Machu Picchu

Lima

As promised, my report on Machu Picchu. However, this time, I think I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, as words really can't get across the grandeur of the place. I will say that it absolutely lived up to expectations, helped in no small part by good luck with the weather (sunny the first day until my lunch break, when it poured rain, finishing just in time for me to return and see rainbows; similar the second day, though no sun (no bad thing as I climbed up a long ways to the see the Sun Gate - see the fifth picture from the bottom, with the view from up there in the fourth picture from the bottom)). I will say that the engineering and astonomical skills the Incas had are truly astonishing. I'm sure we could learn quite a bit from their ability to construct buildings that have withstood the many earthquakes the area has suffered. And there's one area in the complex which for many years archeologists thought was a drainage channel as it's a space about a meter wide running from the top to the bottom where they didn't put any buildings. Recently, though, scientists have discovered it's a fault line - how did the Incas know that when we, with all our "modern technology" only recently discovered it??? It is intriguing though the things they didn't have, like the wheel or a written language.

A couple of comments on some of the pictures. First of all, the llamas. They're owned by the government, but they're not there just to add atmosphere (though they certainly do that!). You might say they're actually government employees, as they perform a very useful job - helping to keep the grass and other plants under control. Unfortunately, there aren't enough of them to do the whole job, which leads to the interesting juxtoposition of weed control methods demonstrated in the last picture.

There's another picture with a creature in it. It looks kind of like a cross between a rabbit and a rat. In fact, it is a South American chinchilla. Just thought you'd like to know.

The creature in the third picture is, of course, me. As most of you know, I don't normally like to include myself in pictures, but I figured I ought to have a couple with me at such an amazing place, and this one actually turned out reasonably ok (well, I think so anyway, and it's proof I haven't been making up this trip).

Anyway, enjoy the pictures. If anyone is interested, I have many more I can share. Tomorrow, it's off back to Argentina.