Between Cusco and Machu Picchu lies the Urubamba Valley (or the Sacred Valley). The valley was appreciated by the Incas due to its special geographical and climatic qualities. Today we're bus'ing our way from Cusco into the heart of the Valley (staying one night), and then taking the train into Machu Picchu tomorrow.
Our challenge today was to climb to the top of the Terraces at Ollantaytambo. This massive site served as both a temple and a fortress for the Incas. At some time, for reasons unknown, work mysteriously stopped on this huge project. The amazing thing to see here is where all the big boulders and stones came from (2.5 miles away!)....and how the Incas built ramps and channels to move them.
Massive multi-sided blocks were precisely fit together in interlocking patterns in order to withstand the disastrous effects of earthquakes. The stones at Ollantaytambo are so perfectly put in place that you cannot insert a piece of paper in between them, they are locked into place in a way that just defies all logical explanation.
The Wall of the Six Monoliths has six stones joined with narrow fillet stones - a style found nowhere else in the Inca Empire. The largest stone is nearly 13ft. high and weighs over 50 tons! One stone! And it came from a quarry 2.5 miles away! How?
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