The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A Self-Guided Tour

Rating:
Summary: Reading This Book Enhanced Our Trip
Review: ...You can see for yourself. Inside of Ruth's and Alfredo's Guidebook is a foldout archeological map of Machu Picchu. Study it. See how the Inca trail leads into the upper and lower agricultural terraces. Notice how the Inca Canal cuts across the drainage moat to bisect the western and eastern urban sectors. Spot the Sacred Rock at the start of the Huayna Picchu trail, where Quechua families still hug the visible manifestation of Pachamama, the earth mother.

Now you are ready for your self-guided tour. Just inside the entrance gate, climb to the Guardhouse. Pause to see how the water supply canal passes right by food storehouses. Cross the Inca trail coming in from Cusco and stand beside the Guardhouse. Below you stretches the whole of this incredible cradle of civilization-lovely green of the main plaza feeding llama and alpaca; Inca stones rising on either side to form the ceremonial and residential edifices; and the crop-growing terraces on the flanks of the cradle falling away to the Urubamba River.

Step-by-step, Ruth and Alfredo talk you by the printed page through these wonders. Plan on several days. You will have the joy of misty morning and sun-streaked afternoons. The day-traintrippers will be gone. Wind through the Rock Quarry. Pause in the quiet of the Unfinished Temple. You can take the time to side hike to the Sun Gate, Machu Picchu Mountain, the Inca Drawbridge, and Huayna Picchu Mountain. Talk with other visitors. The world is here for good reason.

Ruth and Alfredo immensely aid the visitor's Machu Picchu experience. They bring new information to old understandings:

"There are many different ways to experience Machu Picchu. We hope this guidebook will give you the tools to do it in your own way. In the last several decades, much has been learned about the Inca in general and Machu Picchu in particular. Since the Inca had no written language, scientists have had to `read' their artifacts, their stones, their temples, and their mummies to establish their place in history. Recent information and new analyses of earlier findings are shedding additional light on these truly remarkable people and their culture."

The Guidebook starts with an introduction to the history and topography of Machu Picchu. Chapters follow dedicated to the Guardhouse and The Terrace of the Ceremonial Rock; the Western Urban Sector; the Eastern Urban Sector; Various Sites on the Way Out; and Side Trips. Marvelous detail attends every page. The accompanying photographs are many and well shot. They draw your attention to the features described in the text.

Pay particular attention to the numerous huacas. These are the Inca sacred places, typically consisting of naturally situated or human placed rocks cut to the shape of surrounding peaks. These people loved their mountains.

Don't be afraid to make some wrong turns as you orient yourself. The structure of the Guidebook divides Machu Picchu into hemispheres. You start by going down from the Guardhouse to the Main Gate to the Temple of the Sun; then you turn laterally to the residence of the Inca and back through the Western Urban Sector up to the Rock Quarry, the Sacred Plaza, and the Intiwantana. Then you proceed clockwise past the Sacred Rock and Unfinished Temple into the Eastern Urban Sector, finishing at the Temple of the Condor.

Making the walk in this way takes you away from the staircase of the sixteen fountains early on. You encounter the staircase and the fountains again when you reach the Temple of the Condor much later. Sometime during your multi-day visit to Machu Picchu, you will want to follow the staircase in one continuous movement down from the Main Gate to see, feel, and hear the fountains flow sinuously.

Rating:
Summary: Reading This Book Enhanced Our Trip
Review: ...You can see for yourself. Inside of Ruth's and Alfredo's Guidebook is a foldout archeological map of Machu Picchu. Study it. See how the Inca trail leads into the upper and lower agricultural terraces. Notice how the Inca Canal cuts across the drainage moat to bisect the western and eastern urban sectors. Spot the Sacred Rock at the start of the Huayna Picchu trail, where Quechua families still hug the visible manifestation of Pachamama, the earth mother.

Now you are ready for your self-guided tour. Just inside the entrance gate, climb to the Guardhouse. Pause to see how the water supply canal passes right by food storehouses. Cross the Inca trail coming in from Cusco and stand beside the Guardhouse. Below you stretches the whole of this incredible cradle of civilization-lovely green of the main plaza feeding llama and alpaca; Inca stones rising on either side to form the ceremonial and residential edifices; and the crop-growing terraces on the flanks of the cradle falling away to the Urubamba River.

