South America: Machu Picchu

By Helen Thompson

Machu Picchu is the most alluring archaeological site in the Americas. The Inca trail tours begin from Cusco, and since the government imposed an entry limit of 200 tourists per day, tours need to be booked well in advance.

At Dead-Woman’s Pass, the highest point of the trek, you can bury coca leaves beneath a pyramid of stones as an offering to the earth-god, then look back at the path you have just climbed, surrounded by snow-topped peaks that rise in a jagged patchwork as far as you can see.

Hundreds of stone steps wind up and down the mountains, towards the Sun Gate, and the entrance to Machu Picchu. The tour reaches Machu Picchu at sunrise on the fourth day, and gives one of the most photographed views in the world.

Densely vegetated slopes descend on either side of the ruins to the fast-flowing Urubamba river that whips round the bottom of the peak in a hairpin bend.

Here dwelt high priests and the virgins of the sun, in a city that was mainly dedicated to sun-worship and astronomical observation.

As Machu Picchu was a sacred city, only priests and royalty made the pilgrimage, keeping the city largely a secret even before colonial times. The Spanish never discovered the site, and it was not until 1911 that American Hiram Bingham stumbled on the overgrown ruins with the help of a local farmer.

The incredible imagination and architectural skill of the Incas is abundantly clear when walking through the lofty ruins.

Many of the structures are aligned with the sun during the solstices, and the entire city employs the finest Inca masonry; the walls are cut and fitted together without mortar, and flights of steps are carved out of single enormous blocks of granite.

How the Incas moved these stones here remains a mystery, as do many other details of this remarkable site. It is fascinating to stand amongst the tangible relics of a history that left no written records, and that will forever remain opaque.