Machu Picchu

The last leg to Machu Picchu started at 4:10 in the morning. We walked up in the hill in the dark so that we could be at the top for sunrise, but it was cloudy and didn't make for any sort of dramatic lighting. Our first hour was with a guide, who told us that this was a place of learning, and that the rocks in one temple had a special energy that you could feel if you touched them. Truth is, no one knows what it was built for, in fact the excavation process was very poorly done and the context in which artifacts were found wasn't well recorded, so we are unlikely ever to know much more. 

Yale University had a large collection of artifacts from Machu Picchu that were supposed to have been returned in 1918. In 2008, after requests that the artifacts be returned had been denied, Peru sued the university. Then there were protests, and Peru asked both President Obama and the pope to get involved. Finally, Yale agreed to return them over the next two years. If you want to read the entire article, go here: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132083890/yale-returns-machu-picchu-artifacts-to-peru

Another fuzzy caterpillar

Remember the bridge from yesterday? That's it down there.