[Patz] Our Adventures In Machu Picchu

Home
What's New
Travel
Consulting
Patz Etc.
Search/Site Map
Contact Us

The great Inca ruler Pachacuti built a royal retreat and sacred center in a spectacular mountain top.
That center is now called Machu Picchu, "old peak" in the local Quechua language and is included as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stonemasons and artisans carved the building blocks of the terraced, 25 acre site.
By the time the Spanish invaders (conquerors) arrived in the 16th Century, the Inca empire had
already slid into virtual obscurity. The Spanish never saw the Machu Picchu complex.

Machu Picchu spent almost five centuries in obscurity, overtaken by the tropical jungle, but in 1911 American archaeologist Hiram Bingham rediscovered the king's compound. He thought it was the "Lost City" - the traditional birthplace of the Inca people. Bingham and his team from Yale University spent years reclaiming the site from the jungle.

Click on any picture to enlarge it.

	We went to Machu Picchu by train from Cuzco on an odd, narrow-gauge railroad, 93 cm in width. To the right is the map of the rail system. Machu Picchu train
These breath-taking photos were taken from the Sun Gate with a 300mm zoom lens. views of Machu Picchu tourist attraction
	This is a bird's-eye view of the serpentine bus road that brought us into Machu Picchu. It is unpaved, one lane, and full of hairpin turns. It was not a drive for the faint of heart. views of Machu Picchu
The Sun Gate was a major scientific instrument for Machu Picchu. At the Summer Solstice, the sun came through this notch and hit squarely into the window of the Sun Temple (see the round building, below). The left picture is of the Sun Gate from Machu Picchu, and the right picture is the opposite: Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate. views of Machu Picchu
	After a fairly strenuous climb, we are at the Sun Gate. Machu Picchu is at our right shoulder in the background. The right picture is a detail of the Sun Gate from Machu Picchu. picture Jerrold Patz Naimah "Jerrold Patz"
Tickets for the Machu Picchu bus to the top from the valley, and the Machu Picchu Park entry ticket. bus ticket entry ticket

Here is a montage of additional pictures.

Mouse over any picture for a description. Click on any picture to expand it into a larger view.

▲to top of page▲

views of Machu Picchu