Machu Picchu and to Cusco - Cusco, Peru
Cusco, Peru
We were up at 4:30 to get the bus to be at the opening of the site at 6 am. Well organised, we piled into buses and were driven up the hair pin turns to the start of the site. We were there when it was almost empty. Stunning it is. There are probably as many theories of why Macchu Picchu is there and why it was abandoned as there are guides and guide books. My guide book says it was there are an agricultural laboratory and religious site. Our guide Eloy told it was strictly as a religious centre like the Vatican or Mecca. He told us that many of the terraces, especially on the west side, were for erosion control rather than crops. He told us as well, that there is controversy as to how many people lived there, permanently perhaps 300-400 but swelling when the king was present. There are multiple temples: the Sun, the Moon on neighbouring Huanya peak, the Condor. The site is designed so that at times of the summer and winter equinox the sun beams into certain spots, Eloy says, indicating times for planting or harvesting. The site was abandoned either before the conquest of the Spanish or at the time of the conquest when some books and guides say Manco Inca took the people with him to Vilcobamba when he set up the rebel state. Again, it is all unclear. What is known is that an American history professor Hiram Bingham on July 24 1911, when asking the locals if there were any ruins around, was led by a young boy to the area. Following this, Hiram Bingham returned to the US, showed photos of the area and raised money for further expeditions. And the rest is history, if still unclear. As there have been so few shards of pottery found, some reference only in chronicles written at the time of the conquistadors; there is still more to be learned. The site has been made a World Heritage Site and is a huge source of income to Peru. Four thousand visitors see the site daily and it is very well policed. No food, no bottles, no climbing on the walls and if you should stray off the path, you will be whistled at by one of the guards. It is an amazing feeling to have seen a place I have always wanted to see. And so we left by train from Aguas Calientes to Cusco. All was going well until the train stopped and then started going backwards: an unusual sign. There had been a couple of landslides ahead and so we were stuck for a few hours while they cleared the track. We even had a rock fall from somewhere onto our coach and bounce off, which surprised and concerned us all. We finally arrived around 10:30 about three hours late. Apparently this is a very usual occurrence when it rains!