5/30 - Machu Picchu

Well the pictures are certainly amateurish compared to the thousands of professional ones available for viewing - but certainly have sentimental value.

Extraordinary place:
- Layout - agriculture, living, religion
- Living - professionals at top; laborers below
- No sexism - woman architects and engineers in the 15th century
- irrigation system and precisely calculated slope of water channels
- Profile of Southern Cross, in stone, precisely positioned
- Precise calculation of solstice sun angles captured thru windows of the Temple of the Sun
- Sending 15 year old boys to other villages and vice versa to maintain integrity of gene pool
- "1 strike" rule to maintain law and order

Thought this would be a rest day but we walked up and down thru the ruins, then to the Inca Bridge, then to Stone Gate. Lots of steps and uneven stones.

I guess we earned one more day of 3 good meals !!