Peru Opens Machu Picchu for One Japanese Tourist

Machu Picchu is high on my Bucket List, so I was very happy to read about Jesse Katayama's story.  He went to Peru in mid-March in order to visit Machu Picchu, with the intent to spend only a few days in Peru. Then, the pandemic hit and not only was he unable to visit the famous world heritage site, he was stranded in Peru. 

Peru has had 33,305 coronavirus related deaths so far and the highest per capita Covid-19 mortality rate of any country in the world. International flights have recently resumed but to only seven Latin American countries. Last Saturday, Katayama was able to visit Machu Picchu, with the special permission of the Peruvian government, before returning to Japan. His entry came thanks to a request he submitted while stranded in the country, according to the minister of culture, Alejandro Neyra.

Sometime in November, Peru will reopen Machu Picchu for tourists, permitting only 30% of its normal capacity of 675 people per day.

La Sagrada Familia - Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia has been on my bucket list for quite some time and I was not disappointed! The construction began in 1882, under the direction of architect Francisco de Paula del Billar y Lozano.  After only a year, he resigned and the position of chief architect was given to Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi devoted his life to the project and when he died in 1926, less than one quarter of the church was finished.  He is buried in the crypt. The early construction was slow because it was funded on private donations. In July 1936, Spanish Civil War revolutionaries set the crypt and workshop on fire, destroying many of Gaudi's original plans, drawings and plaster models.  It took 16 years to reconstruct them. It is on schedule now to complete the Catholic Basilica in 2026, one hundred years after Gaudi's death.

 

I bought a tour ticket in order to be able to skip the lines.  Unfortunately it was a windy day and the tour was not able to go up in one of the towers.

In this model the grey shows the current building, the yellow is yet to be built.

There are three entrances.  The Glory or front entrance began in 2002 and is not finished or open.  We entered through the Nativity entrance, which was the first entrance to be finished. The Passion entrance began in 1954 and was finished in 1976.

This is our tour guide explaining about the many details in the facade. Gaudi's design called for eighteen spires - the twelve apostles, the Virgin Mary, the four evangelists and Jesus Christ, which will be the tallest. The completion of this spire will make La Sagrada Familia the talles church building in the world.

Close-ups of the door in the photo above.

The stained glass inside is amazing. One side is blues, greens, and purples.  The other is reds, oranges, and yellows.

This is the unfinished Glory entrance from the inside.

I can't imagine how this all works and can bear the weight of everything above it.

There are windows from the main floor down to the crypt.

The tour ended, and everyone could continue on their own or leave at that point.  I went outside through the Passion entrance.

This is a puzzle where all lines and combinations add up to 33, the age of Jesus at his death.

Next, I continued on to the museum.

I found this next exhibit fascinating.

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit this amazing place!