You Outrank Superman!

When you were stocking the shelves at the local market, you didn't know could outrank Superman, did you?  
  
As your drove your bus, you never expected to overshadow Wonderwoman.
  
As you tended to a patient, or cleaned a hospital room, or delivered a meal, you didn't think anyone would say you eclipse the Green Lantern.
  
But you do. 

This is a heartfelt 'thank you'.  
  
Some of you never expected to be front line heroes.  
   
Thank you to the Doctors, Nurses, Paramedics, Police, EMTs, Firefighters, Caretakers and Aides, Army Corps of Engineers, Transport Drivers, the Grocery and Pharmacy Employees. Thank you to the people responsible for cleaning the rooms, providing food.  THANK YOU!
  
When most of us are practicing safe distancing and self-isolation to avoid spreading the virus, you breach the line in order to help us do that. Thank you!
  
This is supposed to be a blog about travel.  But today, it's about 'here and now.'  
Here?  The Boston area. New England.  The United States. The planet Earth.
Now?  2020.  A world modified by a pandemic, COVID-19.
  
I've talked to friends and family throughout the United States, in Israel, in Australia, and we are all in the same situation.
  
So before I refocus on travel, I say 'thank you.'
  
If you're one of the many people on the front line, thank you!
  
If, like me--you're not on the front line--reach out to thank someone who is.  Or make a donation to a charity that is helping those who can't get paid because of the business closures that will protect us from the virus. 
  
That's the priority right now. I want to thank those who are helping and I want to help ...somehow.
  
Occasionally I've posted about about local places of interest and events -- "The Tourist at Home".
    
The tourist is definitely at home now.  I will return to the travel writing soon.  The ending of the trip to Machu Picchu is long overdue.  When I go back to writing about travel, I hope it will provide a distraction to those of us who need one.
  
But first,  T H A N K    YOU   to all of you on the front lines.  We have a new definition of superhero now.

Life Interrupted by Corona Virus!

The last post I shared on Machu Picchu focused on the Temple of the Sun.

I was getting ready to continue my trip to Machu Picchu when I suddenly found myself overwhelmed: some articles, work on my book, getting tax stuff organized ...and then…. Corona-Hell.

To anyone reading this, I share my sincere wishes that you and those who bring meaning to your life are safe and well and minimally affected by all that is going on in our world.  None of us has experienced anything like this.

To those who are working, those in the front lines putting themselves at risk, providing care for others, helping the afflicted, transporting urgently needed supplies, stocking shelves, and so much more, THANK YOU.  I look forward to the time I can say that to you in person.

I’m ready to admit that this difficult and stressful time has taken its toll on me. I *said* I was taking a break from writing to clean files, check on people, organize this, arrange that. It has finally hit me that, while I did do those things, most of my behavior--lethargy, exhaustion, inability to focus on writing-- has been a response to this distressing situation.

I read recently that Isaac Newton self-quarantined to avoid the bubonic plague. In the time of his isolation, he developed an understanding of gravity; determined that a body at rest will stay at rest, a body in motion will remain in motion unless another force acts on  it; that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. He discovered that white light is a blend of every color in the spectrum. 

So far in my self-quarantine, I have discovered that my phone does not work as a remote for the TV (and vice versa).

But I have also discovered that people are ready to reach out to one another to offer help and support, to check on friends and neighbors, to run errands, pick up groceries, find ways to aid and comfort the people in their lives. 

Half the battle was recognizing that I have been shaken and thrown off course by this chaotic situation. I’m ready to face the next half.  I’m prepared to pick up my writing where I left off, while I continue to check on those friends, family, and neighbors who make life worth living.

I welcome you to use the comment section here to vent, to write about how you are doing, what you are feeling.  Whatever helps.  

Back to Machu Picchu.

Temple of the Sun

The first view of Machu Picchu is overwhelming.  The Emperor Pachacutec, who developed most of the Inca empire during his reign from 1438 to 1471, is also responsible for Machu Picchu.

   

Once again, I see the hallmark Inca terraces that help control water flow and make the mountain negotiable and arable.

Still overwhelmed by the first view of Machu Picchu, I zoom in.

The high peak opposite us is not an untouched mountain reaching to the heavens but, once again, a sculpted slope.  

Sculpted Mountain

Looking at the area below us, there’s a building that has rounded walls not characteristic of Inca work (just right of center in the photo below) . That, Rosa tells us, is the Temple of the Sun.

   

Temple of the Sun or 'Torreon'

The Temple is built on a large rock above a chamber that is accessible only from within the building;  historians think that might have been Pachacutec’s burial place. The stone platform inside the Temple was probably a sacrificial altar.

   

The Temple of the Sun is one of the most significant buildings in Inca culture. Only nobility and priests were permitted entry.  Unrelated to our status and rank, we also don’t have access to the inside of the Temple but that is primarily to protect the site.  

   

A window in the eastern wall aligns with the rock platform so that, on the shortest day of the year, the first rays of sun shine over the mountains to illuminate the top of the stone altar.

  

Here, on the winter solstice (June 21 in the southern hemisphere), the Inca priests made offerings to the Sun God, Inti, and other gods.

Temple of the Sun

Remarkable Calculation

Knowing exactly when the winter solstice sunrise would illuminate the altar stone is more impressive than it sounds. Yes, the sun rises in the east. But the exact points of the rising (and setting) sun change a little every day. Being able to calculate the exact day that the sun’s first rays would illuminate the top of the altar may be easy today: in the fifteenth century, it was a remarkable feat.

  

A closer look at the walls show the same scrupulous stone carving in the rounded wall as in all other building associated with  Pachacutec: precisely carved, polished and tightly fitted together.

