July 29 - Early morning departure for the three hour 112km (69-mile) train journey that zigzags up Picchu Mountain and then through lush valleys hugging the Urubamba River, with views of snowcapped Andes peaks in the distance arriving at Puente Ruinas station at Aguas Calientes. Next, a dusty bus zigzags us up the last 2,300 ft.

Machu Picchu is called the greatest archaeological site in the Americas. This "lost city of the Inca" sits astride a saddle between two Andean peaks high above the Urubamba River at an altitude of 8,000 feet. Like Stonehenge, it is also unkown. History tells us who built the Pyramids in Egypt but Machu Picchu remains unsolved. Religion and the spiritual world occupied a great place in the lives of the Incas. It was built between 1460 and 1470 AD by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, an Incan ruler. Some say it was his a royal estate. However scholars say it is perhaps a religious ceremonial site. Or was a last refuge, a fortress in which to hide from the slaughtering, all-conquering, gold-hungry bastardos conquistadors!

Machu Picchu is comprised of approximately 200 buildings, most being residences, although there are temples, storage structures and other public buildings. It has polygonal masonry, characteristic of the late Inca period. The terraced landscape carved into the mountain and the "canal system" waterways that span the entire city are architectural and agricultural accomplishments of the Incas.

It was only in 1911 when the Sacred City of Machu Picchu was revealed to the world by Hiram Bingham, a professor from Yale who was searching for Vilcabamba, the undiscovered last stronghold of the Incan empire. A city where these accomplished engineers and artisans in stone had perhaps made their final military stand. When he stumbled upon Machu Picchu, he thought he had found it, although most scholars believe it is not Vilcabamba. Bingham moved on the next day, but his acres of ruins would become one of the most coveted travel destinations in the world!

What happened to the inhabitants of this city still remains a mystery. The Inca civilization seemed to have vanished into thin air more than 400 years ago. Some believed that Machu Picchu was the home of the last Incas as well as the home of the very first Incas, possibly even the "cradle of Andean civilization."

July 30 - At dawn, Magda and I decided to go back to the temple, when the sun's rays creep silently over the jagged silhouette, and then slowly, with great drama, cast brilliant light on the ruins building by building and row by row. Some say the daybreak experience provide some glowing spiritual energy. It remains one of the most thrilling sights and experience! The Incas obviously chose the site for the immense power of its natural beauty.

At the back of the "Pacha Mama Temple" begins the trail to the summit of Huayna Picchu. Around the summit there are some Inca constructions surrounded by terraces that were probably used as astronomical observatory. From my perch, one can see the great valley of mountains of the area and the shape of "lost city". Machu Picchu was a theater for the heavens.