Machu Picchu

Wow.

We took the bus and train to Aguas Calientes in a day and arrived with time to look around. It is a nice little town where there are no cars on the roads. I suppose there aren's really roads. The only vehicles you see are the buses that take you up to Machu Picchu. outside our hostel was a big stadium and it was really sweet to see all the kids running around playing.

the Sacred Valley

Machu Picchu

The next day it was an early start to get an early bus up to Machu Picchu. We could have walked but we had the bus tickets included as part of the package and didn't want to waste the money (/we were feeling a little lazy). We arrived and found our tour guide. It seemed like it was quite busy even at six in the morning but it wasn't really that bad. By a happy coincidence we happened to be on the same tour as some of the other volunteers so we got to catch up with them.

Our tour guide was very good and told us lots of interesting facts about the Incas and Machu Picchu. We started the tour with a view of the whole city, standing on one of the terraces. Some of the terraces were for culñtivation but some were also to support the mountain. The Incas had to import food into the city becuase not enough was grown to support the whole population. Also the people that built Machu Picchu were not the people that lived there. People would come from other villages to pay their taxes by working for three months. They spent 60 years building the foundations of the city and then 40 years building the buildings. It was still under construction when it was abandoned. You can see the different quality of stones that the buildings are built of. The less important buildings are made with rougher, less pretty stones. The temples and other more important buildings are built with bigger, smoother, better fitting pieces. The stones come from the natural quarry at the top of the city.

notice the different qualities of stones

We walked around the city learning lots and getting a great view of the valley as well. I tell you if the city wasn't set where it was it would be so much less impressive. Huge mountains all around with deep valleys. It looks like a giant just ripped handfuls of rock out of the ground.

No one actually knows the name of the city. It's called Machu Picchu because it's built on Machu Picchu mountain. It's real name was lost with the Incas. It was lucky that the Spanish didn't find the city. They went around some of the other mountains and the shrubbery helped the city stay hidden for centuries. When the city was found it was so overgrown that it was unrecognisable. The Incas abandoned the city at the orders of their king as he wanted all his people in one place to help fight off the Spanish.

sunrise over Machu Picchu

When the tour ended we walked up to the gaurdhouse and got a great view of all of Machu Picchu and WaynaPicchu in the background. It was a bit strange to be there to be honest. It felt like being at any other ruin but then you'd remember that it was Machu Picchu and you's see the valley and it was just amazing. It felt very real being there. Much less fantastical than it always seems on TV.

The people that lived in Machu Picchu were the intelectuals. The women were chosen for their beauty and the men for their skills. The Incas never actually invented anything. When they conquered another civilisation they would send the intelligent people to Machu Picchu to teach the Incas. So it was a bit like a university city. Families didn't live there, it was only the people the incas chose to be there.

The Incas were vegetarian except for eating meat three or four times a year. Animals were not killed in the city apart from at these rare sacrifices and animals were not raised in the city. The people ate lots of natural foods and chewed cocoa leaves a lot. People were not buried in the city and the nearby river was pure as they would never pollute it.

There is a central plaza where people would meet for games or meetings. Up a little hill there is the sundail which was used to know when to plant certain crops or start harvesting. I learned so many facts. I think that's all of them.

We wandered around the city for quite a while. Had lunch hiding under a tree. It started off a little cloudy (we were in a cloudforest) but it got nice and sunny as the day went on. We were apparently the first day this year that it hadn't rained. We did hear some ominous thunder rumbling towards the late afternoon but nothing came of it while we were there. It was the busiest around 12 but apparently even then it wasn't that busy. By three it was quite empty again. We were going to stay for a little longer but I started to feel a bit ill. I thought it was the height (looking into the valley could be a little dizzying after a while) but then I started to feel really sick. We returned to Aguas Calitentes and hung around in a cafe for a couple of hours until it was time to catch the train. Oh what a journey. I was very sick. The other volunteers had told us that they'd all been sick and we'd thought we'd been lucky to avoid it. Shame we didn't. I ended up making a bit of a mess and they had to lock the toilet so that no one else would go in. Really glad this happened at the end of the day and that I'd had a great time in Machu Picchu first. It really was a great day.

The next day in Cuzco we took really easy as Amina was starting to feel a little ill as well. We saw a little of the city. It's really pretty. The prettyest place we've been so far. We went to the chocolate museum where we learned a lot about cocoa. First grown in Peru. Midges fertilise the trees (we did have a bit of a laugh when the guide said that midgets fertilised the trees). Met up with the volunteers again and we ended up going out in the evening for a birthday meal.

The day after I was feeling much better. We went on a free walking tour of Cuzco. Had lots of free food and drink and learned a lot. Cuzco is a heritage site. Eight years ago two guys were drunk and spray painted a wall. They went to prison for two years. Cuzco is really lovely. I didn't want to leave.

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this blog. This computer is really slow. I'll put some up when I get to a better computer. Done :)