n the 24 July 1911, a Yale University history lecturer named Hiram Bingham III climbed to the top of a mountain ridge in Peru and encountered one of the most extraordinary sets of ruins on Earth. He thought he had discovered the ‘lost city’ of Vilcabamba, the last refuge of the Inca Manco Capac II, who fought against the Spanish conquerors in the 1530s. He believed that to the end of his life, mistakenly as it turned out, and he was fascinated by the mystery and magic of the place, with the great snowy peaks looming above it. In truth, The Spanish conquistadors never saw the city and consequently never wrote about it. Its mysteries continue to baffle researchers although it is now thought by some that Machu Picchu may have been the mountain retreat of the great Inca emperor Pachacutec (‘He who Shakes the Earth’), abandoned at some point after his death in 1472. The iconic sight of the mountain top city is the jewel in the crown of any visit to Peru, but this South American country has so much more to offer from its glistening Pacific coastline, historic cities, sacred valleys, the Altiplano and the world’s highest lake (high plateau region) and the tropical forests and riverways of the upper Amazon. It is one of those very special world destinations with an extraordinary diversity of geography and culture all contained in one colourful country. O Machu Picch The ‘City in the Clouds’ is the highpoint of a tour in Peru 26
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