Thursday, December 20, 2012
Machu Picchu
Wow. What a day. What a country. What a amazing place… (btw there are a TON of photos, so please be patient)
We woke at 5 am, had a quick breakfast and traveled by bus for 2hours through breathtakingly beautiful countryside
to the Expedition train.
We then traveled by train for 1.5 hours. This train ride is considered one of the top ten most spectacular train rides in the world.
There is a rushing river beside it. Above that the mountains and clouds, the Incan trail and magnificent stone work.
We arrived at Aguas Calientes station and boarded the 20 minute bus to Machu Picchu.
We had a delicious lunch at Sanctuary Lodge. We ate pork, sweet potatoes and trout. The breads and baked goods here were delicious.
Then, we departed for a tour of one of the seven wonders of the world, Machu Piccu. The magnificence of the natural mountainous landscape was rivaled only by the mind blowing engineering prowess of this powerful Incan City. The city was an Incan sacred scholarly retreat, some believe. It was an elevated city, built by the wise and powerful Incan King Pachacutec.
both by altitude and because of the moral ranking of the men and women who lived there.
Way down there is the train that took us here.
Some interesting facts: 60% of the city’s construction is invisible to the eye -because it is underground. Such a fantastic metaphor for life as well. Most often we cannot see at least 60 percent of the foundational beauty behind a person, place, plant, animal or art. Here, because of the torrential rains, the city had to be masterly constructed by countless terraces. On each, there is green grass. Beneath that a layer of topsoil. Beneath that a layer of silt and sand. Beneath that up to 8 feet of gravel and rock to wash the rains away. There is a sophisticated, elaborate drainage network with 129 rain water outlets and numerous canals. system of drains and fountains to get clean water and wash away what is not needed.
No one knows for sure how the Incans cut, carried and joined the stones in such a way that it is impossible to stick a needle between them. Some say the stones were carried on wooden sleds. They did not have any metal tools so carved the diorite and granite with hard stones called hematite.
Machu Picchu is built on sacred geography meaning many of its buildings have astronomical relations with the constellations, the moon or sun. On top of a natural pyramid, the Intihuantana aligns the four cardinal directions and connects the four mountains directly to the north, south, east and west.
The pictures do not do it justice. It literally and figuratively left us breathless. It was an honor to be there.
After our decent, we shopped for a while and had dinner at a lovely restaurant near the train.
We returned by bus, train and bus again arriving at our beautiful hotel in Urubamba, the San Augustin Urubamba Hotel around 9:30 pm.
Travel Safe!
JKLM
🙂
Next: Chinchero Village
leo and finn go to south america! 