The cherry on top

BAM!  Talk about shock factor.  Without much in the way of warning, this is the view you have almost immediately walking thru the gates at Machu Picchu.
Although the trip was immensely satisfying up to this point, there was an undeniable excitement in the air among the group when "Machu Picchu Day" finally arrived.  Also exciting, in a roller coaster kind of way, was the bus ride up the mountain on this crazy sequence of switchbacks.

     







After an hourlong guided tour, we were turned loose on our own for a few hours.  We left enough gas in the tank for a 'bonus' hike up to the Sun Gate, which served as the formal (and only) entry to the city, the last stop on the Royal Inca Trail.

Here's a small section of the trail, which is paved with rock.  That's an original Inca retaining wall to Rhonda's left.  I imagine the Inca royalty had an entire 'department' devoted to engineering.

Some more of those thigh-burning steps.

After 40 huffing-and-puffing minutes of climbing, we arrived at the Sun Gate.  (The trip down was much quicker.)

The view once you come through the gates.  It was an awe-inspiring experience to see the city spilling over the mountaintop.

After taking a nice long break to have some snacks/water and soak in the views, we headed back down, stopping along the way for a photo op that will end up on the wall at the Lucky Lab in Portland the next time we go back.  By the way, wearing cotton tee-shirts while hiking in the heat and humidity?  Not the best idea!

Back down the mountain to admire the Inca engineering and how the city is incorporated into the landscape.  I'm not sure these pictures come close to doing Machu Picchu justice, but hopefully they give some sense of how incredible the place is.   

There are terraces all around the city.  Some, like these, were for agriculture.

Others, like these, were strictly for erosion control.

While not exactly move-in ready, many of the structures have held up remarkably well for being built atop a set of craggy peaks 600 years ago.  Some of the walls are still remarkably close to perfect.

Here's part of the area where the nobles lived.  Nobles up top, workers down below.

Not much of a yard with this house, but man, that's some view.

These niches in the walls of homes would have been for decorations, and perhaps idols as well.

Plenty of information about the history and structure Machu Picchu can be found online.  With these pictures, I'm more interested in passing along general impressions of the site. 

A metric crapton of photos are available on CDs on demand, but hopefully the few I've added here over the past few days give some sense of how enjoyable and rewarding the trip was.  A bucket list-worthy trip for sure.