Machu Picchu

I think Machu Picchu is probably one of the most amazing things i have ever seen. just the mountains themselves surrounding the city are amazing, and then to have this beautiful, mysterious, inca city situated in the middle of clouds and jagged mountain tops is really incredible. not much is know about machu picchu. it was probably constructed in the 1400s. archeologists say that it is not a typical inca city, and that most likely it was a vacation spot for inca nobility. they estimate that around 500 to 1000 people lived there at any one time. inca stonework is really impressive. the stone blocks fit together so tightly that you can't fit a knife blade between them. the incas didn't use the wheel, so all of these giant pieces of stone were hauled up the mountain side and then chisled into place. at the base and doorways of the buildings the incas put really big stones, but then up near the top it seemed like they just stuck a bunch of smaller rocks together with some kind of morter. i seriously cannot imagine the number of people it must have taken to move the larger stones into place. after walking around machu picchu for a little bit we went on a 40 minute hike up this mountain peak called huayna picchu. the incas built terraces and a moon temple at the top. it was a pretty steep hike, and when we got to the top, we climbed up to the tallest rock and just enjoyed the view for a little bit. it was so great to be up there with all my friends. there are a lot of llamas that graze on the grass in machu picchu and for some reason they love having their photos taken. i've never seen anything like this before, but as soon as i got out my camera, these llamas came right up to me. i think they must have liked all the attention. here are some really cute llama photos. i just like can't get over how cute the llamas and alpacas are. after lunch we went on a hike through the jungle. at one point there were llamas blocking the path and we had to push them on their butts to get them to move out of the way. the jungle surrounding machu picchu is really amazing. i saw a bunch of different kinds of orchids, some crazy moss and lichen, neon blue metalic beatles, and giant irridescent blue morpho butterflies. the next day we went ot Ollantaytambo, which is an indigenous village with some inca ruins. many of the houses in the village are built on old inca foundation, and the whole town is layed out in an inca grid system, which is supposed to be shaped like a corn cob. ollantaytambo has some cool ruins and we spent most of the day hiking around and climbing on ruins. it was really fun. tomorrow tameem and john fly back to the US, but alice and claudia and i are going to go to bolivia together. hope everyone is good. love,
-jessie