Exploring the Incan Wonderland - Part Two (Machu Picchu, Peru)

Exploring the Incan Wonderland - Part Two (Machu Picchu, Peru) - The sacred district has the foremost important and ma sites of the complicated. Walking from the Temple of the Sun towards Huayna Picchu, you arrive at the Principal Temple (PT on the map). This 3 sided temple boasts some stunning stonework (though some has subsided with earth movement) and a chic stone altar. during this same space is that the equally distinctive 3 Windowed Temple (3W) with characteristic trapezoidal-shaped windows and excellent stonework. Note the rock on the close to aspect as a part of the closest window has 10 sides, nevertheless fits neatly just like the most perfectly fashioned jigsaw.

A little any uphill and up a regally carved stone staircase is that the most exceptional part of Machu Picchu is Intihuatana (IN on the map). Nearly forever surrounded by giant teams, it's a method of ancient sundial. to point out the Incan’s deep understanding of astronomy, calendars and agricultural cycles and their precision stonework, this diamond formed rock casts no shadow solely at 2 time points throughout the year - midday on the 2 equinoxes (March twenty one and September 21) – the sun shining directly onto the rock. Even the guides who tell a similar story daily appear to be moved in describing this beautiful piece of middle age engineering. it's additionally claimed that the four points of the diamond misinform the four main compass points and are directly aligned with four of their most sacred mountains as well as Veronica to the east (photographed in an Inca path post) and Huayna Picchu to the north.

Walking to the tip of the positioning is that the entrance to the climb of Huayna Picchu (Young Mountain). it's a steep, vigorous climb up numerous rough Incan stairs and uneven dirt methods and takes between one and 2 hours (depending on your fitness). it's a well-worthwhile walk (after all, how usually can you be during this majestic location). For the trekkers, encourage those tired legs to bear an added climb. It should be undertaken within the morning (closes within the early afternoon and has daily limits on the quantity of trekkers) and is best suggested for the beginning of Day 2 for those that are visiting for 2 days (strongly suggested approach). The read from the highest offers an excellent understanding of the layout of Machu Picchu, offers an awe-inspiring overall panorama of the Andes and highlights the spectacular terracing of the agricultural sector. elements of this steep-sided mountain are terraced too.

If you aren’t yet tired of walking, a side path takes you to the impressive Temple of the Moon.

Finally, once you are down, I’d suggest you spend time wandering the general urban area (H on the map) where the standard population lived. Many of the houses are still in fine condition, though there are no roofs left as they were made of branches and grasses.

There are numerous other temples, rooms and areas to wander and get lost in this fantasy world of extraordinary stone buildings of the middle ages. Spend time relaxing in the main grassy plaza area and contemplate what a time it must have been, the hub-bub of activity in daily Incan life.

Whether you are mesmerised by the temples, the water-channelling system, the unusual stone sundials, the dry stonework of the walls, the large-scale agriculture or the phenomenal natural mountain setting, the Incan creators have left a remarkable legacy of an awe-inspiring, haunting, mysterious and magical travel wonder in this lost city.

Trekking to the Lost City - Part Two (Inca Trail, Peru)

Trekking to the Lost City - Part Two (Inca Trail, Peru) - Day 3 is that the longest trekking day (around sixteen kilometres or 10 miles) however it's mainly downhill over uneven ground (which is surprisingly onerous on sore legs) and in some ways is that the main highlight of the trek (apart from Machu Picchu itself). The path passes some majestic Incan ruins.

Sayaqmarka (“Inaccessible Town”) perches on atiny low hilltop, formidably protected with cliffs on 3 sides and a slender stairway on the fourth. It options variety of semi-circular buildings, rooms and squares on completely different levels connected with slender ways, ritual baths, flat open areas and canals. Despite the misty morning our cluster incurred, you'll decipher the remainder space it should have provided Incans travelling to Machu Picchu and therefore the strategic oversight it offered over this key pathway. a number of the unequalled precision of the Incan stonework is featured, designed while not mortar, however with such good joins that you simply can’t slide a pocketknife into the gap.

Trekking follows the first Incan path down into the valley and up to the third and gentlest of the 3 passes. It passes through an Incan tunnel with swish walls and carved steps – an improbable engineering feat given the restricted tools offered at the time.

Phuyupatamarca includes a terraced space for crops and 6 Incan baths most likely related to spiritual rituals. The trekking from here on is on the first Incan staircase and follows over a thousand uneven stone stairs (downwards) through a cloud forest of lichen-strewn trees, orchids and ferns in an exceedingly cool refreshing atmosphere.

