Peruvian Adventure Series 3 of 9 – Day Four 5/14/2008 Machu Picchu, Peru {Travel}

Welcome to Travel Tuesday! Today I’m going to walk you through Day Four – Machu Picchu. This is a nine part series of my excursion to Peru. If you haven’t read the Travel Tuesday entries please take the time to check it out.

Just a quick recap:

Sunday, May 11, 2008 Day 1 - Flying from LAX to Lima, Peru

Monday, May 12 2008 Day 2 – Sightseeing in Lima

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Day 3 - Flying from Lima to Cusco

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Day 4 – Traveling by train to Machu Picchu

Thursday, May 15, 2008 Day 5 – Tour Pisac Market & Ollantaytambo

Friday, May 16, 2008 Day 6 – Tour City & Ruins Tour

Saturday, May 17, 2008 Day 7 -Flying to Puerto Maldonado, boat ride to Posada Amazonas

Sunday, May 18, 2008 Day 8 – Tour Tres Chimbadas Lake

Monday, May 19, 2008 Day 9 – Walking tour to the Clay Lick

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Day 10 – Airfare One Way Puerto Maldonado to Lima then Lima to LAX

In this blog entry I’m going to walk you through my day 4 in Peru at Machu Picchu.

Let’s begin. Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Day 4 – Traveling by train to Machu Picchu

I woke at 4:30 am which is like waking up at 1 am California time. Talk about crazy! Once again I rushed to shower and head upstairs for light breakfast as my train departed on-time at 6:30.  My personal guide took me straight to the train station where I quickly boarded. I knew that the train ride was roughly about 8 hours long so I brought a few snacks with me and had my camera out in case I saw something interesting. I think these next couple of photographs will speak for themselves.

I took the photograph below through the train window. I really like seeing the landscape in the background and the women in the foreground with her baby on her back working hard keeping those cows in line. She wasn’t alone as she had her dog helping.

View from my seat of the front of the train going around the bend.

During the 8 hour train ride we passed by so many cities/towns/villages. I saw a few men and women standing their selling their goods.

We passed by some glaciers, too. If you look a the photograph below, you’ll see at the top what looks like white snow. Well folks that is a glacier. Hard to believe but Peru has many glaciers.

Peru is home to 70 per cent of the world’s glaciers; their disappearance will create problems for local communities. Immediate threats include flooding caused by the melting glaciers and accompanying landslides, while longer term changes in water supply could lead to loss of crops and livestock. Qori Kalis is located in the Cusco region of southeast Peru, and is one of many glaciers retreating on the Quelccaya Ice Cap, the largest body of ice in the tropics.

One special portrait I took while on the train through the glass remind you was this women below. I found her at first to look a little scary but when you look closer she looks as friendly. The flowers she carried were beautifully bloomed and beautiful as I’m sure her spirit is.

We passed by these ruins which I can’t recall but I was told if you are doing the Inca Trail you would be seeing these up close.

Shortly after the ruins comes a beautiful water.

The last hour in the train and I’m starting to go nuts. I get a little tired of sitting in one space. But thank goodness the last hour went by fast. We exit the train and rush down the street over the bridge to take the bus to Machu Picchu. Not really much time for snapping photographs as we were being rushed because of time. I did manage to capture a few of the vendors outside.

The Main Gate where all travelers first entered Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu stands 2,430 m above sea-level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, in an extraordinarily beautiful setting. It was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height; its giant walls, terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments. The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna.

Below is a stitched panoramic of Machu Picchu. The photograph below contains 11 photographs applied and stitched in Photoshop. I had to get down the massive panoramic view from this location.

I had to have proof I was their. So I stuck my camera on my tripod and took a self portrait.

Photograph below is of the Guard House. The one thing that seemed to amaze me is the little connection I felt walking the grounds. It did get a bit scary for me as I was walking around alone. But if you look at the photograph below, you’ll see a green bar towards bottom in the middle. I wonder if they were speaking to me.

Anther portrait taken by some other tourist. I have to remind myself to diet!! I image my trip to the Amazon will help me loose weight.

I had to include some plants and flowers in my photograph. I love the hint of purple in the flowers below.

Below is the western agricultural zone. I would be so scared to harvest those crops that once grew along side of this cliff.

This llama was coming out from the main square. I got lucky and photographed him just as he started to walk and turn the corner.

The Sacred Rock this giant flat stone takes on the same shape as the mountain Putucusi that looms behind it. The small square in front of it may have been where poetry and music recitals took place.

Rio Urubamaba River, the Urubamba River is a river in Peru. A partially navigable head water of the Amazon River, it rises in the Andes to the south-east of Cusco near the Puno Region border, where it is called the Vilcanota River. In the Sacred Valley, between Pisac and Ollantaytambo, it is also called the Wilcamayu (sacred river). It flows north-north-west for 724 kilometers before coalescing with the lower Apurimac River to form the Ucayali River.

Road from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu, Peru

Temple of the Three Window is located west of the main square, this sacred temple is known for its huge walls and three trapezoidal-shaped windows through which the sun’s rays would pass illuminating the “Sacred Plaza” beyond.

This was taken at the Temple of the Condor. This temple honors the condor in an abstract way, by using the natural rock formation as the wings and implanting a triangular stone in the ground for the body. Most interesting are the white semi-circular stones placed around the condor’s head to indicate its ruff.

The llama’s are know to be the lawn mowers.

Well known tree in the main square.

Anther one of my favorite photographs of all the layers in Machu Picchu. The people below look extremely little compared to the ruins.

I would suggest that everyone should visit Machu Picchu. It’s truly a wonderful place. If I was going to do it again, I would spend a little more money and stay in Aguas Calientes and then visit Machu Picchu early morning. I would of loved to sit on the grounds and soak it all in. So if you travel all this way, please don’t do what I’ve done unknowingly rush through and regret not spending enough time.

This concludes Day 4 The city in the clouds “Machu Picchu”. It was a very long exhausting day but tomorrow I’m off to “Sacred Valley of the Incas” and tour of Ollantaytambo and a little shopping at Pisac Market where the local Indians meet to see their merchandise.

Anthony Lujan Photography
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