On day 4 we woke at 430am, and Oscar delivered us to the San Pedro Train Station for our 615 Vistadome train.
The train ride to Aguas Calientes takes about 4 hours, and the Vistadome has large windows, and good leg room, which allows for a pretty comfortable ride. Here's the route as defined on a place mat:
This mat was home to a Jamon con Queso Sandwich (your basic ham and cheese), and some Mat de Coca(coca tea) for a short time during our trip:
The ride out of Cusco was very enlightening, we rode past tenements, where people live in squalor by US standards.
Some of the shanties had corrugated iron roofs, held down by stones, old tires, you name it….
As we moved out of Cusco the scenery became more pastoral…..
So are these boys chasing the train?
Nope, they were actually late for school……some things are universal!
I really didn't take many more photos, I was too busy checking out the scenery….
We arrived at Aguas Calientes, named after the natural hot springs at a bit after 10 am. Aguas Caliente is the jumping off point for all tours to Machu Picchu. We were rushed off the train, found our tour group (they are color coded) and quickly herded through the gauntlet of market stalls surrounding the train station, and on to buses. The 20 minute bus trip to Machu Picchu is interesting, the buses are very modern and comfortable, and they also haul up the mountain, through about 7 or 8 switchbacks on roads that look like they can barely contain the buses….never mind that you actually pass buses coming down the mountain as you ascend!
We arrived at the entrance to Machu Picchu, and the somewhat chaotic mass of individuals looking for their guides…..we found our guide a fantastic, somewhat radical, very knowledgeable individual named Darwin Camacho Paredes, who has written several books on Machu Picchu. Walking through this mass of humanity, thoughts of an anti-climatic let down went through my head, but those thoughts were soon displaced……..as soon as we turned the corner and saw this:
Here's a better look at it….
Walking through Machu Picchu, there are moments of awe….where the phrase "lost world of the Incas" immediately come to mind.
Darwin proved to be an extremely knowledgeable guide….he made the best of the allotted 2 1/2 hours, and managed to show us some of the more important features of Machu Picchu. From the ruin called the Temple of the Three Windows by the person credited with "rediscovering" Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham.
Do you know what the Hawaii connection to Machu Picchu is? Well, Hiram Bingham, actually Hiram Bingham III was born in Honolulu, and was the Grandson of….well, Hiram Bingham I of course, one of the first group of Missionaries who brought Christianity to Hawaii. Hiram Bingham graduated from Punahou, before attending Yale, UC Berkeley, and Harvard.
One of the many interesting buildings is the Temple of the Sun:
In addition to the amazing stone work, and the unique shape, in the interior of the Temple of the Sun is a unique stone sculpture. Here's a look from above:
"Inti" was the Sun God, and it is believed that this temple was built to honor Inti. Here is Darwin with a photo from the Summer Solstice:
More photos of this event can be found here.
Not all Inca stone work is created equal. Compare the stone work on each side of this "street".
The "finer" stonework is used for important buildings and structures, while the "rougher" stonework is used for residences, kitchens, and other similar structures. We were told that this type of stonework was covered in mud and plaster.
This is called the Sacred Rock….looks just like a randomly placed rock you say…..
If you closely, and at a better angle, you'll notice that the rock mimics Huayna Picchu…..the peak visible in all those photos of Machu Picchu.
Known as the "Hitching post of the sun", the Intiwatana, according to Darwin, is a astronomic observatory, the four angles of the central stone points to the 4 cardinal directions(north, south, east, west):
If you look closely, you'll notice that the stone is chipped……Darwin is quoted in this reprint of an LA Times article, explaining how this occurred.
Some other locations covered on the tour includes the Royal Tomb, located right below of the Temple of the Sun:
It is thought that this could be the tomb of Pachcutec, the ninth Emperor of the Inca Empire. Darwin explained that the location, in the middle of the city, the unique architecture, and the orientation of the entrance (perfectly East), would support that theory.
You can see the Condor Temple in the middle of this photo:
A large and unique structure in the shape of a Condor(you can see the outstretched wings of the condor), which contains an altar in the shape of a condor.
As you can tell, there is a lot here…..one could create a blog with daily entries about features of Machu Picchu and have content daily.
So much to see.
The tour ended at about 130pm, we were let loose, to either return back to Aguas Calientes for a buffet lunch, or we could spend more time at Machu Picchu, so long that we made our 340pm train back to Cusco. Guess which we chose????
We took a ton more photos, a few from the Watchman's Tower….you know, the one that everyone takes at Machu Picchu. Even though Machu Picchu closes daily, there are a few "residents". We managed to take photos of a few of them:
And of course….the llamas:
We finally caught the bus and made it back to Aguas Calientes. With not too much time on our hands, we decided to find a quick bite. Getting a bit turned around, we ended up in a small Mercado.
The Missus noticed everyone was eating the same good looking stew. So with typical aplomb, and asked where we could get some of the stew in Her survival Spanish. The lady walked us upstairs from the Mercado to this little restaurant.
It turns out that the stew the Missus was ogling was the special of the day; Matasquita. The restaurant also specializes in 3 course lunches for s/12(4 bucks), so I ordered a 3 course lunch for myself! Once our food was ready (para lleva – to go), we hurried over to the train station and had a hearty lunch.
For my soup, I chose Sopa de Pollo(chicken soup).
I never had a shot at this….the Missus cleaned it up in no time. She loved the rich flavor of the broth.
I also got some Pan al Ajo(garlic bread):
A simple preparation….pan (bread) sliced and stuffed with garlic butter and oregano. I really enjoyed this…well, I rarely have anything with lots of garlic that I don't enjoy.
My main was Lomo Saltado, the classic Peruvian stir fry of strips of beef, onions, tomatoes, and papas fritas (basically french fries):
As we found with many dishes in Peru, the meat was quite lean, and on the tough side. The flavor of the tomatoes and onions was good, though the beef did not taste well marinated. Still, it was hot and fresh, and filled me up.
Here's the Missus's Matasquita s/8(can you say about $2.60 US?)
Very thick, rich, and hearty. The Missus told me She loved the flavor, but like the lomo, the pork in this dish was very tough, so She skipped on it. She did a good job of cleaning up on everything else.
From the files of how thoughtful people are……I guess the restaurant didn't have any plastic spoons, so when we opened up our bolsa de plastico (plastic bag), we found that the nice lady had included one of their spoons.
We kept it……maybe one day we'll be able to return it!
As we walked across the bridge to the train station, I stopped to take a photo of the little restaurant. To this point, I didn't even know the name of the place. When I saw the restaurant sign, I just had to laugh:
Yes, we had come all the way to Machu Picchu….and had lunch at El Pollo Loco! Though the food wasn't like any El Pollo Loco I know of!
The train trip back to Poroy(Oscar chose the Poroy station because it saves an hour on the return trip) was uneventful, though the staff on the train kept us entertained, with, among other things an Alpaca clothing "fashion show". Oscar met us at the Poroy station with some good news……..
We'll take a short break from Peru for a few days, and have a few SoCal posts!