Ideas and Travels: Machu Picchu In Second Life

I'm glad I visited this site because it is the synthesis of a difficult and important work made by the University of San Martin de Porres about the Machu Picchu site.

Some believe it to be the last outpost of the Andes, the starting point to enter the forest and impose new populations. For others it was a hidden sanctuary, a large and peaceful aclla Huasi, home of virgins devoted to the worship of the gods. Based on the examination of the bodies exhumed, the population of Machu Picchu (which in its heyday had to get close to 1000 individuals) is composed of 80% women.
In all likelihood it was a "llacta", ie an administrative and religious city where lived the high officials, priests and a bevy of servants and craftsmen. The isolated place where it stands suggests that it was the refuge of a selected part of the Inca nobility in case of attack. The researcher Waldemar Espinoza Soriano claims that even the Andean people knew the location of Machu Picchu, with the exception of the "Sapa Inca" or "only king" and belonging to the royal family of Pachacutec. He adds: "Machu Picchu was an obviously defensive role. It was a llacta of refuge, by all means to withstand a siege and not have communications for decades."Some claim that the city was used as a shelter elite Inca after the coming of the Spaniards. With the death of Tupac Amaru (1572) he had no reason to run: it would explain the lack of knowledge of the city by the Spaniards. A city chosen can not exist without its elected.What is known with certainty is that the city was abandoned suddenly and permanently, until it disappears swallowed up by the forest ..

Machu Picchu is home to some spectacular creatures like the cock of the rocks national bird of Peru and the Andean bear or ucumari, the only úrsido South America.Also they find refuge in the rare dwarf deer or sachacabra, taruca tanka and over 400 species of birds. The flora is particularly diverse and interesting: some 400 species of orchids, many of them unique in the world.Sanctuary dominates the landscape of the majestic Salkantay (6,271 meters), the highest mountain snow of the Cordillera Vilcanota, revered by locals as Apu or tutelary deity. Machu Picchu combines the majesty of a natural setting of great beauty with the attractiveness of the most famous pre-Hispanic ruins in the world.
The main attraction visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists is a visit to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, which is located at km 110 of the Cusco-Quillabamba railway from where you can see the impressive Vilcanota River Valley , the sacred river of the Incas.
Its objectives are:- Protecting endangered species such as the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) and the cock of the rock (Rupicula peruviana), as well as archaeological remains.- To preserve a peculiar flora and fauna, and scenic beauty of the surrounding forests and contribute to the protection of archaeological remains located there. Much of the beauty and charm surrounding Machu Picchu, the spectacular natural environment: the mountain forests of this historical sanctuary.

from the owner's note:

The citadel of Machu Picchu is the most important tourist attractions of Cusco, is considered one of the most extraordinary examples of landscape architecture in the world.
Machu Picchu (in Quechua, "old mountain") is located on a mountain of granite structure. Using ingenious techniques, the Incas were able to carry heavy blocks of stone carving and polishing and neatly surprising.
Among Its main building we found edifications that would have been used as religious and ceremonial centers and for administrative activities, among the first group there are the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Condor, Sacred Place, etc. and the second group we find the Housing Area, Noble Area, etc.

For more information, please visit the official website for tourism promotion in Peru.

http://www.peru.info/en/