Step-by-step, Ruth and Alfredo talk you by the printed page through these wonders. Plan on several days. You will have the joy of misty morning and sun-streaked afternoons. The day-traintrippers will be gone. Wind through the Rock Quarry. Pause in the quiet of the Unfinished Temple. You can take the time to side hike to the Sun Gate, Machu Picchu Mountain, the Inca Drawbridge, and Huayna Picchu Mountain. Talk with other visitors. The world is here for good reason.

Ruth and Alfredo immensely aid the visitor's Machu Picchu experience. They bring new information to old understandings:

"There are many different ways to experience Machu Picchu. We hope this guidebook will give you the tools to do it in your own way. In the last several decades, much has been learned about the Inca in general and Machu Picchu in particular. Since the Inca had no written language, scientists have had to 'read' their artifacts, their stones, their temples, and their mummies to establish their place in history. Recent information and new analyses of earlier findings are shedding additional light on these truly remarkable people and their culture."

The Guidebook starts with an introduction to the history and topography of Machu Picchu. Chapters follow dedicated to the Guardhouse and The Terrace of the Ceremonial Rock; the Western Urban Sector; the Eastern Urban Sector; Various Sites on the Way Out; and Side Trips. Marvelous detail attends every page. The accompanying photographs are many and well shot. They draw your attention to the features described in the text.

Pay particular attention to the numerous huacas. These are the Inca sacred places, typically consisting of naturally situated or human placed rocks cut to the shape of surrounding peaks. These people loved their mountains.

Don't be afraid to make some wrong turns as you orient yourself. The structure of the Guidebook divides Machu Picchu into hemispheres. You start by going down from the Guardhouse to the Main Gate to the Temple of the Sun; then you turn laterally to the residence of the Inca and back through the Western Urban Sector up to the Rock Quarry, the Sacred Plaza, and the Intiwantana. Then you proceed clockwise past the Sacred Rock and Unfinished Temple into the Eastern Urban Sector, finishing at the Temple of the Condor.

Making the walk in this way takes you away from the staircase of the sixteen fountains early on. You encounter the staircase and the fountains again when you reach the Temple of the Condor much later. Sometime during your multi-day visit to Machu Picchu, you will want to follow the staircase in one continuous movement down from the Main Gate to see, feel, and hear the fountains flow sinuously.

Rating:
Summary: Enhanced with a full-color fold-out map & 150 illustrations
Review: Built in the mid-fifteenth century by Inca royalty and found by Hiram Bingham in 1911, Machu Picchu has become one of South America's premier travel destinations, experienced by more than 300,000 tourists every year. Ruth Wright and her husband Ken Wright of Wright Water Engineers were granted a permit in 1994 from the Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Peru to study this famous site and teamed up with resident Machu Picchu archaeologist Alfredo Valencia Zegarra to create the most authoritative, detailed, and up-to-date guide currently available to the general public. The Machu Picchu Guidebook is specifically designed to be used as a do-it-yourself tour book enhanced with a full-color fold-out map and 150 illustrations. Whether as an armchair traveler with an interest in Incan culture and artifacts, or an on-site visitor seeking to explore the marvelous wonder of this ancient Incan city, The Machu Picchu Guidebook is a rewarding, "reader friendly" guide to this grandly designed archaeological treasure.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: DO NOT visit Machu Picchu without this book! Your experience will be severly diminished!! Follow the author's suggested route, starting up top at the guard house. Thank you, Ruth Wright, for writing this marvelous guide!!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: DO NOT visit Machu Picchu without this book! Your experience will be severly diminished!! Follow the author's suggested route, starting up top at the guard house. Thank you, Ruth Wright, for writing this marvelous guide!!

Rating:
Summary: Science and Architecture Book Parading as a Guide Book
Review: Hats off to publisher Johnson Books for making this wonderful ... book available to serious travelers headed for Machu Picchu. The book is accurate and reliable besides being easy to read and understand. Wright and Valencia have provided an insight to Machu Picchu that far exceeds what the best local guides can explain and without their lore and myths aimed at foreign tourists. The 8 pages of glorious colored photographs complement the 160 black and white pictures and sketches. The fold-out colored map is a reduction of the map already hanging on the Fourth Floor of the Denver Art Museum. This book is a must for tourists, architects, engineers and archaeologists wanting to visit Machu Picchu someday. Those who have already visited the lost city of the Inca will appreciate it even more. Upon finishing the book, you will appreciate the pre-Columbian Inca people who created this masterpiece royal estate of Emperor Pachacuti.

