A religious experience.....

Yesterday we arrived at 8 am at Machu Picchu. Once you pass through the entrance you are greeted by the vast beauty and wonder of it all. I literally cried when I saw it. It is truly the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Our tour guide, Roberto, was excellent, explained the purposes of the buildings, the temples, the details of how they carved religious symbols into stone. The sun seems to be the center of their practice. It is amazing to understand how they built what they did and aligned it to the sun. We walked and walked and hiked throughout the ruins, including a hike to a suspension bridge that people can no longer walk across because a few years ago a hiker did try to cross and fell to his death. We of course took the tourist photo from up top. There were thousands of people there as the day progressed and from all walks of life. On the bus ride up we met folks from North Carolina who were visiting their new born grandchild. At one point some of us found a relatively quiet place and meditated for a short while. Brian decided to do this hike up to the top of a nearby mountain and we were lucky to catch up with him and the others later in the day. I chose a rock at a high point and just sat in silence looking over it all. Truly breathtaking.
When we first arrived we were greeted by three folks from our tour group that had actually hiked the Inca trail. We cheered them on as they came down to meet us. They stunk pretty bad but we all were eager to hear of their adventure.
So.....we went back down to the town by bus, ate lunch and then took a train and then a bus to get back to Cusco by around 8 pm.
Today, we had hoped to go horseback riding but it is again raining. Roberto said we should make a wish that it will stop raining and then blow three times into the wind. I think Roberto has eaten too many coca leaves.
Wish you could have been here with us.....it was a religious experience for me.
Chris