Aguas Calientes Machu Picchu

AGUAS CALIENTES- MACHU PICCHU PUEBLO

Sunday, October 14  After the tour, our bus took us back down the mountain to Aguas Calientes.  The small town is charming and easy to stroll. Luz and I had a late but hearty and delicious free lunch at Inkaterra Cafe located at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel.

 Loma Salcito

 Leche flan

 Souvenir shopping at the market

Inkaterra Hotel was fully-booked for our Peru tour so after walking a short distance and enjoying the local flavor we checked in at equally beautiful Hatuchay Hotel at around 6:00 PM.  I did not pay attention at the time but we were told by the guy at Reception Desk to close the window.  Well, the windows were all closed when we entered our room.  When I woke up, I saw some insect bites in my arms.  I immediately checked the bed and big shirt for bed bugs - turned out to be mosquito bites.  Itchy!  I found out mosquitoes are the other inhabitants, day and night.  This race of mosquitoes are tiny (2-3 mm) and greyish.   When I was vampire-sucked by big mosquitoes in the Philippines it did not even itched.

Hatuchay Hotel

Artistically-designed elevator

I was happy until I ate it.  My pork chicharron looked good but it did not taste very good.   Being a pure meat eater and a pig connoisseur, I could tell it had been in the freezer for quite some time before it was defrosted.  It's to be expected because folks prefer eating guinea pigs and alpaca meat.

 Cuzco Church at the main plaza.  When I visit a church in any country I always make three wishes.

 King Pachacutec of the 9th Dynasty is the most popular of all Inca kings.

 Cuzco band entertaining tourists

Before leaving for Cuzco on October 15th, I bought at the last minute a handmade decoration (Mercado - $20) for my kitchen from this lady.

 At the train to Cuzco, Luz had an interesting chat with a lady from Rio de Janeiro

Machu Picchu

MACHU PICCHU
I Came, I saw, I crawled
Sunday, October 14  When we arrived in Aguas Calientes, our Condor tour guide met us with the Hatuchay Hotel representative who picked our overnight luggages.  Our tour guide walked us to the bus stop, next door to the train station.  A 20 minute shared bus ride took us to the top of the mountain - getting off right there at the entrance of the marvelous citadel, an awe- inspiring wonder of wonder.   http://youtu.be/yL_PyaaBr9Q

I've driven a stick-shift car for many years.  I admire this driver driving a stick-shift bus to Machu Picchu - got to be in control, not the vehicle.

The ruins are situated on the eastern slope of Machu Picchu ("old peak"), in two different areas: the agricultural and the urban.  The latter includes the civil sector (dwellings, canalizations), and the sacred sector (temples, mausoleums, squares, royal houses).  Although the constructions show different levels of architecture, religious buildings exhibit a high degree of perfection.  The construction was with general use of stone, and the roofs were built of tree trunks and thatched with ichu straw.  The walls were made with an inward inclination for protection against earthquakes. 

The mountain behind the Inca city is known as Huayna Picchu ("young peak")

 The Incas made a religious sacrifice of black llamas - not white or brown - so this llama is safe

http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama

The smallest stone in Machu Picchu, according to our guide Yimmer who's of Incan lineage.  Try looking for it somewhere along the trail.  Ha-ha!!

 The terraces of the agricultural sector - on top the Caretaker's Hut

The Temple of the Sun was built upon a natural rock outcrop that was carved to form a small mausoleum with trapezoidal niches in its lower part.  In the exterior, the rock has been carved to form a series of steps which symbolize the three sacred spaces of Inca beliefs: the world of the dead, the world of the living and the world of the gods

 Perfection, just like built today and not thousand of years ago 

 Magnetic stone

 Winay Wayna on the Inca Trail

 King Pachacutec of 9th Dynasty resting/sleeping

 Guinea Pig (Cuy) stone

 Intihuatana - in Quechua, "Inti" means "sun" and "huatana" means "place where it is tied".  The forms of worship of the Incas were related to the agricultural calendar and included sophisticated ceremonies which combined astronomical and engineering knowledge with religious beliefs.  During the winter solstice, which marks the shortest day of the year, the Incas asked the sun god not to abandon them, exhorting it to begin its cycle once again so that the daylight hours would lengthen again.  The Intihuatana not only marked the changing season, it also served as a focus for rituals which called upon supernatural forces to influence future lives in a positive manner.  Visitors are not allowed to touch the stone with their hands or else have bad luck (?)

 Luz ready to jump down below - she's fearless and not afraid of height

 

 After almost three hours of walking, climbing up and down (thanks to the patience and help of guide Yimmer) and then finally crawling, you could say I survived my tour of Machu Picchu

 Stone in the shape of a condor

 Part of prison room