Machu Pichu

During the height of the Incan Empire, Machu Pichu was constructed in 1450, as one theory holds, as a city of religious importance. After three years of brutal Spanish rule, the puppet king, Manco Inca strategically fled Cusco for Vilcabamba bypassing and essentially hiding the nearby Machu Pichu, which was only 30 kms away. Even after the last Inca (king) was drawn and quarted or strangled, the whereabouts of the city where never revealed. It is thought the 1000 inhabitants fled to assist the assults of the Spanish. It was only in the early 20th century, it was rediscovered under the forests by workers of the railways who pillages the vast silver and gold, and notably by the Hiram Bingam in 1912, who pillaged over 3000 artifacts for private and public museums in the states.

Built with all the beuaty of remaining Inca sites, walls and terraces are constructed through hand polishing original mountain rocks and stones without mortar, but so precise that sunlight can not penetrate even the joins of a gardeners house.

Each morning, the sun gate shines sunlight through a window of the Temple of the sun, which at one point, illuminated a sacred object. Massive terraces produced coca, potatoes, maize, and orchids with Soil brought from a 1000 metres below. An impressive sundial directly between Machu Pichu and Wiynam Pichu mountains marks the equinox.



After one of only a few hundred who reach the site by hiking each day, it is easy to feel a sense of ownership when surrounded by the hoards of tourists who arrive by train or bus each day and only grasp a fraction of the story. Although we are by are wide and far not experts, if you do come, ensure you hike one of the many Incan trails.

It is apparent that for reasons of ignorance and racism, most students educated in areas with small indigenous populations have little or no knowledge of the Inca´s or Machu Pichu.