Sacred Sites and Sacred Lands: Peru
By Lori Erickson
In 1911, Yale professor Hiram Bingham III made a discovery that catapulted him to international fame and put a remote site in the Peruvian Andes on the bucket list of generations of travelers. On the trail of ruins from the Inca Empire, he came across a site locals called Machu Picchu, or “old peak” in the native Quechua language.
Bingham in one sense didn’t discover Machu Picchu, for its location had long been known to the natives of the region, as well as to a few Europeans who had trekked through the surrounding jungle. But he was the one who brought the site to the world’s attention (and later became the inspiration for the movie character Indiana Jones).
Given the rigors of Bingham’s initial journey, I’m a bit embarrassed by how little effort I expended to get to Machu Picchu. The classic journey there is by the Inca Trail, a challenging multiday hike. Instead, I took a bus and train from Cusco, the ancient Inca capital, and then a bus to the promontory where Machu Picchu sits. But no matter how you arrive at Machu Picchu, your reaction is likely to be the same: awe. That’s a word that gets tossed around so much that it’s lost much of its original meaning. To be awe-struck means to be filled with a mixture of reverential respect, wonder and a little bit of fear. As I rounded the corner and got my first full view of Machu Picchu, those emotions flooded over me. The site’s visual impact felt almost physical in its force. Read more…