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Wiñawayna or Forever Young is the name of an important archaeological ruin near Machu Picchu. It’s located on a height of 2.700 metres.
Wiñawayna was discovered by Paul Fejos in 1941, and subsequently in 1942 the Peruvian scholar Julio C. Tello baptized the site as "Wiñaywayna" (Forever Young) after the Quechua name of an orchid specie (Epidendrum crassilabium).
In Wiñaywayna there are different kind of buildings, one of them is the upper semicircular one that is traditionally known as the "palace" or the "tower", it’s partially built with carved stones. Towards the right-hand side of the descending stairway there are 10 successive ritual fountains. Every important settlement has these ritual fountains. Towards the north you will see the farming sector with a large amount of human-made terraces.
The orchids (Epidendrum genus) that give their name at the ruins has more or less 20 species of white, red, yellow or violet flowers in the area around the trail. It’s a beautiful flower.
Puyapatamarca, means City upon the clouds in Quechua and it’s close after the Third Pass. From here you can see the River Urubamba. Puyapatamarka is fascinating for its circular walls and the finely engineered aqueduct system which still provides spring water to the ancient ceremonial baths.
And the trail offers here a great view for the hiker, you will see huge steps, it’s a stone stairway almost a half mile long. It goes into the high jungle vegetation. And one remarkable fact is that this part of the track was only discovered in 1984. Until then they used a modern footpath to connect the interrupted sections of the Inca paths.
It’s located on a height of 3530 metres.
The name Sayaqmarka means ”Inaccessible Town”. You will see Sayaqmarka when you are descending the Trail from the Second Pass. When you approach the bottom of the valley, you will have to go up a small steep Inca stair to reach Sayaqmarka. Nothing for me with my fear of heights, but I can manage it foot by foot and very easy. Going down takes me even longer. It’s located at a height of 3685 metres.
In Sayaqmarka there are about 25 rooms, 4 fountains and some aqueducts. Archaeologists found here dry provisions and this means that Sayaqmarka was an administrative place where the provisions where gathered and send further down the road. When you look careful, you see here 4 Inca trails that all come together, these are coming from the highlands, the high jungle, the low jungle and from Machu Picchu.
From Sayaqmarka you have a very good view over the surrounding valley but the weather today is very changeable, one minute we are in the burning sun and the next minute we see the mist and clouds covering the whole valley. It’s a strange game between the sun and the clouds and this makes that the scenery changes the whole time.
Llaqtapata, means in the Quechua language the ”Town on the Hillside”, but this is a new name, nobody remembers anymore the old Inca name, it’s forgotten in time. These are the first ruins that we saw on our Inca Trail. Llaqtapata is located on a height of 2.600 metres and we see if from a distance. We are standing on 2.865 meters.
Llaqtapata dominates the Kusichaca valley and was in the Inca day most likely an administrative place also divided in the 3 classical parts. You have the religious area with the temples, the agricultural area and a living area. They received the goods from the jungle and transported them further towards Cusco. You can see clearly the ruins and terraces from this distance
Where the cities have no name
"Machu Picchu" (old mountain) is the name of the mountain close to the sacred city; its real name is unknown. Hiram Bingham heard this name from local people, and gave it to the city.
"Machu Picchu" (montaña vieja) es el nombre de la montaña cercana a la Ciudad Sagrada; su verdadero nombre se desconoce. Hiram Bingham oyó ese nombre a los lugareños, y se lo dio a la ciudad.
This ruin is very near to MP, it is right beside the camping site on the third night. It is absolutly spectacular and some say more beautiful than Mp itself.
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