Peru 2002 (Part 3)
And it was just spectacular. We entered the park and almost immediately had to stop to let some llamas pass us! The Incans designed their cities into two parts, the upper part was for the upper classes, and the lower part for the lower classes. We first explored the upper part and wandered among the stone ruins while the guide pointed out various temples and other types of building. We climbed to the top of one ruin where an ancient sun dial was situated. As we climbed down from the sun dial, we ran into more llamas. We then walked around the lower parts of the ruins. These ancient stone buildings were just amazing. You can’t even begin to understand the engineering involved unless you’re there and see it for yourself. There were additional ruins on top of the mountain ridge next to Machu Picchu, but the hike up and back was 2 hours and the thought of additional climbing wasn’t doing it for me.
I really can’t do justice to the magnificent ruins that we explored. It was just truly amazing. At the end of the tour, we had some time to wander around and the weather finally decided to stop raining, so I got some good photos. We descended back to Machu Picchu town and returned to our hotel for dinner. After dinner, I wandered around town for a bit and actually found an internet café. It was only $1 for 30 minutes. Of course, the connection there must have been 12kpbs becauseI thought I saw my fingernails grow while waiting for hotmail to come up. But even in Machu Picchu, you can check your email! The town had an internet café, but no tumi!
The next day, I got up early and caught the first bus to Machu Picchu. I wanted to try to get some more photos while it wasn’t so crowded. The weather was perfect, but occasionally, a cloud or morning mist would rise out of the valley, slowly crawl up the hillside, swallow the ruins in a fine gray mist, and then move on leaving sunshine in it’s wake. It was just spectacular. I wandered around the ruins listening to my MP3 player and just enjoying being alive. It really is a magical place.
Around 9AM, the rest of the tour group arrived and we all hiked the Inca trail to the Gate of the Sun, a small Inca ruin set in a mountain pass above the city. This is the trail the hikers use and I can only imagine how amazing it must be to walk for 4 days and then crest this hill and see the ruins of Machu Picchu spread out before you. The hike was good, but it was sunny and my nose was redder than Rudolph’s. For some reason, sun screen never made it on our packing list. But I borrowed some from other people in our group before my nose turned radioactive. The hike was spectacular and Dad and I just marveled at the engineering required to build a city like this on top of a mountain. After the hike, we wandered around the ruins some more and then it was time to head back to Cusco.
