Machu Picchu

In a word: Amazing

Words cannot express the beauty you experience in person.

I took the train to Aguas Calientes on Tuesday, and then the bus on Wednesday morning to meet the Inca Trail group with whom I would have traveled had I done the Inca Trail. We entered the site at 8 AM. When you turn the corner, you see a city of ruins floating in fog. As the fog slowly lifts, you see that Machu Picchu is on a mountain peak, and is surrounded by other mountain peaks. The ruins suggest buildings and other structures that made up the city of Machu Picchu. And given that about 2000 tourist visit the site daily, Machu Picchu is in amazingly great condition.

And what is even more amazing is the fact that the Incas moved many huge stones from mountains far a way. The moved them UP and DOWN the mountains. They didn't use metal tools to cut, carve or polish these stones. They used other stones, wood, and water to cut and shape these intricately carved stones. And these structures were so well designed that they survived 400 years of earthquakes. And they survived the Spanish Conquistadors because the Spanish never knew that Machu Picchu existed. Thank goodness for that.

The tour guide took us the more famous points in the city, and explained the history of the area. After he was finished, we were left to explore on our own for a few hours. I wandered another hour before heading back to Aguas Calientes. I left at about 11:30 AM, the time when bus loads of tourists started arriving. When you take the train from Cusco, you arrive in Aguas Calientes at about 11 AM. And then you arrive by bus at Machu Picchu at 11:30. When the hordes arrive, the magic of the place diminishes. It was so worth spending the night at Aguas Calientes so that I could have an early start the next day.

cheers,
Stacey