Machu Picchu's Andes Mountains
Welcome to the high Andes around Machu Picchu! The mountains are steep and covered in vegetation. The day we were at Machu Picchu the morning was sunny giving way to clouds and eventually showers in the late afternoon.
Terraced Walls
The Incas were tremendous wall builders, critical when you live on slopes like these. The walls created a level area for farming of only 12 acres and additional crops were brought from nearby valleys and farther away.
Central Plaza
You can see that the Central Plaza is still sort of a meeting place but not for people anymore. There were a few llamas (pronounced “yammas” here) scattered throughout the sanctuary. Note that the windows in the buildings behind are trapezoidal, a signature of the Incas.
Temple of the Condor
For people who worshipped nature the shape of these massive rocks were just too suggestive to ignore. There is another rock right in front of me that is said to be the condor’s head but there was no room to back up further for a photograph of it. This is the only shot in my Peru collection shot on a cell phone.
Ollantaytambo Street
Our group visited this large town under brilliant skies on a pretty warm day and had a chance to walk on some of the old streets through the old part of town. All of these old streets were walking paths between the buildings and they are used, I think, pretty much as they always have been.
Terraces and Fortress
The Incas built terraces wherever they were faced with steep hills and little farmland. In Ollantaytambo the terraces climb way up a steep hill and are topped with a defensive fortress. On the warm day that we were there the location of the Temple of Water at the bottom of the mountainside was very warm in the direct sunlight.
Templo del Aguas, the Water Temple
The small waterfall seen here has run under the very large field in the background in underground stone “pipes” that are hundreds of years old. The building is designed to highlight and celebrate the water.
Templo del Aguas Waterfall and Steps
The Templo del Aguas covered quite a large area and celebrated water with several small waterfalls in the landscaped temple. All the water comes through the old underground water pipes.
Textile Center, Chinchero
We stopped at the textile center in Chinchero where the textiles are made in the old way from hundreds of years ago. Here, women dye and weave wool from various animals and make products that sell all over the world. The products are beautiful and the center has been very successful.
Nilda and Maddy
Nilda runs the textile center and is the only person there not in traditional clothing. During the demonstration for our group she asked my granddaughter, Maddy, to help her dye some wool.
