Huayna Picchu Video

Remember how I said Melissa and I hiked Huayna Picchu, the tallest peak at Machu Picchu? Well, Melissa had her Go Pro running for a bit of the descent and has posted the video to YouTube. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/MNw7i-wWWmc

The video isn't a narrative or anything especially polished. It's just about 11 minutes of our climb down. It gives a good sense of what that trail and climb were like. Please ignore my obvious body language of freaking out. LOL While intellectually I wasn't afraid of falling, my instinct took over and told me to be afraid. I did fine for most of the way up and for a portion of the way down, but I was definitely struggling at the end of the ascent and the beginning of the descent. 

Machu Picchu: Part 2

I don't have as many pictures of Machu Picchu to post right now as I'd like because I took a lot of photos on my camera instead of my phone. My iPhone takes pretty great photos, but I think I got some better shots on my camera, even though it's nothing really fancy. When I travel I like to try to take pictures to capture some memories, but I'm also very realistic that my pictures of the sites I visit will never compare to those of professional photographers. On this trip I've felt a little caught between my inclination to really work on being present and the compulsion to take photos and videos. I've posted to my Instagram and Snapchat accounts, and in some regard I've regretted the fact that I've been online at all. I'm really looking forward to not have as much internet access on the last third of our trip.

When we arrived at Machu Picchu I didn't know what to expect, despite having seen photos of the site before. I was breathless when I first saw it. To explain its massive span across the horizon is the same as trying to convey the height of a mountain. It's nearly impossible. After our long wait in line and a busride that had me fraught with nerves Melissa and I entered the site around 7:30/8:00 AM. We were so thankful because the sky was almost completely obstructed, but we got a few pictures in when the sky cleared for about 10 minutes. Here are a few pictures that are a combination between some I took and some Melissa took.

 

The Sabres came to Machu Picchu with me. 

 

Melissa brought the Pens with her too.

 

 

I'm pretty sure this was one of our early 8:00 AMish photos because we have jackets and another layer on. You can tell the later in the day photos because we lose layers along the way.

 

Llama, llama, llama, sheep. (Family joke.) 

The Incas

Machu Picchu was awesome in the true sense of the word. It was massive and impressive and awe-inspiring. I still have so much to learn about the Incas and Machu Picchu specifically, but the small pieces of history that I was able to pick up eavesdropping on tour groups conveyed how advanced the Incas were. Their engineering and advanced planning were just magnificent.

You can google "Inca stones" and learn a ton about the different styles and time periods of Incan stonework, work that engineers today still can't figured out how they did. This type of stonework is all over Machu Picchu, but also all over Cusco. Melissa and I partook in the city tour of Cusco, which took us to four Incan ruins in Cusco: Saqsayhuaman, Pukapukara, Q'enqo, and Tambomachay. That tour also included an initial stop at Qorikancha, the Convent of Santo Domingo that was built on top of Incan ruins. At all of those tour stops explores the different time periods of the Incan stones. I had vague recollections of learning about their engineering in school, but to be honest I've always confused the Incans with the Aztecs and the Mayans.  One of the reasons why I value travel so much is because being in the presence of history and walking the same steps as people who came 1000 years before me is so magical and I walk away with a new part of me. As much as I love learning about history, there's no way to replicate the experience of being there.  After Mel's friends Rachelle and Luke joined us in Cusco, we took a free walking tour of the city and learned so much more about the Incans, the Spanish, and how the stonework changed over different time periods. 

I'm going to break my thoughts up into several posts because of the internet, but also because it's hard for me to get everything out at one time, while still living in the moment here in Cusco.