Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Machu Picchu, 2

Continuing our March 11th visit to Machu Picchu...
The four-windowed wall (or was it five?)

The Wall of Sacred Subsidence (some of the guides said it was
earth-quake damage)(much more exciting)

Jig-saw wall


Many-windowed wall

Storehouses along the terraces; there are so many terraces at
Machu Picchu, many more than would have been needed to
feed its small population, that some theorize it was a
"university" or at least an Ag R&D station; our guide was
of this persuasion


A landslide almost obliterated switchback #23

After the formal tour, Charlie left us to our
own devices, which included the snack shoppe;
the purple corn drink was quite good; gluten-
free, too

Homage to Hiram Bingham

And a subtle reminder that there were half a dozen families
living at Machu Picchu when he "discovered" it

Interesting cloud and shadow effects

Thus

They also serve...

Good work if you can get it...beats living on an animal
refuge on the high arid plains; plus the tourists feed you all
manner of interesting treats


Irrigation/spare parts


Mountain not climbed

Rarely-seen back side



If you visit Machu Picchu, be sure to bring either a guide or
a guidebook...

This is absolutely the only interpretive signage there


Other side again



Llamas are extremely territorial

Machu Picchu, 1

Our guide, Charlie, wanted us up and on the road at 5AM again, so we could see the sun rise, or maybe it was to avoid the long lines. We compromised on 6:30, waited in relatively short lines, and were on the mountain by 8AM. The lines were for the bus: we had already entered the site the old-fashioned way--on foot, via the Camino Inka--and were quite content this day to ride the bus up the dusty 10 mile road.
View from the bus

We had superb weather for our visit; the rains were gone, but
there were intermittent clouds, which add to the atmosphere,
um, so to speak, of the place


The park service keeps a number of camelids on site, largely
to keep the grass well-trimmed

Iconic Facebook pose

I really enjoyed the cloudy aspect


I am still trying to visualize the workings of a trapezoidal door

Cyclopean stones, indeed (and I have seen the originals, at
Mycenae and "wall-girt" Tiryns); of course, the Incans did not
have to move them very far


A cloud rolls in over the numerous terraces

The semi-circular solar observatory (so they say)





Every now and then, a big out-crop left in place

Water feature

Ditto





Another water feature

Irrigation in the terraces (in a rain forest?)


Right in the middle of things, there is a nice garden of rain/
cloud foresty plants for tourists who have not walked to
Machu Picchu

Among the weirder bromeliads

Coca

Spare parts


Real Time Update #118

So I am almost a month behind on the blog and alert readers have demanded an update...
We are in Spain; after a couple weeks in Middle California,
United and Lufthansa flew us to Barcelona and a bus got us to
Figueres, where we had stored Le Duc, our European camper;
here, we are provisioning at one of my favorite supermercados,
the Carrefour in Figueres, which features products from 2.5
of the world's great cuisines (France is just across the snowy
Pyrenees)(the population along the Costa Brava is heavily
British...)




















And I had just remarked to Vicki that I bet
they don't have Inca Cola...I bet Oro Andino
is pretty close; we bought Sangria instead





















Squid ink is not easily found in the Americas,
but it is plentiful here




















Our reunion with Le Duc was happy until we discovered the
18 year old water pump was leaking; but the nice folks at
the Caravan Center in Fig got us a replacement PDQ, losing
little time (the jet lag was not so kind)


















And I took the opportunity to visit another
favorite, the Decathlon store in Fig: Rebecca,
they still have the kiddie backpacks for $2.99,
want another? Really hot pink this year






















So we spent several nights at the aire de camping cars in Quart,
a pleasant burb of Girona, unpacking, reorganizing, installing,
planning, recovering from the flights and jet lag...to be
continued, after I finish South America and Middle California