Oddly these are place from end to beginning. Never had that happen before. If you prefer to go in order, scroll to the bottom and read up. If you don't care, it's really not a big deal.
The good news is, I no longer have to look up the spelling of Ollantaytambo.
The base from the top. . .assume these were
dwellings, but I will never be confused
with Indiana Jones or Hiram Bingham III.
Temple of the Sun. This is on top of the
hill. Imagine how much work it was to
move the stones, carve them, and then
put them in place. Each stone weighs
50 tons! And they fit so tightly together
you can't slide a credit card or a piece of
paper in between. And believe me, I tried.
Look at the mountain to the left of the Temple.
The slightly white-ish part of the mountain
(just barely to the left of the left-most stone)
was the quarry. It had to go down the mountain,
across the river, and back up the steep hill.
As I like to say, "If I had to make a living
with my hands, we'd starve." I would have
starved.
Mountains across the valley.
A significant part of the structure up top.
The "windows" are actually niches for storing
ceremonial items. There was no furniture.
Not the Old Man of the Mountains, but the
profile of the Incan King, which plays a major
role at the Winter Solstice. Drone footage
indicates the rock was shaped, which means
Incans climbed up there with tools and shaped
the existing rock. Don't call these folks
primitive! The only thing primitive about
this is my circle of the face.
The heaviest stone on the mountain.
Nancy and Bruce Pasfield,
looking quite dapper.
Buxifolia, the national flower of Peru.
(See, you do learn stuff reading this blog!)
Condos with a view (not actually windows).
Granary huts across the valley.
Juan Carlos did a great job guiding.
Before the climb.
Hotel garden, prior to pushing off.
A view from our hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment