The Other Spot

Peru is one of the countries that have some of the best natural wonders on Earth: the highest navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca, some of the best preserved forests, and the deepest canyon in the world, Cotahuasi …. but above all, talk is talk of Peru Machu Picchu, a myth that became reality in 1911 when Bingham discovered it is talking about hundreds of legends, is talking about an entire culture, the Inca, as mysterious as unknown … to Macchu Picchu is the talk of a genuine Teosoro in stone, hidden deep within the bowels of the Andes, wherever the Urubamba river gives rise to the Sacred Valley … and so, between stones, water, clouds, Machu Picchu’s history blends with the legend.

This marvel is a settlement built by the Incas in the fifteenth century, apparently as a mausoleum for Pachakuteq, the founder of the empire Tawantinsuyu. This city has great mausoleum stone buildings spread across the neighborhood high or low or Hanan and Hurin. In the upper quarter we are the Temple of the Sun, a few palaces and especially the Intihuatana, a monument of the unknown is not known whether it is an altar, a sundial or an astronomical observatory. In the bottom concentrate poorest buildings, houses, workshops … Among the top, the considered “sanctuary” and the low have connections in the form of roads and narrow lanes, mostly in the form of steps, which intersect in the famous terraces. A wall seemed to surround and separate the buildings and temples where those ceremonies were held.

But perhaps the most impressive part, is in the north of the shrine, on top of the citadel. Behind the sacred rock, there is a staircase that rises to Wayna Picchu, the Young Mountain. It’s worth the effort to cross the hill known as Claw, and the difficult climb up steps carved into the mountain itself, to rise at the top, and from there to admire the beautiful landscape that stretches below us. There, at a height of 2,720 m. on the carved stone of the “Silla del Inca”, we shall spread our feet all the sanctuary of Machu Picchu as if it were a camera stolen from the time stamp, and far below, the entire riverbed and sacred Urubamba valleys and gorges that form the Cordillera de los Andes. Here we understand the true concept of what the sublime beauty of this monument, sitting, feeling the cool fresh air in our face, immersed in a sacred silence, we are led to merge as one being with nature.

To get to Machu Picchu, the system is more convenient by train will take us from Cusco to the town of Aguas Calientes. Four hours of journey in which we cross by impressive scenery, and where we will see how, in his climb to our feet we leave the imperial city of Cuzco. The cost of this train is, as of today, about $ 33. Once in Aguas Calientes, we must take one of the buses that continuously leave for the sanctuary. After 20 minutes of winding road, we meet at the gates of Machu Picchu where we will have to pay 12 soles which is the admission.

But for the more adventurous, there is a path, “the Way of the Incas”, punctuated by a multitude of shelters, sanctuaries and ancient Incan ruins, and part of an extensive network of roads that crisscrossed the entire Inca empire. A hiker route leaves from Cuzco and can last about four days, during which time we can admire the surrounding Andean landscape, as we ascend through the fog to get to Machu Picchu through the “Puerta del Inca. However, there is a shorter option of 50 kms. that part of Aguas Calientes.

Choose the option we choose, we will be captivated by his legend, for its beauty, its mystery and memories of a vanished civilization strangely.