Wednesday, October 22, 2008

And You Thought You Could Lay A Brick?

Hola Loyal Readers,
We're racing against the clock here, trying to tap into words the enormity and wonder of Manchu Picchu before we head for our overnight bus to Ica, which is near Nazca. The belly's been playing up, hence the day's delay, but thanks to wonder that is Loperamide Hydrochloride (or Immodium, to you non-chemists out there) things are stopped up and suitable for travel.

And so it began...

We left Cusco on the morning of the 17th, booked on a bus to take us up the Sacred Valley, which took us through various of the lesser (but nonetheless really impressive) ruins which culminate in Manchu Picchu. There were slightly fewer seats on the bus than tickets sold, but after a steamy confrontation with Walter, our guide, he came to understand that I wasn't happy sitting in the jumpseat perched only inches from the windscreen. After our first stop, he returned to tell me that his last name meant 'Golden Eagle', his grandfather was a shaman, and he was going to perform a miracle for us, which would solve our problems. I was understandably uneasy about this, no new bus was appearing, no-one was getting off, and there was certainly no apparent plans being made to lengthen the bus in any way. Turns out Walter's ingenious solution was to beg two other passengers to swap seats with us - giving us lovely seats further down the bus, while a very small Peruvian man and his wife (who came back to haunt us later) took up their spots in the front of the bus. A result of sorts, so we settled in until we got to Ollantaytambo.

This was a really cool set of ruins, much more so than Pisac (our first stop) due to all the mad astronomical planning that set out this former Incan city. The main part of the city consists of ceremonial baths at the lower levels, then huge agricultural terraces that step up the hill, culminating in the observatory at the top. This was the nerd highlight for me, 6 huge slabs of stone are beautifully adjoined, with bespoke tapered expansion joints (also in stone) set between them. In relief on these slabs are carved the heads of seven pumas, which correspond exactly to the Seven Sisters. This becomes particularly ridonkulous when you look off to the huge mountain across from the site. This features two adapted natural features, the face of a monster (in the picture at left, complete with the four pointed crown some poor bugger climbed up and made) and the perfect profile of an Inca face, set almost at the top of the mountain. At solstice time, the sun rises exactly behind this face, and that evening the Seven Sisters can be seen floating in the sky adjacent. Bonkers.

We left our bus here, took a little refreshment, and waited for our train up to Aguas Callientes, the village just below Manchu Picchu. All went smoothly, and we were met in the main square there and escorted to our hotel. Aguas Callientes is very tourist oriented, with strings of restaurants and bars, and all roads lead down to the main square with the obligatory statue of an Inca within.

After a quick nighcap we retired, ready for our early start the next morning. Super bed, awesome shower, and the sound of the river coursing in the background made for a pretty good night's sleep - all 4 hours of it.

We were up bright and early first thing, and waiting in an orderly queue for the superbly organised bus service to take us up to the ancient city by 5am. There are loads of buses, and it all went really well as we climbed up the Hiram Bingham highway in the growing dawn. Now, just a word about this fellow - Sr. Bingham - he's the chap who 'discovered' Manchu Picchu in 1911, and is rumoured to be the basis for the character of Indiana Jones. Turns out there are numerous claims to who was there first (well, that's a loose term, first meaning since the dastardly Spaniards drove out the Incas in the 16th century), but Hiram's story is that he was trekking up the Sacred Valley in search of treasure basically, when he stopped at Aguas Callientes to ask what the locals knew. Turns out one of the friendly residents said, "oh, an ancient city? yep, there's a cracker just up there on that hill." Bingham crossed his palm with 2 soles (the equivalent of about 70 cents) and faster than you can say, "South America's biggest tourism site and my name immortalised by the steely jawed Harrison Ford" he hacked his way through the jungle and into history.

Anyway, I probably sound jealous at this point, seeing as I wasn't the guy who found it.

So, we were through the gates just after 6am, and in reward for our early start really did almost have the place to ourselves. We climbed straight up just after the entry to the Hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock (never quite worked out what that meant) for the true postcard views over the site. That's the lonely caretaker's hut up there on the right. As you can see from the pic at left if was pretty empty, low clouds creeped over the ruins and it was all very eerie and beautiful.
One of the first things that strikes you is just how intact the place is, the layout, main spaces, and about 80 percent of the buildings are perfectly preserved, except for the perishable materials like the roofs of the buildings. The other thing that left me flabbergasted is the quality of the stonework. It's well known that it's considered the best masonry in antiquity, but nothing prepares you for actually seeing it. They didn't just set themselves the goal of getting the straightest, tightest joins they could, they went all psychedelic and tried out all sorts of whacky stone shapes, just to see if some poor sucker could fit the next piece against it. Turns out they could, with truly humbling mastery. I've taken about 10 shots of this wall in various places, my million dollar idea being that they would make great placemats. Consider this a copyright for that idea, Berin.

Also prevalent, are the delicious, delicious llamas, which have the main square of the complex to themselves. Thanks to the swishy 'burst 'function of my camera I was able to capture this fella in full chewing mode, and what a happy chap he looks. Gotta love a ruminant.
So, I'll chew your respective ears off when we get home - I could gush on this place for hours - but for now the clock's ticking and we have to head back to pick up our bags before we leave to Ica on the previously recommended CIAL bus services. If all is well tomorrow (gastrically, I mean) we'll see if we can get to Nazca to fly over the famous lines there. If not, then it'll be a little dune-buggying and sitting by the pool before we head to Lima, our jumping off point to fly to Ecuador.
We've done a little Xmas shopping already, which we'll either carry or post home, and we'll fill the rest as we make our way across Ecuador and Brasil. The second round of postcards should have hit you by now, so the next will come from the Galapagos Islands - we even bought binoculars for it! Sign me up to the RSPB and park me in the bushes for a morning of twitching...
OK kids, take care out there and thanks for the emails, keep them coming.
Love and hugs,
A

posted by Arch @ 4:15 AM

1 Comments:

At 1:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about the big stones - they are pretty damn cool.

Classic - you met up with my friends Anita and Mike! Saw your pics on their blog too! Very small world.

Not sure where you are off to in Ecuador - the beaches are fab if you manage to get any time there. enjoy the galapagos - I have serious envy!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home