Published on Mar, 2025
Our TreXperience tour guide for Machu Picchu was Mónica Calderón. She was perky, personal, and very well organized. She made all arrangements for entrance to many sites, and train rides. Many papers. She spoke Spanish and English well. She answered all our many questions. She was a good storyteller. She used a colorful guidebook to show many pictures and diagrams explaining much of what we saw. She was also a pleasure to share meals with.
She began on Wednesday with a tour of Cusco. She gave us the stories behind the Incas and their culture, with visits to museums and other sites. We walked around the Plaza de Armas, where once stood the 14 palaces of the 14 Incas, and their armory. 2 blocks away, we walked thru temple rooms to the gods of sun, moon, wind, rainbows, lightning, etc. The puma, the condor, and the snake. Pachamama (Mother Earth) and creator Viracocha. The calendar, the Inca empire’s 4 regions. Stories of the 14 Incas, including Pachacutec, who ruled more with economic innovations than as a warrior. She showed us and explained Inca un-mortared stone building techniques, borrowed from Tiahuanaco. The many terraces, some to forestall erosion on steep mountainsides. Inca concubines as a way of marrying into leadership of the provinces and districts, for empire cohesion. The 40-year process of establishing Spanish rule across the Inca empire.
On Thursday, we visited the Sacred Valley at Pisac with her. There, we visited some more temples, but also much more. A community raised llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas, who we fed. They are dyers and weavers, with much beautiful cloth and clothing for sale. We visited a silversmith factory. We saw a salt pan “mine” and an Inca agricultural experiment station with descending concentric terraces. Views of distant glaciers on a mountain far above. A special event was a sumptuous buffet lunch in Urubamba with a lovely panpipe band, to which we danced (to applause). Later, we took the train to Machu Picchu pueblo and stayed overnight at a small hotel with a lovely buffet breakfast.
On Friday, Mónica led us on the Machu Picchu tour. It is in a cloud forest. Our bus took us up many forested switchbacks, to the site entrance. When the clouds lifted, the views of the surrounding very steep green mountains were magnificent. And the stone summits beyond, 2000-3000 meters above. We saw several temples, granaries, houses, and a factory (weaving, making tools, etc.) Monica pointed out water channels and where they grew crops. Llamas moving among us tourists. We appreciated her showing us how each building had a roof of thatch with bamboo rafters, which rotted away long ago, leaving only stone walls. Mónica made the ancient ways of life come alive. Our train ride back to Ollantaytambo featured unexpected and lively dance? performance in the aisle, especially by one woman dressed in rainbow clothes and a 2-horned mask.
In all, a wonderful time, thanks to Mónica.
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