Machu Picchu

The ruins were "discovered" by Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor, in 1911. A local man told him about MC when he was in the area, so he followed up and there you go. You are not shocked to hear that Yale has been in possession of thousands of artifacts from the site for years and, although they´ve promised to return some 350 relics this year, none has yet arrived. For Christmas, perhaps? Ron and I, along with our friends Sunny and Young Kim, opt for a 5:50 A.M. departure from the hotel in order to see sunrise from M.P. "Guardhouse". Alas, we are too late for sunrise but do witness the beautiful light and quite a bit of solitude. After some discussion, I decide to continue climbing another 1,000 feet to the Sun Gate. I go with Percy, our assistant guide who´s finishing his studies in tourism at the university in Cusco. We see many hikers going down to M.P., completing a 4-day walk on the Inca trail. And a fragrant bunch they are. To the showers with ye! The hike definitely kicks ass, but after an hour´s climb, we have our reward. Very great to see the new and the old Inca trails converge in one spot and to enjoy the vistas laid us before us, most prominently Machu Picchu. Heavenly. After a 40-minute descent, Percy and I explore the other side of the ruins - the town area. When we wait for the bus an hour later, my feet are throbbing a little, but it is with a great feeling of accomplishment. My hat is off to my friends Sally and Cindy who did the Inca trail walk. You guys are strong! Before dinner we have a most interesting ceremony to honor and thank Pachimama (not sure of spelling) the earth mother goddess of the Quechuan people and the Incas. An Andean priest performs the ceremony with all of us sitting on square stools in a semicircle with the priest in the middle. He displays numerous totems and bowls of seeds, minerals, grains and the sacred coca leaves (which he chews throughout) all on a large and beautiful handmade blanket. Angel explains that the coca leaf is to cocaine as grapes are to wine with neither the leaf nor the grape mind-altering. Some of the doctors in our group are dubious. The numbers two (yin and yan) and three (akin to the trinity but in this case ancestors below, us at the mid and the afterlife at the high) are sacred to the Quechuan. Each of us receives 3 coca leaves on which we exhale three times, give to the priest along with our names, and and watch as he also exhales on our leaves and utters incantations for our well-being. Very kind of him. He also comes both in front and behind each of us with what looked like a palm to chant more blessings for us. At the closing, we join hands, the priest prays and we raise our hands for three shouts of joy using a Quechuan word. The ceremony is complete as we all exchanged hugs. As good as church!