Late within the day and close to the ultimate camp website, there's a shocking terraced agricultural space in conjunction with a residential advanced at Wiñay Wayna (lead photo and below), that roughly interprets to forever young. A series of fountains run from the highest to all-time low of the slope in an exceedingly good alignment with the terraces. The Urubamba River that we tend to crossed at the beginning of day one continues to flow below.

Day Four tends to start early for a short walk (about an hour and a half) to the Sun Gate (Intipunku) which oversees the entire Machu Picchu site. As if uplifted by a mystical power, people who could barely take another step over the previous two days approach a sprint as the trekkers herd towards the Sun Gate at dawn. Surrounded by magnificent scenery, the peaceful walking of the previous three days is lost in this final undignified crowded surge towards the Incan sanctuary.

The crowd awaits the sunrise. Everyone speaks in excited but hushed tones and there is a huge sense of satisfaction at completing this holy grail of trekking. The hardship of walking the last three days had all been worth it. A few alpaca and llama contentedly graze below, familiar with the daily pre-dawn commotion. The mountain saddle which Machu Picchu is built upon tends to be misty but when the foggy curtains lifts, the truly awe-inspiring and haunting travel wonder of the “lost city” of the Inca unveils before your very eyes.

Photo of the Week - Toucan (South America)

Photo of the Week - Toucan (South America) - Our tiny cluster had walked for an hour in extreme humidity and climbed a rickety, picket tower to be at the peak of the tree-tops. We'd been standing around for an extra hour with very little activity when a toucan fluttered into a so much branch. The photo is taken at most zoom, scanned in and then zoomed some a lot of with Photoshop, that makes it a bit bit hazy. however the thrill of seeing this most iconic South yank bird with its outsized beak and vibrant plumage was one thing i'll forever keep in mind. some minutes later it flew away however those couple of minutes are to be treasured.

We were told it absolutely was a red bill toucan however as long as the bill is black, yellow and blue which the sole red could be a tiny dash on its breast and tail, I've never been terribly convinced. perhaps somebody who is aware of their toucans will make sure that species of toucan it truly is.

The Fall Kaleidoscope (New England, USA)

natural wonders, North America, travel wonders, USA

Unlike Santa Clauses in Australia with their cotton wool facial hair, the jolly red fellows in Santiago's main square of Plaza de Armas grow their own beards. Being the middle of summer, it is hot work for these joyous folks who distribute their Christmas cheer. The poor reindeer look like they have seen better days...

To all my readers, compliments of the season to you all and best wishes for a healthy and fun-filled 2010.

The Irish super-group, U2 sang about them in Mothers of the Disappeared. These are every day Argentine mothers and grandmothers who lost their sons and daughters in the so-called Dirty War when they were seized by representatives of the military government of the time in the late 1970s. Most of the missing are assumed to have been tortured and murdered.

Every Thursday afternoon for over thirty years, this women’s group, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo have gathered in the main square of Buenos Aires to seek reunification with their children and grandchildren. They walk, slowly and purposefully, in a large circle adorned by stylised white shawls painted on the ground. The painted symbols appear a little like white doves, the universal symbol of peace. The women wear simple matching head scarves in white, embroidered with the name or names of their missing children. They chat among themselves catching up on the weekly happenings.

Adorned with the city’s main cathedral, the presidential palace and several major government buildings, the Plaza de Mayo celebrates the May uprisings which earned Argentine independence from the Spanish in the early nineteenth century. The Mothers today who gather also seek their own freedom and closure in this main square which represents freedom protests from another eta.

Some appear worn down - maybe by the passage of time, maybe by a heavy heart over the lost of their young ones, maybe by the stark duality of the significance yet apparent futility of this weekly gathering. Others walk with a strength drawn from pride, unwearied by the years of fighting for reconnection with their loved ones.

One grandmother I spoke with indicated in her broken English that she had missed attending this walk less than ten times in all the years of this weekly pilgrimage of protest. Her will and strength made it seem to me to be the most important thing in her life.

Surely a mother or grandmother can show no greater love.

Buenos Aires Vacations

The cathedral, built in 1835, stands majestically in Plaza Murillo, in the world's highest capital city of La Paz. At 3800 metres above sea level (12,000 feet), the more affluent people live below the city where there is more oxygen rather than above La Paz with its panoramic views.

To establish European thinking and religious beliefs with the indigenous Indian population three hundred years ago, the Spanish built a modest mud-brick and wooden church on the site of an old Incan temple in a small village about forty kilometres south of Cusco. Arriving late in the afternoon in dull light, the church certainly didn’t inspire any wonder, and I wished I’d stayed on the bus to Cusco. However the temptation was too great with descriptions likening this colonial church to the Sistine Chapel.

