30-04-2012
Cusco to Machu Picchu, easy way to take the train from Ollanta Station to Aguas Calientes, this town located a few miles from the site. It’s a scenic 3.5-hour trip each way along tracks that run right along the Urubamba River in the Sacred Valley, with dramatic canyon walls on either side. From Aguas Calientes Station we took a bus to the top of the mountain and citadel of Machu-Picchu, one of the most renowned examples of Inca Architecture.
Machu Picchu is located at an elevation of 7,970 feet (2,430 meters) above sea level on the eastern slope of the Andes and overlooks the Urubamba River hundreds of feet below. Machu Picchu was founded by Pachacuti Inca in 1450 CE, had capacity for around 1,000 residents at its peak, and ranked amongst the most sacred of all sites for the Inca. The construction of Machu Picchu began around the time the Inca began to expand their territory across the continent. According to archaeologists, a battle was fought and won against the Chanca people, thus giving power to Inca Pachacutec and solidifying his victorious reign over more lands.
Inca Pachacutec was the first to emerge beyond the valley of Cusco after his epic victory over the Chancas. A strong Inca leader, he was known for his territorial conquests and the development of religion and spirituality. Being recognized as the “constructor” of Cusco is among Pachacutec’s greatest achievements.
The site’s excellent preservation, the quality of its architecture, and the breathtaking mountain vista it occupies has made Machu Picchu one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world today. The site covers 80,000 acres (32,500 hectares). Terraced fields on the edge of the site were once used for growing crops, likely maize and potatoes. After Spanish appeared in South America, plagues afflicting the Inca along with military campaigns waged by conquistadors Machu Picchu lost its power. In 1572, with the fall of the last Incan capital, their line of rulers came to end.Machu Picchu did not survive the collapse of the Inca, and the city was abandoned till in 1911, then an explorer Hiram Bingham III, a professor at Yale University, visited the site and published its existence for the first time. He found it covered with vegetation, much of which has now been removed. The buildings were made without mortar (typical of the Inca), their granite stones quarried and precisely cut. Today, Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983 and designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, Machu Picchu is Peru’s most visited attraction and South America’s most famous ruins, welcoming hundreds of thousands of people a year.
Returned to Cusco late evening.
