In Depth

Endangered Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu survived the Spanish onslaught against the Inca Empire, but in the last few decades it has suffered more threats to its architectural integrity and pristine Andean environment than it did in nearly 500 previous years of existence. In the past, UNESCO has threatened to add Machu Picchu to its roster of endangered World Heritage Sites and not to withdraw that status unless stringent measures were taken by the Peruvian government to protect the landmark ruins.

Clearly, the preservation of Machu Picchu continues to face significant challenges. The ruins recently were again named to another notorious list, the 2008 World Monuments Watch, which details the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World. (In 2002, in recognition of the Peruvian government's adoption of tougher regulations on the Inca Trail and the suspension of a proposed cable-car plan, Machu Picchu was removed from the list.) Today, World Monuments Fund maintains that "little has been done to address the impacts of tourism on the site or the resulting environmental degradation of the area." Planned projects, which include a bridge across the Vilcanota River, are representative of "uncontrolled development and environmental mismanagement in Aguas Calientes." Add to that the reality that tourism at Machu Picchu has increased from 9,000 visitors in all of 1992 to close to 5,000 on a single day in 2007, and Peru has significant environmental and conservation issues to face.

In 2001, a film company shooting a TV ad for a Peruvian beer sneaked equipment into the site and irreparably damaged the stone Intihuatana atop the ruins (the camera crane operator was sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2005). Developers' plans for a tram to the site have not been entirely dropped, as once reported, though they have been altered to minimize its impact should it ever be built. The Peruvian government has only slowly responded to pressure from UNESCO, foreign governments, and watchdog groups, introducing measures to clean up and restrict access to the historic Inca Trail. One unique measure adopted was a debt-swap initiative, in which the government of Finland traded 25% of Peru's outstanding debt (more than $6 million) for conservation programs targeting Machu Picchu. Yet clearly much more needs to be done to protect these singular ruins, Peru's most acclaimed treasure.

We Call It Choclo: Foods of the Incas

Wondering what the Incas cultivated on all those amazing, steeply terraced fields that so elegantly grace the hillsides? Sure, they grew papas (potatoes) and coca (coca leaves), but corn was perhaps the Incas' most revered crop. Although corn was important throughout the Americas in pre-Columbian times, the Inca Empire raised it to the level of a sacred state crop. Corn was a symbol of power, and the Incas saved their very best lands for its cultivation. The choclo of Cusco and the Sacred Valley was considered the finest of the empire. It is still an uncommon delight: Huge, puffy, white kernels with a milky, sweet taste, it's best enjoyed in classic corn-on-the-cob style, boiled and served with a hunk of mountain cheese.

Pachamanca is a classic sierra dish perfected by the Incas. The word is derived from Pachamama, or "Mother Earth," in Quechua. A pachamanca is distinguished by its underground preparation. Several types of meat, along with potatoes, chopped ají (hot pepper), herbs, and cheese, are baked in a hole in the earth over hot stones. Banana leaves are placed between the layers of food. The act of cooking underground was symbolic for the Incas; they worshiped the earth, and to eat directly from it was a way of honoring Pachamama and giving thanks for her fertility. Peruvians still love to cook pachamancas in the countryside.

Quinoa, which comes from the word that means "moon" in Quechua (another central element in the Inca cosmology), was the favored grain of the Incas. The grain, which expands to four times its original volume when cooked and contains a greater quantity of protein than any other grain, remains central to the Andean diet. Most often seen in sopa a la criolla, it is often substituted for rice and incorporated into soups, salads, and puddings.

On the Trail of "New" Inca Cities: The Discovery Continues

Since the demise of the Inca Empire, rumors, clues, and fabulous tales of a fabled lost Inca city stuffed with gold and silver have rippled across Peru. The tales prompted searches, discoveries, and, often, reevaluations. Machu Picchu wasn't the lost city Hiram Bingham thought it was -- Vilcabamba the Old was the last refuge of the Incas. The search continues, though, and incredibly, new discoveries continue to occur. First, it was Choquequirao in the 1990s. More recently, other teams have announced the discoveries of other lost Inca cities.

The discovery of Qorihuayrachina (also called Cerro Victoria, the name of the peak it rests on), 35km (22 miles) southwest of Machu Picchu in the Andes, was announced by the National Geographic Society in March 2002. Led by Peter Frost, a group of explorers uncovered the ruins of a large settlement that might have been occupied by the Incas long before they'd built a continent-spanning empire. Among the ruins are tombs and platforms, suggestive of an important burial site and sacred rites, although there are also indications that the site was an entire city. The ruins cover 6 sq. km (2 1/3 sq. miles) and occupy a spectacular mountaintop location with panoramic views of the Vilcabamba range's snowcapped peaks, which were considered sacred by the Incas. Archaeologists, claiming that Qorihuayrachina is one of the most important sites found in the Vilcabamba region since it was abandoned by the Incas nearly 500 years ago, have high hopes that the ruins will help them piece together the Inca Empire from beginning to end.

Frost claimed the site was the largest of its kind found since 1964. Comprising 100 structures, including circular homes, storehouses, cemeteries, funeral towers, roadways, waterworks, farming terraces, a dam, and a pyramid, the city might have been occupied by the Incas who fled Cusco after the Spanish conquest. The ruins are secluded in cloud forest in the remote Vilcabamba region.

Just months after the discovery of Qorihuayrachina in 2002, the British Royal Geographic Society, led by Hugh Thompson and Gary Ziegler, announced the finding of a major new Inca site, Cota Coca, only a few kilometers away but across a deep canyon from Choquequirao (a road might have connected the two). Wholly unknown to the outside world until its discovery, Cota Coca -- 97km (60 miles) west of Cusco -- appears to have been an administrative and storage center.

Llaqtapata, rediscovered by a U.S. and British team using remote (aerial) infrared technology and reported in November 2003, is the latest Inca city to surface. Just 3km (1 3/4 miles) from Machu Picchu, it, too, had been visited by Bingham and several explorers in the 1980s, so it's open to question how new its discovery is.

How long these discoveries might go on is anyone's guess. According to Hugh Thomson, "The physical geography of southeast Peru is so wild, with its deep canyons and dense vegetation, that it is possible that there are even more ruins waiting to be discovered. The fact that we have found two in 2 years means there could be many more out there."