The Sacred Valley
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Hemmed in by the mountains, Pisac is known for its Sunday market and incredible 
ruins in terraced rows along the mountain which can be seen from afar by travellers. A smaller Thursday market is also held. The Pisac ruins are another good example of Inca architecture, and overlook the village of the same name. Their strategic position overlooking the entire region suggests that they were probably built as an ancient watch tower.
The village of Urubamba perches at an altitude of approximately 2,900 metres and, like Yucay, rarely attracts tourists except during market days, when groups of tourists dine at the Valle Sagrado de los Inkas hotel.
Aguas Calientes, also called "Machu Picchu Pueblo" because it is so close to these famous ruins, is a small simple town hidden deep in the mountains, along the Río Urubamba. The small village of Aguas Calientes owes its name, which means "hot water" in Spanish, to the thermal baths which can still be enjoyed by residents and visitors. Like the hotels and restaurants, most houses are found along the río up to the train station.
Sometimes, something is so great that words cannot express our amazement at the the greatness of a place. This is the case with Machu Picchu, which has been described as the most spectacular archeological site in South America. Spectacular? Make that superb, magnificent, sublime, wonderful, dazzling...!!! The list of adjectives is endless, and it is better to admire this monumental witness to a people obliterated by the lust for gold, power and glory in silence.
Machu Picchu remained unknown to the Spanish, because it was hidden by the high surrounding mountains. As a result, it is indeed one of the few Inca sites that the Spanish did not destroy. In fact, it is so well hidden that more ruins were only recently discovered, while others have yet to be found.
Since the time of its discovery, some of the mystery surrounding Machu Picchu has been resolved, but, despite the relentless efforts of historians and archeologists, it is still unknown why exactly it was built. Though several hypotheses have been put forth by experts trying to solve the puzzle to these ruins, none is conclusive. Bingham mistakenly thought Machu Picchu was Vilcabamba, the last refuge of Manco. Others have postulated that this was where the Incas kept the Sun vestals, because of the large number of women's bones on site. However, further research has proven this false.
Since the Incas did not have a written language, they did not leave any documents explaining what was involved in building this lost village. Thus, Hiram Bingham made it his life's work to find the names of each ruin. However, although Bingham was a great explorer, he was not a professional archeologist. Bingham's names, which are now used by tour guides and listed in books on the ruins, have become commonly accepted, although modern historians contest their validity. This is another reason why, to this very day, Machu Picchu remains a mystery.
A Bit of History A graduate of Yale University, the American Hiram Bingham arrived in South America in 1909 looking for Vilcabamba, the last refuge of the Inca Manco and his a |
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