We started our journey to another highlight of South America: Machu Picchu. We got up early, and took a taxi to Poroy Station. We then boarded the train that took us with light speed to Aguas Calientes — well, not quite. But we travelled in style. To much of Felix’s delight, we spend most of journey playing MEMORY.
Aguas Calientes is a decent little town deep in the Urubamba valley. Machu Picchu is about 20 minutes away by bus. The option to walk along the steep road winding up to Macchu Picchu certainly exists as well. This takes several hours, and judging from the facial expression of those arriving on the top, it is not really recommendable. Virtually all tourists use Aguas Calientes as stepping stone to Machu Picchu, and stay a couple of hours to up to 2 days. It is only accessible by train. All buses running from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu were brought in by train car.
After our arrival, Gisela directly went to attend a cooking class. In the meanwhile, Felix and myself prepared for the visit of Machu Pichhu, and took a long walk to the Museo de Sitio Manuel Chavez Ballon, an archaeological museum. Here, we learned about the construction, discovery, and history of the Inca city of Machu Picchu. Felix was particularly impressed about a couple of photographies taken by Hiram Bingham during his rediscovery of Machu Picchu, a reconstruction of an Inca grave with sitting skeletons, and tableau showing a cross section of terraces. The Inca used the terraces to plant corn. They filled them up with different layers of soil, cobble and pebble stones to manage the water balance thereby allowing for irrigation while at the same time preventing erosion.
