South America is imagined from most people to be a Hispanic dream.  Columbia, Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela or Peru most of us first think of Cerveza, Mar Picante and lots of other nice things.  We should know that south America and particularly the west side of it is a fusion of Hispanic and Inca culture so it should be more to it than pueblos y partidas de cartas.

Machu Picchu (“Old Peak” in Quechua, one of the official languages –the other one being Spanish) is the most important symbol and also evidence of the Inca culture in Peru. Built around 1450 and abandoned 100 years later because of the Spanish invasion Machu Picchu stands for a typical Inca village placed near the ex-capital city of the Inca Empire –Cusco. The ruins of the village were rediscovered by a Yale archaeologist named Hiram Bingham in 1991.

Worked in detail and very precise but also protected by nature the ruins of Machu Picchu are very well preserved. Palaces, temples and about 150 houses with baths are nowadays seen as architectural and aesthetic wonders. Speaking about wonders I would like to mention that Machu Picchu is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World next to places like the Great Wall of China or the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

There are several main attractions in Machu Picchu. One of them is the Intihuatana Stone (which means “Hitching Post of the Sun”) which was used as an astronomical observatory indicating the date or other time information. Other attractions are the typical Inca houses and the road to Machu Picchu itself is also one of the most beautiful roads in the world going in slalom up the mountain.

Due to its location in the middle of nature and the abundance of natural resources Machu Picchu is thought to have been a very prosper city and therefore used by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. Legends also tell it had been a sacred place for the Incas.

There is very much to discover concerning this village from an architectural, natural or religious point of view. Many people heard so much about it and think they know what to expect “but Machu Picchu is one of the few places in the world where reality often surpasses a person’s imagination”. –Johan Reinhard