A Tour of Machu Picchu

We spent two days at Machu Picchu. The first day Manuel gave us an extensive tour of the best-known parts of the complex.

Manuel had joined us when we arrived in the highlands and was an excellent guide to the pre-Incan and incan ruins.	The road to Machu Picchu is a steep series of switchbacks, one lane wide, although it accomodates two-way bus traffic!
Like everyone else, we snapped the most famous view of Machu Picchu.	The view from the top of the ruins down to the valley floor was magnificent, as terraces tumbled over each other down the slope.
The only way to get around Machu Picchu was to climb LOTS of stairs.	The Inca constructed terraces to allow farming in this steep area of the mountains.
The entry gate to the complex.	The guardhouse on the highest point of the main site.
The temple of the Sun is probably the most distinctive building on the site	and gave Joop a chance to practice his best Tom Selleck imitation.
To one side Manuel showed us the quarry, which gave us an idea of how the artisans had worked the stones that were used the build the complex.	The Temple of the Three Windows looks out over the lower complex.
The Southern Cross Compass and the Observatory testified to the Inca fascination with and knowledge of astronomy.
We could see how the buildings had been set into bedrock.	The nature and purpose of the Condor Temple is disputed--a place for worship or a prison?
Under the Condor Temple is a set of steps and a chamber containing an important stone.	The names and dates carved on this stone are proof that Hiram Bingham was not the first person to discover Machu Picchu, as he always claimed.
The Hitching Post of the Sun	We could see how the archaeologists had disassembled and then reassembled some of the structures by numbering the individual rocks.
After the tour we were free to wander around the rest of the complex	and watch the living lawnmowers at work.