Machu Picchu
The default site to visit in the Incan Sacred Valley is Machu Picchu. We spent the better part of a day there, thankfully visiting in the off-season and arriving early enough to beat the crowd. (You can see in the later pictures the numbers of visitors increases.) It’s wonderful, but I can’t imagine going there in the high season with thousands more people.
Click on any image below to begin a slideshow.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Even the train ride there was dramatic.
Approaching the view that everyone wants...
...the valley below seems very distant.
The view captures the site and the context.
Photographs pop up wherever you look.
You can't forget you're standing in the sky.
Sometimes, you find company on the way...
...with four legs, or with many many more.
The urban section, well silhouetted.
Construction details and fine joinery.
Looking back to the guard house from below.
The quarry is the most amazing place.
From here, looking toward Intihuatana.
The power of the place is tangible.
The rooms of the palace line up in rows...
...and face across the square toward factories.
The day changes rapidly in the vale.
Detail of water moving through structure...
...changes depending on your perspective.
Halfway around and the crowds have arrived.
Elevation: purple cast to the light.
Past the prison, looking back at the square.
Corridors lead toward the valley and sky.
Construction details from one place change...
...around the corner, in style and color.
Intihuatana overlooks the square.
Detail of life peeking out from the rocks.
Water management is so elegant.
Stairs run along the ritual fountains.
The view from the end, as good as the start.
