Machu Picchu….!!

Tintin in "Prisoners of the Sun"...

I first came into contact with the word “Inca” when I was about 12 years old… I had collected all of the “Tintin” books and in “Prisoners of the Sun” the intrepid journalist found himself high in the Andes and about to be burnt at the stake for his and Captain Haddock’s intrusion into the lost world of the Incas…

I recalled the regal looking Inca people from the book; their feathered head-dresses, their coppery-coloured skin, their hawk-like noses and regal bearing… I vividly remembered the stone buildings they lived in and the ritual ceremonies wherein they paid homage to the sun…

Until a few years ago, I never thought that I would be visiting the ruins of this ancient people, but here I was, on the verge of fulfilling yet another promise to myself since setting out on my journey around the world…!!

Although the Inca civilisation was spread far and wide, and incorporated Northern Chile and Argentina, Bolivia, modern-day Peru and Ecuador, to many people, Machu Picchu has always been the epitome of what the Inca’s were all about…

Even though it is in reality just a very small part of the ancient civilisation that the invading Spaniards all but destroyed during their conquest in the 1500’s…

The skies and mountains above Ollaytantambo were shrouded in heavy cloud at 6.00am...

Only two coaches at a time are pulled up to the final station at Aguas Calientes...

I sat sipping coffee at a platform restaurant, as the train headed back down the mountain to collect another batch of eager visitors...

After an hour and a half long bus ride to Ollaytantambo, I boarded the train to Aguas Calientes…

The train left at 6.00am, just as the sun was beginning to filter through the heavy cloud that covered the entire area…

It rocked and rolled it’s way through the mountains, passing through cultivated lands at first, and then entering a narrow gorge that followed the Urubamba River, all the way to the terminus at Aguas Calienetes…

I was met by my guide for the day, who suggested I take the next bus up to Machu Picchu, while he waited for his other clients who had been booked on the following train…

The 10 km bus ride up the mountain was as scary a ride as I had been on for some time…!! The narrow gravel road was slick with running water and whenever we came across a bus heading down the mountain. one or both vehicles had to reverse into a lay by to let the other pass…!!

Waiting in the rain at the entrance to Machu Picchu...

Up at the entrance to the site, it was raining heavily, and my heart sank at the thought of having come so far and not be able to see the famous ruins…!!

I hung around for ages, standing in the pouring rain and watching people coming down the path that led to the ruins, many of them muttering about a wasted trip to see the this the most famous landmark in South America…

American archeologist Hiram Bingham, was led to the ruins by a 12-year-old local lad, in 1911... The Spaniards, who had settled in and were for a long time based in Cusco, just 80 km away as the crow flies, had no idea of Machu Picchu's existence...!!

The train carrying the rest of the group, which consisted of only two people, had been delayed by the bad weather, and the guide arrived mumbling his apologies, at 10.00am…!!

We were joined by Anne, an Australian lady that had earlier that morning climbed to the top of Huayna Picchu, the conical mountain that overlooks the “Lost City” itself…

We set off up the path, passing the plaque commemorating the discovery of Machu Picchu by Hiram Bingham in 1911…

There is no record that the Spanish knew of the existence of this sacred place, even though they were based in Cuzco, a relatively short distance away… Without the convenience of a road, there was no way into the mountains that surround the lost city…

Only the Incas knew the secret paths that led up to the sanctuary of Machu Picchu…

We climbed a long series of steps that led through a grove of bamboo, and then came out onto a level area where we were able to get our very first view of ruins that lay sprawled on the plateau below us…

Up until then our group had been chatting non-stop about the lucky break we were having with the weather, and hoping it would last a little longer…

The sight of this awesome place stopped us in our tracks… We all fell silent as we looked down in wonder at the ruins of Machu Picchu… I felt the thrill of excitement dance up my spine, as I began to picture what it must have been like here, 450 years ago…

Our guide then proceeded to trot out an enormous amount of detail about the sanctuary that lay below us…

There are many theories why this place was built by the Inca’s  Pachycutec and Tupac… Some say it was a refuge where they could come to get away from the pressures of ruling the empire; other believe it to have been a sanctuary for scholars and the learned members of the upper class, where they could study the stars and their constellations…

Whoo-Hoo...!! My "Triple Crown" realised...!! The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and now Machu Picchu in Peru...!!

It was also a type of “Agricultural College” where experiments were done on the narrow terraces to determine which crops would grow under the various conditions found in the region…

They were able to simulate drier conditions in the upper terraces and wetter and more humid conditions in the lower terraces, be regulating the supply of water to these terraces… The Incas developed over 3 000 different types of potatoes, and over 300 types of maize and grain…!!

Amazing Machu Picchu...!! Get on a plane and get over here NOW...!!

It was also believed to be a place of worship, and the various simple temples built here testify to that… There are also sacrificial altars where mostly Llamas and other small animals were sacrificed to appease the Spirits they held dear…

Occasionally, children were also sacrificed, as the Incas believed that an innocent child would be better to deliver their messages to the spirit world, than an adult who had sinned, would…

They held three animals as sacred; the Snake, which represented wisdom; the Puma which represented strength; and the Condor, which they believed carried the spirits of the dead into the after life…

Proof of life shot...!! Another milestone on the tour...!!

