The lost city of the Inkas

First off, an apology, because photos will have to wait. Your patience is appreciated.

Secondly, I don´t know how photos will help anyway, because every single photo I´ve seen of Machu Picchu fail miserably at conveying the real majesty and beauty that stunned me to silence.

People (including yours truly) will tell you over and over how marvelous it is but you really will not understand until you go there for yourself. Please. GO. But I guess you all have jobs and school and such, so in the meantime, proceed with my feeble attempt at recounting the experience.

The train ride from Cusco to Aguas Calientes was 4 hours long. But no matter, it felt like 2, because 1. we were just so damn excited and 2. I sat with 3 remarkably entertaining people. Bob and Nancy, in their 70s, from Alaska, US, for whom Peru is their 41st country they´ve visited! I asked how come they are such big travelers, and Nancy replied matter-of-factly: Most Alaskans came to Alaska, they are not born there, they are adventurers. They (well, mostly Bob, really) have so many stories that I found myself in a dilemma. Do I look at Bob while he´s telling me about his friends at the hostel in Mexico or do I let my eyes soak in the beauty outside as the train jogs next to the rushing river? I learned so much from my companions. More musings about them in a later post...

Once in Aguas Calientes, we needed to board a bus that ascends a windy road around the mountain to put us in Machu Picchu.

And like I said. I was silenced. Everything I´ve heard about it is true.

It is that beautiful.

The abandoned city sits on a crest of the mountain Machu Picchu (no one really knows what the city was called so they just named it after the mountain). Look up and around, you will see mountain ranges whose tops are concealed by clouds. Look down, there´s the Urubamba River. Around the site they approximate about 70 Inca cities. This one, Machu Picchu, was built for nobilities and housed temples and residences.

I sensed a lingering sadness there. Perhaps I was swayed by the tranquility and the location. But maybe also because all the work was never finished. After 70 years of building they had to leave the city for reasons still unknown. Major scholars theorized the exodus was due to civil war, not the Spanish invasion (which happened 35 years later).

One remarkable thing I appreciated the most was how they built around the natural setting of rocks and trees there. I have one picture of a structure, which I will post at some point, where you can see they didn´t bother moving the giant rock and instead just formed the wall around and on top of it. It strikes me as smart and respectful.

After the tour (which was very informative and helpful), my new friend Satoko (whose birthday was yesterday! What a good way to spend your birthday!) and I wondered around, not really talking much, for we were too taken by the sight. If we did say anything to each other it was in snippets like this.

F: Wow.
S: Yeah. Wow.
F: Yeah.
S: Beautiful.
F: I don´t want to leave
S: Me either.
F: How do you say beautiful in Japanese?

Our guide said the city was built with white granite - after all it was for the nobility. A lot of people visit the site during full moon, because the city glows in the moonlight.

I would love to see that. I would love to see MaPi during a full moon night. And during a sunrise. And sunset...

Our guide also said people visit because the city, since it was intended for worship, has good vibrations, energy, magic.

I believe him. Beauty is magic indeed.