The magic of Machu Picchu
There's a sharpness to these words. They contain mystery, inspiration and surprise. Ma-chu-Pic-chu. The sound resonates with a different melody to what we are used to hearing. A powerful name for a powerful place, Machu meaning old and Picchu meaning peak, standing 2400 metres above sea level. Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an explorer and treasure hunter from the US. The Spanish never discovered the city, yet it had never been lost to those who lived around it and with the help of indigenous farmers, Bingham was led to the site and brought it to the attention of the world.
This was my second time visit; a couple of years ago I trekked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and raised over £5k for a children's hospice in doing so. It was an incredible experience and most definitely the best and most popular way to visit the sacred Inca site. Four days trekking and camping out under the stairs to then be rewarded with the view of the city from the Sun Gate is breathtaking. However, lack of time meant that the train was the best option and so after spending a night in the quaint village of Ollantayambo, I started out on another incredible journey. The scenery is stunning, passing through the valleys with steep mountains and inca ruins and terraces either side, and even passing the entrance bridge for the Inca trail.
If you're in Agua Calientes the night before, it is definitely worth getting up early to get the first bus. The site opens its doors at 6am and being one of the first in there and capturing those pics without a soul in site is both enchanting and mysterious. Machu Picchu has so much energy, it has soul and as soon as I walked through the gates I felt that same feeling I'd had two years ago. It leads you to explore its nooks and crannies, it captures your imagination, it has a calmness that invites you to stay as long as possible.
I was lucky enough to get a ticket for Huayna Picchu, the iconic soaring summit that inevitably attracts the attention of every newcomer. The pathways, terraces, individual buildings and observation platforms were discovered during Bingham's second expedition to Machu Picchu. There are almost 900 steps to get to the top, almost 3000 metres above sea level, where the birds eye view of Machu Picchu resembling a condor with outstretched wings is simply incredible.
This brings me on to the Incas. Everything you see at Machu Picchu and other Inca ruins has meaning. The Incas were a very intelligent and advanced civilisation. One of the most incredible and baffling observations about Machu Picchu is the construction of the buildings. The Incas used a dry masonry method to construct buildings without mortar using stones that fit so perfectly together that nothing can slip between them, making them extremely resistant to earthquakes. They had no iron, no steel and no wheels, proving it took tremendous effort to justify the laborious construction of this magic city in such a challenging land.
And why would they do this? Well, this brings me back to what I love most about Machu Picchu and that's the energy you can feel walking around the site. The most plausible explanation for its inception is that it was built as a sacred centre to worship natural resources and specifically the Sun. The Incas observed the movement of the sun, moon and stars and used this knowledge to strategically place buildings and windows to observe astronomical events such as solstice sunrises and equinoxes. In fact, when the sun of the winter solstice enters through the central window, it falls directly on the large ceremonial stone. Clever stuff!
Another breathtaking example of Inca stonemasonry is the Temple of the Condor, which the Incas skilfully shaped into the outspread wings of a condor in flight. On the floor is a rock carved in the shape of a condor's head that's believed to have been used as a sacrificial alter. It was here that sacrifices were made to the gods. If you were a girl of beauty in Inca times, you would surely have been chosen to serve the gods with your fate becoming one of the 150 female mummy's that were found buried in caves around the site.
I spent a good seven hours at the site, which gave me the opportunity to take a half hour hike to the the Inca Bridge on the western side of the site. It was built as a secret entrance to Machu Picchu for the Inca army.
I loved learning about the Incas and Machu Picchu. I love that it was completely self contained, producing enough food on its terraces to feed the entire community and had constant water supply that they channeled to the city through subterranean and open canals. So unbelievably clever and mind blowing at times. It is a place I'll visit again during my lifetime and one that shouldn't be missed. It's just special, it's magical and best of all it's surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty.
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