Peru Machu Picchu

 Aguas Calientes

When we went to Machu Picchu we stayed at a little town called Aguas Calientes (hot water) which is right at the base of the mountains and dispatch point for Machu Picchu.  This little city is special because it is tiny and you can only get there by train and there are NO cars in this little town.  It is built up by a huge river in the bottom of a steep jungle canyon.  It is so beautiful.

 In Machu Picchu there is a peak called Wayna Picchu located in Machu Picchu.  In the morning they only let 400 people climb to the top and after climbing it I know why.  Although pictures never do justice to the steepness of it, the stairs in the above picture are at least a 45 degree angle and the bottom ends in a sheer cliff.  the stairs are about 6 inches - 8 inches wide.

 the hike consists of thousands of tiny steep stairs, it took Jake and I about an hour to get to the top.  Macchu Piccu is 7500 feet above sea level and wayna picchu is almost 11, 000 feet above sea level. so the thin air is mostly what gets to you!

 this is one of my favorite pictures because it demonstrates the cliff's and the steepness of the stairs. 

 IF you look closely you can see the Wayna Picchu trail winding up the side of this peak, so beautiful with all the foliage, because this is the beginning of the cloud rain forest.

 I am normally not afraid of heights, but going down this stair case gave me the creeps.  While climbing wayna  Picchu i had two thoughts, the Incans were crazy to build this clear up in the sky off of shear cliffs, and HOW and WHY??? it's so amazing to see what the Incans could build they were truly amazing and very intelligent.  But, up in the clouds and clear up high in sky you have an odd sense of serenity, but I guess I feel much more spiritual in the temple and church than I did in the sky :)

 the House in the sky at the top of Wayna Picchu

 because it was a cloudy day you can kind  of see Macchu picchu far below underneath those clouds.

 this is macchu picchu and that steep mountain in the background is Wayna picchu.

 this is a temple at machu, something really fabulous about the incan's is that they did not use any mortar at all and the rocks often have a 13 degree angle which helps to avoid any seismic activity destruction.  there were parts of macchu that were restored and even with our technology we could not replicate the perfect fit of the stones and the perfectly carved smooth lines of the rocks.

I absolutely loved the Llama's so any llama picture I could get was awesome!