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I didn't sleep too well because of stomach pains so we skipped the 2km hike uphill to Machu Pichu (meaning old mountain) & took the bus up for $7, getting there @ 6am.We got our tickets to climb Wayna Pichu (young mountain) at 10am (they only allow 400 total) & then took our 2 hour included tour.It was really good & he gave us a lot of info.It was really foggy though and looked totally cool & mystical.It is still in such good shape because the Spanish never made it to Machu Pichu to ruin it.The Incas destroyed the paths & so luckily they never found it.It was "discovered" by Hiram Bingham, an American from Yale, @1931. He then started the work of digging it out of the jungle that had taken it over.The most interesting part for me was learning about the Andean cross (chacana) that shows up as a shadow through the 3 windows on June 21st. We had already learned about the Andean trilogy - condor = heaven, puma = earth, mamapacha, serpent = underworld.He also told us about the positive & negative laws - love, work, knowledge - don't lie, steal or be lazy!There were also 3 kinds of work - gov't, community, & individuals helping eachother - in the country they still do that - I help you build your house & you help me build mine.From what I remember we saw the temple of the sun, the temple of the condor, the princess' house, the main plaza & a sundial looking thing called Intihuatana (hitching post of the sun) which was actually for the seasons & astronomical stuff & got chipped while shooting a beer commercial there - ridiculous!After the tour we had to leave the site to use the bathroom outside (none inside) & I was happy to pay 1S for toilet paper & soap!Luckily I felt OK enough to climb Waynapichu & we spent a total of 3 hours from start to finish.After that we went to what they call the guard's house (one of the only places where they restored the hay roof).From there you get the postcard picture of Machu Pichu.It was great but we had to wait cause the fog kept rolling in and covering everything!Our last walk was through some amazing greenery to the Incan bridge.We got our passports stamped w/ Machu Pichu & took the bus back to town where I enjoyed a nice massage for less than $10.
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