Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Read Up on the Ruins
If you are wondering what it's like to hike the Inca Trail, or its lesser-known alternatives, pick up Mark Adams'
Turn Right at Machu Picchu
(2010). Not a hero's tale, the humorous travelogue is a first-person account of one ad-
venture editor bumbling out into the wild. On the way, it provides an entertaining layman's look at Inca history and
the striving explorations of Hiram Bingham.
HUT OF THE CARETAKER
OF THE FUNERARY ROCK
An excellent viewpoint to take in everything. It's one of a few buildings that has been re-
stored with a thatched roof, making it a good shelter in the case of rain. The Inca Trail
enters the city just below this hut. The carved rock behind the hut may have been used to
mummify the nobility, hence the hut's name.
| Ruin
CEREMONIAL BATHS
If you continue straight into the ruins instead of climbing to the hut, you pass through ex-
tensive terracing to a beautiful series of 16 connected ceremonial baths that cascade across
the ruins, accompanied by a flight of stairs.
| Ruin
TEMPLE OF THE SUN
Just above and to the left of the baths is Machu Picchu's only round building, a curved
and tapering tower of exceptional stonework. It appears to have been used for astronomic-
al purposes. Inside are an altar and a curiously drilled trapezoidal window that looks onto
the site.
| Ruin
