Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu.  With excitement in our step we left the hotel at 6.15 am to join the queue for the 30 minute bus ride to this wonderful arhaeological site.

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that there are approximately 5,700 visitors to the site every day - something UNESCO is not pleased about - as the site is sinking by 1mm a year.

It is a pretty slick operation. The queue was long even that early in the morning but it moved fairly quickly and after a passport and ticket check we were on the road. 

Our guide for the day saw our grey hair and guided us to the front seats (with a big sign that said "keep for the disabled and needy"). Nice of him - but! We did get a good view though and after we crossed the river with the fast flowing rapids we enjoyed watching the driver navigate the bus to the edge of the muddy road to let another pass.  Actually, he was a pretty impressive at handling that bus!

The road was similar to a New Zealand back country road, narrow and windy - the main difference is that there were a number 30 seater buses going backwards and forwards from the town to the Machu Picchu.  

After standing in the queue for the loo, which wasn't for long we began our walk upwards.  Unfortunately, the fog didn't lift and for a while we stood on a viewing platform listening to our guide tell us some history (which most I have to say I have forgotten) and then we just waited. A couple of things I do remember:

• Hiram Bingham was the first European to find Machu Picchu after it was abandoned.  This was in 1911 and with the help of a local and his son. The photos show how nature can overtake any building given time and it reminded me of the Garden of Heligan in England which was rediscovered and nurtured after all the gardeners left to fight in the war. It also highlights that Machu Picchu was situated in a place that was not easy to get to - I guess that provided the residents with security.
• The Spaniards never found Machu Picchu. That was a good thing as it probably would have been ransacked and destroyed.  It is also not surprising given the effort to get there -there were no trains or buses back then and it takes 4 or 5 days from Cusco to walk the trail at a fairly steady pace.
• No one has found any evidence of why Machu Picchu was abandoned.  Several theories have been floated like disease, not enough food (about 400 lived there, but there was not a lot of arable land to grow crops and as the population grew, the food sources didn't) or perhaps men having to leave to fight the Spaniards.
• The palace was built with a smoother, greyer stone while the houses for others was rougher and obviously not as attractive.  All were designed well to withstand moderate earthquakes.

Occassionally, someone said the fog was lifting and we saw a peep of green grass or stone wall but then it was covered again by the white blanket. I got quite bored as the crowd grew and so I took photos of people waiting for the fog to lift, a spider sitting in its web, some of the ground cover that we were standing on and the stone wall behind us.

The fog did begin to lift and we walked down the hill a bit away from the crowds - our guide knew where to go to avoid at least most of the people.  I must admit many of the people were probably like me - wanting an hour to sit on a hill side all by myself to soak up the atmosphere and history.  That wasn't going to happen was it?  The photos really do not show the engineering feats of the time.

And then appearing out of the fog, somewhat mystically,  was the historical village of Machu Picchu.  Slowly the buildings revealed themselves and then the mountains - a gradual reveal of the stunning location and historic village.

Archaelogists have found evidence of altars and sacrifices, hidden behind the stone walls.  There are so many nooks and cranny's to explore and we felt priviledged that we could walk around the buildings rather than viewing them from afar (though at the same time a tad guilty that we were contributing to the slow destruction of such a heritage site).

There are also four stones strategically placed that show North, East, West and South.  Not far from these compass points were two basins carved - each had water in them. The pools were used as water mirrors or reflecting pools and used as an astronomical observatory.

And then there is the sun temple that was a calendar for the residents - I guess as a guide to planting crops etc.

Then sadly it was time to leave.  It was a bus ride and then train trip back to Cusco. Along the way we drove through the sacred valley and we saw a salt mine (salt is used to cure leather and to ensure dye is fast), some huts for climbers perched up steep cliffs where climbers could stay the night (after doing a bit of climbing and walking over what looked like fairly dubious rope bridges).

On the way back we talked a bit about the transport system. There are a large number of petrol stations dotted along the roads (many of which are now closed).  We have seen no electric cars or infrastructure to support electric cars while we have been in Peru.  Petrol is around 14.9 soles per US gallon which equates to about $1.70 NZ per litre given the exchange rate of the day.  Later on, Google told us that Peru does have its own oil reserves but also imports oil to meet its domestic consumption. Unfortunately, the local reserves are located in the Amazon region.  Exploration is impacted by the political instability, the need for significant investment for exploration and production and I also hope conservation and climate change challenges (but probably not). Peru is actively pursuing other domestic on shore and off shore oil.

Goodbye Machu Picchu.