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| Machu Picchu, Peru |
New Rules for visiting Machu Picchu Peru
The Hidden City of the Inca high in the Andes Mountains is one of the great travel destinations on the planet. After rafting for 3 days on the Urubamba River we began hiking to Machu Picchu. In 4 days of trekking we arrived to see this mysterious mountain enclave that the Inca managed to keep hidden from the Spanish. Rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911, it is one of the most mystical places on earth.
Machu Picchu is on just about everyone's travel bucket list. I had the good fortune to see it early in my travel career while working on a film for Sobeck/Mountain Travel that eventually became an episode in the Discovery Channel series, Sir Edmund Hillary's World of Adventure.
My first glimpse of the iconic terraces that sit 7,970 feet (2,430 meters) above sea level on the eastern slope of the Andes came from high above in the late afternoon, after a day of trekking. We arrived late enough that most of the tourists had departed on the last buses back to Aguas Calientes on the valley floor. Only a few a people that were fortunate enough to have rooms at the hotel just outside Machu Picchu's grounds were still wandering among the stone walls. Most of the hotel guests had already headed for the bar and were sipping cocktails and telling traveler's tales.
I'll always treasure those haunting moments as we made our way among the stone houses that housed perhaps as few as 750 people. Now each day brings 2000+ tourists to these verdant terraces and more would come if restrictions weren't in place. By the time the we entered the Machu Picchu it was eerily --- wonderfully empty.
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Subject : The Lost City of the Incas - Machu Picchu - Peru
Origianlly Posted to MySpace
Post Date: : Oct 25, 2006 10:16 AM 
