks and brushes scraping every bit of algae off the rock so it doesn't grow into vines and trees and plants and destroy the rock. Now that is a very interesting job.
As we came down we spied a squash plant with a blossom and a squash on the vine. Waynapicchu is the mountain behind.
All of our tour group gathered at the Sacred Rock for a group picture with Machu Picchu in the background. This is Sacred Rock.
The big mountain we were on was named Machu Picchu. The community that lived here was called Machu Picchu and the village at the bottom of the mountain was Machu Picchu Village. As the clouds lifted, you could see the point of the top of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu really means ancient mountain.
After a brief rest, we wandered around the other side of the mountain through what would have been mostly homes and businesses.
Across the way we could see the places we had already visited: the Temple of Three Windows, the homes and other temples and the terraces for agriculature.
Between these two sides was the open courtyard for ceremonies and games.
Franklin took us to one temple on this side, the Temple of the Condor. The rocks look like wings and there is a carved thing in the ground that would be the head and beak. Remember this represented the sky in their believe and was the top layer of their cross.
Then we were set free to wander at will and take the bus back to Machu Picchu Village when we wanted.
We had the option of dining at the buffet on top of Machu Picchu or eating in a restaurant in Machu Picchu Village. Claude and I went to the buffet. They assured us they could get us in but the cost was $40 per person US dollars. Hmmmm...I don't think so. We walked over to the other option on top of Machu Picchu and each had a soda to refresh ourselves. Then we caught the bus back down the mountain and found a nice little restaurant near the bus station that made us a great pizza. Our server just left us alone so we sat for quite a while in the dining area outside the restaurant and enjoyed the breeze and the food and watching life in Peru.
These are pictures we took of Machu Picchu Village.
Our group finally all returned and we all wandered over to the train station and caught our train back to meet our buses. We boarded them and they took us through a rain storm back to Cusco for the night. Normally the train would have taken us all the way to Cusco and our buses would have picked us up in Cusco. However bad rains closed the train track with a slide of some kind. So we met our buses in a little community and they took us back to Cusco. We were happy to be back at our original hotel for one night and get some rest before a very early morning to go to Guatemala.
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