Machu Picchu, an amazing experience.

4.30 a.m. Sunday 3rd of April and we were up and at the breakfast table preparing for our visit to Machu Picchu, it would Joseph’s first and my fourth. What can you say about the place apart from the fact that in the last few years it has been granted the deserved status of being installed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
As we headed to the bus stop in Aguas Calientes we were faced with drizzling rain, quite normal for low down in the valley.
Why so early? The answer is simple, it is really important to be on the top of the mountain very early to appreciate the dawn light and the effect this has on the actual ruins and the surrounding mountains.

You gather at the bus stop with hundreds of others and take your turn in riding on one of the buses to the top, the ride takes about twenty to twenty-five minutes as you negotiate all the switchbacks in the narrow road. You get some rather spectacular views of the raging Urubamba River way below in the valley.


The drizzle had ceased and the mountain mists were moving through the valleys, soon these low clouds made way for a clear, sunny morning.

Because we arrived so early we had sufficient time to take a slow wander around part of Machu Picchu before meeting up with our guide at 8.30 a.m. He was an excellent guide and he gave us a most comprehensive tour for about two and a half hours. After that we just wandered off, sought a quiet place to sit and marvel at this wonderful place.

It is interesting to note that the city site itself is not Machu Picchu that is the name of the mountain behind the site. At one end you have Huayna Picchu, the young mountain, and at the other end Machu Picchu, the old mountain. The discoverer of the site, Higham Bingham, first thought that he had discovered Vilcabamba, the sacred place. After realizing that he was wrong this site is more often than not simply referred to the ¨lost city¨.


These two photos show how the people of the time related the rocks with the surrounding mountains; they viewed the mountains as very special in their lives.


Eventually we had to depart the mountain for at late lunch in Aguas Calientes and to board the train back to Ollantaytambo and bus to Cusco.