Machu Picchu: A Place Of Grandeur And Mystery In The Andes

Travel Article

It’s time for another break from Covidland. This time it’s in Peru, South America.

What can one say? Machu Picchu is one of the most scenic places in the Americas. It is set in the lush rainforest of the highly rugged Andes, but at the same time, it is a most thought-provoking place. Archaeologists believe that this ancient Incan site was created as a temple for the Incan king, Pachacuti and was to be a monument to the gods.

The village of Machu Picchu is officially called Aguas Calientes (boiling waters). Our hotel was right there, adjacent to the rushing Urubamba River. The only way to the site is a 25-minute bus ride up a hair-raising, switchback gravel road (no cars are allowed).

Walking around these ruins built in the 1400s and seeing how vast this mountain citadel was spellbinding. It was only discovered in 1911 by an American historian named Bingham.

This temple speaks of the Incan sense of spirituality, their closeness to the gods and their connection to the heavens above. They used all this to enable them to plan the seeding and harvesting of their crops and create a unique and inspirational construction site.

We saw the Temple Of The Sun, which had a window through which, at the winter solstice, the light shining from the "sun gate" in a distant mountain would strike that window and go directly through on the day to hit a stone.

We had an architect with us on the trip, and he was amazed that they could place these giant boulders on a steep mountain slope with the granite pieces sitting flush with one another. The joints are so tight in many places that you cannot insert a credit card between the boulders.

The physical beauty of Machu Pichu is evident. However, there are a few precautions to take. Firstly, to fly into the region, you fly into the city of Cuzco, which is over 11,000 feet(3350 meters) in elevation. Altitude is a problem for many people. Even at over 7700 feet, breathing can be laboured. Some people on our tour were stuck in their hotel rooms on oxygen, suffering from altitude sickness.

The other thing to consider is the food. You do not eat raw fruits and vegetables, only cooked food. In fact, only brush your teeth with bottled water. It may be fine for the locals whose systems are used to endemic bacteria, but most from other countries are not. We had a few people who suffered from gastrointestinal issues.