Peru, in South America, is a land of wonderful charm and mystery. It isn't a huge country; it covers a little more than half-a-million square miles. Over half the population are Inca Indians, many of whom live in villages high in the Andes mountains, and still speak the ancient language of Quechua. Although Peru is a relatively small country, it has some magnificent sights for the modern Magellan. Half of Peru is part of the Amazon Basin. This area is so rich with different species that it is one of the world's Top Ten biodiversity hot-spots.

Peru is also the home to coastal deserts, fishing villages and unique ancient treasures. Those travelers who want to fill their eyes with sights of mysterious handiwork from ancient people will love this land. Some of these beautiful creations are the subject of today's ModernMagellan.

I hope that you enjoy this issue.

Pete

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Machu Picchu is one of the world's most beautiful ancient sites. It was built in the early 1400s by the Inca Indians on a mountain top sitting at 9,060 feet above sea level. Machu Picchu means 'Old Peak' in the Inca language and legends state that it was considered sacred land long before. Although it covers only five square miles, it is stunning. When Pizarro and his conquistadors arrived in Cuzco in 1532, they suspected that there was a special hidden city, but could never find it. It wasn't seen by white men until 400 years later, when an American, Hiram Bingham III, climbed the steep sides of the mountains, slashing through the overgrowth with his machete, "discovering" this magnificent city. Hiram was an interesting man in his own right. He was born in Hawaii to a missionary family, married the heiress to the Tiffany fortune, and in 1911 set off to Peru to find the lost city of the Incas. He started at the library in Cuzco, Peru, and went through the valley of the Urubamba, through uncharted territory, looking for Machu Picchu. Finally, after receiving a tip from a local farmer, he "found" this incredible lost city.

Machu Picchu is invisible from below and completely self-contained. It has natural springs and agricultural terraces large enough to feed the Inca population who lived there. No one really knows what this city was used for, but because the skeletal remains show a ratio of ten females to one male, it is assumed that it could have been a sanctuary to train priestesses or even brides for the Incan rulers. If you explore Machu Picchu, you can see palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and about 150 houses, all beautifully preserved. The builders were so good that many of the building blocks, which weighed over 50 tons, were cut by hand and fit so well together that you can't even put a knife blade between them!

Also in Machu Picchu, you can see an Intihuatana stone which means, "Hitching Post of the Sun." In the middle of the winter, during a special ceremony, the ancient ones hitched the sun to this stone to prevent it from moving North.These Inca priests also used this as an accurate gauge for the winter solstice and marking other celestial events. Furthermore, the priests also believed that if "sensitive" people touched their forehead to the stone, it would open their minds to the spiritual world. Knowing their belief in the stone was so strong, the Spanish destroyed every one that they found. This stone at Machu Picchu is one of the few left from that onslaught.

After you've enjoyed your fill of Machu Picchu, fly over the Peruvian desert, about 200 miles south of Lima. There, between the Inca and Nasca valleys, you will see a strange plain. In an area 37 miles long and one mile wide, there are huge lines and pictures of giant animals and birds that can only be seen from the sky. In fact, it wasn't until the early 1930s when pilots flying small planes overhead looking for water discovered these giant works of art.

On this plain, there are 70 animal and plant figures. Some are of a spider, hummingbird, monkey and a 1,000-foot-long pelican. There are also many strange symbols and giant trapezoid drawings which resemble an aircraft landing zone. It is believed that these drawings were made around 200 B.C.E. If these Nasca Lines fascinate you, as they do me, then keep traveling 850 miles south until you get to Solitary Mountain...for here on the side of this mountain is carved "The Giant of Atacama", the largest human figure in the world. This masterpiece stands 393 feet high and is surrounded by lines similar to those at Nasca. Finally, if you go south to Sierra Pintada (the painted mountains), you will see another huge area that has pictures of spirals, circles, warriors and a condor.

If you decide to pursue this quest for finding these huge land glyphs, travel down towards Chile; there is plenty more to be explored there. These are truly lands to be "discovered" and cherished. Avoid the Upper Huallaga Valley in the Amazon, home to drug barons and Shining Path guerrillas.

By the way, Hiram Bingham also "found" another Inca city, Viitcos. He returned to America and the world, a hero. In 1925, Hiram became the Governor of Connecticut, and was a U.S. senator from 1925 to 1933.