There are no signs on any of the structures, which contribute to the atmosphere of antiquity, personal discovery, and harmony with the natural environment for which Machu Picchu is so beloved. To help identify the ruins, guidebooks and maps are available at the entrance. Machu Picchu is thought to have been deserted just 100 years after it was completed — likely due to a water shortage or lack of maintenance. After the Inca left Machu Picchu elements of the site continued in use by the local inhabitants until it was revealed to the rest of the world by Hiram Bingham in 1911. If you are seeing it for the first time or for the hundredth, Machu Picchu is always impressive. Could this marvel really be private property?

Among the most impressive characteristics of Machu Picchu is the technique that was employed to build it. It is still a general mystery as to how the Inca managed to move the large rocks that they used to construct the city, especially when you consider how it is perched almost precariously over the Urubamba River valley. Never discovered by the Spanish or mentioned in their chronicles, is Machu Picchu the most popular, yet least well-known of the Inca monuments – the pre-Colonial cultures of Peru left no written records. Machu Picchu is a well-preserved pre-Columbian Inca ruin located on a high mountain ridge, at an elevation of about 2,350 m (7,710 ft). Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, although not by locals, it was brought back to international attention by Yale archeologist Hiram Bingham who rediscovered it in 1911, and wrote a best-selling work about it.

image via kimimago

Machu Picchu is situated between steep mountains with summits above 5.500m and the always-wild Vilcanota River. The only way to get there was over a narrow footpath constructed by the Incas, the Inca Trail or the Camino Del Inca. Read the rest of this entry »