It took over 50 years to build Machu Picchu, and a little more than a further 50 years later, the site was abandoned, when the Incas realised that the Spanish were there to stay…!! They took with them the mummified remains of Incas that had been buried in the tombs there, as well as all the gold and silver statues that represented their beliefs, and fled into the jungles to the east…

Where they re-settled, remains a mystery to this day, and has led many to search for “El Dorado”, or the City of Gold, in the Amazon jungles…

The Incas used gold and silver as ornamentation only, it had little other value to them… The Spanish saw things a little differently, of course…!! They removed and plundered any item they deemed of any worth to their King, and had the many religious artifacts melted down into ingots to be sent back to Spain…

It had taken archeologists and a small army of assistants, almost 10 years just to clear the undergrowth that had covered the present day site…

It then took over 60 further years to rebuild the site to what it looks like today… In 1983, UNESCO stepped in and called a halt to all further restoration, and declared it a World Heritage Site…

Window on the Inca world...

The Incas ruled over a huge chunk of western South America, and over the years subjugated many other civilisations into their own, usually by force… They demanded that clans from as far afield as Chile, send members of their villages to Cusco to help build the capital of the Inca empire… In this way they were able to mould together a nation that comprised the best artisans, weavers, scholars etc… The adopted some of the cultures of the people’s they “brought to heel” and prohibited those that they disagreed with…

They lived by three simple rules; “Do not lie, Do not steal; and Do not be idle…” I had to smile when I heard this, because this is exactly the rules that I ran my factories by for so many years…!!

Dubbed "Ronnie's Group", we toured the ruins together... From left to right, "Junior" and his father George, from the USA, and Anne from Brisbane, Australia... Earlier this morning, Anne climbed the mountain in the background...!! Good on ya, Anne...!!

The Incas built temples to honour the Sun and the Moon, and many of their constructions were so cleverly designed, that during the Summer and Winter solstices, on the 21st of June and the 22nd of December, the sun shone through two different windows, and lit up a special altar on which a statue was placed.

This gave them a very accurate measurement of when the seasons changed…

The Temple of the Sun, showing the two windows through which the sun shone to light up the altar and confirm the changing of the seasons...

Inca Observatory.... Using the reflections in these two bowls, they observed the constellations of the stars at night...

No more than about 500 people lived at Machu Picchu on a permanent basis, but as many as a few thousand passed through here daily on pilgrimages to honour their Gods… Pilgrims were housed in large rooms and probably only stayed for a few days before going back to their villages…

The terraces where they experimented with various plants and herbs to simulate different conditions in which to grow them...

All the stone that was used to build the city came from the mountain on where it stands… There are three quarries here, and most of the rock is a form of granite… We were shown how thew Inca artisans took advantage of the natural fissures in the rocks, to break them into much smaller and easier to move pieces… They then used chisels made from various metals which they melted together to make an alloy, to carve the shapes they needed…

The Main Gate through which all visitors would have to pass in order to enter Machu Picchu...

Far more care was taken to shape the stones used in their more sacred buildings that was taken for those used for housing and storage rooms…

The Main Temple... Niches in the walls were used to house religious artifacts and offerings...

We were joined by Hani from Tel Aviv in Israel... Hani also climbed the mountain directly behind us... The ladies put us to shame today...!!

From the moment I stepped through the main gate to the “city” of Machu Picchu, I felt a presence that I could not explain… It seemed to fill me with an energy that opened all my senses… Although there were crowds of people on almost every path and in every building or temple we entered, I found that with very little effort, I could shut them out and concentrate on imagining what it was like here hundreds of years ago…

In many of the places we were taken to by our guide, I seemed to instinctively feel what the room or building had been used for… It was a strange sensation…!!

Our guide, Jairzhino Quispe, gave us a wonderful insight into the history of the Incas and Machu Picchu....!!

By mid afternoon, we were through with our guided tour… While Anne, George and “Junior” left to catch their buses back to Agua Calientes, Hani and I stayed behind and explored the ruins further… Our trains only left for Ollaytantambo at 6.30pm and 7.00pm respectively, so we had plenty of time to kill.

The Temple of the Three Windows... Each window represents a spiritual level; the world above; the world we live in; and the underworld to which we our bodies are consigned when we die....

We visited the Temple of the Condor, and it’s amazing rock formation that looks like a condor with outspread wings… We saw the Sacred Ceremonial Spring, the Princess House, the Royal Mausoleum where the embalmed mummies of the Inca kings were kept… We stood in the Main Square where ceremonies took place and Royal proclamations were made known…

The Inca sun-dial or Intihuatana... This rock was carved and chiseled to allow the Incas to judge the agricultural season with remarkable accuracy...

There are so many aspects to Machu Picchu that I am unable to convey in words or in pictures… You need to see it for yourself to understand… You need to stand on the highest point in the village and look around you at the majesty of the surrounding mountains, that kept this place secret and locked away from the outside world for almost 500 years, to understand how special it is…

I turned to take a last look at Machu Picchu before we started down the path that led back to the entrance... I had a strange feeling that I would come back here again one day... Next time it would be without a guide... I wanted to wander through this place on my own, trying to find the thread of whatever it was that seemed to have a strange kind of hold on me...

Hani and I rode the bus down to Aguas Calientes together, and then shared a pizza while we waited for our respective trains… The last bus left Machu Picchu at 5.00 pm, and we had an hour to kill before first her train left for Ollaytantambo, and another half hour before mine departed…

The fountains across the walkway where we had an early dinner after expending so much energy tramping through the ruins of Machu Picchu...

We wandered through the bustling market near the station together, bargaining with the ladies that ran every stall…

By the time my train pulled into Ollaytantambo, it was almost 9.00pm… The bus was waiting for the group that I had arrived there with, and we piled into the comfy seats and within minutes, most of the occupants of the bus were fast asleep…

We awake when the bus stopped in the main square in Cuzco, at 10.30 pm…. It had been a long and tiring day, but one of the most satisfying that I could remember…

I fell into my lumpy bed and was dead to the world in minutes… I might have dreamed of Pumas and Condors, but I can’t be sure…

©GBWT 2012