The reviews of this book on Amazon and elsewhere are comprehensive on its strengths and weaknesses. We've been using it as we research our trip to Peru, plan to carry it to Machu Picchu, and are certain to refer to it as a reminder after our return home.
My list on Listmania! indicates how many books we've consulted in advance of our trip; we've been annotating Ms Wright's volume with notes as we read through that list.
At Machu Picchu itself, we'll continue annotating and consulting her guide, depending on local resources. That will create a very useful memory aid when we put our pictures together after the trip, and when we just want to relive our visit.
My wife and I did the same thing with an excellent pocket sized guide to Pompeii years ago, where we broke away from the guided tour and spent hours wandering on our own. We carried it back to Italy a few years later, and added additional annotations to the same book. We've often re-read that little guide and re-lived those two excursions.
We plan to take Ms. Wright's advice to see the sunrise from the Guardhouse, "where a visitor can anticipate the sun with nothing more than a llama grazing in the distance. As the golden rays slip down Huayna Picchu, the buildings on the ridge below start to emerge from the shadows until Machu Picchu is presented in all its glory. It is a breathtaking, almost spiritual experience, and one you will never forget."
We can hardly wait. |
The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A Self-Guided Tour Books In Print, Audio Books.