Happy 35th Anniversary to Us

Today, for our anniversary we went to Machu Picchu. It has been a long day, but we just marvel at how fortunate we were to have a beautiful blue sky puffy white clouds kind of day. We arose this morning, checked out of the Villa Urubamba hotel, and took our bus back up to Ollyantaytambo. After a short tour of the town, we got on the Inca Rail train for our ride up to Agua Calientes.

That is the end of the line, from there one can take a shuttle bus up the switchbacks to Machu Picchu. Or, if you are really brave and very strong you can walk up the side of the mountain. It is essentially 1000 foot stair case out of rock. Our group was one of the last to leave Machu Picchu at sunset tonight. We have had dinner and are back at the hotel, ready for a fairly early morning when we return to see Machu Picchu in the morning light.

I've taken a few photos to share with you, which are posted below. The one thing to take away from all of this is that the Incas were incredible architects and builders. It is amazing that their structures are still standing in essentially the same condition as when they were built, about 700 years ago. And while Machu Picchu is the best known and most popular site, and is a well known tourist attraction, many Incan constructions are still in daily use up and down the Sacred Valley. Nobody knows what Machu Picchu's purpose was. There are many theories, some think it was a religious site, some think it was the emperor's get away home, some think it was a lost city. Having looked at all of the buildings and seen it from a personal view, I'm going with the emperors vacation home.

Factoid of the day: All Incan construction was built from the lower level of the mountain up. The bottom terraces were first, followed by the next layers until they reached the top of the mountain.

This is Veronica Mountain, with several glaciers. Our tour guide said it was the first time all year that he has seen her without clouds ringing the top levels.

Nobody is sure what this chamber signifies, it probably was an upper class tomb. They did find bones, and it was probably somebody higher in rank based upon what artifacts were also found here.

Llamas were not native to this area, nonetheless there is a well cared for herd of 16 on the mountain. And they are very much photographed.