Mystery, magic and beauty cannot be defined, but experienced.
Visiting Machu Picchu is not only going some new place, but to live the magic and mysticism of a civilization that learned to use all nature resources in harmony.
Machu Picchu (Old Peak, in Quechua) was discovered in 1911 and one of its primary objectives was to work as an astronomical observatory. The Inca turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. Everywhere you go you are surrounded by sites that were used for rituals and celebrations of the Sun.
Two thousand feet above the Urubamba river, the cloud shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and about 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. These structures, carved from the gray granite of the mountain top are wonders of an architectural genius civilization. Some of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more and are precisely sculpted. It is sure a lifetime experience to walk around in this Sacred Citadel and to observe the many aspects of a culture, though ancient, was incredibly modern for its time.
The mountain top sanctuary fell into disuse and was abandoned after the Spanish took Cuzco (the Inca capital) in 1533, but since then remains untouched in its aura, but the ruins shows exactly how this society lived in peace, harmony and protected by the Gods.
