Peru is a delightful country to go to, covid permitting, with wonderful scenery and places to visit. The number of foreign tourists welcomed there each year is steadily increasing and now numbers around 4 million, so tourism has become of great importance to the Peruvian economy.
The most visited destination there by tourists is Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one which has been voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is situated in a remote location in the south of the Country, perched high on a mountain ridge.
Machu Picchu was a small city, built by the Inca people in the mid 14th century and was probably home to about 1,000 people. It is often referred to as the “lost city” because the Spanish never discovered it when they conquered the Incan people, but then that was hardly surprising given its remote mountain location. It is generally thought to have been built as a holiday retreat for the Incan King, Pachacuti, but there are others who believe that it was built as a religious site. We will probably never know the answer to this for sure, however, as the Incas never kept any written records. But, whatever it was built for, it was certainly well built, for it is almost intact and is in a remarkable state of preservation.
The first glimpse that visitors get of Machu Picchu, as they round a mountain from the site’s entrance, is breath-taking. This is especially so if the first rays of the morning sun are hitting it, as was the case when I went there, with eerie mists swirling up from the river some 1,400 feet below. It looked more like some mystical Hollywood set, with special lighting being used on it, than a famous ancient archaeological site.
Although Machu Picchu had lain abandoned since the demise of the Inca Empire and much of it had been hidden by vegetation for centuries, it was probably never truly lost to the ‘locals’. However, it was not until the year 1911 that it became known to the wider world. In that year a Yale professor, Hiram Bingham, came upon it whilst on the search for another ‘lost’ city. The vegetation was cleared away to reveal the site in all its glory and extensive archaeological investigations were carried out. Through subsequent reports and writings, Machu Picchu soon became known to the world at large.
Due to the hundreds of thousands of visitors the site now receives each year, some inevitable environmental degradation of the site and surrounding area was occurring, so the Peruvian government has now taken steps to limit the numbers permitted to visit each day, by means of a ticket system.
So, if you visit Peru, Machu Picchu is a must, but do remember to book your entrance in advance, or get your travel agent to do it for you.
DB
