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Machupicchu - Part III
On the trail to the Inca Bridge, and possibly the secret city...
February 17, 2009

Arrival | Clinic1 | Palmeiras School | Canopy Walk | Clinic2 | Old Clinic | Amazon Exfiltration |
Cusco | San Pedro Market | Machupicchu1 | Machupicchu 2 | Machupicchu 3 | Bustamante Estate | Sacsayhuaman |
  Tom and I turned the corner here, to the back side of Macchupicchu, and onto the Inca Bridge Trail, on the backside of the mountain.

One funny note: Tom and I wanted to explore further after lunch, and the rest of our group felt toasted and wanted to go down after lunch. Tom traded his backpack with my Mother, and took just the essentials of water and a map, on my advice, because we were going to trek back on the Inca Bridge, etc. When he did that? Tom traded his bus ticket back down, and his ticket back into Machupicchu! D'oh! As a respectible-looking Traveler, he actually convinced the guards of this gate to allow him back in with me, and he even negotiated his bus ride back down the mountain! Not an easy task, by any means, but even unshaven from the Amazon jungle, he didn't look like a hippie looking for a free ride, so they cut him some good slack. Tom, I dare you to try that in the DMZ in North Korea or in a diamond village in Africa or somewhere bizarre like that, LOL! By the way, my non-conforming photo backpack breezed right through on word that Mr. Wheeler was given extraordinary free access back into the site! My camera equipment was a bit too "pro" for the the government inspectors the first time, and I almost didn't make it inside. Odon bribed the dude, and I promised not to use my 70-200mm L lens, upon penalty of remote sniper fire, apparently. The images of the crown of Huayna Picchu across the landscape proved that I violated that Entry Gate agreement, and Odon gave me a high five for doing it later in the trip. He inspected my photo gear, and said I should use the long stuff, but only when not under surveillance, and he told me where the surveillance areas were.
This is a view behind the mountain, looking down at the Peruvian Hydroelectric dam they built in the 1960's. See the hydro-accelleration ram-pipeds they built into the side of the mountain?
Tom Wheeler, caught off-guard
Tom posing properly with a dramatic backdrop behind us on the Inca Bridge Trail
The Toneman
 
See the greenery along the mid-section of the wall? That is the trail! I dare ya!
That is the trail!
Out on a prominence, totally out in space. It is well over 1000 feet below.
The Incan Bridge
v
Yes, that is my foot in the camera.
They warned us not to go out to the Bridge, since this section of the trail did recently collapse.
You can see the fresh mortar from the team that repaired this trail section. It is still wet.
1993 photo
1993 photo
In 1993, the Toneman actually went down and
crossed this bridge. (I still don't flinch at heights. If you fall from here, you are just as dead from 100 feet as 1000 feet...)
Mark Hotz, taking the same gamble that I did...He did not fall, either...
I set my EOS 5D to Monochromatic, and modified the image to a sepia-tone in Photoshop.
I set my EOS 5D to Monochromatic, and modified the image to a sepia-tone in Photoshop.
Tom and I walked up the river to the hot springs, and we rented swim trunks and a towel from a woman and her granddaughter on the way. It cost us $1.50 to rent swim shorts and a towel. It then cost us $2.00 to enter the hot springs. On the walk back, we returned our rented shorts and towels, and tipped the gals the equivilent of $2. They could not believe it! We made their day!
 
A very friendly Coati
They are similar to a raccoon, and are very easily domesticated.
This little dude wanted to smell my camera lens.
 
Copyright © 2009 Tony Rogers