Grandpa and Grandma went to Machu Picchu in Peru. No one knows for sure why the ancient people built it and how they lived there; high in the mountains - a four day journey from the capital of Cusco.
Two thousand feet above the rumbling Urubamba river, at cloudbase, the ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses. Built for beauty and harmony with the cosmos. All in a remarkable state of preservation, because when the Spanish Colonialist came the Inca's destroyed and hid the road from Cusco. A secret for over 400 years.
In 1911, an adventurer from the US, Hiram Bingham, persuaded a local family to show him the way. Hiram took pictures of the site and wrote a story about it in National Geographic Magazine.
Now people regularly visit and marvel at all of the stone and waterworks. It is a most beautiful- magical place.
Here is a picture of the Inca Rail train. A Public Van linked Cusco to the train station in Urubamba.
Here is a picture of the mountains. They are very steep.
Here is a picture of the stone terracing. The works extend all the way down to the river from the peak. Most are still hidden - buried under the jungle. Back when people lived here; the rain could pour down the sides like a big cascade fountain.
This is a sacred place for water. The builders constructed channels from springs and linked them with canals from the nearby, and higher, peaks. There are 17 fountains. During high flow - water could be diverted to flow down the sides.
Here is a picture of a big rock incorporated into a building. Because they thought the world was sacred and alive, elements of harmony and flow are found throughout the site.
Here is a picture of some of the fine rock work. The people used pieces of hard quartz to carve the big stones so they would fit together perfectly.
Here is a picture of a Llama resting. She has her forehead supported by the soft grass.
Loads of Love.
