Winter Solstice at Machu Picchu!!

SUNDAY:

I woke up at 3:30am this morning (enthusiastically and disgruntledly) in order to make the 5:30am bus for the one and only Machu Picchu.

Winter Solstice Sunrise at Intihuatana (Sunday June 21, 2015)

CUE INTERNAL SCREAMS.

Winter Solstice Sunrise at Machu Picchu (Sunday June 21, 2015)

Dr. Brown assigned us particular positions on the archeological site in order to view the winter solstice sunrise from different viewpoints. I was in charge of taking as many pictures as my camera's memory card could hold of the sunrise from the tallest site of Machu Picchu: Intihuatana. The Intihuatana stone, named by the "discoverer" of Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham, is mistakenly known as a sundial of the Incan retreat (he believed it resembled the Intihuatana found in Pisac, and assumed the Intihuatana at Machu Picchu was used in the same way). However, it has been concluded that this name is inaccurate. The Incas looked at the horizons to calculate the time of sunrise and sunset, not the gnomons. Even so, the mad swarm of tourists and Ministry of Culture whispered to one another about the origin of the Intihuatana stone--believing it to be a sundial just as Bingham had inferred.

Intihuatana, the Supposed Sundial (Sunday June 21, 2015)

Winter Solstice Selfie (Sunday June 21, 2015)

After the much anticipated sunrise, I met up with Dr. Brown, Savannah, and Michael and we toured Machu Picchu at a much slower pace. We seemed to stop and examine every rock's orientation, crevice's reason for being, and mountain-matching stone (experiencing this is much more interesting than reading a sentence about doing so, I promise). One thing I found particularly captivating is how the Incas positioned stones to point towards important mountain tops surrounding the city and the sunrises during the winter and summer solstice as well as the autumn and spring equinox. To the untrained eye, one would think the Incas placed these stones in mere random spots throughout Machu Picchu.

Carved Rock Pointing Towards Winter Solstice (Sunday June 21, 2015)

Carved Rock Pointing Towards Winter Solstice (Sunday June 21, 2015)

Do not fall victim to such folly, though, there are so many more mysteries yet to be discovered.

Incan Foundation Fracture (Sunday June 21, 2015) 

Ceque Lines of Cusco (Sunday June 21, 2015) 

Terraces on Machu Picchu (Sunday June 21, 2015)

THE Machu Picchu (Sunday June 21, 2015)

Victory (Sunday June 21, 2015)

 P.S. Happy Father's Day.