June 6: Ollantaytambo; Aguas Calientas; & Machu Picchu, first day

Corn beer (chicha) tavern in Urubamba.

Our first major Inca site: Ollantaytambo.

Train to Aguas Calientes - not our's, we went on Inca Rail.

Aguas Calientes, gateway to Machu Picchu.

Tributes to Hiram Bingham at the entrance to Machu Picchu.

A few of the Inca structures have been fitted with thatched roofs to show what archaeologists believe they looked like when the site was occupied.

Roberto's introductory talk.

Looking up some of the agricultural terraces to the Caretaker's Hut.

The Royal Mausoleum beneath the Torreon, or the Temple of the Sun.

Temple of the Sun, showing one of the two windows that indicate the Summer and Winter Solstices.

The Main Gate, the only entrance in Inca times.

View of the Urubamba River Valley.

An Intihuatana, a carved stone dedicated to sun worship, on the Sacred Plaza.

The Temple of the Three Windows.  This structure, along with The Principal Temple, The Temple of the Moon, and The House of the High Priest, are on the four sides of the Sacred Plaza.

Climbing up to the Intihuatana at the highest point of the site.

This Intihuatana is a precise tool for marking the solstices, equinoxes, and other astronomical events.  The tilt is 13 degrees to the north, the latitude of Machu Picchu.

Looking north toward Huayna Picchu and the smaller Una Picchu on the left as we begin to descend from the high point to continue north along the west side of the Central Plaza, the Royal Sector.

A view of the Central Plaza with the top of Putucusi, or Happy Mountain, in the center beyond the plaza.

A telephoto look back at the Caretaker's Hut.

The Sacred Rock, mirroring the profile of the peaks in the background.

This view reminded me of the opening scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Proceeding south through the Common District on the east side of the site.

The sunlight on these mountains changed by the minute, reminding us of the same thing at the Grand Canyon.

The restaurant back down in Aguas Calientes where we ate supper that evening.

This relief in the Inka Wasi was an especially intriguing example of folk Catholicism.

An evening in Aguas Calientes.