Foreword:
Please navigate this site by clicking on the separate days of the trip, as recorded in the archive on the right side of the page.
We hope that this tale of our brief adventure in the southern hemisphere will entertain you, teach you and make you want to make your own pilgrimage to the Land of the Inca.
Thursday May 10, 2007
We got up and ate at the hotel, just like every day this trip, which is very nice – good, free food within a 30-second walk from your bedroom. Just like home, except for the whole no washing dishes, four types of fresh fruit juice, all-you-can-eat part. Then, we went down to the train station, a 5-minute walk, and waited for the train to come from
After a while longer, I started talking to Steve about his job as an ocean-going tug boat captain. It was very interesting and I enjoyed learning about his work tugging large barges all over the west coast of
When the train came, we got on and the car we were assigned to was empty except for our group and a couple others, including a tour guide from another company. He said his group was sitting on a different car, and asked if he could tell us stuff along the way because he wanted to guide even if his group wasn’t there. We were glad to learn from him. He explained that the porters, while they had to work hard, like their job because it pays way better than any other job they can get and they only have to do it as often as they want. Most do a few treks a month to supplement their income from agricultural work.
As we went down the valley, we saw it slowly turn from a wide plain to a narrow canyon, with
The train stopped in Aguas Calientes, the town below the ruins, so named (it means “hot waters” in Spanish) because there are
Instead of going straight to the main city complex, Harry guided us up a modern set of stone steps through some trees which blocked our view of the ruins. That way, we came out of the woods on the trail above the main ruins, giving us a better first look. We walked out onto an overlook and I was speechless. The beauty and majesty of the site is amazing, as it is nestled between two large mountain peaks:
Instead of going down to the ruins, we hiked along the base of
The river is an ever-present part of the site, because it flows next to the base of the mountain, around
After the hike to the bridge, we walked back down to the main gate for lunch since you aren’t supposed to eat in the park itself. We pulled out our money-saving tuna fish feast and enjoyed it quite a lot. We ate under the green umbrellas set up on a modern terrace, then, when Daddy started talking to a guy who turned out to be a fellow photographer, Crystal, Mother and I wandered down some stone steps and found a cool, shady stone-foundation bowery where we rested for a few minutes until it was time to meet everyone again for our tour of the city. We decided a hammock would have been nice in that cool, shady bowery.
We toured all over Machu Picchu, seeing the 16 water fountains near the Temple of the Sun, seeing the beautiful stone work and the playful way the water was channeled down the hillside. We also went to the
We walked around some more and saw several “echo” rocks, which were carved in the same shape as the surrounding peaks. We then went to the Temple of the Condor, where the natural rock formations was slightly altered to show a condor in flight, with a carved stone, making the head and neck, placed on the ground close to two huge “wings” – stones that sprawl out, up and away from the head. Then, the tour was over, but our family stayed for a few more minutes exploring the housing of the area before we had to get on the bus to go down. We saw three chinchillas, rabbit-like rodents that live in the complex, and some llamas, which wander all over the site serving as photo subjects and grass trimmers. The llamas also freely fertilize the grass, so you have to watch your step as you walk around. The last bus leaves at
Crystal and I stopped by our room at the hotel briefly, and then went off to explore the town. We wandered through the tourist market, where
We went back to the hotel and met the whole group for dinner. We went to a place in town and I ordered cui, or guinea pig,
After dinner, Steve and Geri said good-bye to everyone, as they were leaving Friday morning to go back to the states. Steve came up to
Friday May 11, 2007
I got up at
We were going to hike to Intipunku, or The Sun Gate, the pass on the mountain east of
We waited at the Sun Gate until about
We went back to the main gate and met Mother, Crystal and the others as they got off the
We all got our picture taken on top, and we are all proud of making the big hike. On the way down, we had to come off a steep, steep set of steps going down several terraces. The steps were only about 5 inches deep in places, which made putting your feet sideways the best way to walk them. The hike down took almost as long as the hike up because the constant descent took a toll on our joints, making it hard to go very fast. We had spectacular views throughout the whole hike, so stopping to rest always had two rewards – new energy and a prolonged view! We made it to the trailhead about
After exploring for a while, we met Harry, said goodbye to John and Jamie, who were staying an extra day at Machu Picchu, then got on the bus with Harry and Sally (yes, I made jokes about that time when they met…) and rode back to Aguas Calientes, saying goodbye to Machu Picchu, as well. The ruins almost immediately became almost like a beautiful dream in our memories, such is the almost unbelievable grandeur of the ruins in their mountain setting.
We had lunch at the Aguas Calientes train station (
Once back in
Saturday May 12, 2007
We got up and ate at the hotel, then Daddy went out to take pictures of people in
We then wandered back to the market (on the way I bought a delicious piece of bread at a panadería, a bakery) and we bought some things like woven belts for my sisters (and Crystal) and a woven alpaca-fiber wall hanging for our home. After shopping, we walked back to the hotel and met Daddy and Sally and went to the airport.
The flight to
When we got to
Barranca is a colonial-style place with lots of buildings built after the 1890s war between
We got back on the bus (another Merced Sprinter) and drove through the
We then drove downtown and saw the central plaza and cathedral. Downtown
After the plaze, we toured a Franciscan monastery, which was one of the few buildings to survive the earthquake. It was gorgeous inside, but my favorite part was the catacombs underneath the building. The catacombs are in a section of the monastery that uses the underground structures to protect the building from earthquakes, with arched ceilings and special columns built to spread the out the shock of the quake. In the catacombs were lots of bones and skulls.
I was impressed with what happened when I walked into the catacombs … I felt the Holy Ghost. This makes me think about why I love cemeteries, because I have a testimony of the resurrection, which makes death not as much of a sad thing. I know that one day all those people will be able to live again, thanks to Christ’s atonement, and I am reminded of that fact every time I go into a cemetery.
After the catacombs, we saw more of the monastery, including a huge library full of books from the 1500s on. The library reminded me of something on the Harry Potter movies, with circular staircases, huge book stands and that great musty book smell.
When we left the monastery, we went to a museum with a huge private collection of Incan and pre-Incan artifacts, most of them collected by a rich family that paid people for the spoils of grave robbery. I was amazed at the sheer number (about 40,000) of pieces of pottery, which were sculpted into all sorts of people and animal shapes. The majority of the pieces were found in burial sites throughout
After the museum, our family got dropped off at the Indian Market (where we were a week earlier) and the guide and driver took Sally back to the airport. We found the rest of our souvenirs (I bought an alpaca tie!) and ate dinner at Pepe’s, a fast-food place that was pretty good. Then, we walked to a grocery store and bought some candy to take home to people at work, and we also got some aji pepper sauce for Daddy, because he became quite enamored with it during the trip. Then, at
Sunday May 13, 2007
After a couple hours, we flew to
Finally, we got to fly home, but when we arrived at