Posts from the ‘Travel Musts’ Category

Machu Picchu – A great civil engineering must see site.

A UNESCO World Heritage site and a place of exceptional natural beauty. According to the historians it is either a citadel or a town built and lived on by the Incas between the years 1430-1540 but nobody knows what was its real purpose and why it was abandoned. In the Spanish colonial times,  the locals knew about it , but it was never “discovered” by the Spanish until Hiram Bingham from Yale University “re-discovered” it in 1911 on a Yale expedition to Peru. Because of this it became a main tourist attraction in South America and the further expeditions brought it world attention. Today, even though one cannot see writings on the wall, statues or art at the site, Machu Picchu is still considered a great work of civil engineering, urban planning, water distribution and design with a view to die for.

Here is a video showing majority of the archeological site of Machu Picchu or at least the main part of it.

There are many ways to reach Machu Picchu. Everyone has to take the train to Aguas Calientes (now called Machu Picchu pueblo) to be able to take the bus that brings you up to the Machu Picchu archaeological site. Please take note that to get to Aguas Calientes the only way is to walk it or by train. There is no paved road to Aguas Calientes so you cannot go by bus or car.

The main options are a train from Cusco (Poroy station) or From Ollantaytambo station. The station from Cusco is the Poroy Station which is a few kilometers away from Cusco and can take 4 hours to Aguas Calientes or from Ollantaytambo station which is only a train ride of 1 hour 30 minutes to Aguas Calientes. I took the Vistadrome train from Ollantaytambo station and the views are wonderful.  A normal roundtrip price is around 150 USD but the price varies depends on the time you are leaving etc. You can check the prices at the website of Perurail for all your options – www.perurail.com.

On the way to Aquas Calientes on the Vistadome Train from Ollantaytambo train station.

While taking pictures of the site suddenly a llama pop right in front of me !

After trekking for 4 hours and just before the site closed we saw two rainbows and was lucky that one of the rainbows ended at one of the huts right at the archeological site of Machu Picchu. Of course I just had to take a picture of it.

Rainbow on the terraces of Machu Picchu

Part of the town where we see the commercial and residential area of Machu Picchu.

This is an example of the steps going down on the residential section of the Inca town. My friends Alex, Ramon, Chris and Jose and our tour guide are in the picture to illustrate the depth and to show the steep incline of the stone pathway.

The Terraced land for agriculture. The Incas were self sufficient up here for food and water.

And here is a video with my friend chris just letting everyone know that we were very happy to be there. Not is it only a highlight of our trip to Peru but definitely a world must see place.