Machu Picchu Day 2

​Do you really need two days in Machu Picchu? The answer is yes! I mentioned yesterday that there are multiple circuits that go through the different views and sites. Today we did circuit number 3. 

We got to see Machu Picchu from a different vantage point and see different sections of the ruins. 

Different days different view! This is NOT the National Geographic view. Saving that photo for something special. :-) 

My favorite thing we saw today was this temple. It’s the only round building in Machu Picchu. I should mention Machu Picchu faces east and the rising sun. The terraces get sun for most of the day which is great for the crops. 

Back to the temple, the window on the right lines up perfectly for sunrise on the winter solstice. The window on the left lines up perfectly for the summer solstice. Amazing math they figured out, but funny enough, when they first built it they got the calculations wrong! You can see to the right of the left window, two notches where the window originally was placed. They ended up rearranging the bricks to make it perfect. 

Under the temple is a huge boulder with carved ledges. See the trapezoidal nooks? That’s where they kept mummies! 

The Inka were aware of their geology so much that they didn’t build down this strip of land because they figured out it is a fault! It lines up with the crack in the mountain peak directly across the river. 

A cool trapezoid doorway. This is a doorway to where the king would stay when he visited because it was double thick. Most doors weren’t this fancy! 

The condor was an very important bird to the Inka and this rock formation pays tribute to it. The triangle on the ground is the head, and the two big rock slabs are the wings. 

Zoomed in photo of the head. You can see the beak and the round part represents the white collar it has around its neck. 

Looking up the hill at the terraces. 

After lunch we decided to spontaneously walk the Inka trail down the mountain instead of taking the bus. We had 4 hours until our train, so we had plenty of time. It was so cool hiking through the jungle!

Starting down the mountain!

The plants and flowers were so cool!

Craziest beatle I have ever seen. 

Remember I mentioned Inkian floating stairs a few days ago? I got to hike some on the trail today! The trail crosses the road here. 

Hiking down took us about 50min to the bottom of the mountain and then another 30 to the town. It was totally worth the experience and way better than hiking up. 

So grateful for this experience.