Thorsten and Suzi 07/10/06

Machu Picchu was amazing, incredible, wonderful, awesome, stunning, beautiful etc etc! Think you get the picture and it is actually very difficult to put in to words how stunning it is when you first see the whole city from the watch tower above. It is really huge and just so incredibly well built and well preserved, the only clue to the fact it is over 600 years old is the lack of roofs on the houses. The stonework is still perfect and was put together with amazing efficiency. The rocks were chiseled out of the mountain, upon which the city was founded (Machu Picchu itself means "old mountain", Huayna Picchu the "young mountain" is the back drop to the amazing photos you always see of the city in the media) and either worked so that they slid together, one side concave and one side convex, or plastered together in exactly the same way as we build a brick wall nowadays. So little is known about the Inkas, there is even no definite answer as to why they abandoned Machu Picchu (top theory is to get away from the Spanish inquisition, which sounds reasonable to us!), but one thing is sure, they were amazingly clever little chaps.

We arrived at the site at the amazingly early time of 6am and, to cap what was a super day in any event, due to our guide Percy´s amazing queue-jumping skills, we were actually the first people (along with Lisa, Simon, Ruth and Dennis, the other people on our tour, who were all really nice, an extra bonus) allowed in to Machu Picchu. How cool is that!!! Was absolutely peeing it down with rain at 6am but the first view of the city, even just peeking through rain clouds and fog, with absolutely no other tourists to be seen, was incredible. We enjoyed a 2 hour tour of the site with Percy, exploring the city, terraces and temples, and then had the rest of the day free. It was absolutely fabulous that it was raining when we arrived (there is a reason, haven´t gone completely crackers!) as, as the rain slowed, and the clouds gradually lifted to allow the sun in, it was like the city was revealing itself to us, which made it all the more magical.

Before we left we walked a little way up the inka trail for the experience and the view of Machu Picchu from Inti Punku, the sun gate. Was wonderful and the views were magnificent. We were also lucky enough to be able to see the Temple of the Sun, where the only two windows are exactly aligned so the sun falls directly on to the altar on the days of summer and winter solstice only, before it is wholly closed for restoration. The inkas believed in three stages of life; the underworld, the world where we live and the afterworld, symbolised by the serpent, the puma and the condor respectively. This 3 stage symbolism is everywhere in Machu Picchu, from 3 windows in all holy places, to 3 steps leading to every altar, to the Temple of the Condor, where sacrifices to the afterworld took place, It was fascinating to see how this worship took priority in their every day lives so many years ago. We also got in touch with our hippie tree-hugging sides and absorbed some cosmic energy from the inka´s sacred rock! Can´t say we felt any different but a bit of good fortune wouldn´t go amiss over the next few weeks so we thought we would give it a go!!

Overall, we loved it, it was a fabulous trip and we´re just so pleased we saw Machu Picchu, it was great and we can´t recommend a visit enough.

We also enjoyed our train ride to Machu Picchu pueblo (also known as Aguas Calientes). The train is a specially designed vistadome, with no luggage storage, replaced by extended glass windows and goes right through the sacred valley. The views were amazing, as was the contrast between the mountainous, dry landscape of Cusco and Ollantaytambo and the beginnings of the amazon jungle, just 5km from Machu Picchu. Also enjoyed a whole evening the day before our visit in the natural hot springs as we figured we´d do a lot of walking the following day so deserved a bit of R and R! Coming home today was also a great adventure. We only had tickets as far as Ollantaytambo, then we had to get a local taxi to Urubamba, enjoying amazing views of the working salt flats on the way, before picking up a collectivo from there to Cusco. The collectivo we caught was approximately 100 years old but it made it right up to over to over 11,000 feet through the Andes, and down the other side unscathed, all for only 50p. We really enjoyed the most incredible views, if a bit scary when there is a sheer drop on one side for 90% of the time!

Off to Puno, and to explore the islands of Lake Titicaca, on Monday. Before we go, and we promised to be honest with you, dear blog, can we also confess that we are pleased we didn´t do the inka trail after all! It looked exhausting, camping in the rain is no fun, and we got to see Machu Picchu anyway so, whilst being ill was rubbish, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise!! Treating ourselves to a slap-up english breakfast tomnorrow to celebrate an amazing couple of days! LOL xx