Our second day in Aguas Calientes saw us exploring what, for me, was the main reason for visiting Peru: the ruins at Machu Picchu. Surprisingly, these ruins did not come to widespread attention until 1911, when Hiram Bingham stumbled upon them (after a tip from some locals of Incan descent) while searching for a different city. The stunning architectural and engineering skills required to build this city, combined with the strikingly beautiful setting in the midst of the rugged Andes, make these some of the most spectacular ruins I've seen.
Before exploring the ruins themselves, I took a short hike to the Incan Drawbridge (Katherine only came partway, since the Lonely Planet Guide's description of the trail as "scenic but level" proved, once again, to be innacurate). It's worth noting that
the Inca Trail, a path from the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, is a bit of a misnomer: it's actually part of a vast network of trails throughout the Andes, some of which are still being unearthed today. The trail to the Incan Drawbridge is the start of one such trail; it's impossible to hike beyond the bridge, where the trail seems to continue, somehow, along a sheer rock face of the mountain behind the ruins.
After this brief interlude, we began exploring the ruins themselves, which are broadly divided into three sectors. The agricultural sector is formed by a sequence of terraces used for cultivating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in Incan times; it's now a grazing area for alpacas. The ceremonial sector features the most impressive stonework, and consists of several temples and various artifacts used for astronomical observation. The residential and industrial sector is larger, and apparently was where the Incas lived and worked. This picture shows the ceremonial sector on the left, and the residential and industrial sector on the right. A few agricultural terraces are visible in the foreground.
One of the most impressive aspects of Machu Picchu is the skill of the Incan stonemasons. In the ceremonial sector especially, mortar was not used; instead, stones were carved to perfectly match one another. In some cases, the invisible parts of the stones featured knobs and abscesses designed to fit perfectly together, enhancing the jigsaw puzzle effect of Incan construction. This style of construction proved, in some cases, to be more resilient than the subsequent Spanish construction: one of the churches we visited in Cuzco had been restored more than once, after earthquake damage, but the Incan ruins on which the church was built (which the Spanish tried, and failed, to destroy) remain.
At the end of the day, we hiked back down the mountain and visited a charming museum and botanical garden on the valley floor. The museum, especially, was worth a visit: it expounded upon many of the theories explaining the purpose and construction of Machu Picchu, and described the archaeological excavation there that began in 1911 and continues to this day. I think we were glad to have had two nights in Aguas Calientes, because it made our visit to the ruins much more leisurely (and we couldn't have left after one night anayway, as it turns out, due to a railway strike). But there is very little to do in Aguas Calientes other than hiking Putucusi and visiting the ruins, so we found ourselves twiddling our thumbs on Thursday after visiting the handicraft market -- as in most tourist destinations, all of the souvenirs begin to look the same after awhile.
Our second day in Aguas Calientes saw us exploring what, for me, was the main reason for visiting Peru: the ruins at Machu Picchu. Surprisingly, these ruins did not come to widespread attention until 1911, when Hiram Bingham stumbled upon them (after a tip from some locals of Incan descent) while searching for a different city. The stunning architectural and engineering skills required to build this city, combined with the strikingly beautiful setting in the midst of the rugged Andes, make these some of the most spectacular ruins I've seen.
Before exploring the ruins themselves, I took a short hike to the Incan Drawbridge (Katherine only came partway, since the Lonely Planet Guide's description of the trail as "scenic but level" proved, once again, to be innacurate). It's worth noting that the Inca Trail, a path from the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, is a bit of a misnomer: it's actually part of a vast network of trails throughout the Andes, some of which are still being unearthed today. The trail to the Incan Drawbridge is the start of one such trail; it's impossible to hike beyond the bridge, where the trail seems to continue, somehow, along a sheer rock face of the mountain behind the ruins.
After this brief interlude, we began exploring the ruins themselves, which are broadly divided into three sectors. The agricultural sector is formed by a sequence of terraces used for cultivating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in Incan times; it's now a grazing area for alpacas. The ceremonial sector features the most impressive stonework, and consists of several temples and various artifacts used for astronomical observation. The residential and industrial sector is larger, and apparently was where the Incas lived and worked. This picture shows the ceremonial sector on the left, and the residential and industrial sector on the right. A few agricultural terraces are visible in the foreground.
One of the most impressive aspects of Machu Picchu is the skill of the Incan stonemasons. In the ceremonial sector especially, mortar was not used; instead, stones were carved to perfectly match one another. In some cases, the invisible parts of the stones featured knobs and abscesses designed to fit perfectly together, enhancing the jigsaw puzzle effect of Incan construction. This style of construction proved, in some cases, to be more resilient than the subsequent Spanish construction: one of the churches we visited in Cuzco had been restored more than once, after earthquake damage, but the Incan ruins on which the church was built (which the Spanish tried, and failed, to destroy) remain.
At the end of the day, we hiked back down the mountain and visited a charming museum and botanical garden on the valley floor. The museum, especially, was worth a visit: it expounded upon many of the theories explaining the purpose and construction of Machu Picchu, and described the archaeological excavation there that began in 1911 and continues to this day. I think we were glad to have had two nights in Aguas Calientes, because it made our visit to the ruins much more leisurely (and we couldn't have left after one night anayway, as it turns out, due to a railway strike). But there is very little to do in Aguas Calientes other than hiking Putucusi and visiting the ruins, so we found ourselves twiddling our thumbs on Thursday after visiting the handicraft market -- as in most tourist destinations, all of the souvenirs begin to look the same after awhile.
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