Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is considered to be one of the most sacred sites of the Inca empire (1200's - 1500's). It is also one of the best surviving representations of an Inca city as it was never found by the Spanish who plundered and destroyed many Inca sites throughout South America after they conquered the region.

Classic view of Machu Picchu. The cone shaped mountain in the background is Huayna Picchu which I climbed.

The day before we were due to go to Machu Picchu I had to get sick which was very bad timing. I was even too sick to go to Spanish school. Of course we had paid a lot of money to go to Machu Picchu, and we did it the cheap way by not going on a tour. By late afternoon I was not feeling any better so I went to a medical clinic. They did some blood tests which showed I had salmonella. I was also dehydrated. I spent the next 4 hours hooked up to an IV to rehydrate me and give me antibiotics. My Peruvian family even came to the hospital because they were so worried about me. After five hours I was sent home with a prescription of antibiotics. By this time I was already feeling better.

Me being hooked up to the IV at the medical clinic. Isobel  (my Peruvian Mum) on the right

The next morning I almost felt normal so off we went to catch the Collectivo (mini van which costs just a few dollars) to Agua Calientes. This town is one and a half hours away from Cusco and is situated in the Sacred Valley below Machu Picchu. Agua Calientes is a  little town that lives entirely off toursim. About 4000 people visit Machu Picchu every day which puts huge pressure on the town and on the ruins of Machu Picchu. The name Agua Calientes means hot water and there are hot pools here. Fortunately we did not visit them. We were told later that they were very popular and not very clean!

Traditional dress in Peru

We arrived in Agua Calientes in the early afternoon so we went and did some exploring and ended up visiting the Botanic gardens. A guide offered to show us around the gardens for a small fee. He showed us many of the orchids they have there and they were all very different. He told us that there are over 300 types of orchid in the Historical Sanctuary that incorporates the area of Machu Picchu.

Orchid at the Botanical gardens

The next morning we woke at 4am as we wanted to be at Machu Picchu at 6am to watch the sun rise. Unfornately it was raining so there was no sun rise to be seen. We caught the bus up the mountain to the ruins which sit on a small plateau. sandwiched between the mountains of Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu. I had a ticket to climb Huayna Picchu at 7am. Only 400 people are allowed to climb this mountain each day. It was an exciting experience especially near the top as it is very steep, the steps built by the Incas are very narrow (they must have had very small feet) and the sides of some of the stair cases was  a vertical.drop to the valley below. After all my efforts to get to the top (it took about 45 minutes) there was no view to be had as Machu Picchu was covered in cloud. But my bad luck did not last for long as the cloud lifted as I descended the mountain and I got a superb view of the city below.

Our first view of Machu Picchu

View of Machu Picchu from Wayna Picchu

After descending Huayna Picchu Sue and I hired a guide who explained the history and the significance of the different buildings at Machu Picchu.. Engineers and architects in NZ could learn a lot from the Incas who perfected the technique of cutting blocks of stone, polishing then and fitting them together tightly without using mortar. This construction as well as other design features mean that the buildings have been strong enough to withstand earthquakes and Peru has had some major ones. These building techniques were used for the construction of important structures like temples, palaces for the King etc. Machu Picchu was a city built for the nobles but did have housing for the workers who "volunteered" (it would have been considered your duty or obligation) their labour for so many months of the year to build the city and grow the crops. The city was in fact never finished as the Incas abandoned it after 100 years (1450 - 1540) after the Spanish came and began their conquest of the region. It is believed that the Incas abandoned Machu Picchu because it was considered such a sacred site that they did not want the Spanish to find it. In fact the city is so well hidden up in the mountains that it was never discovered by an outsider until American Historian Hiram Bingham came to the area in 1911. He only found it because the local peasants who used some of the terraces to grow crops told him of its existence. When Bingham was guided to the site by a very young local boy the city was mostly hidden by vegetation. Bingham began the initial evacuation of the site and stole many artifacts - ceramics, silver statues, gold, jewellery, taking them back to the United States with him. It took Peru 100 years to get  some of these artifacts returned but most still remain in museums in the United States and around the world. Peru is still rightfully demanding that they be returned.

Some of these terraces were built to give the city stability others were built to grow crops. The Inca's brought sand, clay and soil up from the valley floor to fill the terraces. It is very humid here so they did not need to irrigate.

Above the natural feature of the rock face the Inca's have cut stone blocks, polished them and fitted them perfectly together without using mortar.

The Inka bridge. This bridge and trail was cut high up on the side of the mountain. It was built as an escape route if the city was ever attacked by an enemy. The bridge is made of wooden planks that can be removed so as to prevent the enemy from crossing to the other side.

The valley below Machu Picchu