To open the doors is to unveil a dazzling array of wall paintings and frescoes contrasted by a richly glowing gilded altarpiece carved from wood. The artwork, rich in red and gold paint, tell powerful religious stories. One graphic painting highlights the punishments for going to hell and the rewards for getting to heaven. The ceiling is decorated in floral patterns and glitters with gold leaf.

Near the entrance is a baptismal prayer written in five languages including three local Indian languages revealing the Spaniards attempts to convert the population to Catholicism.

While lofty monikers like “the Sistine Chapel of the Americas” are a gross exaggeration, the modest travel wonder of Andahuaylillas is on the road between Lake Titicaca and Cusco and worth a brief stop.

Other Peru Posts
Pathways to the Gods (Nazca Lines)
Raiders of the Lost Tombs (Chauchilla Tombs)
Exploring the Incan Wonderland (Machu Picchu)
Trekking to the Lost City (Inca Trail)
Potatoes with your Guinea Pig, Sir?
Flight of the Condor (Colca Canyon)
Living in Reeds (Lake Titicaca)
Top Ten Travel Wonders of South America

Photo Credit: Fresco image kindly supplied by Ken at randomtruth

With a recent South American theme exploring the travel wonders of Nazca, Riobamba and colourful Caminito in Buenos Aires and a diet of Peruvian guinea pigs, this week's photo is the favourite South American cocktail of Pisco Sour. I have joined Lifecruiser and many others in celebrating an international cocktail party.

The Pisco Sour is the national drink of Chile and Peru. It is made with pisco, sugar syrup, lime juice, egg whites and bitters and is a refreshing afternoon drink.

So here is salut to all those international drinkers at our first cocktail party.

Nazca would remain off the map of all but the most intrepid travellers except for the mystifying Nazca Lines. Once in Nazca, there are two more far less known but still remarkable travel wonders to explore, namely the Nazcan aqueducts and the Chauchilla Cemetery.

Scattered across the arid lunar landscape are thousands of graves, most of which have been recently discovered and looted of pottery, weavings and other treasures leaving the skeletal remains exposed to the harsh elements. Buried in a cotton wrap and coated in a special resin, the dry conditions and sandy soil have acted as natural mummification.

Over a thousand years old, skeletons bleached by the harsh sunlight, many with matted brown dreadlocks, crouch in their tattered robes and blankets creepily grinning back from mud-brick vaults with their icy, silent glare. Shards of pottery and ceramics litter the displayed tombs.

The landscape remains pockmarked by pillagers and scattered with bones and debris, the depressions symbolic of the cultural and archaelogical vandalism (triggered by rich western collectors) that wreaked havoc on this necropolis as recently as fifteen years ago. It is an eerie feeling wandering the marked paths of this stark underworld peeking down at ghostly white skeletons, their braided hair adding a little too much life for comfort.

Though the heat and dryness of the area is unrelenting, reflect on the exceptional culture of the people who carved their lives out of the desert and left remarkable legacies and travel wonders including the wonderous Nazca Lines, a sophisticated water management system and a surreal cemetery.

Other Peru Posts
Top Ten Travel Wonders of South America
Exploring the Incan Wonderland (Machu Picchu)
Trekking to the Lost City (Inca Trail)
Potatoes with your Guinea Pig, Sir?
Flight of the Condor (Colca Canyon)
Living in Reeds (Lake Titicaca)

There is little doubt that Nazca would be little more than a dusty remote Peruvian town were it not for the world-famous mysterious lines and images that cover the desert. If travellers venture this far to explore the Nazca Lines, then there are two more travel wonders to discover.

The advanced culture that etched the lines in the hash desert also constructed an extraordinary aqueduct system that continues to be utilised today by local farmers. Called puquios, the Nazcans constructed a complex of stone-lined canals and reservoirs (partly underground and partly on the surface) run from mountain springs to provide water for living and irrigating crops in the dry desert plains. These canals are S-curved to slow the water flow and contain stone rampways to provide access to the underground streams and an entrance to clean out the canals if blocked. The water is surprisingly warm, fresh-tasting and crystal clear – very refreshing in the unrelenting heat of the Peruvian day.

Some scientists believe that Nazca Lines are drawn to indicate the sources of water in the surrounding mountains with site guides describing this fact. Undoubtedly, water was the source of life in this stark environment and it remains a wonder that the ingenuity to tap the mountain’s water functions so successfully that it outlived the Nazcan culture itself.

