Adventures In Peru

It's a little odd entering a public national park from the back; we actually had to go through the exit of Machu Picchu in order to get our passes stamped. It's strange, but if you're able to just walk there from the backside, you could get into Machu Picchu for free...you know, if you're willing to hike through the Andes for days on end. Yeah...come to think of it, I'd pay the 20 bucks instead. Once we got in, we checked our bags into this storage area and I said adios to my wonderful walking stick. I wasn't about to drag it back onto a plane or anything and the damn thing was as dirty as I was. It was mercifully placed into the giant stack of used walking sticks outside the front gate where they probably turn them into roofs in those shanty town houses in the area. While we were waiting for Willow, our Peruvian guide, to gather up all the people, I went and bought an ice cold soda....the most refreshing drink of my life. We sat around watching all the strange new tourists come in...there was this strange Asian chick who was wearing this face-covering visor and a black scarf on her head; it made her look like Darth Vader. All she was missing was the asthma. Why are Asian tourists so damn weird? Well, it took Willow another hour to gather everyone up, which started to upset Tim, one of the hikers, to no end. He had wanted to wander around before it got crowded and he started complaining to no one in particular that he hadn't hiked all this way to hang out with the damn train tourists...that sounded rather elitist, but I can understand the sentiment. Although his fears turned out to be unfounded; it really doesn't get that crowded. It isn't Disneyland or anything, they have a cap on the total tourists allowed. Once we got started we moved down through the terraces and Willow started his little spiel about the history of this mystery city called Machu Picchu.
This is going to include some historical facts, so you can just skip over this paragraph if you have the attention span of a guinea pig. It seems that Hiram Bingham was a scientist from Yale searching for the lost jungle city of the last of the Incas which Manco Inca retreated to after his defeat by Pizarro, Vilcabamba. He had been asking various locals for old cities or ruins and he finally happened upon a group who referred to something they called the old mountain, or "Machu Picchu." When he stumbled upon it, he figured it wasn't this legendary city of Vilcabamba as it wasn't big enough, but at 5 square kilometers, it was quite the amazing discovery on its own. There were never any records about this city having been built or even used, so much of what was discovered about it had to come from archeological digs and lots of guesswork. It seems that this city was primarily used for religious ceremonies and as I stated before, it acted as a giant calendar in which they were able to determine their seasons.
So, about this time, we continued on into the actual city itself and Willow preceded to show us many of the important structures and locations. We started with the main room in which the sun would shine into one of two windows determining the Winter or Summer Solstices. There was a giant altar which apparently used to house a large golden medallion and would reflect the light in some meaningful way. I dunno...there ain't no medallion there now and I have no idea what the hell they would do with this reflection if there was one. At this point there was a good contrast between their two building styles; the common one of gathering various stones and placing them together with mortar which is effective but ugly, and the Inca style which consisted of finely shaped stones that perfectly interlock with each other without the need for mortar. It looks very professional and is quite aesthetically pleasing; I can see why the Incas demanded this version. It's like the difference between a 3 thousand dollar paint job and a Mako $199 special. We were taken into this particular room which was reserved for, what they could tell, the head priest and learned about several interesting items. The first was two carved bowls into the earth which were then filled with water and would reflect the stars at night; they used it to tell to future and all that other mumbo jumbo. It must have been the easiest way to isolate certain sections of the sky for in depth viewing. The second was even more entertaining; it was a private bathroom built just for the residents of the house. There was a little room with a hole in the back wall which leads to an irrigation gutter that used to have permanent running water. You'd just do your business in the whole, then washed away down the hillside through the center of town. Nice. To be honest, it's more high tech than several current bathrooms I've seen in this country. I'm not sure what my obsession with ancient toilets is, but I find them fascinating. I think that's one aspect of modern life we take far too much for granted.
We finally began to walk about the courtyards and ventured up to one of the most popular spots in Machu Picchu; the giant sundial. There is this enormous sundial perched upon the highest point of the mountain which at one time was one of the most famous sites in this place. So famous that many commercials were filmed using shots from this iconic structure; one too many it seems. Some Peruvian beer company was filming a shot from a helicopter and lost the camera right out the window. By pure freak chance it smashed into the high spot on the dial pointing south and snapped it right off. Apparently, they're not familiar with super glue here because it was never fixed, so now it's just a broken dial...or a stopped clock, I suppose. Speaking of helicopters; there used to be this huge ceremonial altar in a large clearing right below from the sundial, but it was torn down and nobody took pictures beforehand and now it can't be replaced. Ironically, it was torn down to make room for a helicopter to land so the President of Spain could visit without taking the train. Oh sure...you crushed our civilization and stole all the gold from our country, no problem, we'll bust up our priceless artifacts so you can deface it with a helicopter...sometimes I don't understand these people. They’re way too forgiving. While we were up there, Colin was goofing around and almost stepped right off the ledge which was a good 200 feet down; I suppose this is what I should have seen as foreshadowing, but I didn't realize that moments from then I was gonna have to help save someone's life.
That sounded a little dramatic, but the incident was quite dramatic for Brett, my fellow traveler. As we were walking along the ledge leading to countless terraces, our guide Willow began talking about this particular stone which looked as though it had a face. I was joking how it didn't really have a nose and was proof that aliens had built Machu Picchu...Willow wasn't amused, however. Stupid Quechuan pride. Anyways, Brett figured he'd take a picture just like the other 20 people in our group(including yours truly) and he glanced behind him to make sure he had footing...unfortunately, the grass all sort of runs into each other regardless of whether the ground is your level or 50 or so feet down. The level where we were dropped about 20 feet or so...well, he takes a step back, then another as he's framing his shot...then he realizes his back foot just stepped into nothing...Willow was the first to notice as he was facing us so with his catlike reflexes, he instinctively reaches out and grabs Brett's arm...unfortunately, Willow also weighs about as much as a cat, so now Brett and Willow are about to plummet over the ledge. Mike from Arizona was standing right in front of Brett and he blindly reaches out at this point and grabs a hold of his shirt, which does nothing to slow Brett’s fall but stretch out the shirt...stupid dri-fit stretch shirts...at this point I finally realize what's happening, and being on Brett's left side I actually set my feet and grab a hold of his other arm. So there we are, suspended over the ledge like a bad Wily E. Coyote cartoon, when we hear Willow's walking stick strike the ground; I almost expected to see a puff of smoke or something. The sound finally awakens my survival instincts and I heave backwards with the added strength from adrenaline of fear. Luckily, this sends us all tumbling back onto each other into a pile, but more importantly, the safety of the main level. Granted, it was only 20 feet or so, but Brett would have most likely landed straight on his head had we not put together our Power Ranger rings and pulled him from the precipice. After we peered down at the bottom of our near fall, I turned to Brett and said, "You owe us a beer, man."