MACHU PICCHU- LOST CITY IN THE SKY

In 1911, after a torturous search through the Andes, Hiram Bingham (Spielberg's Indiana Jones) stared down at the terraced mountainside of the "lost city of the Incas", a mystical site perched in a valley at 8,000', and is protected by the looming Andean peaks. An Inca city that was never discovered and pillaged by the Spanish conquistadors, Hiram must have wondered.... are the gold idols and mummies still there and intact.

HEATHER AND  I ARE AT THE SAME VIEW
 POINT 1ST  WITNESSED  BY HIRAM BINGHAM
IN 1911, WITH HUAYNA PICCHU IN THE BACKGROUND
 

HEATHER AND BECKY
ON THE TRAIN

LATE NITE CELEBRATION

We arrived in Aqua Calientes via train, no roads to there, and landed in the middle of the "Catholic Celebration of the Virgin". 

We joined the party after dinner until the wee hours.  After a little sleep our group was running on adrenaline and ready to board the bus at 6 AM so we could see the sunrise at Machu Picchu. The jaw dropping windy rode up was        enough for some people to break out the dramamine (take it the night before, so u don't get sleepy). 

SUNRISE AT MACHU PICCHU

WALKING THRU THE RUINS
AND THE CENTRAL PLAZA

MACHU PICCHU: There are only a handful of places in the world that can live up to their hype, and Machu Picchu is definitely one of them. The visionary Inca ruler Pachacuti, began the construction along with his son Tupac, over 500 years ago. For 10 years they plied the 20,000 peruvians on Coca tea leaves, and Chicha (corn beer), to get them to work long hours. The placement of these massive stones, some several hundred tons, are still to this day an amazing feat. Imagine using no machinery, primitive chisels, and hand help hammers to carve limestone boulders. The buildings have no cement between the rocks, and were so perfectly crafted, that u can't even fit a piece of paper between the stones. The masons were smart, they would chisel out holes in the cracks, fill them with water, and let the expansion during the cold nights do the work to split the rocks.  

PRIMITIVE CHISELS
 

HAND HAMMERS

SUN TEMPLE

TERRACED NETWORK

They notched the stones above and below and then slid them into place, but not before using some kind of alloy to help them to stick together. For me the most amazing building was the Sun Temple. As you can see in the picture below, the one window has sunlight shining through, and acted like a calendar, helping the Incas identify the seasons, in this case it is the start of winter. The window to the right is indirectly connected to the "Sun Gate" 2 miles above, and when the sun is aligned brings in summer. 

HISTORIAN AND ADVENTURER
HIRAM BINGHAM

HIRAM BINGHAM: was the son of 2 missionaries from Hawaii, and was bound in determined to make his own mark in the world. He graduated from Harvard with a pHD in history, and was a professor of South American history at Yale.  He was attending a seminar in Santiago in 1908, when a local Peruvian expert told him to visit Cuzco, and this side trip would change his life. Once he saw Sacsaywaman (remember "Sexy women") fortress above Cuzco, he was hooked, and laid the ground work for his research to find the lost Inca cities. He organized a return trip in 1911, and after visiting the Sacred Valley was able to find a local knowledgeable farmer Melchor Arteaga (some say he found this city as early as 1867) to lead his group, and along the way they picked up 5 year old Pablito, the son of another farmer, who helped guide Hiram on the final leg through the formidable jungle. Unfortunately the ruins didn't have the cache of gold, but they did find between 170-200 mummies in around the area. In 1912 National Geographic helped fund his expedition and dedicated a whole issue to Machu Picchu (although he was not the first, he did bring it to the attention of the world). Here is a great link about his exploration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdgw8wyh24I

HUAYNA PICCHU 1,180'

HUAYNA PICCHU: Time for a workout, since our legs were still in good shape from the trek, the climb to the iconic motif was a must. This is the rock formation most people identify in a Machu Picchu picture. Inching your way up the narrow trails, you have various cables to hang on to, and caves at the top. Once there we were rewarded with a spectacular view of Machu Picchu below (looks like a Condor outline). Only 400 visitors  a day are allowed up the peak, at an extra cost of $75.00. After being chased off the top by the guards for staying too long we crab walked down the precipitous steps near the peak, before we reached the cables. What a hike!

AT THE TOP, NOT MUCH ROOM

HEATHER POPPING OUT A CAVE

VIEW OF MACHU PICCHU
SEE THE CONDOR IMAGE

Stay tuned part 4 coming up: the great MANU RAINFOREST BIOSPHERE, and our brush with a polar vortex.