Dude. Machu Picchu. Wow. "Majestic" is really all there is to say (though I'm sure I'll say more). The whole place makes the most wondrous photographs and memories. I took 133 photos today (Still below my daily quota of 170!)
We arrived at about 10 am (no sunrise rush here!), wandering a bit at first. We knew from the guidebook that it was possible to climb Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind the town in all the photos, so we were headed that direction. Hiked it. About an hour up. It was very steep -- in one place, there were just stone stairs as wide as my shoulders and steep like a ladder. We were on all fours a good part of the last part up. It was also VERY worth it. That trek really made the trip to MP for me. Just... breathtaking views of MP (the city). Once at the top, everyone was part of this great community of sweaty, smelly, tired hikers and amateur photographers. Find a rock and have a seat - you've earned it. Only 400 are allowed up per day, so it's one great way to avoid the ~3000 people in MP at a time.
While there are a lot of people, it's not very dense. So, no, you don't get the place to yourself, but I wouldn't say it was crowded. Plus, there are so many individual rooms, nooks, terraces, and backside staircases, it is possible to feel isolated. So yes. Arrive early (I'm sure sunrise would be great), stay late, climb Huayna Picchu, take a guided tour...it's great. Amazing. Truly.
Ali, our guide, took us around in the afternoon to see the sights and explain. The sad...and impresive... thing is hot little there really is to explain. We just don't know that much! Archaeologists have excavated, studied, surmised, and conjectured. But since the Inca themselves have left no records of the place, the sad truth is we'll probably never know.
Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peru. Show all posts
Monday, July 9, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Peru Blog: 6/2 5:25 pm, Yucay
Continuing with the Peru logs...
I wasn't in Urubamba before.
This hotel used to be an hacienda -- a town within walls -- before it was a fancy tourist town within walls. But that's what it is; there's a restaurant, two bars (w/live music), a church, a museum, and even our own handicraft market. There's another "unsanctioned" market outside the hotel featuring very insistent saleswomen and girls. They tend to swarm, and we've had to be quite firm.
I particularly remember one little girl selling these awful finger puppets. She was the most insistent of the lot...
We started in Pisac, a huge handicraft market. There are hundreds of stalls, but really much less variety of goods. We did all find some nice gifts and souvenirs, though. I'm disappointed that it was all we did in Pisac. My guidebooks tell me there are some great ruins just beyond the city.
I was very put off by the hard sale tactics. It's difficult to get used to; I guess it's what they feel they have to do. They can be so plaintive, so desperate. There was one fellow who offered to sell me "real, original Inca pottery"! It was adorable, really. He walked to the back of the shop, crouched under the counter, moved aside some rags to show... The Secret Trove! Sadly, after talking to Bob it seems he reveals his secrets to everyone, not just his special friends like us.
We then went to Ollantay (the town) and Ollantaytambo (the fortress). It's amazing how much of the Inca town has survived - not just the archeology and ruins, but the town itself. Many of the homes are built on Incan foundations and the aqueduct that waters the town, too.
The Inca aqueducts are still present and running, but they count on ice and snow runoff from the Cordillera Blanca. Want disturbing evidence of climate change? It hasn't snowed in those mountains for 25 years. (I should note here that Eric heard what our guide said differently. He heard that the quantity of snow had been diminishing for 25 years. Caveat lector).
The Ollan. fortress, in my experience, is pretty much a bunch of stairs. This altitude is murder. 20 stairs and my heart was pounding. Eric said the interesting thing was that your muscles don't ache, but your heart is racing and you're gasping for air.
Speaking of hiking, Machu Picchu is tomorrow.
I wasn't in Urubamba before.
This hotel used to be an hacienda -- a town within walls -- before it was a fancy tourist town within walls. But that's what it is; there's a restaurant, two bars (w/live music), a church, a museum, and even our own handicraft market. There's another "unsanctioned" market outside the hotel featuring very insistent saleswomen and girls. They tend to swarm, and we've had to be quite firm.
