Machu Picchu (MP)
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The best view on the ruins!
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| Another view of MP |
Today is the day that we explore the ruins with Edy.
The group left the hotel at 7am as the bus line is shorter. It is a golden interval between folks trying to catch sun rise at MP and the arrival of trains from Ollantaytambo
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| Joining the bus queue and getting on circuit 3 |
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The ruins as we approach circuit 3
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We had a full 2 hours with Edy showing us the ruins and explaining how the Spanish never found Machu Picchu. The Spanish ambushed the Inca king at the last gate and they never revealed where they got the gold and silver that the Spanish were after. So Spaniards never discovered MP.
It was discovered by Hiram Bingham who is looking for it actively after knowing the last gate events and a recording of a sacred place for Inca. But it turns out he's not the first person who discovered it. The person who bought the land actually found it but didn't understand the significance of the site.
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| View of MP now vs when it was first discovered |
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| Getting baked by the sun! |
MP can be easily shrouded in the mist and fog created by the mountains range surrounding it. And only the Inca royal visited this sacred site and it's supported by a few hundred people and kept very quiet and inaccessible to most folks.
They think that the cusco scouts came to inform the king of the Spanish invasion and brought diseases. Hence the Pachamama tombs has bodies that's not mummified as they realized they are infectious
So the city likely got abandoned. It's not clear where the gold went, but likely looted or moved.
A lot of gold hunters are digging around the mountains around MP as the treasures were never discovered.
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| More views of MP |
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| More views of MP |
The water system has built in filtering with the groovesand we can see the water still running in them. We can also see evidence of rocks still being moved and it's still actively being built when they abandoned it
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| Water system with built in filtering |
Edy also explained how the sun temple is built where they figured out where they can see the sun goes between Sun Gate to the mountain on the opposite side and how it tracks between summer and winter solstice. That is why the Sungate was created with the alignment to the Sun temple
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| Edy explaining how the Sun Temple works |
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| We were just there yesterday! |
The Sun Temple has very high quality stones that is merged perfectly. And the King has access to doors and a bedroom and a kitchen that has stones that might be used for rituals.
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Door to Sun temple
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| The King chamber |
He also showed the King's seating area
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| Showing how the Inca king use this chamber |
The Condor temple area has niches that are used to store mummified bodies. The innards of the bodies are removed and placed for condors to feed as they believe that brings the bodies closer to heaven. Condors, Pumas and Snakes are the 3 sacred animals for the Incas.
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| This was used as a niche for mummified bodies |
We completed the Circuit 3 tour with Edy after 2 hours and we got out of MP. It's a one way path to get through the circuit and it leads to the bus station where we got the bus back to Agua caliente.
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| Our bonded group with celebratory lunch after seeing MP! |
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| Lunch with guinea pig and alpaca |
After lunch we have some free time to wander around Agua Caliente
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Views of the town
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Agua Caliente town
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We have the 430pm Vista Dome train. Edy gave us the train tickets and instructions on how to find the train station as he's off for another tour and Miguel has another train schedule that's cheaper. The 430pm Vista Dome train is a dog and pony show with snacks, fashion show and even a dance show in the bar. We skipped the bar as we were chatting with a group of 5 guys who did the 5 Day Inca Trail which is the 4 day + the Huanipichu hike.
That's the young mountain beside MP that has monkey steps almost all the way and the moon temple is on that mountain.
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| Chaos in the train station |
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| "Free" snacks |
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| Priceless views again! |
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| Fashion shows on the train with Alpaca garments |
We were chatting with them on their experience with the Alpaca company. It's crazy that the porters are carrying a portable potty for them for 4 days! As you can't leave anything in the trails!
Miguel met us at Ollanyantambu and we rode back to Cusco for 2 hours and reach around 930pm. We checked into our previous hotel again for the night.
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| In our hotel room for the last night at Cusco |
We ate at Campo by Morena. Pretty good but not as polished as Chicha. Also their salt level is slightly high and Bill didn't get his meal as our waitress is quite inexperienced.
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| Decent dinner at Morena Campo |
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