Visiting Machu Picchu has been a dream of mine for ages, and – understatement alert – I was not disappointed. To reach the site, we took a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguascalientes. The ride chugs through ravines and verdant tunnels; to each side mountains, some sporting vertiginous glaciers, soar as high as 18,000 feet.
Aguascalientes is a touristy town packed with hostels, pizza places, convenience stores, craft stalls, t-shirt stops, and hikers from the Inca Trail, but it nonetheless manages to pull off a charming appearance. Colorful flowers and a rushing river certainly help.
From Aguascalientes we took a short bus ride that corkscrewed up another 2000 feet to the entrance to Machu Picchu, some 8100 feet above sea level. After a delicious lunch of ceviche, we toured the upper part of the site. The climb was less taxing than at Ollantaytambo, and we were rewarded with fantastic views of the Andes and the valley below.
Machu Picchu was built, occupied, and then abandoned during a 100-year period in the 15th century. Temples, houses, lookout posts, agricultural terraces, and storage facilities, all built from meticulously fashioned boulders, spread beneath the western slopes of the Andes.
For once, I’ll shut up and, in the absence of sufficiently extravagant adjectives, let the pictures tell the story.
PuffinlessTravel 