The Lost City of the Incas
5/13/2018
5/14/2018 Machu Picchu in all its Glory!
After breakfast we take a 90-minute bus ride to Ollantaytambo, followed by a 2-hour train ride for Machu Picchu. Along the way we visited a 1-room home which gave me the heebie-jeebies with all these guinea pigs running around as they were being groomed for the slaughter. They were on the floor, near the kitchen utensils and the bed - leaving cooties and probably fleas basically everywhere in this cramped space.
When we drove through the market we saw women everywhere selling the dead, skinned pigs ready for roasting or frying. Apparently this is a delicacy here - a meal for special occasions. In fact, at dinner this evening I saw a man served one about a foot long on a platter - apparently it represented a meal for one. I hope to never see another guinea pig that size for the rest of my life.
5/14/2018 Machu Picchu in all its Glory!
After breakfast we take a 90-minute bus ride to Ollantaytambo, followed by a 2-hour train ride for Machu Picchu. Along the way we visited a 1-room home which gave me the heebie-jeebies with all these guinea pigs running around as they were being groomed for the slaughter. They were on the floor, near the kitchen utensils and the bed - leaving cooties and probably fleas basically everywhere in this cramped space.
When we drove through the market we saw women everywhere selling the dead, skinned pigs ready for roasting or frying. Apparently this is a delicacy here - a meal for special occasions. In fact, at dinner this evening I saw a man served one about a foot long on a platter - apparently it represented a meal for one. I hope to never see another guinea pig that size for the rest of my life.
Guinea pigs before and after...
The market was a paradise of floral arrangements because it was Mother's Day weekend. I have never seen such beautiful colors and assortments to choose from.
(Bottom photo: chickens that have been prepared for sale at the market - too late for rescue).
Huascaran Sur - 22132 feet high
I think everyone in this community descended
upon the square this Mother's day.
Everyone received a free coffee mug and some other gifts worthy of standing in line for hours.
We also visited the Seminario Ceramic Studio. Here Pablo Seminario shows us his current abstract projects.
Two stunning and colorful pets inside the courtyard
at the studio.
Some Incan ruins in Ollantaytambo.
Steps leading to the Inca trail.
Getting closer - a photo from the train.
Machu Picchu factoids...
- an Incan citadel set high in the Andes Mountains
- built in the 15th century, but abandoned by the Incas around 1550 during the Spanish Conquest
- sophisticated construction of dry stone walls fused without the use of mortar
- astronomical arrangement
- brought to international attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham
- named a Peruvian Historic Sanctuary in 1981
- designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983
- voted one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll in 2007
The first sighting from the bus station entrance
to the park.
The afternoon light illuminates the Temple of the Sun and the Room of Three Windows.
From the Sun Gate - a view of the switchback roads the buses travelled to transport us to Machu Picchu.
Also from the Sun Gate -
a view of Machu Picchu miles away.
Photos from the next morning, shortly after sunrise:
Tomorrow: Cusco to Lima, Peru to Quito, Ecuador
Tomorrow: Cusco to Lima, Peru to Quito, Ecuador
Never been to Machu Picchu. On my bucket list. Great pictures of it.
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