The second travel wonder is extraordinary tombs of Chauchilla in the Nazcan desert, but that is a story for another day.

Ever since reading Erich von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods? as a child, I’ve been enchanted by the mysterious travel wonders of the Nazca Lines. Though, even as a child, I have never entertained the notion that this was used as an airport for alien spacecraft, the idea that a past culture etched super-sized motifs of animals, birds and sea-life into this harsh desert landscape struck me as truly bizarre.

Evidence that this ramshackle unattractive town once attracted an advanced culture is not only evident in the world-famous lines but also in a mesmerising aqueduct system that supplied water for farming the parched soils of this unforgiving desolate area.

The geography of this area ensures that the lines created a couple of thousand years ago still exist. Each line and image is created as a single continuous line, clearing the thin layer of darker metallic soil and unveiling the pale coloured sandy ground below. Completely devoid of vegetation and with virtually no recorded rainfall and unchanging windless conditions, these small furrows etched into the soil have survived the ravages of time. Hundreds of lines and trapezoidal shapes, kilometres long, crisscross this huge arid expanse, combined with roughly seventy stylized animal figures or geoglyphs, many over 100 metres across.

The only way to properly appreciate the sight is from the air. Not for those with weak stomachs, light aircraft take visitors on thirty to forty minute morning flights traversing the desert area and tipping the plane from side to side like a carnival ride to offer everyone good views of the most significant figures.

The spider has a special story. One theory is that it is a diagram of the sacred Orion constellation. Another details that it is a particular rare giant spider only found deep in the Amazon valley, many thousand of miles away. The male of this spider has its reproductive organ at the tail end of one of its legs (visible only under microscope) and this appendage is clear in photos of the Nazca image (it is the bottom left leg in the photo).

A monkey with a spiral tail, a hummingbird, a killer whale, a condor, a strange astronaut figure, a huge lizard (cut in two by the highway, built before the figures were apparent), a dog, a spider, a flamingo (which is over 300 metres long) and other animal figures litter the landscape like a whimsical zoo, no geoglyph being repeated.

With the spiral shape being an ancient symbol for water, a commodity more valuable than gold in this dusty parched environment, claims that the area represents a water ceremony for the gods may make more sense than some of the far-fetched theories espoused by supposed scientists. Whether this large Peruvian pampas was an extraterrestrial landing strip, an advanced astronomical and agricultural calendar, exotic ancient art or something completely different, we are unlikely to ever truly know. Being halfway between the capital, Lima, and the stunning colonial city of Arequipa, it is well worth a stop to view and wonder about these unforgettable desert markings, along with the ingenious aqueduct system and ancient burial grounds in the same area.

Other Peru Posts
Potatoes with your Guinea Pig, Sir?
Exploring the Incan Wonderland (Machu Picchu)
Trekking to the Lost City (Inca Trail)
Flight of the Condor (Colca Canyon)
Living in Reeds (Lake Titicaca)
Top Ten Travel Wonders of South America

Read Part One of the journey down Devil's Nose firstly.

Along the platform, enthusiastic street vendors parade a wide variety of food and drink to sate empty and dry bodies. Small kids dance along the train’s roof with the aplomb of Russian circus performers balancing trays of tasty morsels and shuffling currency with the flair of a central banker. No-one leaves their seat on the roof for fear of losing it with the influx of new passengers – possession being ten-tenths of the law on Ecuador railways!

The train finally starts its journey down the Devil’s Nose past a sequence of abandoned buildings. The sun has comfortably won the temperature battle as passengers have shed any semblance of winter clothing and try to catch any cooling breeze and hide from the harsh equatorial sun. The train rides past a junction in the line before a crew member clambers down and switches the junction. The train proceeds in reverse a further distance before repeating this same technique, zig-zagging down the mountain-side until we arrive at the abandoned town of Sibambe, with its shell of a railway station and church. We all get to stretch our legs for a few minutes before the train commences its slow journey back to Alausi, simply reversing its journey and struggling up the steep slopes of the Devil’s Nose.

With dust-encrusted skin, slight sunburn from the mountain sun and sore legs from perching on the roof all day, most agree that it is good to be off this train that only a few hours earlier, people had rushed onto with excited anticipation. The switchback engineering is more interesting to read about than see, the views are pleasant rather than spectacular and the towns somewhat sad as they slowly fade from their colonial glory. Yet, in many ways, the Riobamba-Devil’s Nose train is a travel wonder worth experiencing.

