Machu Picchu, truly a world wonder!

When news of a landslide between Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu first hit, I was devastated at the thought that we might not be able to visit one of the seven wonders of the world. At that moment I didn't care what extreme measures we had to go through, just that I wanted to see the sunrise of the Winter solstice hit the temple of the sun.

After much running around and making all sorts of arragenments to get us to Aquas Calientes, Dr. Brown pulled through and we were on a van on our way at around 12:30 pm. We arrived at our destination just in time for dinner, and after we ate we headed straight to bed so that we could get up at 4:00 am and get on the first bus to Machu Picchu. The morning came and we waited in line, and by 5:30 am, we were heading up the mountains! 

With each passing minute, the silhouettes of the mountains in the distance became more and more definable and it almost became too hard to take in the beautiful sight we were so blessed to be viewing.

The breathtaking Machu Picchu and Huayna Mountain.

We arrived at Machu Picchu, and as much as I wish I was a writer to describe the feeling, it was simply indescribable. The enormity of it is absolutely breathtaking; and although it's location is surrounded by a ring of mountains and the Urubamba River, it gave me a feeling of being free. 

I made my way to a cave/tomb beneath the Temple of the Sun, and patiently waited without knowing for sure how the alignment would hit it at sunrise. As I waited, a few tour guides came by and I was able to learn more about this tomb. One guide called it the Mother Earth temple, he explained how everything the Inca did was based on nature and their philosophy; we can see Inca trilogies in the staircase. The three tier staircase, as we've seen before, represents the trilogy of the heaven, the earth, and the lower world. These three tiers were also represented by their three revered animals: the condor represented the upper world in the sky; the puma represented the middle world; the snake, living underground, represented the lower world. 

Another guide also described how the Inca had ceremonial offerings to Mother Earth and they would sacrifice black llamas, because the Inca were racist, he joked, but then explained that black actually represented purity to the Inca.

The sunrise illuminating the staircase at the Mother Earth tomb.

Inca stones mimicking background mountain.

The best tour guide of the day was our own professor, Dr. Brown. He would actually stop us and redirect our attention to what was in front of us so we could closely examine it and try to come up with our own meaning for why something was the way it was. One example, that had he not pointed out, would have never crossed my mind, is how there are grounded stones that resemble a certain mountain in the background. Probably the best example/picture I have of this is the one below. However, there were many more stones spread throughout the site that seemed to fit this resemblance. 

Another interesting observation that he had us thinking about, was the placement of large stones, tilted at certain angles, at two different places on the site. The way the stones were tilted, along with the fluid marks on the ground and their elaborate placement on the site, suggested that they were used for the sacrificing of human and/or animal blood. It was incredibly interesting to have such things being pointed out to you and also to know that non-baller guides just walked straight through such significant pieces of Inca history.

I enjoyed Machu Picchu and can not wait to climb Waynapicchu and see yet another breathtaking sight.

Julie