Finally the weather was great for walking through the citadel of Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, that also means a lot of sun which is bad for photography.
Still, I enjoyed the visit and managed to get a few new pictures, visit with some friends who work there, and discover a couple of significant new things that I don’t know if anyone else has noticed before.
Nothing at Machu Picchu was done by accident. There are many intentional alignments with many features in the surrounding region — both natural and man-made — emphasizing the interconnectivity and complexity that makes the site so much more than almost anyone realizes.
As I frequently do, I listened in on some of the things that guides tell their tourist clients. As almost always, I hear guides sharing myths and false information that makes for great stories, but are simply not true.
Despite that, I continue to study and learn and try to share what I know with anyone who is interested. (Sadly, most people don’t care about learning anything about Machu Picchu except what they see in a YouTube video or the usual myths shared all over social media.)
[Be sure to click on each individual photo to see a larger version.]
Everyone who enters Machu Picchu walks right past perhaps the most important feature of the entire site. Without the spring on the side of Machu picchu Mountain and the channel that brought water down to the site, it would never have been possible to build the site here in the first place. 
Sadly, the Inca road coming down from the Inti Punku in the distance is closed right now unltess you come in on the epensive 1-day Inca Tfrail trek. 
This spot below the Watchman’s Hut is the primary place where everyone gets their iconic selfies before actually walking down into the site itself. 
Relatively few people bother to go to this place on the upper western terraces to get an even better view of Machu Picchu. 
For a moment, I thought this guy was going to spit on me, but he eventually posed for a pic above Machu Picchu. 
The line was backed up as everyone wanted to get a photo at Mchu Picchu’s main entrance. Of course, all they wanted was a pic and no one seemed to care about the signicance of the door and it’s design and iunique placement. 
Reconstruction work continues today just as it has for nearly 90 years. I still hear guies and internet con men telling people about ancient Inca construction (and even constructions that they say are thousands of years old!) when the fact is much, if not most, of present day Machu Picchu has been rebuilt starting in the 1930’s. 
These two windows at the Intihuatana site significantly open exactly 225° towards a major, but little known site in the Urubamba Valley below. 
Machu Picchu was never a completed site and there are many examples of concious decisions to change original designs. This door that was concerted to a window is one of two like this next to the Intihuatana. 
Almost everyove believe that the Sacred Rock is a representation of the pointed peak Yanatin (barely visible in part through the clouds behind). In fact, it is a nearly perfect mirror image of Pumasillo 19.5 miles (31 km) to the west. 
The Sun Temple (El Torreon) and the Royal Residence have been closed for 13 months. I’ll be glad when it’s possible to approach these amazing and incredibly important parts of the citiadel 
