Machu Picchu

Aguas Calientes is the gateway town to Machu Picchu.  It is the only way to get there unless you are willing to walk the Inca Trail.  It is claimed that the only way to Aguas Calientes is the train, and there are no cars in town.  This may be the case, but somehow they did get all of the buses and construction equipment into town.  There must be a road.

The old Incas In PR probably thought it clever to reverse the “N” in Inca.

Having said this, all of the supplies and products are hauled through town on carts.

We read that the town is nothing but a holding pen for visitors, and that is actually true.  There are people from all parts of the globe, and everyone is hawking something – food, lodging, massages, and souvenirs.

Not just for Christmas in Peru.

The next morning we got up early to take the bus up to Machu Picchu.  Buses leave as soon as they fill, and head up a gravel road filled with hairpin turns.  Upon arrival, there is a zoo of people waiting for their guides.

Then you get in.  It is stunning!

Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti in about 1450, a century before the Spanish conquest.  It was abandoned, some think, so that the Spanish wouldn’t find it.  It seems that the Spanish, more than just looting the gold and silver, would destroy the cities they found.

Click on any picture for the slideshow mode:

The soil for the terraces was hauled up from the Sacred Valley 45 km away using llamas that could only carry about 20 kg at a time

Baby hummingbird

Most of the construction uses a basic “rough” technique, but 5 per cent uses this technique. The rocks are so well formed that it is impossible to slip a sheet of paper between

This rock was used to measure the sun. Only on the solstices is there no shadow.

The door to the city

Coca plant

Looking down at the river – this is where Aguas Calientes is

Check off another wonder of the world.