Macchu Picchu

Finally arriving at Macchu Picchu was very cool, but I think the trek to that point was really the best part. You see so many pictures of Macchu Picchu that the ruins really look the same when you finally arrive. However, the view of the mountains and valleys around cannot be described in photos. The views were absolutely amazing. The ruins were also nice to see because they are the most intact of Incan ruins. When the Spanish came, they did not ruin these temples and buildings like they did to so many others, but instead just took the jewels that were worth so much. I asked our guide why Macchu Picchu is considered such a spiritual place and he had many answers to go with that. One reason was because it is in such an amazing place as far as the land, scenery, difficulty to get there, etc. Another is because the city is still in such good shape. Most of the buildings have not had to have any work done to them. The Incas are an amazing people who only ruled for 100 years. However, they conquered all the way from Columbia down to Chile. They did not have a method of writing or other more advanced ways of living like the Mayans had, but their reign was so much shorter and they were able to conquer a much larger area. Macchu Picchu was a place for the higher class, mainly for theologians and intellectuals. Only about 300-500 people actually lived in this place, though it took many thousands of people to build it.


You can see the two main temples here. The first is the Temple of the Sun and the second is the Temple of the Condor. The Temple of the Sun was built very carefully so that on the days of the equinoxes, the sun shone into the windows to tell the people what the day was. There was also another place set up where water was placed in round divets and the sun shone into the water to tell them the date as well. It was really quite advanced.



We hiked up to Waynu Picchu, which is the peak that you see in that first picture. The views at the top of this were really quite incredible. Scott had much more guts than I did as far as jumping around on the rocks at the top. You can also see a great view of Macchu Picchu from up here. The pictures cannot even begin to describe the scenery up here, so if you really want to see it, you'll just have to go. We got a great group shot of us at the top, which really should be on the cover of an SAS brochure. Have you ever seen a happier, better looking group!? Go Pumas!

I also wanted to include a little here about some of the symbols of the Incas. There is jewelry all over with many of these symbols. The most popular was the Chakana, or Inca Cross shown here. It is the three-stepped cross symbolising the three tiers of Inca life (the lower world, this world and the higher world). We could see this cross in many of the Inca ruins that we saw, including at Macchu Picchu. The hole in the center represents Cusco, which is considered 'the navel of the Inca empire'. There are many other symbols as well, but we will stick with this one for now.