Friday, June 21, 2013

The Solstice at Machu Picchu!

Temple of the Condor - approximately 1 hour after sunrise
Head (on the ground) not lining up with the sun. 
After a 5 hour car ride on drop off cliffs, a 2 hour walk along railroad tracks, and waking up at 4am we finally made it to Machu Picchu. It was totally worth it!!!! Getting to see the sun rise on the solstice at Machu Picchu was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am so glad I got to be a part of. As we all spread out across the site I was at the Temple of the Condor with Keri. I was hoping that the sun would eventually line up with the condors head on the ground but sadly it did not. I was still happy to see that the tunnel that begins between the two wings on the condor did seem to light up when the sun rose though.


Tunnel under the Condor wings lit up at sunrise
The tunnel was said to contain a mummy down the narrow pathway. Historians also argue as to whether the condor head would have been used as a sacrificial altar. I'm not sure how accurate this would be since there don't appear to be any drainage routes for the blood as we saw in another sacrificial altar. The head/body of the condor was also flat meaning the blood would pool and so for how advanced the Inca were I don't believe this would have been used for sacrifices. The whole sacrificial altar thing freaked me out, but it is historically significant so I figured I'd add it.
rock pointing almost due north &
at Machu Picchu mountain

So many people seem to believe that Machu Picchu may not be a fully completed city because there are a bunch of large seemingly unshaped rocks scattered throughout the ruins. Upon further investigation we found a few interesting connections. For one we found a few stones that looked almost like arrows. When we checked one it was not only pointing at Machu Picchu mountain, but is was almost perfectly due north. This wasn't the only stone on the site that fit this description. There were also a collection of oddly shaped rocks scattered throughout the ruins. When you looked at some of these from the right direction they appeared to line up with the mountain ranges that were in the background. There was even a rock that appeared to line up with two different mountain ranges from different directions. I was quite proud of myself for noticing that one. Here are a few examples below. Hopefully my pictures did it justice.



Machu Picchu was not only interesting in an academic way. We had a great time just looking at the breath taking ruins and mountain ranges. Here are just some of my favorite pictures from the day: 



  


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