"We were panting just climbing up the steps leading to the "top", but once we were there, wow, the view! It was absolutely astounding! Lord! You are still more amazing than I imagine! There are no words to describe! ... but the surrounding mountain & hills were just... amazing, some looking close enough, you could simply jump from peak to peak; others simply a blue- green haze in the distance. One, you couldn't see the peak of; for clouds were sitting on it and it honestly seemed to touch the sky. Lord, if I were you, I'd live here! I describe the hillsides as covered with green carpet- they looked like fuzzy broccoli in the distance. How amazing!
"And the ruins. Well, they surrounded not just the top of the mountain, but crept down the steep slopes, magically, yet boldly solid. Walking along the path, you notice every rock that was laid. They had the main path they called the "Inca Trail" which has remained for centuries and is still fully functional. It goes for a very long way, up the next mountain peak over. We didn't travel that one; we followed our guide now down the path toward the city itself. He had a strong accent, but spoke English surprisingly well. And he told of the history of the Incas & their way of life, etc. He seemed to be quite proud of them (and perhaps is partly that people himself & therefore has a strong pride in his heritage). They only reigned for about 500 years until the Spanish conquered them.
The city itself housed about 1000 people (only men and women, no children) said our guide, b/c no bones/skeletons/remains were found of people that young. It was very interesting walking among all the stones, so carefully hand- crafted, chiseled & designed to fit perfectly... into the other ones around it. Some stones had like 18 sides! Some stones were very small, but even those ones must have been heavy enough to move. The large ones would have been excruciating to move!
"The guide took us all to the most important spots- this large room was for certain meetings or ceremonies; this one would have been for games/sports (like a large courtyard); this would have been living quarters for 3 people, etc. They have some stones carved for very specific purposes (like one where each side pointed to each direction- north, east, south, west) and they used the sun to measure many things (b/c they worshipped the sun) and they had some rooms built exactly with windows or small round holes that if the light came directly through & hit this spot on another rock, that meant it was the first day of the new year, or it was the day of ceremonial sacrifice to keep the sun from going any farther away. Very, very interesting. They also had an impressive irrigation system for water and had many troughs that went along the ground between ways (probably to feed livestock) and also under & through some rocks, falling like small waterfalls into pool-like basins in the floor. From there, they would flow somewhere else.
In many of the walls, there were large shapes that indented as to make a shelf to put things on. These were almost certainly for idols to sit and they would commonly have four of these on a long wall, so you could have 10- 20 idols surrounding you in each room. Our guide explained that mostly royalty would have dwelt at Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) and they even had one room where all the royalty would sit in a row and look out facing the people (for there was no wall in front of them, only behind and beside) and there was water running by with a flat "table" that may have been for sacrifices. The "shelves" in the walls here may have been for the royalties' crowns. It was pretty cool. Our guide also explained that these were a very peaceful people who always worked together in harmony to create their own utopia. But then he added that they drank a lot and were always drunk & happy. Some things he said seemed unlikely or to contradict, but he was telling a story of what he knew & probably most of it was correct or applicable in some way. (Oh, and by the way, half way through the tour the sun came out very brightly & I got burnt! The back of my neck has been sore for 3 days- should have put on sunscreen!)
"When he was done the actual instruction part of the tour, he left us alone to wander & explore or sit & relax for a while & then we had to make our way back up, up, up to the station where the buses were. Liliana & I went together & explored a little more (there were even some caves where riches would have been hid/stored or places for the royal mummies to be put) and worked our way back through the center of the city & up all the steps back to the height we first started at. As we climbed, we started to get quite tired, so we stopped on one flight of stairs (about 3/4 to the top) and I said to Liliana "We're almost there" and an older woman (maybe 65) & her daughter (maybe 40) had come around the corner and, hearing me, the older woman replied, "No you're not." Surprised & humoured I started smiling and admitted, "You're right. We're not." b/c we had a long way to walk yet until we really could call it the "the top"! We talked a little & found out it was their 2nd day there & the older woman had her walking stick and declared it was good for you- good for your heart. And I agreed since she should know! We parted & went on our ways, and Liliana & I laughed at that humorous encounter.
"But somewhere along our going up, up, up, we missed the sign for the exit and found ourselves on the Inca Trail and Liliana looked down and pointed "Oh no!" and there were all the buses & the station roofs below us! Oh no was right! We had gone past our destination & only had 4 more minutes to get to our bus- time was up! By the time we backtracked & actually reached the bus station, we arrived just in time to see an arm waving quite frantically out the back window of one as it drove away. A little confused, I half- heartedly waved back thinking they must know me & after a brief look around, Liliana & I realized there were no other members of our team where we were supposed to meet. So, we caught the next bus and sure enough, when we had endured all of the switchbacks back down the mountainside and returned to the train station at the bottom of the next mountain just beside the river, who did we first see when we entered the doorway of the bus, but our friendly (and now quite apologetic) tour guide! It was his arm frantically waving when he caught a glimpse of the last two late team members as they were leaving. We assured him it wasn't a big deal & he took us promptly to the restaurant where half of the others were eating pizza. Liliana & I ordered & ate & we all got back on the train for the ride back to Cuzco.
"But the 8 hours of travel for 4 hours at Machu Picchu, we decided, was worth it. The only ones who didn't get to come were Ann and Liz, who were sick & Owen, who stayed back to care for them (& ended up sick as well). They were fortunate enough to use their tickets the following day (at a minor increased expense) and thoroughly enjoyed it too! That was an experience I hope not to forget. I slept for much of the train ride back & the bus ride for that matter. Tomorrow, we get to sleep in!"
