{"id":89,"date":"2010-08-29T18:04:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-29T17:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/?p=89"},"modified":"2016-09-18T16:48:53","modified_gmt":"2016-09-18T15:48:53","slug":"peru-trip-11-machu-picchu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/peru-trip-11-machu-picchu\/","title":{"rendered":"Peru Trip #11 – Machu Picchu"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Classic<\/a>Machu Picchu. Superlatives fail me. Just the train journey (much better than the famous Inca Trail, which is a four-to-six-day walk) was fairly spectacular, bringing home how deep and winding the gorge is here. It is made by a river that almost completely encloses the mountain upon the top of which the sanctuary of Macchu Picchu was built. The town was constructed from the huge rocks that were already there, some of which are still scattered about the summit in the few areas that have not been built on. Here and there the huge stones have been left in place, and the houses and temples built around them, using them as platforms.
\n
\nThe place was started probably around 1400CE, and was still ongoing and unfinished in parts, when it was mysteriously abandoned around 1500CE, abandoned to such an extent that later Incas – including the one overthrown by the Spanish, did not even know of its existence. Which of course means that neither did the Spanish. Of all the Inca ruins, this one is untouched, untainted by the Spanish. This site was not destroyed by them, there is no church built on top of it. It was lost to the jungle before Pisaro even set foot in South America, in 1533. The Quechua people, and their king, the Inca, the Son of the Sun, had abandoned this place long before.
\n\"View<\/p>\n

\nThe mountain territory, and the fact that here, at 2400m above sea
\nlevel, and towards the east of Cuzco, we are almost in the Amazonian
\njungle – at its gate, in fact – all make this already an incredibly
\nspecial place, the awesome beauty of the natural surroundings surely a
\nbig part of why it was chosen as a royal sanctuary. The town is built
\non the summit, and surrounded by a wall, and includes, typical of other
\nInca settlements, especially of the high empire period, a ritual sector
\nwith temples and astronomical stone artefacts, a royal compound where
\nthe royal family and probably the main priests lived or stayed, a
\n‘commons’ sector where the people who built and maintained the town
\nlived, and an agricultural area of terraces. <\/p>\n

\"View<\/p>\n

\n\"Temple
\nThe Temple of the Sun here, as Hiram Bingham called it (most of the
\nnames of the buildings came from him, and his guesswork, as he cut back
\nthe jungle from this place in the years following his discovery of it in
\n1911), is perhaps the most interesting, to me. There are two main
\nwindows in this semi-circular temple. One faces the point on the
\nhorizon where the Winter Solstice, on June 21st, rises, the other the
\npoint where the Summer Solstice, on December 22nd, rises, over a small
\ntemple on the top of an overlooking mountain called, Intipunku – ‘The
\nSun Gate’.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nOn these Solstice mornings, the first rays of the sun shine into the
\ntemple through these windows and light up the altar stone in its heart.
\nThe masonry – especially of the royal compound and the temples – is
\nsimply awesome. This place seems in many ways, certainly as it has come
\ndown to us molested not by the Spanish, but only by time, bushes, and
\ntrees, perhaps the finest example of Inca High Empire architecture,
\nhydraulic mastery and urban planning. Almost in the jungle here,
\ndrainage of the buildings and the terraces is of paramount importance,
\nand provision of fresh spring water for the populace without the need to
\nclimb down the mountain to the river, absolutely essential. The
\ndrainage remains perfect. To this day, a fresh spring from a mountain
\non the other side of the river runs through complex buried channels down
\nto the bottom of the valley, the pressure making it rise again up to
\nthe summit of Machu Picchu where it flows gently, unceasingly, with
\nunchanging flow and temperature, all year round, still to this day, five
\nhundred years after it was built.
\nThe place is simply amazing.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n\"The
\nAt the highest point of the main area of the town is the astronomical
\nobservatory, a carved rock with its corners pointing North, South, East,
\nand West, and to the four mountain peaks around Machu Picchu, crowned
\nwith a sundial obtrusion that casts its shadows with precision around
\nthe year, allowing precise calculations of Solstices and Equinoxes. It
\nis famed to have power within it, and all the tourists hold their hands
\nan inch above it, trying to feel the power. I’m sure if that were
\npossible it would have been sucked dry long ago by now – there are only
\n1000 tourists here today: it’s a quiet day.<\/p>\n

