Machu Picchu Blog November 7th
November 07, 2014 at 11:41 PM
Machu Picchu “Sol Temple and The Gate House Climb”
Another beautiful day up at 8,000 feet in Machu Picchu. This morning we caught our bus and headed back up to the “Ancient City”. Today we took the long and steady hike higher in the ruins to the look out at Sol Temple and The Gate House. It took us about an hour to make the climb, moving slowly due to the many steps and switch back pathways. The hike was worth it as you will see in tonights images. We spent the morning looking for different vantage points and views over the ruins. Sometime the best view was just to put the camera down and enjoy our surroundings.
Later in the afternoon we went back into the village, visited the market square, checked out of our hotel, had an early supper and then board our train back to Cusco. We enjoyed a sunset train ride through the valley getting back into Cusco around 9:30 this evening. Everyone was happy to see their hotel and beds tonight.
We have a full day in Cusco tomorrow and will be exploring the city and markets. Below are a few images from our second visit to Machu Picchu and the village markets. Good night from all the Photo Tour Trekkers now back in Cusco, Peru.
Our first view from the Sol Temple, this vantage point was a considerable hike.
This view shows the drop off on the other side of the ruins. It’s hard to imagine that nearly 100 years ago prior to the discovery of the ancient city this was covered in jungle and heavy brush.
A great place to take a group photo today, left to right Nancy, Monica, Mimi, Ted, Bev, Tom, John Bill and James. Missing from the photo is Eugene.
This was fun, a group of students where visiting the ruins from Cusco today and they were setting up a group photo. I offered to photograph the group for them with my camera and send them some images. Notice on the right end of the photo the guy with the black shirt and white hat, that’s our mature student Bill. At the last second before I took the shot he stepped into the photos. Humm?? Dave Chidley I think I have seen this done before? Anyway it was great fun.
More llamas, they are at every level in Machu Picchu
Here’s a different view again, with the clouds moving quickly above when had many different lighting opportunities.
Another view later in the morning, love the light on Wayna Picchu.
Tom and Bill ... one last pose before we started back down. By the way Wayna Picchu is another ruins you can hike to at the top of the mountain between Tom and Bill. A full day hike and climb.
Here’s a shot down the trail to give you an idea of where we climbed up today
Look at the size of those drinks, do you think the boys were thirsty after our climb??
The square in the village of Machu Picchu again.
The church in the square
The interior of the church was beautiful
The village markets, it was very busy as we passed through
The ladies were busy and plenty of fresh vegetables
A market shopper, this is a traditional way of carrying children and other supplies
Another merchant peeling many of the locally grown potatoes
Would you like to purchase some flowers
And one last view ... this was also our last view as we departed the ancient city today
That's it for this evening, we will have more images as our adventure continues here in Cusco. Good night.
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Love to see your images. As we rake the leaves and prepare for -2 weather we wonder why we stayed home.
Cheers to all