Machu Picchu

April 18, 2010

After many rain soaked delays Machu Pichu finally reopened. In January and February the rain soaked hills and mountains started to slide wiping out villages, railways and roads. Thousands of tourists were stranded in the town closest to MP, Aguas Calientes. Machu Pichu was closed for almost 2 months while they put the access routes back together. It is not totally functioning yet but pretty close according to what locals have told us.

Machu Picchu was kept from the eyes of the world for many hundreds of years until Mr. Bingham was shown its location by a shepherds son in the 1920's. Even the Spanish couldn't discover its location because their access was diverted and they were led to believe it was in another location. They had heard rumor but no one ever gave up its location. Can you only imagine the sensation Bingham had when he first laid eyes on it.

Today, that is hardly the case. Being one of the world's wonders has its costs. With up to 2500 people arriving daily the infrastructure is there to accomodate the backpacker hiking the Inca trail for 4 days or the wheeled tourist routing up the valley by train.

We of course were one of the 2500. Still, my feelings of awe, with all of its majestic sights remain with me. If I ever repeated a cliche, here goes, "the photos just do not do it justice". We arrrived at 6:00 AM hoping to see a fabulous sunrise. But instead we found ourselves sitting atop the clouds. Still a wonderfull view, it gradually cleared.

Since the Inca's did not have a written language not much is known about Machu Picchu. Most of the information that is historically accepted about the Inca's has come through the accounts from various Spanish historians that accompanied the explorers and conquistadors. Please check out more of the pictures with our Picassa link.

Chau!

Todd and Kristy