Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA
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Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA |
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April 21 & 22 - (Aguas Calientes) Machu Picchu, Peru |
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The fabled "Lost City of the Incas"- Machu Picchu!! What a wonderful visit we had at Machu Picchu. We took a train from Cuzco to the little jumping-off town of Aguas Calientes. This train is the only way you can get to Machu Picchu. Then a short bus ride, and in perfect weather we were at one of the premier destinations in South America.
This settlement of the Inca people was never found by the Spanish Conquistadors, because of the steep mountains leading up to and surrounding it. The elevation is not very high, only about 8,000 ft., but the ruggedness of the area prevented its discovery and destruction by the Spanish. The mountains forming the saddle holding the village are almost straight up and down for maybe 2,000 ft. Then the mountain towering above the village has a trail all the way to the top. Some of our group climbed it, but this is not the place for the faint hearted. Machu Picchu was occupied in the 1500's but its people left in about 1572. It was abandoned for centuries, and only found by chance in 1912 by an archeologist. It has been very significantly restored, since it was overgrown by jungle when it was found. It has some of the most amazing rock walls for inhabitants, their terraced fields, and their animals. By the end of the day, climbing up and down on rock stairs, we had some tight and sore leg muscles.
This site also has some of the fine fitting of large stones, to a degree that is hard to understand how these people could work stone so beautifully with only primitive tools. It is still unknown how the builders accomplished such fine joints with such large rocks.
On the train ride back, I realized that the Urubamba River starts near Cuzco, which is 10,600 ft. in elevation, and flows all the way down to about 6,000 ft. elevation, below the village of Machu Picchu. It starts as a small stream, and by the time it reaches the area of Machu Picchu it is a raging river. No kayaks, canoes, or rafts could survive this river. The Urubamba finally flows into the Amazon. |
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