machu picchu

on new years eve we went to machu picchu.  we took a bus to a train to another bus up a very scary hill then hiked some and finally we saw it - the incan masterpiece.  it is amazing how they built this whole city so high up in the mountains.

i am sure many of you know the history of machu picchu so i will not go into great detail. machu picchu (lost city of the incans) was built around 1450 by the incans under the direction of pachacutec.  it was abandoned during the spanish conquest of the area.  it was discovered in 1911 by hiram bingham.




couple of interesting facts:
- the mountain in the background of most pictures is huayna picchu and only 400 visitors can go up the mountain a day

- only 70% of machu picchu has been discovered, the remaining 30% is still buried under vegetation
- the roundish building is the temple of the sun and faces the sun gate

- machu picchu is actually the name of the mountain on the other side of the structure, meaning old mountain and is not typically in photos.  since they did not know the name of the city - they called it machu picchu
-quechua is the native language in this part of peru

below i have included some pics of machu picchu without people but also some pics i am in.  i have TONS of pics from machu picchu, so if you want to see more, just let me know.

 

 

 

 

urubamba

today was an action packed day and probably one of my favorite so far in peru. we started out the day by going to the local market in cusco. our guide informed us not to take cameras because the locals don't like to be photographed and because it could be stolen. i wish i had my camera to capture the insanity of this market. not only were they selling clothing, fruits and vegetables, bread, coffee and chocolate, but also various kinds of meats. i saw a pig getting its head chopped off, a lady de-skinning fresh live frogs, cow snouts for sale and so much more. it was truly unbelievable and might have turned me back into a vegetarian.

after the market we headed to the alpaca farm where we got to see the various species and feed the animals. even though they call it a farm i think of it more as a large petting zoo. we were able to see the different natural dyes they use to color the alpaca fur to make scarves and such. in fact i have a picture of a lady creating one below.

next we drove through the sacred valley of the incas, entitled such because there are three harvests a year. we learned that although the peruvians who live in the highlands make three hundred dollars a month, they do not feel poor because they have access to a great deal of food. the incans graded part of the mountains in order to increase the farmable land. the views from the valley were amazing.

in the valley was the town of pisac. basically we went there for its tourist market. they sold everything from tourist gimmicks to baby alpaca scarves to silver. i bought two scarves but successfully bargained down the price by 33%. there were tons of locals at this market - see pictures below.

in the afternoon we headed to the ollantaytambo fortress. once we arrived in the town we visited an incan home. interesting items to note:
- fewer traditional incans every year (rapid assimilation)
- maintained the skulls of previous incans in their home to honor the dead. now use pictures for recent relatives
- raising guinea pigs for food
- keep fish and meat in home to remember their ancestors

after we visited the home we hiked up the fortress where we were amazed at the way the incans had moved huge rocks up the hills to form these structures. the views were amazing and we could see glaciers on some of the mountains. the peruvian mountain ranges block the weather coming from the east so that it becomes more mild as you get to the west coast.

we are spending the night in urubamba before heading to machu picchu in the morning.

 

cusco

we flew to cusco early on the 29th. the elevation is over 11,000 feet so the early afternoon was rather tame allowing us acclimate to the altitude. peru has a plant, entitled coca, that is delivered in various forms such as tea and helps minimize altitude sickness. it is not allowed in the us and was not recommended to be consumed if you have a drug test for work in the next few weeks. however every place in cusco offers it for free.

in the afternoon we took a tour of the city of cusco which has 2 million visitors annually. in the town square there ate a to of children and old ladies posing with alpaca; however, if you take a picture they chase you for a propino (tip).

after walking through the town square we hit up the catholic church (surprise surprise). by the way all the churches look the same to me at this point. next we went to the sun church, an incan church that had rooms dedicated to the sun, moon, stars, etc. the missionaries painted over the stone walls to try and convert the locals. last we went to saxsaywaman (pronounced sexy woman), which was breath taking. basically, the incans built a puma shaped structure out of huge stones (think ten thousand pounds) and chiseled them so they fit perfectly together (using rocks). the puma head is saxsaywaman and is on top of the mountain overlooking cusco.

we went to dinner in the city, but had an early night since many of us were exhausted from the altitude.