Panoramic views & weather Machu Picchu Peru

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Here's some info about Machu Picchu history and Machu Picchu Altitude

Everything about Machu Picchu makes you marvel that it ever came to exist. The lost city of the Incas is built on a saddle-shaped ridge slung between two giant peaks. Never-vertical slopes drop away on either side, down to a massive bend in the Urubamba River. What could have motivated the Incas to undertake such a construction at this remote location in the Andean cordillera? Machu Picchu history, started over 700 years ago and hidden by jungle since the 16th century, which was rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham . It consists of about 200 buildings, which include dwellings and temples, a central plaza and a royal palace, all flanked by terraces for farming. The store for the buildings was mined from a quarry and shaped using bronze tools, then smoothed with sand in order to fit tightly together. No mortar was used in the construction. Even after many centuries of wear and tear, the precision is amazing it would be impossible to slide a piece of paper between many of the blocks. For spectacular views, make the steep climb up to Wayne Picchu, the mountain behind Machu Picchu. Alternatively, climb to the top of the less crowded Machu Picchu Peaks, which catches the first rays of the rising sun. Both mountains overlook the entire site, down to the river below, which puts the Incas' great achievement of construction into perspective. The Incas worshipped the sun god Inti, so the summer solstice was the most important day in their calendar, and the Temple of the Sun their most important building. In fact, all their temples and sacred sites were designed to mark solar and astrological events. A stone, Intihuatana ('Hitching Post of the Sun'), is the focus of a major religious set where a ritual was performed, in the shortening days before the winter solstice, to prevent the Sun disappearing. Similar stones were at other Inca sites, but were damaged or destroyed by Spanish conquistadores. The one at Machu Picchu survived because the site was never discovered. The population of Machu Picchu is believed to have numbered over a thousand, and the people were so distant from other settlements that they would have produced much of their own food. This accounts for the intricately terraced fields, which have survived remarkably intact thanks to the care and skill that went into their construction. Maize and potatoes were grown, and advanced irrigation techniques were used to ensure that recitation did not just run off down the hill to the Urubamba River. Machu Picchu altitude of nearly 2500 metres would seem to rule out any trade or military function. What ever its use, the obvious effort that went into its construction indicates that it was considered important and held in high regard by those who created it.

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To see Machu Picchu Pics, visit Panoramic views from the Watchman Hut.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 2, visit Panoramic views from the Main Entrance.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 3, visit Panoramic views from the Agricultural Sector.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 4, visit Panoramic views from the Fountain Caretakers House.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 5, visit Panoramic views from the Quarry.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 6, visit Panoramic views from the Entrance Principal Temple.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 7, visit Panoramic views from the Central Plaza.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 8, visit Panoramic views from the Sacred Intihuatana.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 9, visit Panoramic views from the House of the Priest.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 10, visit Panoramic views from the Temple of the three Windows.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 11, visit Panoramic views from the Temple of the Dry Moat.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 12, visit Panoramic views from the Group of Three Doors.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 13, visit Panoramic views from the Royal Tomb.

Machu Picchu Pics No: 14, visit Panoramic views from the view from Temple of the Sun.