Machu Picchu
The culmination of the trek. We woke up at 3 am and set out to leave at 5:30ish. Just as we were leaving it started raining, and didn't stop until some time after noon. I was so sick, wet and cold, that I could barely manage to take any pictures - not to mention my camera had a hell of the time with the water. We stood around for an hour or so at the sun gate waiting for it to clear, and finally moved down to the ruins. Our first real view was odd, it was just some terracing on a flat spot, about the size of a football field, and a little hut on the edge. When I walked up to the hut, and looked over I saw something that actually made me break down and cry - this shot is one I took a little later about 100m below that point:
A close up of the urban area of Machu Picchu, you can also see how they didn't clear all of the rock, intentionally. It's actually shoring up the mountainside and giving stability.:
Llamas grazing:
One of the few trees, and a temple above.
Same tree, different angle, looking across at the temple of the condor:
This gives a bit of an idea of the gradient most of the site was built on.
The temple of the sun. The two windows look out to the mountains and face the winter and summer solstices. They built around a massive boulder with a beautiful example of imperial stonework.
A close up of the urban area of Machu Picchu, you can also see how they didn't clear all of the rock, intentionally. It's actually shoring up the mountainside and giving stability.:
Llamas grazing:
One of the few trees, and a temple above.
Same tree, different angle, looking across at the temple of the condor:
This gives a bit of an idea of the gradient most of the site was built on.
The temple of the sun. The two windows look out to the mountains and face the winter and summer solstices. They built around a massive boulder with a beautiful example of imperial stonework.