Machu Picchu

Naomi and I are taking a short break from politics, to spend a few days together.  This year is our fortieth anniversary! Today, we arrived in Machu Picchu, an incredible place in the Peruvian Andes, often referred to as the Lost City of the Incas. 

Our visit to Peru started on Monday in Lima.  We travelled all over Lima on their bus rapid transit system, and it was excellent!

Tuesday, we flew to the Inca Capital of Cusco.  At over 3,000 meters above sea level, we found it exhausting doing any walking uphill.  This is, of course, due to the high altitude.  It is a startling difference from a few weeks ago, when I went up 21 stories in Saskatoon, hardly having to pause.   Cusco, is nevertheless a place full of surprises, one of which is that it is today a major arts centre with many fascinating artists.  On Wednesday we were starting to acclimatize a bit and made our way to the Inca sites of Tambomachay, Puka Pukura, O´enqo and Saqsayhuaman.  It is amazing what the Inca´s built so many centuries ago, not least of which was some 4,000 km of roads under Pachacutec.  

This morning, by bus and train, Naomi and I reached Aquas Calientes, quite a trip through the high hills and mountains and along the Urubamba River.  This afternoon, we reached Machu Picchu itself.  What a site!  There is so much more to tell, but it will have to wait until I can add some more (now done - see below).

Machu Picchu - a second day:  We were in Machu Picchu for two days.   Machu Picchu was built as far as I can tell because it was on the major road from the Inca capital in Cusco to the Amazon basin on the east side of the Andes.  Various products from the amazon basin were highly desired by the Inca and Machu Picchu was built along the Inca Trail.  Some of the plants from the Amazon were then grown in Machu Picchu and adapted to the higher altitude as the Inca were very involved in plant breeding.  There are other reasons for this site which may have or appear to have included security for the Incas, establishment of a learning centre for young people of the Inca aristocracy, an experimental farm for edible, ceremonial and decorative plants and for specific cultural, ceremonial and scientific (astronomical observations), and a retreat or home for Pachacutec.

The Sun was very important to the Inca.  The specific site of Machu Picchu was probably chosen because it was a place with the maximum amount of sun (low points in the valleys surrounded by the high peaks meant the valleys had much less sunlight), and the sun was important for growing crops, and because it was used, through astronomical alignments, to tell the time of year. (Specific spots at Machu Picchu are aligned precisely to the summer and winter solstices.  For example, the pass along the Inca Trail, the Sun Gate, high above Machu Picchu, aligns specifically to reference points in Machu Picchu at the time of the Dec 22, solstice. This was important to know to time the growing of crops and of festivals etc.)

The Inca were amazing builders.  They also knew a lot about water management.  Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo (where we were today) show the extent they understood the importance of an integrated approach which used both water storage and drainage so that they would have the water for their domestic use and for their crops when they needed it.

Two Stories from our visit:  On our second day in Machu Picchu, we, like many others, were up before dawn so we could get to Machu Picchu to see the sun rise.  Naomi and I took the bus the 8 km from Aquas Caliente to Machu Picchu, up a very steep climb.  We did our share of walking when we got to Machu Picchu, including taking the part of the Inca Trail going up to the Sun Gate.  We are starting to be able to walk up the mountain much better than we were.  But we were no match for a young woman we met from Montreal.  Instead of taking the bus, she climbed all the way.  She had been climbing steadily up the steep climb for an hour and a half.  We met her when she arrived at the top just after 6 am looking fresh as if she had just begun.  She was carrying a backpack which was almost as big as she was.  She had come in the previous 48 hours from Montreal to Cusco to Machu Picchu.   We climbed together up the steps between the agricultural sector and the urban dwellings and to the Guardhouse at the top.  Even with her her big pack, she was still going strong after her long climb up.  She had legs like a burro and a heart like a mountain goat.  We are clearly among the huffers and puffers compared to her.

Going back now, to our first day in Machu Picchu we were fortunate to have Aurelio guide us around and explain many details that we would have missed without his help.  Aurelio, who is about 33 years old, has a degree in Archeology and has been guiding for a number of years.  He obviously very much enjoyed talking about Machu Picchu and showing people around with great pride in the accomplishments of the Inca.  His knowledge and understanding of Machu Picchu are amazing.  At one point on our journey around the site, he paused at one of his favorite spots with an incredible view of the mountains all around.   He turned to us and said ¨Welcome to my office.¨  (see photo above).  For those of us who work in an office surrounded by four walls, it is incredible to think of being able to work in these surroundings.  Naomi and I had a special appreciation of his sentiment because a number of years ago, our son Charles, a snowboard instructor, took us to the very top of a mountain where he was working then in the Canadian Rockies and as we reached the top of the mountain, Charles paused and said with a big smile on his face: ¨Welcome to my office.¨

Ollantaytambo:  Today we visited Ollantaytambo.  What is particularly interesting here is that when the Spanish conquered this town, work on the temple stopped immediately leaving partly completed operations.  The two large blocks of stone on our right and left were brought to this site after being quarried high on a mountain across the valley several kilometers away.  The rocks had to be moved about 1000 meters down the mountain where they were quarried, and then taken several hundred meters up on this side to reach where they are now.  Without modern tools, they used amazing ingenuity.   On the left the rock has on its face a long design which is the mouth of the statue.  The rock on the right has two eyes and it is about to be lifted on top of the rock on the left.  In order to do this, the workers have laboriously begun the process of raising the rock on the right, inserting small stones under the rock as they gradually levered it upwards.  Had the Spanish conquest not occurred this process of gradually levering upwards would have continued until the rock on the right with the two eyes was placed on top of the rock on the left.

KB Tambo Hotel and Tours:  While in Ollantaytambo, we stayed at the KB Tambo Hotel.  KB (Will Janecek) (in the photo above with me), originally came from Minnesota quite a number of years ago, and he has stayed in Peru and now operates the Hotel where we stayed and organizes tours for people.  It was a neat hotel, close to the Inca Temple.  Just above our room was a roof top terrace where we sat to enjoy a few quiet minutes in the afternoon and to watch hummingbirds attracted to the flowers in the courtyard below.  The food the next morning at breakfast was good and KB helped us organize a neat trip to Moray and the Salt Mines the next day.