Machu Picchu was built by one of the 2 reigning Incan brothers, Pachacuti, back in the 1500's. Between the Inca Civil War and the Spanish conquistadors in the 1520 - 1530's, Machu Picchu became overgrown with vegetation and was not seen again until an American explorer and an 11 year old local boy discovered the site in 1911.
Machu Picchu was built on a narrow ridge between the mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu at an elevation of 2,450 m. The Urubamba River, down below at 450 m, surrounds the site on three sides and eventually joins the Amazon.
My first views just inside the main gate. HuaynaPicchu is the mountain, the agricultural terraces, some of the houses and temples. At this point the sun had not risen up and over the beautiful surrounding mountains.
We woke up at 3:30am so that we could start hiking up to the Machu Picchu site and arrive before sunrise, as well as be within the first 200 people so we could hike up to Huaynapicchu (HP). I also have seen it written as Waynapicchu. There are only 400 people a day allowed to hike up HP in 2 groups - one group starting at 8am and the other group starting at 10.
Gosh I have never done so much hiking in the dark as I have here in South America!! But it was worth it. Equipped with our headlamps, we walked to the bridge from town, showed our tickets and climbed up in a little over an hour. We were all able to choose the 10 o'clock time, which our guide said is the better time because sometimes in the morning, it is a bit foggy. Within 20 minutes, we were allowed to enter the site - wow!! We then received close to a 2 hour tour of the ruins from our guide, Cesar. Incredible ingenuity went into the design and construction of the town, buildings, abundant terraces for gardening (there were more terraces than buildings) and temples. The Incas were so in tune with nature and I loved how they were able to create several stone replicas of the landscape.
We made it!! Up 500 stairs and 2,000m in a little over an hour.
Cesar explaining the history of this incredible site
The sun is starting to rise. On winter solstice, June 21st in the southern hemisphere, we were told that the sun rises in the middle of the V formation in the rocks. The winter solstice is an important time of the year for the people down here and signifies the beginning of the year. They do not really celebrate the summer solstice in December.
Here is one of the rock sculptures they created, depicting the ridgeline of the mountains behind it. Do you see the similarity?
The open Sacred Plaza in the middle of the buildings with some terraces in the background
Huaynapicchu's path was a narrow and steep staircase winding up this mountain which gave an amazing overview of the town. At the summit, we were granted a bedazzling 360 degree view of the valleys and mountains surrounding the site.
Halfway up HP
If you look closely, to the right of the bus road, you can see the Incan stairs and pathway that we hiked up.
How do you like the staircase on the side of the walls??!!
View of the Machu Picchu site from HuaynaPicchu:
The Temple of the Sun was a curved tower with a rock cave down below. You can see the steplike altar with the three ridges. In the Incan culture, as well as many of the native cultures of Bolivia and Peru, they used symbols of crosses with 3 steps on each side. The 3 steps or 3 sacred niches are explained in multiple ways. The first being their faith in the natural world - the sky and world above, the earth and what you could see atop of it and the living world in the dirt down below. They also associated animals with each of these steps: the Condor (which represented the sky above and new beginnings), the Puma (the earth and the present) and the Serpent (the world below and death). Another explanation for the 3 steps is a calendar, with each of the seasons having 3 months. The last explanation I have heard explaining the importance of the 3 steps is a visual depiction of the 3 rules to live by: Don't Lie, Don't Steal and Don't Be Lazy
The stoneworkers created all the windows and doors with a slight angle, with the bottoms being slightly wider on the bottom for more support.
The Temple of the Condor:
The aqueduct system
Some of my favorite views were from the Sun Gate or Intipunta. If you hike the Classic Incan Trail, you first arrive at the site at Intipunta.
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