Machu Picchu Review

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Machu Picchu

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Fodor's Review:

Everyone must go through the main entrance to have their ticket stamped. From there you work your way up through the agricultural areas and to the urban sectors. There are almost no signs inside to explain what you're seeing; booklets and maps are for sale at the entrance.

The English-language names to the structures within the city were assigned by Bingham. Call it inertia, but those labels have stuck, even though the late Yale historian's nomenclature was mostly offbase.

The Guardhouse is the first structure you encounter after coming through the main entrance. The Inca carved terraces into the hillsides to grow produce and minimize erosion. Corn was the likely crop cultivated.

The House of the Terrace Caretaker and Funeral Rock are a 20-minute walk up to the left of the entrance, and provide the quintessential Machu Picchu vista. Nothing beats the view in person, especially with a misty sunrise. Bodies of nobles likely lay in state here, where they would have been eviscerated, dried, and prepared for mummification.

The Temple of the Sun is a marvel of perfect Inca stone assembly. On June 22 (winter solstice in the southern hemisphere), sunlight shines through a small, trapezoid-shape window and onto the middle of a large, flat granite stone presumed to be an Inca calendar. Looking out the window, astronomers saw the constellation Pleiades, revered as a symbol of crop fertility. Bingham dubbed the small cave below the royal tomb, though no human remains were found here.

Fountains. A series of 16 small fountains are linked to the Inca worship of water.

Palace of the Princess, a likely misnomer, is a two-story building that adjoins the temple.

The Principal Temple is so dubbed because its masonry is among Machu Picchu's best. The three-walled structure is a masterpiece of mortarless stone construction.

Sacristy. At this secondary temple next to the primary temple, priests may have prepared themselves for ceremonies.

Temple of the Three Windows. A stone staircase leads to the three-walled structure. The entire east wall is hewn from a single rock with trapezoidal windows cut into it.

Intihuatana. A hillock leads to the "hitching post of the sun." Every important Inca center had one of these vertical stone columns (called gnomons), but their function is unknown. The Spanish destroyed most of them, seeing the posts as objects of pagan worship. Machu Picchu's is one of the few to survive—partially at least. Its top was accidentally knocked off in 2001 during the filming of a Cusqueña beer commercial.

The Sacred Rock takes the shape in miniature of the mountain range visible behind it.

Temple of the Condor is so named because the positioning of the stones resembles a giant condor, the symbol of heaven in the Inca cosmos. The structure's many small chambers led bingham to dub it a "prison," a concept that did not likely exist in Inca society.

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Member Reviews and Ratings

Reviewed by jwinhsv from Alabama on 3/31/09
My big mistake the first time I went to Machu Picchu was trying to make the trip in a day. To fully appreciate it, you need to spend at least one night to give yourself the opportunity of exploring more thoroughly. One of the most amazing places I've seen in the whole world.

Member Rating: 4.6
Ratings details: Experience: 5.0 Ease: 3.0 Value: 5.0 Don't Miss: 5.0
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