We arrived at Macchu Picchu early (around 6am) to find the entire site shrouded in fog and pretty much invisible. We hired a lovely guide outside the park entrance who showed us around the area for 2 hours for about $20AUD, and whom Grey constantly questioned, following his readings of Hugh Thompson, John Hemming and Hiram Biggam. His name was Rhider and he spoke Spanish, Quechuan, English, French and German. Amazing.
When the fog cleared, it was a great site. At the risk of sounding uncultured, I really liked seeing the llamas, which were brought up to the top of the mountain to keep the grass short! It was also interesting to see that a huge proportion of the site remains covered in jungle – unusual for a site of such status… Rhider said that although Macchu Picchu makes a lot from ticket sales etc, the money is collected by the federal, rather than the district, government. Therefore, all of the proceeds get pilfered away in Lima before they can be reinvested in the site itself.
It was obvious from listening to Rhider and the many tour groups who walked past us that Macchu Picchu is self-promoted as a highly spiritual place, however it was actually just a winter holiday resort one of the Inca Emperors which fell into disuse after his death.
Also interesting is the fact that there is a stone quarry up the top of the mountain! Convenient!
 |
| I bought a cool Macchu Picchu hat |
 |
| Ta-dahh... our first (non) glimpse of the site |
 |
| A ceremonial area in the town where the mummies of young girls were found |
 |
| An unexplained, mysterious wall protuberance |
 |
| Part of a temple wall subsiding into soft ground |
 |
| Crop terraces, we counted 48 in this area |
 |
| Terraces with llama |
 |
| Hours later when the fog cleared we finally got a shot |
No comments:
Post a Comment