I particularly remember one little girl selling these awful finger puppets. She was the most insistent of the lot...
We started in Pisac, a huge handicraft market. There are hundreds of stalls, but really much less variety of goods. We did all find some nice gifts and souvenirs, though. I'm disappointed that it was all we did in Pisac. My guidebooks tell me there are some great ruins just beyond the city.
I was very put off by the hard sale tactics. It's difficult to get used to; I guess it's what they feel they have to do. They can be so plaintive, so desperate. There was one fellow who offered to sell me "real, original Inca pottery"! It was adorable, really. He walked to the back of the shop, crouched under the counter, moved aside some rags to show... The Secret Trove! Sadly, after talking to Bob it seems he reveals his secrets to everyone, not just his special friends like us.
We then went to Ollantay (the town) and Ollantaytambo (the fortress). It's amazing how much of the Inca town has survived - not just the archeology and ruins, but the town itself. Many of the homes are built on Incan foundations and the aqueduct that waters the town, too.
The Inca aqueducts are still present and running, but they count on ice and snow runoff from the Cordillera Blanca. Want disturbing evidence of climate change? It hasn't snowed in those mountains for 25 years. (I should note here that Eric heard what our guide said differently. He heard that the quantity of snow had been diminishing for 25 years. Caveat lector).
The Ollan. fortress, in my experience, is pretty much a bunch of stairs. This altitude is murder. 20 stairs and my heart was pounding. Eric said the interesting thing was that your muscles don't ache, but your heart is racing and you're gasping for air.
Speaking of hiking, Machu Picchu is tomorrow.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Peru Blog: 6/1 5:43 - Urubamba, I think
I'm not totally sure this is Urubamba. It also seems to be called "Yucay." Part of the Uru. metro area?
Anyway.
Miami Int'l Airport is not my favorite place - though I admit midnight may not be its finest hour. Baggage claims has no signage, no indication of which flights go to which carousels, and no employees with a clue.
"You... wanna pick up your bags...???"
"Uh, yeah" Hence, 'baggage claim' ?
The English saturation pretty well stopped at the LAN terminal in MIA. Flights were uneventful, which is about the best you can say for flying.
There have been a lot of Gate 1 people to cross our path. Apparently we won't get just one guide for the week. Jorge met us in Lima, and helped us check in for Cusco and meet up with the rest of our group. Another woman had been with them, and she shepherded us through departure taxes -- then left. Willy drove with us from Cusco to Urubamba, and Teddy took us on our tour tonight. Figuring out tipping is somewhat stressful with so many people and so few small denominations of currency.
Our group: There are eight of us. Bob & Judy, Michie & Emiko, David, Nafia, and the two of us. Bob & Judy are Californian. He is extensively well-traveled; I have high expectations that he will play the obligatory role of the Tour Group Know-It-All to the hilt. She doesn't travel as much because, in her own words, she's a princess who prefers her creature comforts. Michie and Emiko are Japanese. [Though currently living in Virginia with his company.] Nafia is Swiss, and also very well traveled. [[It is so quit here. I can hear people upstairs walking, but apart from that, nothing but a silence to make you think you'd gone deaf.]] David is also Californian. So far, I like him the best. He's very open and friendly.
The country: Limited 1st impressions. We've been in an airport most of our time in the country. Cusco looked like pictures of Middle Eastern cities... brown, poor, adobe. The airport was mildly chaotic; really just a lot of people trying to earn a tip by "helping" you with your bags. (Dude, I packed lightly so I wouldn't need your help!) The mountains between Lima and Cusco looked like just the dry parts of the Rockies; it's hard to believe they're part of the same range.
The Sacred Valley is like nothing I've seen before. I can make comparisons, but only to individual pieces. It's dry and scrubby, but mountains are in view. In one view, I see the Palouse of Washington -- but I look up to snow-capped peaks behind green, terraced mountains. Parts of it remind me of the mountains and vegetation of Chloride, only its no desert.