Rating:
Summary: Make sure you read it in its entirety before arrival
Review: I purchased the book because I elected not to book a tour. I finished roughly half of the book on the train to Machu Picchu from Cusco through the Urubamba valley. I found the author's enthusiasm contagious -- by the time I arrived in Aguas Caliente, a short bus drive away from the citadel, I was excited. It was only after I physically ran into the entrance to the trail leading up to Huayna Picchu at the northern end of Machu Picchu that I learned the trail was open to the public to hike.

Huayna Picchu is the imposing peak that appears in the background of the most common image of Machu Picchu. Its peak hosts architectural structures of its own, and provides a spectacular aerial view to Machu Picchu. The very steep trail takes about an hour to climb. It is a site not to be missed in my opinion, but one has to plan in advance to visit, primarily because the entrance to the trail closes at 1pm. Huayna Picchu, though its name is mentioned in the book's preface, is not dealt in detail until close to the end of the book. This is why I suggest readers to at least skim till the end of the book before arrival.

Other reasons why the book should be read prior to arrival are for the obscure artifacts. For instance the image stones on the walls of Intiwatana (the principal temple), which supposedly represent (and replicate) the surrounding mountains can easily go neglected if one hadn't read the corresponding entries in the book -- the stones look like natural stones placed where they are by happenstance unless one knows of their significance a-priori.

The book is thorough, serves its purpose well, and as pointed out earlier, does not fail to convey the enthusiasm of the author. However I think it could have made better if it included a list of locations not to be missed upfront. Hiring a local tour guide arguably is the best option, but the book is the next best thing, especially if compared to other self-guides in print.

Rating:
Summary: A Required Part Of Any Trip To Machu Picchu!
Review: I recently returned from a trip to Peru and Bolivia, and I found this Guidebook to be as necessary a part of my visit to Machu Picchu as my backpack, water and camera were. Ms. Wright and her fellow contributors have created a Guidebook that enhanced my experience beyond my expectations. Thank you, Ms. Wright, et al.!! Her suggested route through the site is not only accurate and detailed, in words, pictures and maps, but helped me see and begin to understand this amazing place through the eyes of someone who has spent a great deal of time there. Her comments and suggestions molded my visit, allowing me to see as much as possible, at my own pace, without feeling as if I missed anything. I even quizzed some fellow travelers who had hired local guides and I found they had overlooked several details, both large and small, that Ms. Wright's Guidebook is chock full of. The only difficulty I had in following her suggested path was getting from the Sacred Rock area (Conjunto 6) up to the Petroglyph. The description of the route became unclear and due to time constraints, I never did visit it. But other than that minor glitch, this Guidebook should be required for anyone considering a trip to Machu Picchu! Brava, Ms. Wright!

Rating:
Summary: A Required Part Of Any Trip To Machu Picchu!
Review: I recently returned from a trip to Peru and Bolivia, and I found this Guidebook to be as necessary a part of my visit to Machu Picchu as my backpack, water and camera were. Ms. Wright and her fellow contributors have created a Guidebook that enhanced my experience beyond my expectations. Thank you, Ms. Wright, et al.!! Her suggested route through the site is not only accurate and detailed, in words, pictures and maps, but helped me see and begin to understand this amazing place through the eyes of someone who has spent a great deal of time there. Her comments and suggestions molded my visit, allowing me to see as much as possible, at my own pace, without feeling as if I missed anything. I even quizzed some fellow travelers who had hired local guides and I found they had overlooked several details, both large and small, that Ms. Wright's Guidebook is chock full of. The only difficulty I had in following her suggested path was getting from the Sacred Rock area (Conjunto 6) up to the Petroglyph. The description of the route became unclear and due to time constraints, I never did visit it. But other than that minor glitch, this Guidebook should be required for anyone considering a trip to Machu Picchu! Brava, Ms. Wright!

Rating:
Summary: Don't plan a trip to Machu Picchu without it!!
Review: I went to Machu Picchu for the first time last year with nothing more than a camera, an issue of the April 2002 National Geographic and "Insight Guides- Peru". I thought I had planned my trip fairly well, but felt a little disappointed with the information I had read about Machu Picchu. After exploring Machu Picchu for 2 days, I ran into several tourists who were carrying Ruth Wright's book. They ALL seemed so confident and knowledgable during their treks because of the information and map contained in the book. I then ran into one of the Wright Water Engineers who came with Ruth to Peru to do some surveys of Machu Picchu. The gentleman was nice enough to give me one of his maps (the same one contained in the book), which was to become invaluable to me during my journey. When I got home, I read the book, cover to cover and have been reliving my journey through it. DON'T PLAN A TRIP TO MACHU PICCHU WITHOUT IT!! It's like taking Ruth with you to Machu Picchu.