Customer Reviews

The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A Self-Guided Tour

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a "must have" if you are visiting Machu Picchu. I carried this book in my backpack for 4 days on the Inca Trail hike and it was well worth carrying the extra weight.

Machu Picchu is the remains of an entire urban area complete with agricultural, residential, royal and religious areas. You should plan on spending at least a day at Machu Picchu to fully experience this site. This book is all you need for a complete self-guided tour of Machu Picchu. This book covers everything in detail and packs in a lot more information and insights into the Inca culture and style of architecture than any guided tour will cover (guided tours typically last only 2-3 hours). Even if you have a guide, this book will be an useful supplement.

The book comes with a clear fold out map of the entire Machu Picchu site. The book divides the site into several zones (the Temple of the Sun area, the Royal Residence, the Sacred Plaza etc.) and devotes a separate chapter to each zone. Each chapter comes with its own maps, nice photos and concise descriptions of everything that is interesting to see in that zone. The authors have ordered the chapters according to their recommended sequence of areas for exploring Machu Picchu. I followed the same sequence and would highly recommend it also. Apart from these above chapters the book also contains several additional chapters that provide background and supplemental information. The chapter on the Inca Water Management system is particularly enlightening because the complexity of the water system is not readily apparent when you stare over the maze of ruins in Machu Picchu. Water still flows into Machu Picchu from a mountain spring and this chapter provides some insight into the ingenuity of the Inca engineers in providing ample water for the agricultural terraces and the inhabitants of the urban center. The chapter titled "Side Trips" gives you ample information on the sites around Machu Picchu like the Inca Drawbridge, the trail to the peak of Huayna Pichu and the Temple of the Moon etc. One other nice feature is that the new edition has an interesting fold-out section showing an artist's depiction of how Machu Picchu looked liked in its heyday.

If you are interested in learning more about Inca architecture, I would highly recommend Inca Architecture by Gasparini and Margolies. Hiram Bingham's Inca Land and Lost City Of The Incas are staple reads before you venture out into the land of the Incas.

Also, some general advice on visiting the Machu Picchu site. The site opens early in the morning at 6am and the site is relatively calm until the trains from Cusco start arriving at around 10:30 am onwards. If you do the Inca Trail hike you will get to Machu Picchu at sunrise. If not, I would suggest that you take the train from Cusco the previous day and spend the night in Aguas Calientes. This way you can catch the early bus to Machu Picchu (a 20 minute ride) and enjoy the site before the crowds arrive. It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. Make sure you have the time and space to enjoy it!

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.

When you hike at high altitudes, you take your backpack weight seriously. This book is well worth its 15 ounces. It takes you through the ruins with multiple maps and illustrations. It explains what we do and don't know about the functions of the buildings and terraces. The book is organized by areas. When you reach a certain section of the ruins, you can turn to that section for pictures, descriptions and suggestions on how to walk through the area.

The section on water management illustrates the brilliance of the Inca engineers.The section on the climb up Huayna Picchu, is detailed and makes the climb less daunting. The description also give appropriate cautions about climbing there in slippery weather.

On several pages, there are photographs of the ruins next to artist's renditions of what the buildings might have looked like when they were in use in the 1500s.

Late one July afternoon in 1982, I found myself perched on a ledge overlooking the Machu Picchu archaeological site some 500 feet below. Having probed the bushes near the site's so-called guard tower, I had found some overgrown stepping stones and had begun hiking upward. One half-buried step led to the next, and within an hour I had reached this ledge. Along the way I had discovered a remarkable semi-circular stone staircase -- and managed to avoid the bushmasters said to be slithering nearby.

As an anthropologist myself, I wish that I had had a copy of a guidebook even half as good as that authored by Ruth Wright and Alfredo Valencia Zegarra. Combining a clearly written text with intriguing photos and practical diagrams, The Machu Picchu Guidebook is the single best publication on this site that I have seen. While written primarily for the astute traveler, it will be of use to professionals as well.

My own work with indigenous water systems in places like Guyana and Indonesia led to my cursory examination in 1982 of the system at Machu Picchu. It proved fascinating, but I had little time for study. To their credit, Ruth Wright and her husband, Ken Wright (in conjunction with a number of their colleagues from the U.S. and Peru) instituted a remarkably thorough archaeological/engineering investigation of this Incan system in the 1990s. This same degree of care and attention to detail is seen in the guidebook, which had its genesis in their archaeological research.

In conclusion, it should be noted that Ruth Wright is a former chair of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of The Explorers Club. Her book brings an explorer's enthusiasm to Machu Picchu, while maintaining high standards of authorship.

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.

I've travelled a lot, but rarely with guidebooks. It's easier to borrow them from the library, xerox the maps, and travel light. This guidebook is an exception. Its photos, maps, drawings, and diagrams are very informative as well as beautiful (rare), its explanations clear, and the understanding it gives is vital to wise use of time at a site which can be very confusing to navigate. It's NEEDED, to find your way through a very labyrinthian place. I found myself pouring over the book for hours before going to Peru, and learning more from the book and the research behind it than any of us knew was there. With it, I was able to understand a very complex site when I arrived there. Geology is a vital element in the power of this place, many of its most exciting places are hidden underneath the major temples or accessed from some remote corner, and the motivations for the very unusual siting and use of natural rock by the builders difficult to unravel. Its about the only guidebook I would recommend that people buy and travel with. Thank you, Ruth and Alfredo!

When I went to Machu Picchu for the first time, I paid for a personal guide because the entrance fee to the ruins doesn't include a guide. Later I found out about this book, and I was disappointed to see that it showed lots of things the guide didn't show me when I was there.
This book tells you step by step where to start your tour and where to finish it. It has clear pictures, easy-to-understand maps and directions, and every structure and building is well explained. You can't get lost with this guidebook. It's better than paying for a personal guide.

This guide is indispensible if you are traveling to Machu Picchu. Nothing at the site is labeled, so having the book makes the experience much more meaningful, and allows you to interpret what you are seeing.

Although I had the new edition, I found most of the logistical information (costs, times, etc.) out of date. But this is to be expected in Peru--as anyone who has visited there knows how fast things can change.

That said, however, Ruth's "tours" are wonderful, and give you plenty of information relating to the history, myth, and location of numerous, and often-overlooked, sites. With this guidebook you have all you need to spend four hours to one week (or more) exploring Machu Picchu (assuming you have the money to spend that long there). It is truly an indispensible book for the Machu Picchu traveler.

This is a decent guide book if you have only a few hours to spend in Machu Picchu. I had a day an a half and was somewhat disappointed by the book: too little solid info and too much "fluff". For instance, the enclosed maps number all the rooms and buildings, but the text mentions only a few, with no attempt made to guess the use/function of the other ones. Not enough explanation is given of which parts are original and which are reconstructed. The visiting routes are often confusing and I found that exploring on my own was easier. The historical context and info on Inca life is spread throughout the text instead of being presented up front. On the positive side, the USA's author's husband is a hydrological specialist and the info on Incas' water management is solid.
All that said, I have not looked at other guidebooks and this one may yet be the best one. It is certainly better than nothing or than what you can hear in a rushed 2 hours tour from a local guide...