Late morning I struck off to climb Huayna Picchu, the tall conical mountain seen outside the north gate. At the summit is the Moon Temple. The climb was very steep and the steps quite irregular, so discretion being the better part of valor with my artificial hip, I turned back before the point of no return where the trail is so narrow that it is one way only. One picture will show a woman coming down an area where the trail narrowed, but doesn’t adequately show the severe drop off of the mountain. I rejoined Cheryl and we explored the eastern half of Machu Picchu which was the industrial area for metallurgy, weaving, ceramics, etc. We started at The Sacred Plaza where there is a huge carved granite stone that refects the mountains in front of it and the point of the sunrise at the winter solstice.There is also a temple there and housing for priests and the workers and families. The quality of the stonework and how it fits together denotes the status of the person or the building, with the temple having the best quality stonework.
An escalator would be nice.