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We took a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas , the closest town to the ruins of Machu Picchu. The towns name actually is Machu Picchu but they do not use that name so as not to be confused with the famous ruins that are just up the mountain. We arrived in the afternoon and spent the time exhausting ourselves walking up and down the steep streets of the city. We got fruit, veggies, bread, avocados, and cheese for our planned picnic lunch at Machu Picchu. Early to bed to rest and prepare for early start to head up to the main attraction. Our plan to see sunrise from the ruins ended up not panning out due to thick fog, but that was no problem. It was beautiful to explore the city with peaks of surrounding mountains peeking out between the clouds. We had a great guide, knowledgable and interesting. Sooooo glad we got a guide, otherwise I think we would have just seen the ruins as piles of rocks and gotten bored quite quickly. Learning more about the city, how it was built, how it was used, etc. allowed for greater appreciation and better understanding of what we were seeing.the stone work and masonry were amazing. They didn't use mortar much at all, but what they did use was a special mix of animal hair and tree sap that was fermented over the course of a couple weeks till it was a pliable goop and would dry into a water resistant and strong material. It was amazing to see how massive stones were fitted together- some were carved into perfectly stackable cubes but some were left in their natural forms and still fitted perfectly into the larger structure or wall. We all agreed that seeing the city in person did it so much more justice than any pictures.
It was interesting to learn more about the culture if the city. It was mostly for priests, priestesses, astrologers, etc and at its largest had around 1000 inhabitants. They would live there, pray and study the positions of the sun and stars. The emperor would visit from Cuzco, the capital, to get counsel and pray. Interestingly, the city wasn't even done being constructed when the Spanish arrived in the 1530s. Rather than risking the city's discovery by the gold hungry invaders, the emperor ordered that the city be abandoned and forgotten. The jungle overtook it was it wasn't "rediscovered" until a Yale archeologist convinced locals to show it to him in 1911.
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