And… MACHU PICCHU!
From the beginning…
To end.
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Dec15
Tag Archives: ruins
Nov17
Ancient Aliens Part 2: The Ruins of Moray
While it is true I could not stop calling them “crop circles” for the entirety of the trip – they are actually more oval and in truth, called The Ruins of Moray. Yet mystery surrounds them nonetheless. Theories range from experimental farming by the Incans, to outdoor theatre, to landing pad for aliens. All I really know is, we liked them…whatever their purpose. But, I have to say, I am leaning towards alien landing site because you can never have too many alien theories.
The walk around.
Stairs – cool and functional!
Rules don’t apply…
Bird’s eye view.
A quick stop, but worth every minute!
Also see: Ancient Aliens Part 1: Lines of Nazca
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Nov16
Ruins for Peru: Marco’s Pisaq
I am sorry to tell you this – but for the most part, this is going to be a boring post. It is nothing against the Ruins of Pisaq, really – they were amazing and the town was quaint and came with the appropriate amount of South American dogs (aka the street cleaners)…
This dog has done his job well!
And I always love a good market (Teen picked up a, if not cool, completely “Peru appropriate” hat)…
However, I have to say the most memorable thing in Pisaq was Marco. Marco, is apparently the man in Pisaq, who “makes things happen.” For us – well he made the best Empanades in all of Peru happen. Marco is kind of a mystery, though. All we know is that whenever there was a question on cooking, pricing, firing, ingredients, materials, you name it – in the little back-of-the-building Empanada quiosk – the workers would yell to the front of the shop for “MARCO!”. Marco would come, as if out of thin air, do…something…to make all well and disappear as quickly as he arrived. All I know is, I have never had empanades quite like these before, and fear I never will again.
All good to go now…thanks to Marco.
Don’t get me wrong, the ruins were beautiful – with perfectly formed terraces…
Tucked inside walls of mountains…
To the halfway point…
And continuing up…
To see the amazing views from above.
All of which I feel sure…Marco somehow had a hand in.
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Nov14
Getting Spit on in Oyantaytambo
To be sure, this is not the first time we have been spit on in our travels.
We were innocently there to see the ruins that day.
Through the Incan courtyard at the base…
To begin our accent at the bottom…
Stopping halfway up, aghast at how much more hiking up there is to go…
To finally reach the top to see the “big rocks”…
And the view…
And then back down again…
To maybe enjoy browsing the market at the entrance…
But first, a distraction. We just thought they were cute, and merely wanted to express our admiration…
But we found out all too late,
the feeling was not mutual…
Nov10
Ruins of Peru: Rock Sliding in Saqsayhuaman
Jaguar Teeth
The ruins of Saqsayhuaman were impressive – ok, maybe not Machu Picchu impressive. Nonetheless, in addition to the pretty cool “Jaguar Teeth” rock construction (see above and below),
And some awesomely huge, oddly fit together stones,
That is one big rock…
Saqsayhuaman Ruins had one thing no other ruins we have ever been to, offered…
A naturally smoothed rock slide! Nothing was put on the rock to make it smooth – no Disney-esk manipulations. Just smoothed by time, and a lot of behinds. We felt the need to contribute…
The Teens spent most of our time at Saqsayhuaman going down one way,
or another…
Racing with new local friends,
Until it was time to leave,
For Marco and the ruins of Pisaq awaited!
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Looking for the Sweet Spot 