Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu! - OVERVIEW 3

It rained. We're happy, really. After hauling ass up to Machu Picchy at 5am in the pouring rain (not an easy 45 minutes!) and finding that the lovely dry restaurant in which we could ring out our socks was closed until 11, we may have been a touch on the bitchy side. And yeah, the walk up wasn't easy. You know, I wasn't quite sure that I was getting my recommended dosage of stairs but I think I'm OK now for about the next 20 years. Our 2 hour tour was over in about 45 minutes because we were all so cold and tired. However, we got some chocolate in us (I ate 8 oreos and felt no guilt) and tried again with a bit of hypothermic giggles in us. It went much better this time and started to clear up around noon. We were supposed to be done around then but some of us hung out for a few hours in the afternoon because it was just so much better. The sun came out and it was the classic Machu Picchu experience.

This is the sun temple, the best bit of architechture in Machu Picchu. How in the hell did they do that? Look at how perfectly the stones fit together (no mortar) and curve around... all by hand. The temples show examples of excellent stonework while the living areas are more crude. There were several structures with specific purposes (astrology, art, sacrifice) but the broader pictures are more impressive.
It's really very big. You could wander about for hours and not see everything. The theory is that Machu Picchu was a university of sorts where the most important Incans were trained. Apparently it was abandoned when the Incans realized that the Spanish didn't actually want to be friends. The inhabitants destroyed all the trails to the city, took all their valuables and hid in the surrounding jungle. So the mystery is where this hidden treasure is located. Many thanks to Ash and Luke for scoring a decent tour and actually paying attention.

Richenda - apparently the Virgins of the Sun concept got vetoed when Yale reexamined the burried skeletons and saw that they were actually 50:50 male and female.
What's the deal with this freaking rain?

Hehe this is just humorous. Adam was walking along and was suddenly surrounded by a huge boys school... it was hilarious, a bunch of rowdy little boys walking along the narrow path with tall, white Adam sticking up in the middle, looking around bewildered. Here he is in his class photo. From an archeological standpoint, the big rock mimicks the shape of the mountains behind it.