The final day of our Cusco expedition was supposed to be literally wonderful. Yes, the title has already spoiled it! It's about the legendary Machu Picchu, which is considered one of the 7 wonders of the world and according to statistics the area receives around 2500 visitors a day. Like the previous day, we had to wake up around 4am to catch a bus that took us to Ollantaytambo. From there, we took a train, the so-called PeruRail, which had wide windows offering a very fancy panoramic view. After a 1.5h-trip we arrived at a small village from where we started our hike to the top. The weather was tropical and thank goodness we took some extra clothes with us as we had to change our outfit once we reached the top. In front of the entrance there were a lot of tourists and besides them also a lot of guides trying to offer a tour for an affordable price. After a little brainstorming, we decided on a guide to accompany us on the tour for about 3 hours. We started the tour and after reaching the first platform, we could see the massive territory in front of us. It should be emphasized that the peak that is always in the photos is not Machu Picchu Mountain. That peak is on the other side of the city and the one in the photos is called Huayna Picchu Mountain. Just a second after arriving we were able to make a happy observation. A guy on his knees proposing to his girlfriend, who a second later said "yes" causing a huge cheer. Definitely a well-chosen place for such an occasion.    

To better understand the meaning of Machu Picchu we want to share our knowledge that we gained during our guided tour. The name means old mountain and originally comes from the Incas, the first tribe to build and occupy the whole area in the 15th century. Their territory covered the entire western part of South America, including seven countries. Importantly, Inca is a term that only stands for the king of the tribe, not the entire population as it is commonly claimed. The Machu Picchu, where approximately 1500 people lived, is surrounded of many other mountains and access to other places was extremely difficult. Today there are two options to reach the summit from a small village Aguas Calientes. Either by bus (30 minutes) or by hiking (1-2 hours). As the geographical conditions were quite limited in Inca times, it is fascinating to understand how they dealt with it. To communicate important information to others living miles away, they used two ways. One was to use so-called messengers, who were responsible for receiving and delivering information from one point to another. A much more efficient chain of communication was shouting from one mountain to another until it reached its final recipient. Another interesting fact was the accounting system of the Incas. For counting they used so-called quipus with strings, each representing a different number. In addition, the Incas had a very clever way of building their houses. While on the one hand each wall was built inclined towards the centre of the room to be resistant to earthquakes, they used small round stones to move huge rock plates from one place to another. Furthermore, they were able to tell time using flora and fauna. For instance, when condors flew away from the territory, it was a sign of twilight. While walking through the territory, we stopped at the temple of the sun. It used to be a room that had a window through which the sun was shining during the day. This enabled them to be aware of what time of the year it was. This was an important room for the Incas in those days to understand when would be the best time to grow crops and harvest vegetables. We definitely ended the whole day in delight and were incredibly amazed by the impressions and historical background of the Incas that we learned during the tour.

Duo Duo Pro Uno

Machu Picchu Mountain