Introduction
Declared both a natural and a cultural World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary is truly a rare and wonderful place. Where else in the world can you walk for days through cloud forests and over razor-sharp passes, in country that's been inhabited for thousands of years by civilizations only discovered by Europeans less than five hundred years ago? Where else could you have such a breathtaking goal to your trek: the magical, lost city of Machu Picchu which rises from a high spur of mountain, like a stage set in a green amphitheatre of forest-clad hills?
THE INCA HERITAGE
For thousands of years the people of South America developed separately from the rest of the world. Their culture culminated in the Incas, a people whose empire was centered on Peru and which stretched further than that of the Romans, yet who governed without having discovered iron, the wheel or writing. Like the Romans, the Incas left behind them monumental stone constructions, built for the most part without mortar yet strong enough to withstand centuries of earthquakes that have toppled more modern edifices. Also like the Romans, they left behind them one of the most extensive road networks in the ancient world, for the most part paved and drained, which linked every part of their realm.
Many of these roads have been rediscovered, and some of them have been cleared. The Inca Trail is one such road, part of a network that once penetrated the thick rainforest which grows either side of the river Urubamba. Walkers who follow it today pass over high-altitude wind-blown grassland and down to steamy encroaching jungle. At the end of the road is Machu Picchu. On these grasslands and in this jungle is a multitude of plant, bird and animal life, and beside this ancient Inca road are recently rediscovered castles and remote fieldstone inns.
The Incas also left their capital, Cusco, which for the most part has been spared the complete destruction suffered by Mexico, capital of that other great ancient American people, the Aztecs. It's still possible to wander along Cusco's Inca alleyways which run between walls of perfectly hewn stone and visit the remains of the magnificent Sun Temple, once the religious heart of an empire. And the 'new' buildings such as the Cathedral and the Compañía, built in the sixteenth century by the Spanish colonizers, are beautiful in their own right.
In the days of the Incas, Machu Picchu was a long hard walk from Cusco. Chasquis, Inca messengers, ran the roads of the Inca Trail and herders drove llama trains laden with maize and potatoes over the high passes. Today Machu Picchu is only four hours from Cusco by train, along a railway that's been pushed through the jungle along the banks of the Urubamba river.
However, you can still walk. The high tableland around Cusco leads down to the fringes of the Amazon rainforest, and the area is criss-crossed with roads and tracks, ancient and modern, passing through unrivalled natural and ancient beauty. As you walk you'll pass dazzling high glaciers and remote corries, along trails lined with original Inca canals and dotted with remote unvisited ruins where a multitude of orchids grow in the clear Andean air.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The book is designed to take you from your armchair to these cities of the Incas, Cusco and Machu Picchu, and to guide you along the Incas' trails, stretches of some of the best hiking in the world. It includes information on getting to Peru, a guide to Peru's capital Lima, background material on modern Peru; there's a chapter devoted to the Incas and their predecessors, and chapters on Cusco and Machu Picchu. Detailed trekking maps are included, as are site plans and descriptions of what's known about the abandoned ruins you'll pass on your way.
The trekking section of this book also includes full details of a wonderful walk to the last refuge of the Incas at Vilcabamba. The ruins of this city now lie abandoned and overgrown in a heavily forested valley. The hike to get there includes a stunning variety of scenery, from lofty mountain passes, via pampa, puna, pasture, dwarf forest and cloud forest to thick lowland rainforest, the 'eyebrows of the jungle', that smothers and engulfs the lost, ancient stones of Vilcabamba. In addition, we've added two new treks: the trail to the city of Choquequirau and the trail to Santa Teresa.
RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL
Sadly, as with many tourist sites, the paradox of tourism means that the trails, ruins and cities of the Sanctuary are at risk, threatened by their own beauty. It's this beauty that draws the tourists who bring much needed money but at certain times of the year the main trails have become overcrowded and the fragile environment and old ruins damaged by thoughtless visitors who fail to behave with sensitivity. Such damage is not inevitable and this book contains a section suggesting how on your visit you can help preserve this beautiful environment.
Peru is full of wonders. Its beauty is breathtaking, and its culture fascinating. If you are sensitive to the place, it can have a greater impact on you than you have on it.