Maccu Picchu es maravilloso

....Maccu Picchu, Sunday 27th of January. I was glad to arrive there, for I told you already I had been sick. I actually wasn´t good the whole day before as well as the night. But in a miraculous way, I got better. Or maybe it was the Maccu Picchu itself that made me better. They say it always was a spiritual place. When the Inca´s in 1450 AD build there highly developed empire here, they lived in perfect balance with nature and heaven, (the) God(s), spirits, however you want to call it. And still this symbol of Inca culture is a place that gives many people inspiration and enthusiasm, which literally means ´into God´. No wonder the whole world wants to visit it nowadays and the Peruvian government puts more and more rules to regulate this overload.

After a splendid breakfast at 5.30 with pancakes and scrambled eggs (jetlags en the altitude do weird things to me) Marie and I arrived early at Maccu Picchu, at six in the morning. We climbed the Wayna Picchu, which is the dark mountain you always see on the pictures as well as mine. Quite a climb, raining, steep, but really worth doing. Sittin´on top of the world..

Our guide, Cosme, turned out to be THE man who knows everything about the spot. He was funny as well. We had such a good time with him and he easily convinced us to buy his book about Maccu Picchu. In which you find an interesting point of view of a Peruvian man who lives in the glory of his Inca past and blames all the problems of the world on the colonists, the Spaniards. And looking at present Peru, I can really understand why the Inca-period and its symbols, like Maccu Picchu, or heroes like Tupac Amaru are praised here.

The Inca´s choose this area to build the city because it was safe, fertile and there were the necessary conditions like rocks and fresh water. They arranged it all so well, that there was always enough of everything for everybody. Which meant they had lots of time for spiritual business, for developing skills like astrology, a calender, a compass (which seems crazy without modern technology). A substantial part of the ground was dedicated to research and improve mais-seeds. Stealing and lying were the biggest sins. As well as lazyness. Therefore, animals were never used for the hard work. They did it themselves. After a 100 years living there, these Inca´s were attacked by the Spaniards. The elite fled into the jungle, taking with them the most precious belongings and the smartest people. The people were catched, the treasure called El Paititi is still somewhere in an unfindable place that ´white men´ can never find unless they have an Inca heart. They tried, of course, still do. It is said that a special tribe defends the treasure with their lifes and stranges things have happened to those who approached. The other part that´s left of Inca culture is 1 Inca who was taken to Europe as a slave. Some still hope for his return and with it, the return of the Inca empire..