It's been quite an adventure. We took a bus, then a train to the town below Machu Picchu. We crossed a 12,000 foot pass with 22,000 foot peaks in the distance. Would you believe most of this land at this height is farm land? Corn and potatoes are the big crop.
There are not enough superlatives to describe Machu Picchu. It's hard to believe the ruins are in this good a shape. We spent an afternoon exploring the farming area, the storage bins, residences, and temples. It was built in 1438 as a royal estate where the king would spend the month of June each year (to escape the coldest month in Cusco). We went up and down a lot of stairs, many of them with big drop-offs off the end of the narrow steps. There are 3 different styles of stone architecture -from fairly loose rock for the terraces to very polished rock with almost no cracks for the temples.
The next morning we got up about 5:00 to be up on top again at 6:30. Both days were beautiful and the shadows and light across the ruins were spectacular. This day we hiked up to the Sun Gate, the Inca entrance to the city. What a sight it must be for the hikers of the Inca trail after hiking 4 days from Cusco to see this magnificent view. So after the morning we reversed our course and returned to Cusco. Stopping in a corn bar, a little place where they brew corn beer and cook up live chickens or guinea pig if you get hungry. The owner was a woman who was studying to be a teacher, but when her parents died, she started this bar for her and her siblings. She figures she makes more brewing and cooking than she would as a teacher. We then tried our hand at the local pub game, Sapo, or frog. Where you throw a coin and try to get it into the holes on the board to score.
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