Riobamba Vacations

Riobamba has the sad rundown feel of a former major colonial railroad town on the line between Ecuador’s capital and its largest city. Impressive Spanish-styled buildings flaking from age house shoe repairers, clothing vendors, merchants and a surprising number of barber shops. A grand church, an uninspiring coffee and a reasonable religious art museum pass away an hour but the whole town has this tired slightly bored feel to it. The fresh aromas of charcoal start to fill the streets as barbeques are stoked for the evening fare including the prized cuisine of guinea pig.

Nearby Parque 21 de Abril offers an afternoon view to the spectacular volcano, Chimborazo and other Andean peaks. Remarkably, the snow-capped peak of Chimborazo (at only 6300 metres above sea-level) is the point on the Earth furthest from the centre of the Earth, because the Earth isn’t truly spherical and this mountain is extremely near the equator. It is over two kilometers further away from the Earth’s centre than Mt Everest.

Walking to this vantage point, you could easily be mistaken that only westerners live in this town. Riobamba swells with multitude of travellers three afternoons a week for the early morning departure of the train journey down the Devil’s Nose (Nariz del Diablo). In a true feat of engineering, a railway was cut through the Andes over a hundred years ago including a series of switchbacks to get the train down the steep gradients of Devil’s Nose. Sadly, today this train only runs for the benefit of tourists with a sequence of storms, earth tremors and landslides causing considerable damage to a sequence of track preventing through journeys.

Wiping the sleep from tired eyes, the train departs at a dawn-cracking 7:00am. With no food on the train, it was good advice to be a fair bit earlier to grab a quick breakfast and to be strategically placed to stake a position on the roof of the train. The weak rays of sunshine do little to break the bitter icy temperatures as passengers huddle like emperor penguins closely for warmth, pulling beanies over their ears and hiding their hands up jacket sleeves. The train gently meanders through pleasant countryside and farmland occasionally revealing superb views of the Andes. The early nerves of being tipped off the rocking train have eased as people have settled in, chat and enjoy the mid-morning journey, before stopping to pick up more travellers at the dull-looking town of Alausi.

Read more at Riding the Devil's Nose Part Two.

Photo: Train Overview

Riobamba Vacations

Today being the equinox – one of the two times in a year that the sun sits directly above the equator – it seems appropriate to post an article on the equator. This magic line passes through 14 countries around the globe and I am sure that most countries mark it with monuments, painted lines, road signs and special symbols. Ecuador even takes its name from this famous line that divides our planet in two – named after a French/Spanish scientific expedition in the early 1700s to measure the curvature of the Earth.

Only a few miles north of Ecuador’s capital Quito, the grandly named Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) has a museum with a planetarium, a bit of history, a model of old Quito and a few displays. It also includes the most elaborate equatorial statue that I have seen (right) and an area with a number of the world’s flags. A different Ecuadorian road highlights the hemispheres with a giant sculptured globe (top photo).

Uganda marks the Equator only a few miles south of their capital, Kampala, with a horseshoe-styled statue while one of the Kenyan markers on the road between Nairobi and Samburu National Park is little more than a road sign.

Apart from the usual trite gift shops, a favourite sight at the equator locations is a demonstration of the Coriolis Effect. In simple terms, this is the idea that water drains from a basin or down a toilet in an anti-clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere and in a clockwise direction south of the Equator. The effect is stronger the further you move from the equator.

For a small fee, someone will pour water in a tub or basin with a hole in it. Standing a few metres north of the Equator and dramatically dropping a match, twig or flower into the water, the item will spin counter clockwise. Moving a few metres the other side of the Equator, this same item will rotate in the opposite direction. Finally when standing astride of the Equator, the item will stay almost motionless as the water drains away.

To get an idea of the demonstration, a number of videos on Youtube exist (simply search on “coriolis” and “equator’).

Sorry to be a spoil-sport but this demonstration is faked. The Coriolis Effect is real but standing only a few metres either side of the Equator will not show up such a weak force – it has much more to do with how the water is poured and released. In fact, somewhat bizarrely, the Kenyan demonstration that I witnessed got the two directions the wrong way around with the water draining in the opposite direction to that which would be expected.

But it does provide a lot of chatter and interest among visitors and absorbs many with all kind of queries flowing to the anointed smiling and animated science teacher. It certainly adds to the entertainment of a short break in the journey to take a few happy snaps standing astride of the Equator or climbing upon the marker.

Enjoy the equinox as the north moves into spring and the south moves out of its summer. I trust that your travels will take you past the equator at least once in your life.