She interrupts me. I interrupt her. Elle A. Muse is unfortunately not amused…
Peru, Day 14: Machu Picchu
Finally, I’m back to posting about Peru! My apologies to those who were following my anecdotes and pictures only to get left hanging as soon as My Liege and I reached Machu Picchu. If you need a refresher, here’s a link to my last post on the subject. If you’d like to follow our travels from the beginning, check out the sidebar and then scroll dowwwwwwn, way dowwwwwwwwwwn (and I’ll call Rusty—sorry, Canadian childhood reference) to “Categories” and then click on “Peru 2010.” That will take you to the Archives for all the Peru posts. Or be lazy and click this link to get to the first Peru post.
For a quick primer on Machu Picchu, check out Wikipedia. I have so many piccies, I’m concentrating on those.
Above, an overview of the terraces and residential sections (minus roofs). See those triangle-shaped peaks? Thatched roofs went on top.One of the coolest things about Machu Picchu is the fog that rolls and wisps around the site, literally almost like a live thing. It took my breath away. You can see it here just starting to creep in on the right.The fog reminded me of a cat. Slinking in, then slinking out again. It moved fast!
The clouds and mist swooping over the panoramic view of Huayna Picchu, the biggest peak on the Machu Picchu site.See what I mean? It was just surreal. One minute there, the next gone again.The view from inside a bedroom for a very important person. I think it was for a princess, when she visited the sanctuary. Her bed was carved out of rock, and this was the view that greeted her when she woke in the morning. Steve on the right by the "crappy" Inca wall, and our guide, Wilmington, on the left by the "good" Inca wall. Why such perfect construction on the left and not-as-stellar construction on the right? Because nobility and royalty either lived in the rooms walled in on the left, or the buildings were used for ceremonial purposes. The wall on the right was either "just" a wall or a wall for a building without ceremonial or religious purposes. In Machu Piccu, wall construction = status.More excellent Inca construction, and an example of the thatched roofs (not an original roof, of course!)In the mood for a little human sacrifice? Step inside!Close-up of wall construction shown in previous photo. Isn't that crazy?
Fabulous mist pictures! What an amazing ambience you experienced. Lucky you! 🙂 Our daughter decided not to climb Huayna Picchu when we went last year. So while we huffed our way up the stairs, she took progressive shots of the sun coming up over Machu Picchu. I’m glad she did as we didn’t have the opportunity to see what she had seen. I’ll never forget the humbling influence as I sat in this breathtaking place, mesmerized by the remarkable landscape and all-embracing mountains. Thanks for the reminder and the lovely post. 🙂
You’re welcome, Gail. More pictures coming on Thursday. That’s when you’ll meet Cindiana Jones.
It was pouring rain the night before, so we were worried all we’d see was evidence of the drainage systems. As it turned out, a cloudy day was perfect because we could hike around for 8 hours without getting totally drained. Um, I mean exhausted.
Just as our guided tour was ending, 5 minutes to 10, this guy went racing past us, swearing and out of breath. We figured he was in the group to climb the mountain at 10 a.m. and had taken a chance on getting to the bathroom and back in time, LOL. As you know, the bathrooms are outside the gates. I don’t know if he made it for his 10 a.m. climb. I hope he did.
Glad you got to make the climb. It’ll always bother us that our guide didn’t WANT to make the opportunity open to us. We liked GAP, but the local guides for Nasca and the Sacred Valley were far better in terms of ensuring we were satisfied than the MP guide was.
Cindiana Jones. LOL! Do you have the cool hat? 🙂
That’s too bad about your guide. Our Gap guide (Ribalino – such a cool name) was amazing, very knowledgeable and personable. He informed us ahead of time what we needed to do and made sure everyone was up and waiting for the the first buses.
Don’t worry that you didn’t make the climb, Cindiana. You saw the best part. 🙂 Looking forward to Thursday’s post.
Thanks, Gail, for the reassurance that I didn’t miss much. It’s about the unresolved opportunity. I whine about it in Thursday’s post. Our guide was good once we started the tour of MP, but he definitely fell down on the job about the climb. His job touring us around MP made up for it, though, I must say.
Our guide for the Sacred Valley was Gladys Moreno, and she was AMAZING.
wow, VERY COOL .. I too liked the pictures of the mist .. that would be neat ..
I like the picture of the ‘princess room’ .. very lucky chick!
;)))
Chelsea, as a photographer you would be in heaven at Machu Picchu!
Fabulous mist pictures! What an amazing ambience you experienced. Lucky you! 🙂 Our daughter decided not to climb Huayna Picchu when we went last year. So while we huffed our way up the stairs, she took progressive shots of the sun coming up over Machu Picchu. I’m glad she did as we didn’t have the opportunity to see what she had seen. I’ll never forget the humbling influence as I sat in this breathtaking place, mesmerized by the remarkable landscape and all-embracing mountains. Thanks for the reminder and the lovely post. 🙂
You’re welcome, Gail. More pictures coming on Thursday. That’s when you’ll meet Cindiana Jones.
It was pouring rain the night before, so we were worried all we’d see was evidence of the drainage systems. As it turned out, a cloudy day was perfect because we could hike around for 8 hours without getting totally drained. Um, I mean exhausted.
Just as our guided tour was ending, 5 minutes to 10, this guy went racing past us, swearing and out of breath. We figured he was in the group to climb the mountain at 10 a.m. and had taken a chance on getting to the bathroom and back in time, LOL. As you know, the bathrooms are outside the gates. I don’t know if he made it for his 10 a.m. climb. I hope he did.
Glad you got to make the climb. It’ll always bother us that our guide didn’t WANT to make the opportunity open to us. We liked GAP, but the local guides for Nasca and the Sacred Valley were far better in terms of ensuring we were satisfied than the MP guide was.
Cindiana Jones. LOL! Do you have the cool hat? 🙂
That’s too bad about your guide. Our Gap guide (Ribalino – such a cool name) was amazing, very knowledgeable and personable. He informed us ahead of time what we needed to do and made sure everyone was up and waiting for the the first buses.
Don’t worry that you didn’t make the climb, Cindiana. You saw the best part. 🙂 Looking forward to Thursday’s post.
Thanks, Gail, for the reassurance that I didn’t miss much. It’s about the unresolved opportunity. I whine about it in Thursday’s post. Our guide was good once we started the tour of MP, but he definitely fell down on the job about the climb. His job touring us around MP made up for it, though, I must say.
Our guide for the Sacred Valley was Gladys Moreno, and she was AMAZING.
wow, VERY COOL .. I too liked the pictures of the mist .. that would be neat ..
I like the picture of the ‘princess room’ .. very lucky chick!
;)))
Chelsea, as a photographer you would be in heaven at Machu Picchu!