Machu Picchu and Goodbyes at School

After a combined 4 nights in a clinic for tourists with a drip in my arm, I managed to recover enough to join the trekkers in our group at Ollantaytambo. From here, we took the ´Machu Picchu train´ to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountains that conceal the Lost City of the Incas. We rose early the next day to take a bus up to Machu Picchu, about a 15 minute trip. On the bus I spoke to a tour guide I was sitting next to, ´Guido´, whose name I found amusing on account of his profession. We arrived at Machu Picchu before sunrise. As you can see, we climbed to a great vantage point where we could appreciate the sun rising over the mountains to bathe this incredible place in light...



The mountain in this picture is ´Huanu Picchu´, or Young Mountain, in the Quechua, the language of the Incas. The mountain is the shape of a face, said to be the face of an Inca who is gazing at the sky. Machu Picchu means Old Mountain, and is the name of the mountain that was behind me when I took this photo.

Our tour guide took us around the city, explaining the process by which the Incas built this place, and some of the theories that try to explain the purpose of the city. The stones were painstakingly shaped by rubbing them against eachother or using sand, and hauled from quarries found in certain parts of the area. There are a few structures that are theorised to be temples to the sun.

 

The last few days have also involved saying goodbye to the children at the schools. One of the projects yet to be completed is a mural the wall of the smaller school. I helped the artist by starting off the tiger and the giraffe. As you can see they require a bit of work still, but generously the boss lady said I hadn´t done too bad a job.