(You are invited to caption the pictures to correct mistakes and omissions. Likewise the diary. The names of the overwhelming number of symbolic structures cannot be learned in a day!)
We left our beloved digs at the Sol y Luna lodge in the Sacred Valley with its gorgeous flowers, mountain backdrop, comfortable cylindrical lodges, great food and service, to take the train at Ollantaytambo to Aguas Caliente where we caught a bus to take us up the mountain to Machu Picchu. The train followed the Rio Urubamba and the parallel Inca trail. Many villages and their concomitant steep agricultural terraces were visible from the train, some of them still used by the local Quecha – speaking mountain people.
The steep dirt road to Machu Picchu had 13 switchbacks with many scary turns. The bus drivers were obviously skillful and experienced enough to drive at a rate which was frightening. We arrived at the only hotel, the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, and had our lunch accompanied and then joined the mobs crowding into Machu Picchu. In spite of the crowds, the place took our breath away with its beauty and placement in a huge saddle between the mountains of Machu Picchu (which the ruins are named after) and Huayna Picchu (Ancient mountain and young mountain.)
Notable scenes: The sun calendar, from which the seasons were determined; the quarry of the stones, echo rock – a carved reflection of the area; the temple of the sun; the temple of the Condor; the clever water supply system, sacred rock.
We stayed at the lodge one night and left after lunch the next day. This gave us one solitary evening and morning sans crowds. This is the only way to do it. The indescribable mystery and magic of the place is best experienced without crowds. The evidence indicates that Machu Picchu is a place of worship since apparently few people lived there and the terraces would have provided much more food than a place of this size would warrant.
After a lunch accompanied by a group playing Andean music, we took the bus back down the frightening road. An Amerindian boy ran down the steep steps and encountered the bus at each of the 13 switchbacks, waving all the while. He came into the bus at the bottom at Aguas Caliente and we gave him tips.
We killed time by perusing the colorful market at Aguas Caliente and caught the train in the late afternoon for a long ride to Cuzco along the Urubamba river. We arrived late in the evening and worked our way through the aggressive peddlers to the El Monasterio hotel.
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