Closer view of the Temple window taken from inside Machu Picchu 

Time for us to enter Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu

We go from the beautiful Inkaterra Orchid garden to Machu Picchu. I mentioned in my last post that I admired and envied the hikers on the trail alongside the train.

Hikers following the trail of Hiram Bingham 

The route they're hiking is the same trail taken by the first person to see Machu Picchu after about four hundred years. That was Hiram Bingham in 1911.

A little history review

The Spanish made Manco Inca their puppet leader in about 1533.  He rebelled and eventually fled into the forest, continuing his fight from Vilcabamba. Ultimately, the Spanish conquered the Inca and destroyed Vilcabamba. But they never found Machu Picchu.

  

It’s possible Quechua Indians spoke of Machu Picchu to some 19th century explorers, but for the most part, it was a site abandoned by the original Inca inhabitants and unknown to conquerors. Because it was basically uninhabited for almost 400 years, Machu Picchu did not endure changes, pillage, or destruction--an amazing piece of history remained intact. 

   

Fast forward to the early 20^th century when Hiram Bingham was a professor of Latin American history at Yale. In 1911, he went to Peru to look for Vilcabamba. He found Machu Picchu. Still amazing.

First View

Glacial Sculpting 

Bingham’s first view would have been what the hikers see. The entry point for non-hikers is a little different. And still stunning.

First View of Machu Picchu

First View  of Machu Picchu- zooming in

Bingham returned two more times between 1911 and 1915 (always believing he’d found Vilcabamba).*

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* In 1964, American explorer Gene Savoy, discovered Vilcabamba.

The Breathtaking Beauty of Orchids

From Ollantaytamba we go to the neighboring town of Urubamba and our hotel, Sol y Luna.  Tomorrow we’ll take the train to Machu Picchu. Tonight we enjoy an elegant meal in the main lodge and the beauty of the hotel’s adobe, wood, and stone bungalows with private outdoor porches, surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens.   

Sol y Luna bungalow

From our early morning train to Machu Picchu we see hikers en route to the same destination. In a way, I envy them.  I certainly admire them.  But we've been traveling for a while (starting with the Galapagos oh-so-long-ago)-- the train is good.

Hikers on the trail to Machu Picchu

When we get off the train, Rosa suggests that we will avoid the hectic and crowded early-morning entry rush to Machu Picchu if we take time to visit a nearby garden, where she has arranged a private tour. We’ve come to trust her judgement, so our first stop is the stunning Inkaterra orchid garden.   

  

Amazing orchids.  

   

Paphiopedilum hybrid ?

I’ve had the opportunity to talk with someone on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Orchid Society (MOS) who helped me appreciate these beautiful flowers.  
  

Orchids are one of the most diverse plants on Earth. There are about 25,000 species and they live on every continent except Antarctica. 

Most orchids are epiphytes, anchored to other plants, like trees. They take nothing from the host plants, they just hang there.  

Bird of Paradise

One orchid seed pod can hold a million microscopic seeds. The seeds need a fungus that will feed them with sugars-- not hard to find in the jungle here.

Inkaterra Orchids

I used to think of orchids as small, beautiful flowering plants I could get in the supermarket. Two things wrong with that thinking.  

    

It wasn’t until the 1960s that growers learned they could use agar to provide the nutrients necessary for orchid seeds to germinate. Before that, the flowers were not easily available, and certainly not in supermarkets.

And then there was that idea that all these plants are small. Below our guide is talking to us about the elephant leaf orchid. That is the leaf, there, about the size of his torso. Nope, not small.

         Orchid guide showing us elephant leaf orchid

I do not know my orchids very well; I’ve ‘named’ a few that I remember from our guide’s information (although I confess I'm not certain about the names). I welcome input and feedback from readers.

Dragonface Orchid

 

                       

     

This early morning ‘side-trip’ has been a great start to the day.  And now…. Machu Picchu.

Thanks to Mike Badia of the Massachusetts Orchid Society (MOS)  https://www.massorchid.org for his valuable information.

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Next:  Machu Picchu 

Ollantaytambo

Pachacutec conquered and rebuilt Ollantaytambo to serve as a home for nobility.  

  
In the time of the Inca empire, this city controlled the roads leading to and from the jungle. We walk through a 'residential' area of Ollantaytambo, heading to the hillsides. Many of the people we see are in colorful Inca attire. I couldn’t resist this adorable lamb...keeping his owner company. Behind her, you can see the  mountainside, sculpted to create levels for farming.

We make our way to the hillside. Once again we see the hallmark terraces that are the product of Inca engineering, making the land suitable for cultivation, making treacherously steep mountains navigable, and helping manage the flow of water.

In Ollantaytambo, the plateau walls are a little higher than the terraces of other Inca farm areas, and the stones cut with greater precision to fit more closely together. This was, after all, the home to the emperor.

The structure and rock assemblies in the mountainsides also helped defend the community. In the photo below you see Linda and our guide, Rosa in a rocky area that was designed for protection from intruders, not for farming.

The people, the city, and the engineering continue to impress me, although I am no longer stunned by the ingenuity or creativity  

  

Then we see this:

I'm back to being stunned.

  

That is the face of Viracocha, carved into the mountain overlooking Ollantaytambo. He was the Inca's chief god, who created all the other Inca deities and all living things.*  The head, over 440 high, is protecting a grain storage structure.

Grain storage

Another example of Inca engineering. The Pinkuylluna grain storehouse above was most likely the work of Pachacutec.  Built high into the mountain, the storage not only helped preserve the grain and also protect it in case of attack.  

* I’ve also found the name Tunupa linked to the carving; some sources say that’s just an alternate name for Viracocha, some say Tunupa was another Inca god.  

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