Machu Picchu Experience

So if you read yesterday's entry, you will know that my trip to the Lost City of the Incas was extremely long and arduous - and yet thrilling. After laying down last night around 9:30, I slept in a coma-like slumber until 12:30 PM this afternoon, which ironically is the exact amount of time it took me to get up to the citadel and back. Wow, talk about some major catch-up sleep!

By now you know that nothing comes easy when you travel to developing countries, so it came as no surprise when I showed up at 5:20AM at the train station here in Cusco - right on time - when I was immediately approached by a woman in a navy-blue PeruRail uniform who uttered those old, familiar, South American words, "We have a problem this morning." The train from Station 1 to Station 2 could not run because there was a landslide half way through the route and that we were being put on a dumpy little van and shuttled to Ollantaytambo (the last train station before Machu Picchu). But the buzz among the passengers (I'm getting really good at eavesdropping) is that this is actually GOOD NEWS since the trip by bus is significantly faster than by rail. Ok...I can dig that!

Long story short, the bus to the top of the archaeological site is gut-wrenching and wild. Finally, we arrived at the top, and the monument is swarming with people. Languages from every corner of the world were heard. Hippies with dreadlocks and backbacks, rich people ridiculously over-dressed for the occasion and regular ol' Joes (Palin reference again!@) like me.

Entering the park, which cost a whopping $64, I pray for strong lungs as I look ahead and see stone staircases reaching to heavens above. Will this elevation sickness issue (which I haven't felt all day) ruin probably my biggest stop on this adventure today of all days? Fortunately, I had no problems whatsoever. Yea!

Machu Picchu (which means "Old Mountain") was built starting in the year 1450 as a summer residence for the Inca royalty, but it was abandoned over 120 years later with the influx of the Spanish conquistadors. Most of its inhabitants died from chicken pox. In 1911, archaeologist Hiram Bingham discovered the site, and it remained in relative obscurity for many decades. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and rightly so.

It is absolutely stunning! Sitting on a high plateau and surrounded by four large mountains that point directly to the ordinal points on a compass (north, south, east, west), Machu Picchu was thought to be the most sacred place in the Inca Empire- information gleaned again from my expert eavesdropping talents. I've learned to hang around tour guides just discreetly enough to hear what they say buy not to raise suspicion.

Machu Picchu is made virtually all by stone quarried by hand from the imposing mountains nearby. There must be millions and millions of them, all fit together so tightly that they say you cannot fit a credit card in between the spaces- a standard I'm sure the artisans tested regularly! There are scores of large rooms, a plaza for ceremonial dances and rituals, houses, temples, storage silos and a palace for the king, I had read that the best vantage point for photos was up top at the highest point- The Temple of the Sun. So bravely and slowly taking each step at a time, I ascended to that spot and took the best picture of all- the one I'm sharing with you now.

As I stated last night, this experience will remain one of the richest and most impressive of my lifetime. If you can, you must go see it too! Just expected "a problem" or two along the way....