Peru -- Primarily Machu Picchu (Dec 2010)

Here is one of the things I had come back into the archeological area to see. The second trail coming into Machu Picchu goes along a ledge on this sheer cliff. As you can see here, the ledge is artificial. It was constructed by the Inca stonemasons. They intentionally left a gap with a wooden bridge over it. If an enemy war party approached, the defenders of the city would remove the bridge (or perhaps burn it).

The ledge containing the bridged gap is in the lower portion of this image, with the gap below and slightly to the right of the center of this photo. The people at left are on a trail, which winds around (out of sight for a time) and drops down to became the trail along that artificial ledge.