View from the Train to Machu Picchu, Peru Poster

"View from the Train to Machu Picchu, Peru" by Catherine Sherman Hotels and cafes along the Urubamba River in Peru can be seen from the window of a train on its way just after sunrise to Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains. This stretch of the river is a narrow valley of steep-sided mountains. Other areas of the Urubamba River Valley (Sacred Valley) are wide and are under cultivation with a variety of crops, such as corn and fruit trees such as peaches and cherries. Potatoes, which originated in the Andes mountains of Peru, are grown there in abundance. The International Potato Center has documented almost 5,000 kinds indigenous to Peru, many so rare they never get to market but are instead traded within the immediate community where cultivated, according to Saveur Magazine. Taking the train or hiking the Inca Trail are the only ways to reach Machu Picchu. We took the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes. When we left, we took the train to Ollantaytambo, and where we spent a few days, and then took a shuttle bus on a highway to Cusco. Aguas Calientes is the town at the foot of Machu Picchu. It sprang into existence after the discovery of the Incan ruin of Machu Picchu and has grown to a lively town full of hotels, shops and restaurants serving the tourists. When you depart the train, you next line up for a bus that takes you up the hill to Machu Picchu. You can also walk up the hill. They say it takes 90 minutes to make the walk from the town to the site, but I think it would have taken me all day. The Inca city of Machu Picchu is thought to be an estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti, who ruled 1438 to 1472. The city stands at 7,972 feet (2.430 meters). Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire and was abandoned in 1572. This citadel is probably the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. Although the Machu Picchu citadel is only about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Cusco, the Inca capital, the Spanish never found it and consequently did not plunder or destroy it, as they did many other sites. After Machu Picchu was abandoned, the surrounding jungle grew over the site, and few knew of its existence. American historian Hiram Bingham brought international attention to the site in 1911. The National Geographic Society devoted their entire April 1913 issue to Machu Picchu. In 1983 UNESCO designated Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site, describing it as "an absolute masterpiece of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilization."