Machu Picchu

To get to MP, you take a 4 hr train ride from Cusco through the Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes, followed by a 30 min bus ride up the mountain. The train makes some stops and at some of the towns there are women selling fresh, hot corn. Richard tried it. I was having a bit of a relapse that day, so I did not. They claim that in the Sacred Valley they have the most varieties of corn and that it's the best in the world. Being from a corn-growing family, I cannot endorse that position. ;) You'll have to ask Richard what he thinks.

Here is the classic shot of us at the entrance to MP. As I said, I was a bit under the weather that day, so I was rather unhappy. (This was after the 4 hour train ride, feeling queasy the whole way.) The rest of the pics are from the next day, when I was much happier. When Hiram Bingham discovered MP, it was overrun by jungle after 350 years of neglect. The black and white photo on the left was taken by him. The photo on the right is Richard in the same doorway. (It took us a while to find!) The doorway is a double-jam doorway, indicating its importance. It has a ring at the top and barholds on both sides, all carved out of rock. The Sun Temple has curved walls.
There are alpaca roaming the terraces. They are pretty cute. The terraces are filled with fertile soil that was brought up from the river valley. That's a lot of work, to haul that much dirt up a mountain!

Lots of crazy rock formations! Notice how the Incas incorporated the natural rock formations into their designs. This natural little cave is below the Temple of the Sun. We don't know what it was used for, but it definitely had some ceremonial significance. Richard is showing how there is a hole in the proturbance in the royal quarters. It may have been used for holding a torch.
When you build your city on the side of a mountain, it can be quite steep. We wondered how one would raise children there. Trying to keep a toddler safe in such a place would be a nightmare.
This photo (below) is from the Intimachay, or Cave of the Sun where the Incas carbed a tunnel in solid rock through to a little cave. The tunnel was carved so that on the Decmber solstice, the sun rises over a notch in the far mountain range, shines through the tunnel and lands on the back wall of the cave. We played around with flashlights, but we couldn't quite reproduce the effect. The bottom and left walls of the tunnel are cut out of the cave wall, while the top and right are constructed from stones.