Virtual Travel

I actually hate travelling. My trip to Turkey last year was quite unforgettable, in a bad way. Lots of travelling on a bus, diarrhoea from unaccustomed food, expensive, time expended, home-sickness, etc.

It just occurred to me that I could just as easily see the sights and learn about places virtually. Saves time and money. You can also visit a different place every week.

To kick-off my virtual globe-trotting, I visited Machu Picchu...

Machu Picchu is an Incan ruin located on a high mountain ridge (2350m above sea-level) somewhere in Peru. It was 'discovered' by American historian Hiram Bingham in 1911.

Since 1983, the site has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was built by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti, starting about 1440, and was inhabited until the Spanish conquest of Peru in 1532. It was not a conventional city, but a country retreat town for Inca nobility. The site has a large palace and temples to Inca deities around a courtyard, with other buildings for support staff. It is estimated that a maximum of only about 750 people resided in Machu Picchu at any one time.

Machu Picchu was divided into three great sectors: the Sacred District, the Popular District (to the south), and the District of the Priests and the Nobility (residential zone). Located in the first zone are the primary archaeological treasures: the Intiwatana, the Temple of the Sun and the Room of the Three Windows. These were dedicated to Inti, their sun god and greatest deity. In the residential area, a sector existed for the nobility: a group of houses located in rows over a slope; the residence of the Amautas (wise persons) was characterized by its reddish walls, and the zone of the Nustas (princesses) had trapezoid-shaped rooms. Inside the citadel existed a sector assigned as the jail, where the prisoners were punished inside rock niches. The Monumental Mausoleum is a stone block with a vaulted interior and carved walls. It was used for rites or sacrifices.

All of the construction in Machu Picchu uses the classic Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions are so perfect that not even a knife fits between the stones. The Incas never used the wheel in any practical manner. How they moved and placed enormous blocks of stones is a mystery, although the general belief is that they used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes. The Incas did not leave any documentation because they did not possess a written language. The space is composed of 140 constructions including temples, sanctuaries, parks and residences. There are more than one hundred flights of stone steps - often completely carved in a single block of granite - and a great number of water fountains, interconnected by channels and water-drainages perforated in the rock, designed for the original irrigation system.

All visits to Machu Picchu at some point leave from Cusco. Taking the tourist train from Cusco (which takes 3.5 hours to get to Machu Picchu), you have several options. The most common way is to take the train to Machu Picchu in the morning, explore the ruins for a few hours and return to Cusco in the afternoon. The train terminates at Peute Ruinas station, where buses take tourists up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Another option is to hike the Inca Trail, on either a four-day or two-day version, both of which are controlled by the government. They require you to be reasonably fit, and takes a few days, sleeping in tents. Another option is to stay overnight near the ruins themselves. There are many hotels at nearby Aguas Caliente, or the more expensive Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, the only hotel located at Machu Picchu itself. Buses run from Aguas Caliente to the ruins throughout the day, an 8km ride up the mountain.