Machu Picchu, Peru, February 2001

Machu Picchu. The Spaniards never found it, and it was unknown to the outside world until the early 1900's. The name is Quechan for "old mountain". It is properly pronounced "mah-choo peek-choo", and frequently mispronounced as "mah-choo pee-shoe", which means ... oops. If you really want to know, email me. You must be over 21 to ask! There are no roads to Machu Picchu -- you must walk, ride a horse or other animal, or take the train. The site is located by the Rio Urabamba downstream from Ollantaytambo.

To view a larger image, click on the picture you want to see. Return to this page by clicking on "Back".

The reason that it was discovered so late is that Machu Picchu cannot be seen from the valley below. It is around 700 meters (2300 feet) above the river, nestled in amoung the surrounding mountains. The last picture shows the calssical view of Machu Picchu with Huayna Picchu ("young mountain, pronounced "wha-ee-na peek-choo") in the background.

There is a (sometimes) very steep path to the top, although that's not evident from the picture above. After a couple of hours we emerged at the top.

Later that afternoon, and the following morning, we wandered around the site. Bear in mind that all the stone work was done by hand. In the pictures, there is a stone with a series of slots in it. These were drilled so that water and frost could complete the job of splitting the rock. The terraces that you see were built for growing crops. Here's what we saw...

Remember that Machu Picchu overlooks the Urabamba River. At this time of year, the rainy season, that is one nasty river. If someone out there has more whitewater experience than I do, please correct me, but that river looks like a class V to me if it's runnable at all. The river runs through downtown Aguas Calientes, where the train station is. It is, as you can see, more than a little touristy. No doubt the name comes from some one asking, "How much trouble am I in?". "You're in hots waters, amigo". Or maybe there are hot spings somewhere. No se.