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Operation Long White Cloud
Machu Pichu
The next day we caught a train to Machu Pichu town, where we spent the afternoon doing very little really - I (laura) got mauled by the mossies again. We went out to dinner that night and I celebrated my fake birthday - we were told that if someone in the group pretended it was their birthday you would get free cake for dessert - I volunteered immediately for the birthday girl role. To our surprise though It was actually quite a big affair with the whole restaurant coming to a halt and a 6 piece Peruvian band belting out Happy birthday three times - all we could do was laugh - I got really into it and happily accepted peoples birthday wishes for the rest of the evening - it was the best fake birthday ever.
The next morning we stumbled out of bed at 4:30 am and made our way to Machuu Pichu. We were lucky with the weather as it was a clear morning. Seeing the site in person was really a 'pinch yourself moment'. It takes on this magical aura the minute you walk in and you can literally feel the history oozing out of the stones. It is bigger than we imagined - appearantly 2000 people lived there when it was in full swing. It was divided into the urban area and the farming area and also between upper and lower classes - higher class living higher up and lower class further down.
It was a matriarcial society with the woman being responsible for retaining and and passing down their wisdom and knowledge mainly because most boys, when they reached adolesence, were sent to another inca town and replaced with inca boys from a neighbouring inca town to avoid inbreeding. It worked, as when the Spaniards arrived, there were no epidemics or any disease amongst the Incans, which only makes their disappearance more unusual. There was no royal family - the upper classes were made up of scholars and those chosen for their academic abilities. We had a guided our for two hours and had a very informative and honest guide who did not like to hypothisise on what certain builidings meant etc unless there was hard evidence. For example, there is a big, unusually shaped rock outside one of the temples and seemingly Dame Shirley Bassey is a big fan of Machu Pichu and decided in her infinite wisdom and knowledge of Inca history that the rock had magical powers and that it exuded magnetic healing forces. After various tests being carried out on the rock it was confirmed to to simply be a rock. I did, howver, actually see some people putting their hands over the rock to 'feel its energy' - obviously their guide was a Shirley Bassey fan. Additionally, when Machu Pichu was discovered by Hiram Bingham . he repeatedly asked the local farmers, what the meaning of certain buildings were, mistakenly thinking them to be direct descendants of the Incas. Unfortunaltely it was like asking farmer Brown from across the field what the buildings were for and in an effort to please the gringo, when asked what a particular builing that had three windows was they said ' oh yes, that is the Temple of the Three Windows' to this day, it is reverantly reffered to as such in the brochures maps etc - it could have been a latrine for all we know...!
Other impressive facts were that the incas new more about earthquake protection in their buildings than western society did until very recently. Japanese scientists studied the building techniques including underground sand dampeners and it now is in use all over the world. You can thank the Spaniards for that one being swept under the carpet.
The uncertainty regarding certain builings only adds to the mystique of the place - needless to add, the views were spectacular. Andrew unfortunately had develped a pretty nasty chest infection so could not take the hour walk up to the Sungate (a point further up the valley looking down on the site and where the sun rises on the shortest day of the year). I left Andrew resting in the sun and after narrowly avoiding a heart attack, I reached the top and took a few snaps, tried to think of something inspirational (the views seemed to demand it) failed, and headed back down to Andrew. We explored for an hour or so more and then headed back down to the town, with memories of the place that will last forever.
The uncertainty regarding certain builings only adds to the mystique of the place - needless to add, the views were spectacular. Andrew unfortunately had develped a pretty nasty chest infection so could not take the hour walk up to the Sungate (a point further up the valley looking down on the site and where the sun rises on the shortest day of the year). I left Andrew resting in the sun and after narrowly avoiding a heart attack, I reached the top and took a few snaps, tried to think of something inspirational (the views seemed to demand it) failed, and headed back down to Andrew. We explored for an hour or so more and then headed back down to the town, with memories of the place that will last forever.
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