PERU FOR 2: and finally, Machu Picchu!

Past the first check point, and we are about to cross the bridge and start our climb to Machu Picchu! YEAH!!! We were up at 4:00 this morning, and made it to this check point about 5:10 - it's chilly down here at the bottom, but by the time we reach the top, we will both be in tank tops and shorts, partially because of the exercise, and partially because of the very warm sun!

3/4 of the way up, and the view is absolutely amazing! The clouds are starting to rise out of the valley and the sun is just up over the tall surrounding mountains, shining into the valley and to Machu Picchu.

And finally, we're there! and rewarded with the most spectacular view of the ruins. At this point, there are buses full of people running up the mountain, and streaming in the entrance, but not many have made it out into the ruins yet, so its people free for the moment and llama's have the rule of the land.

This would have been the main entrance to the city, however it's not the way everyone arrives today.

The below two photos are of the Temple of the Sun, a very important place for the Inca, as they worship the sun. Unfortunately, we were not allowed inside, but we were allowed below and above. The wall around the outside of the temple is rounded which is a very unique feature, and not found anywhere else in ruins. Underneath the sun temple (in the shadows behind me) is the royal tomb.

This is the view from above, you can see cut outs in the rock in the centre, where people would lay, with their head to the window where the sun first shines in and the feet towards the exit of the temple.

The very top house in the upper right corner of this photo is the Hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock, then further down the incline are additional houses and terracing where many crops could have been grown. In the background, is Machu Picchu Mountain, which we also climbed.

This is the Temple of the Condor, it's pretty tough to take a photo of, but I'll try to explain! The small roped off area near the bottom of the photo is the head of the condor, just behind the head is the base of the wings, then the outstretched wings go up in a V shape of raw rock, then there is some stacked rock walls on top of the right wing and what looks like walls between the two wings. Pictures are flat, and the condor is very 3D so hard to explain! Sacrifices of small animals were made on the head of the condor, they would run blood from the sacrifice through the small channel at the front of the condors head, then leave the remains there for live condors to eat. Once the bones were picked clean, they would be buried on the belly of the condor - through that shadow area behind the head and under the left wing in the photo. The Inca worships 3 animals - the snake, the puma and the condor - if I understand correctly, the snake represents the before life, the puma the life you are in, and the condor, what you move on to after this life - so this temple would have been very important as it represents the next life or place of the spirit.

The square below, with the walls that are separating is the Principle Temple where the main ceremonies where carried out, and the entire area is called the sacred plaza. Above, up many stairs, is Intihuatana, a major shrine, this Quechua (native) word loosely translates as the 'Hitching Post of the Sun'. Inca astronomers were able to predict the solstices using the angles of this pillar which allowed them to understand when the long days of summer would return.

No one is allowed to touch the Intihuatana, which is often confused for a sundial. How exactly it was used is still a mystery, however there were several of these in various important Inca sites, many of them were completely destroyed by the Spanish in an attempt to wipe out the pagan blasphemy of sun worship.

This is the Inca draw bridge on the far side of the mountain about 15 minutes away from the ruins. Unbelievable how they built these walls against a shier cliff! Two thick pieces of wood plant were used to cross and could be taken away so that no one was able to cross. After the bridge, and beyond the photo you can see where the path would have lead, but is completely over grown and likely in pretty severe disrepair. The shier rock face continues so it would be nearly impossible to take any other route from this direction.

Alright, now this one is interactive... work with me here! Pick up your screen/laptop/whatever, and turn it one quarter turn to the left - can you make out the forehead, nose and chin? They say this was the Great Inca and a protector of Machu Picchu - which means 'old mountain'.

We climbed for another hour to the top of the sun gate, it got rainy and slippery, but was well worth it when the clouds rose - a stunning site! You can see the road the buses take up and the river in the valley.