Machu Picchu

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Just Hold Off on Booking a Trip to Machu Picchu

Hundreds of tourists are stranded as Peru closes down landmark amid anti-government protests

(Newser) - Peru indefinitely shut the famed ancient ruins of Machu Picchu on Saturday in the latest sign that anti-government protests that began last month are increasingly engulfing the South American country. The Culture Ministry said it had closed the country's most famous tourist attraction, as well as the Inca Trail...

Political Crisis Strands Americans in Machu Picchu

Rail lines to airport, highways have been blocked in Peru

(Newser) - Violent protests that began after the removal from office of President Pedro Castillo are keeping American tourists from leaving Peru. The government declared a national emergency on Wednesday, per NBC News . Hundreds of foreign visitors in total have been stranded around the historic city of Machu Picchu. Brian Vega said...

Machu Picchu Does Not Exist, Historically Speaking

The real name doesn't have quite the same ring, but at least it's historically accurate

(Newser) - In 1911, when American explorer Hiram Bingham first reached the ancient Incan city in the clouds, his guide told him it was called Huayna Picchu. Soon after, per NPR, another guide called it Machu Picchu, and that’s the name Bingham carried to the outside world. At the time, the...

New Technology Reveals Old Structures Near Machu Picchu

They may be the former homes of the keepers of the nearby site of Chachabamba

(Newser) - Long-ago visitors to the famed Incan citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru had to first pass through a ceremonial site known as Chachabamba less than 5 miles away along the Urubamba River. Discovered in the 1940s, Chachabamba consists of a main altar surrounded by 14 baths, where elites would’ve...

We Didn't Have Machu Picchu's Timeline Quite Right
Machu Picchu
Study Alters Story
of Inca Emperor
new study

Machu Picchu Study Alters Story of Inca Emperor

Results suggest Pachacuti's initial conquests occurred earlier than thought

(Newser) - Our understanding of Machu Picchu's timeline wasn't quite right, or so a new study published in Antiquity suggests. It's long been thought that the Peruvian site was built after AD 1438, reports the Guardian , a conclusion that was drawn from the accounts of Spanish conquistadors who were...

Peru Opens Machu Picchu for a Single Tourist

Jesse Takayama held on to his entry ticket while stranded for seven months

(Newser) - A Japanese man found himself the lone tourist exploring Machu Picchu over the weekend—a privilege granted after seven months of waiting. Jesse Takayama had arrived in Peru in March with plans to stay for only a few days while taking in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Instead, he became...

X Marks the Spot: Why Machu Picchu Is Where It Is
X Marks the Spot: Why
Machu Picchu Is Where It Is
new study

X Marks the Spot: Why Machu Picchu Is Where It Is

Famous citadel in Andes lies atop intersecting fault lines, and that has advantages

(Newser) - Tourists who make the arduous trek to Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca citadel built high in the Andes of Peru, might have two big questions: Why build here, and how? A new study appears to have found the answers: Machu Picchu is built atop intersecting fault lines that form something...

It Just Got Slightly Harder to Visit Machu Picchu

Peru puts new restrictions on tourists to aid conservation efforts

(Newser) - Travelers wanting a glimpse of Peru's famed Machu Picchu will be restricted to visiting during morning or afternoon tours in a move aimed at conserving the site's archaeological splendor, the AP reports. The new rules go into effect in July and will allow about 3,600 visitors to...

Man Dies While Posing for Photo at Machu Picchu

He fell down a ravine in a restricted area

(Newser) - It wasn't quite death-by-selfie , but it wasn't far off. Peru This Week reports that a German tourist died Wednesday while posing for a photo at Peru's famed Machu Picchu site. Oliver Park, 51, went into a restricted area of the mountainous tourist locale in the Andes, despite...

Machu Picchu Grapples With Streaker Crisis

Historic site boosts surveillance

(Newser) - Machu Picchu is the victim of what could, Gawker notes, be a new international trend: naked travel. Peru's ruins are undergoing increased surveillance amid what might be termed a streaking crisis. Two men, a 30-year-old New Zealander and an 18-year-old Australian, were nabbed last year for nudity, the Guardian...

Family Tells UN: We Own Machu Picchu

Asks UN agency to consider their case

(Newser) - Talk about a property dispute: A Peruvian family says it owns the land of the Machu Picchu ruins, and is taking the case to the United Nations. Seventy-year-old Edgar Echegaray Abril still has the sale deed showing that his family bought the land with gold in 1910. Yes, they sold...

Mudslides Strand Machu Picchu Tourists

Peru sends helicopters to airlift thousands stuck at ruins

(Newser) - Helicopters are ferrying to safety some 2,000 travelers who have been stranded at the country's top tourist destination. The tourists were trapped at the Inca holy site of Macchu Picchu and the surrounding villages since a mudslide Sunday blocked off a railway, the only way in or out of...

Stonehenge, Machu Picchu Among 'Threatened Wonders'

How tourists damage eight of the wonders they love most

(Newser) - From the litter strewn around Machu Picchu to the noisy highway junction next to Stonehenge, mass tourism and misguided development have many of the world's most famous travel destinations looking worse for the wear. Wanderlust magazine reports on the top eight threatened wonders, what can be done to help them,...

Dozens of Sacrificed Girls Found at Inca Site

(Newser) - Dozens of carefully buried human sacrifices have been found in a coastal Inca site in Peru, reports the Telegraph. Most of the dead are teenage girls, and one appears to have been pregnant. The bodies, which still contain skin and hair, all bear signs of knife slashes along the neck....

Hey, Obama Girls, Peru's Got Your Puppy

Not cute or furry, but Peruvian Hairless loves kids, is hypoallergenic

(Newser) - Peru may hold the solution to the president-elect’s canine conundrum, the Telegraph reports. The Peruvian Hairless, a dog with ancient Inca origins, is hypoallergenic and family friendly, perfect for Obama’s allergic daughter Malia; a puppy has been offered to the incoming first family. “If we send it...

Peru Swaps Backpackers for Well-Heeled Tourists

Luxury tours aim for big bucks from the wealthy

(Newser) - Peru’s government hopes to carve a thick slice out of the world’s luxury travel market,  aided by sumptuous trains with fancy oxygen enrichment systems and high-altitude 5-star hotels, reports Reuters. "It's not that we don't like backpackers," says the country's tourism minister, but with big...

Americas' Oldest Temple Found
Americas' Oldest Temple Found

Americas' Oldest Temple Found

Archaeologists announce unearthing of one of the Americas' oldest temples

(Newser) - Adding to the list of Peruvian treasures, archaeologists yesterday announced the discovery of a 4,000-year-old temple used to worship fire—rife with remarkably well-preserved murals that are possibly the oldest in the Americas. “What’s surprising are the construction methods, the architectural design,” said the lead archaeologist.

Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru
Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru

Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru

Machu Picchu artifacts have been on display at Yale for a century

(Newser) - A group of artifacts taken from Machu Picchu almost a century ago for Yale's Peabody Museum will be returned, Yale and the Peruvian government announced on Friday. The collection to be returned consists of 380 museum-quality objects, as well as part of those in the research collection. Yale will grant...

7 New Wonders Wear Crown
7 New Wonders Wear Crown

7 New Wonders Wear Crown

Online poll spreads the wealth to South America, Asia

(Newser) - The largest online poll ever conducted wrapped up yesterday, and today the results became official. The seven wonders of the modern world, which were announced in Portugal, include an Asian engineering triumph and a South American religious monument, but not the Great Pyramid of Giza—the Egyptian government refused to...

19 Stories