Machu Picchu is a complete Inca fortress city, set on a saddle of a high mountain with terraced slopes falling away. Its altitude is at 2,350m above sea level and the position stunning. The Urubamba River can be seen down in the valley winding in hairpin bends below.
You reach Machu Picchu by a 42 km rail trip from Ollantaytambo, or by a 112km by rail from Cuzco, or by walking the historic Inca Trail. Bring insect repellent and suntan lotion. Climate is more humid and hotter than Cuzco.
When you leave the train at the station, you are brought up a windy 8km long road by a bus. You can explore the ruins yourself or with a guide.
Machu Picchu means "Old Peak", and the higher Huayna Picchu ("Young Peak"), stands vigil over it. Machu Picchu´s remains are in a comparatively good state of preservation because the Spaniards never found it. It was buried in the jungle for centuries, until Hiram Bingham discovered it in 1911. Even after Bingham's discovery, the city remained inaccessible until the 1940s, when an archaeological expedition working at the site discovered the Inca Trail cutting through the valley.
Theories about what happened to the inhabitants range from epidemics to their occupants being isolated at the time of the fall of the Inca Empire. Excavations only added to the mystery to what happened to the city. They found 173 skeletons, of which 150 were women. At the tomb of the high priest skeletons of a women and a dog were found. The women suffered from syphilis.
Machu Picchu was home to priests, high functionaries, craftsmen and servants and, most importantly, the mamacunas, or virgins chosen to dedicate their lives to the sun god.
Nowadays find altars, temples, terraces and staircases. The Temple of the Three Windows allows sunlight to pass through its windows to the Sacred Plaza. At the astronomical observatory there is the Intiwatana, the curiously-shaped stone block believed to have been a solar clock or, "the hitching post to the sun", where the sun rays cast shadows used for the planning of seasonal activities and religious ceremonies. What amazes architects today is the precision with which building stones were cut and assembled.
A steep and perilous path rises from the site to the top of Huayna Picchu. From the Temple of the Moon, which is at the skirt of the mountain, and from the summit you have an extraordinary view of the ruins and the Urubamba Valley. |