The tour: Tonight we saw Maras and Moray. Maras is the "salt mines." One, tiny stream of warm saltwater is ejected from the mountain. It's then irrigated into 100s of shallow pools. These are allowed to evaporate so the salt can be collected. They're so efficient, by the time this rivulet drains into the river, it's no longer salty. What's really incredible is that this scheme was cooked up by ancient peoples...but modern science still hasn't explained where the salt comes from. The pools are run separately by many groups of nearby families. To them, it is another way to supplement subsistence farming during the dry season. During the wet season, the terraces become unusable mudfalls.
Maras is a series of terraces in which pre-Inca and Inca peoples created different biomes for many kinds of crops. Research is still out about whther it was an early ag. research facility or a holy site sacred to Pachamama, the Earth goddess. [Probably it was both.] Today, it is an active archaeological site, primarily funded by tourist dollars.
Anyway.
Miami Int'l Airport is not my favorite place - though I admit midnight may not be its finest hour. Baggage claims has no signage, no indication of which flights go to which carousels, and no employees with a clue.
"You... wanna pick up your bags...???"
"Uh, yeah" Hence, 'baggage claim' ?
The English saturation pretty well stopped at the LAN terminal in MIA. Flights were uneventful, which is about the best you can say for flying.
There have been a lot of Gate 1 people to cross our path. Apparently we won't get just one guide for the week. Jorge met us in Lima, and helped us check in for Cusco and meet up with the rest of our group. Another woman had been with them, and she shepherded us through departure taxes -- then left. Willy drove with us from Cusco to Urubamba, and Teddy took us on our tour tonight. Figuring out tipping is somewhat stressful with so many people and so few small denominations of currency.
Our group: There are eight of us. Bob & Judy, Michie & Emiko, David, Nafia, and the two of us. Bob & Judy are Californian. He is extensively well-traveled; I have high expectations that he will play the obligatory role of the Tour Group Know-It-All to the hilt. She doesn't travel as much because, in her own words, she's a princess who prefers her creature comforts. Michie and Emiko are Japanese. [Though currently living in Virginia with his company.] Nafia is Swiss, and also very well traveled. [[It is so quit here. I can hear people upstairs walking, but apart from that, nothing but a silence to make you think you'd gone deaf.]] David is also Californian. So far, I like him the best. He's very open and friendly.
The country: Limited 1st impressions. We've been in an airport most of our time in the country. Cusco looked like pictures of Middle Eastern cities... brown, poor, adobe. The airport was mildly chaotic; really just a lot of people trying to earn a tip by "helping" you with your bags. (Dude, I packed lightly so I wouldn't need your help!) The mountains between Lima and Cusco looked like just the dry parts of the Rockies; it's hard to believe they're part of the same range.
The Sacred Valley is like nothing I've seen before. I can make comparisons, but only to individual pieces. It's dry and scrubby, but mountains are in view. In one view, I see the Palouse of Washington -- but I look up to snow-capped peaks behind green, terraced mountains. Parts of it remind me of the mountains and vegetation of Chloride, only its no desert.
The tour: Tonight we saw Maras and Moray. Maras is the "salt mines." One, tiny stream of warm saltwater is ejected from the mountain. It's then irrigated into 100s of shallow pools. These are allowed to evaporate so the salt can be collected. They're so efficient, by the time this rivulet drains into the river, it's no longer salty. What's really incredible is that this scheme was cooked up by ancient peoples...but modern science still hasn't explained where the salt comes from. The pools are run separately by many groups of nearby families. To them, it is another way to supplement subsistence farming during the dry season. During the wet season, the terraces become unusable mudfalls.
Maras is a series of terraces in which pre-Inca and Inca peoples created different biomes for many kinds of crops. Research is still out about whther it was an early ag. research facility or a holy site sacred to Pachamama, the Earth goddess. [Probably it was both.] Today, it is an active archaeological site, primarily funded by tourist dollars.
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