... except there were no clouds, we´re only looking at the big blue, blue sky.
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| Kim points proudly at the Sun Gate, which we walked to and from before 9am |
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| How they keep the grass so short |
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| "The Classic" |
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| Sun Gate |
Apparently, Machu Picchu means "old mountain", but if you mispronounce it ´pi-chew´ instead of ´pic-chew´ it means ´old willy´. So Cesar our guide told us. He is a hilarious cross between Kenneth Williams, Graham Norton and Frankie Howerd.
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| Pisac, site of panic AD2014 |
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| Light at the end of the tunnel.... |
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Kim and Cesar, Up Ollantaytambo!
Married with four kids, so he said. |
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| Kim and Cesar, playing at Mummies at Pisac. |
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That was before he also told us three hours into our two-day trip to Machu Picchu, via Pisac and Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, that we´d need our original passports to get through the gates. Guess what we hadn´t packed...
Cue panic, frantic phoning by Cesar to our travel agent, who phoned the MP offices to check if this was the case, and a very,
very uncomfortable period until, at 7am on Friday and after a 4.30am start, we finally walked through the turnstile without a second glance at our tatty, photocopied passports from the inspector, and up to the most majestic vista we´ve ever seen, just as the sun poked his head around the mountain.
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| Lllama farmers |
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Dad, 600 years ago all these stones were chosen to fit, dragged up a mountain from the quarry,
cut to size without proper tools, then laid without mortar. A canny job for Gofton´s back in the day. |
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Looking at some astronomic sun mirrors,
or they could have been dishes for mixing dye.
As usual, no-one really knows. |
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| SmuffWatch circa 2025 |
After another nice couple of hours´ ambling around the runs we got the bus back to Aguas Calientes, the most touristy town you will ever encounter.
It was nice enough, though. Kim had a hot thermal bath thing and I had a beer in a reggae bar, then it was on the IncaRail train back to Cuzco.
There isn´t a right lot I can add to an account of Machu Picchu that you won´t probably already know - it is incredible, amazing, wow! and awesome all in one place. If you want to go, go soon, as Wilfredo tells us it´ll be closing permanently within a few years due to erosion. Bloody tourists.
Hope these pictures tell the story of our trip highlight so far... now onward to Puno and Lake Titicaca.
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| Aye canny, but it´s not Kate Bush at the Hammersmith Odeon, is it? |
A highlight of the trip? Certainly looks like it. Sometimes it's ok to forget you're a traveller and just be a tourist.
ReplyDeleteLooks fantastic ,as per great fotos of you both ,dig the beard Keith.A lovely looking .Sometimes words don't sum up an experience and I think this must be that sort of place!.Was at heathrow seeing Mike off yesterday ,a 12 hr flight to Kuala Lumpar ,then 4 hr layover there 3.5 hrs to Manilla ,then flight to Cebu where he is having week of induction before catching short flight to Tacloban ,then 5 hr bus ride to his final destination Borongan.He is in Cebu he has been on fb he was off to kip its 8 hrs ahead .Chris moving out in first week in September up to wallsend .Bungalow they are renting off ginas mams mother and father ,the mam died and dad is in rest home ,so it has worked out well for the 2 of em.Gina n Chris not the granny and granda.Paula and I are off for 4 nights in a caravan in porthmadog its a friend of our clares rents it out .Paula has weeks hols so be a change of scenery for us both.Nowt else fresh I don't think,oh aye got awarded standard daily living allowance on pip old dla.Bit of tax back and a bit loss of earnings ,fuck em!!.Enjoy yourselves hard to believe how time is going it seems like 5 mins since we in davantis before you went for a meal.HAVE FUN love from all herex
ReplyDeleteI´ve figured out the difference between a traveller and a tourist. One wants to "experience" everything for free, or at someone else´s expense. The other is a tourist.
ReplyDelete