The main reason I wanted to visit Peru was to see Machu Picchu. I loved backpacking. I loved the beautiful country we hiked through and I enjoyed being thrown in a group with people I had never met, but Machu Picchu was why I came to Peru. We woke up at 5 and had breakfast so we could get in line for the bus at 5:40. This is considered the off season at Machu Picchu but it was still so busy. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get on a bus. Our guide said in the summer he has waited for 4-5 hours. So crazy. The bus ride up was straight up a steep mountain with lots of switchbacks. It was raining as we made out way to the entrance.
The first thing on the agenda was a tour of Machu Pichu from Hernan. We started at the top and worked our way down through the city. My first view of Machu Pichu. I was a little bummed. This is the classic spot.....the spot where you are supposed to get your famous picture.
The fog slowly melted away as we started our tour.
These Inca ruins are truthfully amazing. It was crazy to walk through the city and see how advanced it was for their time period. The ruins have outlasted earthquakes that wreaked havok on more modern buildings.
The government planted llamas at the site for the tourists.
They believe that Machu Picchu was a place for royalty and their servants. There were bedrooms and bathrooms and temples all in this site.
It is hard to tell from pictures how big Machu Picchu actually is. It is very large and seems like it could house a small city.
As annoying as the clouds were it was also magical to watch them roll in and out.
You can see the terraces that were used for gardening. Our guide told us that the terraces were all three degrees Celsius different in temperature and so they would plant their warmer crop on top and then the cooler crops on the bottom. They grew potatoes, corn, quinoa, coca leaves, among other things.
You can kind of see the shapes of the mountains in the distance. This little city is built on a serious cliff. There is thousands of feet to fall once you get outside the city. The Inca people also had a built in drainage system that is still used today.
There were three different ways that they put their stones together to build. The roughest way was quick and used by farmers and on buildings for the common people. There is a way that looks a little bit nicer for the royalty. The stones fit together more like a puzzle. They save their best work for the temples. There are three temples inside of Machu Picchu. It was cool to see the difference in the craftsmanship depending on who was using the area we were in and what it's purpose served.
It was looking like it may clear up for us!
Some of the terraces off the side of the mountain. So crazy.
In this picture you can see the different stone work between common people and royalty. Up close is the not as nice work and then behind the llama is the nicer stone work.
Here is closer look.
The setting is so amazing. I have seen pictures on a clear day and they are incredible but the fog is pretty awesome as well.
Our tour ended in time for Amber and I to use the bathroom and then head to Huaynapicchu for our hike up the mountain.
The tour was very informative and I appreciated the opportunity to walk around and see everything. I thought it was a little long, but it was good.
No comments:
Post a Comment