On the Loose in South America

Today, we visited Machu Picchu, which is everything its supposed to be and more. The Inca ruins are in brilliant condition, lacking only the straw roofs of 500 years ago, and the location is truly breathtaking. Perched on an extremely high peak between the Andes and the start of the Amazon, it is an amazing location for an ancient village. Incredibly, the giant stones that were used to construct the Inca buildings were often carted up from the valley, or from nearby mountains, by the Inca men! Considering the endurance that the four-day Inca trail walk takes, this was an incredible feat! Furthermore, this village was linked by Inca trails (paths) to other Inca villages throughout Peru and Bolivia, and the villages traded frequently in food, textiles, labour etc. Given this, many incas also frequently carried produce from their villages 100s of kms away, through the valley, and up the 2700 metre-high mountain of Machu Picchu! And we think we are overworked! Furthermore, the Incas wree an extremely intelligent and resourceful race. Using primitive objects, they were able to work out the Sun´s rotation, and build temples with 2 small windows, through which the summer and winter soltices shone! Their calendar was superior to ours, as they only lost one day every 13,000 years, whereas we lose a day every four years! We were given an extremely informative and interesting tour of the ruins for three hours in the morning, then spent two hours walking the ruins independently. We found a small area to eat lunch (bread and cakes I had hoarded from the buffet breakfast!), and were joined by three Llamas. They were fantastic to watch up close, as I had never seen or touched one before. Their coat was actually surprisingly soft! The weather for our day on Machu Picchu was near perfect, despite a brief spurt of rain, and we returned to Cusco in the evening by train. The train trip both up to Machu Picchu and back was extremely scenic, and ran practically through people´s backyards. It gave a brilliant inside into the lives of the local Peruvians. Despite concern I might find Machu Picchu overrated, given all the hype it receives, I was far from disappointed. Apparently it has recently been voted the first wonder of the world - Whilst I havent seen all of the other 6, I think its primary position is justified.