I’m in the process of some much needed home renovations. The timing is complicated but sometimes you simply have no choice. While the roofers drive their last few nails with their cool sounding and efficient guns I ponder construction through the years. Specifically the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.
We had to be up early to catch our Vista Dome train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu. The platform was thick with diesel exhaust and vendors with everything from hats and blankets to rain coats and trinkets. The art of selling is alive and well in Peru. Each member of “TEAM AZAPA” is in his team shirt. I’m sure the other tourists are trying to sort out if we are some kind of addict support group or a class trip for a bunch of guys who are repeating grade nine for the thirtieth time.
With a sharp blast of the whistle the train slowly pulls out of Ollantaytambo station. I’ve always had a thing for trains. My grandfather worked on them his whole life and I attribute some of my existence to them and the livelihood they provided. Local music is being played over the speakers serving as the soundtrack to this part of our adventure. The scenery is amazing and plentiful. Passing small towns and farms at a comfortable pace in a way where I don’t need to concentrate on what I’m doing is therapeutic. The landscape changes as we progress and quickly turns in to very lush green framed by towering mountains with beards of low cloud on either side. The fast moving waters of the Urubamba pass us on the left and out pace the train. At the end of the line buses wait to carry you up a long single lane road made up of nothing but one hundred and eighty degree turns and sheer drops.
Arriving in Machu Picchu we each place a special stamp in our passports as further evidence of our visit. After a short walk in we are there. It’s one of those moments where you need to really stop and say “I’m here...that’s not a giant computer screen...I’m actually here”. Those moments are something to grab on to and hold tight. Machu Picchu is very mystical and simply beautiful. There were hundreds of people there and yet for the most part it was very quiet. The detail in the structures is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Giant pieces of rock joined together with nothing but gravity and a level of precision we can’t seem to replicate today with all our modern tools. My attempts at comprehending what it was like over 600 years ago to work on this site leaves me no further ahead. I can’t do it. Some in our group mused that this is actually the work of aliens and not the Inca. The layout, detail and position of this place make it easier to hand the credit to extra terrestrials than humans. Whatever its origins...it is remarkable. At one point I sat alone and simply enjoyed where I was. Silence interrupted only briefly by a passing tourist or soaring birds allows me to appreciate this gift.
Machu Picchu stood alone for 500 years until Hiram Bingham discovered it in 1911. The majority of the site remains intact and is very much alive with spirit and energy. If our goal was to reach Machu Picchu on this trip we reached and exceeded the goal. I know that my words can’t even come close to doing justice to this place. If you can go, do it. You’ll not be disappointed.
While pieces of my twelve year old house fall off, 600 plus years later Machu Picchu stands tall and largely unaffected by so many years of exposure. This is a testament to the engineering that influenced this place. Modern technology by comparison could learn a lot here. It’s beautiful, historical, well built and well maintained. The gentle Alpaca that live here now have a really nice home. I wonder what the condo fees were six centuries ago.
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