\"Llactapata,<\/p>\n

\n\"The
\nTo the west, in the distance, is Llactapata – another Inca temple that
\nis aligned to the East and where the Sun can be seen rising over Machu
\nPicchu at one of the Solstices, precisely over where, here at Machu
\nPicchu, there is a viewing tower overlooking Llactapata.<\/p>\n

\"Me<\/p>\n

\nMy guide takes several good pics of me here, and I am grateful. He is
\nknowlegeable, polite, friendly – as they have all been – and my morning
\ntour is a great introduction to the place. After another big tourist
\nbuffet lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge, I return alone to take a few more
\npics of the Temple of the Sun, and make a last climb to the astronomical
\nobservatory, and then head down on the bus to the delightful El Mapi
\nhotel, for a shower, and a dry Martini, and a light supper. First thing
\nin the morning, I am on the 5.30am bus to see the dawn rise over Machu
\nPicchu. And what an experience this is!<\/p>\n

\nI have ‘seen in the dawn’ on a number of occasions, and got up for the
\ndawn as often, but this has to be one of the finest of them all.
\nClimbing to the highest point of Machu Picchu where the ‘watchman’s
\nhouse,’ as it is known, looks out over the summit town, one gets an
\namazing view of the moment of sunrise, as it crests the tops of the
\nmountains surrounding the site. Some short distance on its journey from
\nthe the Winter Solstice point, in June, towards the Summer Solstice
\npoint, at Intipunku (Sun Gate), in December, the appearance of the sun’s
\norb above the mountain peaks is an awesome sight.
\n\"Sunrise<\/p>\n

\"The
\nFrom the watchman’s house I went down to where the first fountain
\nproduces the flow of spring water that runs in its channels and from
\nother fountains down through the centre of the royal compound and into
\nthe commons sector. Here, where the royals themselves would have got
\ntheir water, I washed the silver, serpentine, smokey quartz and obsidian
\njewelry I had bought in Pisak, in the hope that I might take some of
\nthe blessing of Pacha Mama and Pacha Tata back to my home land.<\/p>\n

\"Intipunku\"<\/p>\n

\nThen the walk up to Intipunku. It’s about an hour each way, said the
\nguide, but I managed it a little quicker on the way down. On the way up
\nit was a good 50 minutes, and a hot and sweaty journey with frequent
\npanting stops. Glad of the strap around my hips, I took it easy, but I
\nam definitely on the mend, it seems, and the walk was worth the risk!
\nThe reward was absolutely fantastic. Gobsmacking is about the best word
\nI can think of. From Intipunku the view over Machu Picchu is
\nincredible. I sat there for over an hour, just drinking in the view. I
\nmet an English girl doing a good bit more of South America, there, and
\nwe agreed on many things. I recommended the Lords of Sipan museum and
\nHuaca de la Luna to her. It was so peaceful, sitting up at Intipunku –
\nabout five of us at one point, three Dutch half asleep on the terraces,
\nand us two English types. Absolutely peaceful, at the Gate of the Sun,
\nwith the great orb high in the sky behind us, shining down over one of
\nthe most amazing views I have ever seen in my life, bathing perhaps one
\nof the greatest pre-Christian temple complexes in the world.<\/p>\n

\"Machu<\/p>\n

\nAnd then, from the wall of the terrace at Intipunku where I sat, I stood
\nup to begin my journey home. It will take me three days – journeying
\nthis afternoon to Cusco, overnight there at the Don Carlos again,
\ncollecting my suitcase, then flying Monday to Lima, overnight there
\nbefore finally the intercontinental flight on Tuesday back to Amsterdam.
\nI will bring home with me some incredible memories. And I will be
\nback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Machu Picchu. Superlatives fail me. Just the train journey (much better than the famous Inca Trail, which is a four-to-six-day walk) was fairly spectacular, bringing home how deep and winding the gorge is here. It is made by a river that almost completely encloses the mountain upon the top of which the sanctuary of Macchu … Continue reading “Peru Trip #11 – Machu Picchu”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archaeology","category-journeyman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":921,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}