{"id":9015,"date":"2015-05-24T18:10:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-24T22:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=9015"},"modified":"2015-06-09T09:11:32","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T13:11:32","slug":"machu-picchu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=9015","title":{"rendered":"Machu Picchu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday May 24, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

We awoke to another glorious bright sunny day in Urubamba. Below is a view looking out from the lobby of the Tambo del Inka Resort. At 9,400 feet the air is thin and dry. The cool air felt fresh and exhilarating but I had to walk slowly to avoid breathing heavily and having my heart pound. \u00a0I wondered if I would be able to get used to the altitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I understand why the Incas called the high plains between the mountains ‘The Sacred Valley’. It is a fertile protected area which provided farmland and water for the people. The Incas valued food more than gold and silver and thrived for many years until the conquistadors arrived to take the gold. \u00a0The valley is incredibly beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The festival in Urubamba continued today and streets were closed so our buses were late to pick us up. We rode to Ollantaytambo to catch a train to Aquas Calientes which is the nearest town to Machu Picchu. \u00a0Then we would continue by bus\u00a0up to the Lost City of the Incas. \u00a0We expect to arrive in four hours which is much faster than the famous Inca Trail which takes four days and three nights to cover about forty miles over the mountains.<\/span><\/p>\n

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After riding a bus\u00a0and a train for three and a half hours, we arrived in Aquas Calientes:<\/p>\n

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One more bus up to The Lost Empire of the Incas – Machu Picchu.\u00a0\"IMG_3461\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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We explored, climbed, and stepped up and down all over Machu Picchu. It was the fulfillment of a dream and I felt astonished and overwhelmed. The Inca people had created an incredible majestic place. Emperor Pacchacuti had a wonderful vision. \u00a0He built the city between the peaks of several mountains at an altitude of only 7800 feet and chiseled out a protected, self-sufficient territory. \u00a0Machu Picchu was incredible. \u00a0After several hours, we returned to Aquas Calientes and arrived at the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Hotel for the evening. It had been an amazing day\u2026.<\/p>\n

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Sunday May 24, 2015 We awoke to another glorious bright sunny day in Urubamba. Below is a view looking out from the lobby of the Tambo del Inka Resort. At 9,400 feet the air is thin and dry. The cool air felt fresh and exhilarating but I had to walk slowly to avoid breathing heavily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peru"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9015"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9087,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9015\/revisions\/9087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}