Never skip the tourist pics

Another great day exploring Cusco (I’ve landed on this spelling). It has a small town feel, with narrow, winding streets filled with folks trying to sell me something -tours, trinkets, hats, whatever.  My favorites were the ultra-touristy gals dressed up and carting their lamas through the streets, asking tourists to pay a quarter for a photo. What can I say, I couldn’t help myself. And yes, the lamas are that cute!

It was hot and sunny for most of the day, but then the afternoon storms rolled in.  During the deluge, I popped into the Machu Picchu museum which is largely dedicated to debunking the myth of Hiram Bingham, the Yale lecturer who discovered Machu Picchu in 1911.  

For those who have never heard of him, many believe that Bingham is the adventurer upon whom Indiana Jones was based. Leading a small group searching for important Inca ruins, he made the tortuous journey up the perilous mountains to finally uncover Machu Picchu. Remember, in many ways, this was the golden age of archeological discovery with Peary reaching the North Pole in 1909, and excavations ongoing at this time at the Mayan fortress of Chichen Itza and Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.   Full disclosure — I’m getting this from the book I’m reading which is fantastic (Right Turn at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams).   Bingham made extensive notes and diagrams of what he had found as well as taking the first pictures of the site. 

So why the need to take poor Hiram down a peg or two?  It turns out that Bingham, funded by Yale and National Geographic returned in 1912 and 1914 to perform full archeological digs. The dig was not performed to standards of the time causing much information to be lost. Hiram also brought back to Yale a slew of artifacts, which Yale proudly displayed until the First Lady of Peru caused a huge fuss about the theft. Many were returned to Peru in time for celebrations for the 100 year anniversary of the find. And finally, Bingham tried to capitalize on his find by claiming it was the infamous Lost City of the Incas– a legendary, never found site where the Incas supposedly retreated to avoid the final crush of conquistadores in the mid 1500s.  This lost city was rumored to hold vast treasures of the Incas, hidden from the conquering Spaniards. 

So this museum is largely dedicated to making clear two things:  (1) Hiram Bingham was not the first person to discover Machu Picchu. In fact, there was a Peruvian family farming near it when Bingham arrived; and  (2) Mach Picchu is not the Lost City of the Incas. In fact, it was most likely a summer retreat for the Inca ruler.  That’s too bad.  Lost City makes a better story. 

My REI adventure officially starts tomorrow so I’m looking forward to meeting my fellow Trekkers. 

Here are a few more pictures from today. Thanks for reading!