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Machu Picchu and Mysteries of the Incas
Dec. 24th, 2025 10:50 amWith Cusco continuing to serve as a home base, a journey to Machu Picchu is definitely necessary. The best and quickest journey there, at least for those who don't have time to undertake the four-day hike along the "Inca trail”, is via train between Cusco and the appropriately-named nearby town of Aguas Calientes. The old train meanders slowly, wobbles often on the thin gauge, and breakdowns are common, as we discovered on the return journey. Nevertheless, the views are quite spectacular, aided by a glass roof. At Aguas Calientes, we checked into the pleasant and stylish Hatun Inti hotel and prepared ourselves for an early morning shuttle bus to Machu Picchu. This is, without doubt, the best to time to go. Not only does it avoid the increasing number of tourists that make this journey, but it is also an appropriate time to give recognition to Inti, the sun god and chief god of the Incas.
Machu Picchu itself is quite an extraordinary complex of buildings with characteristic dry-stone, and is rightly considered on modern lists as a "Wonder of the World", and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located on an Andean mountain ridge at a height of roughly 2,5K metres, it was probably an emperor's estate, with an average population of around 750, with goods and services coming in from all directions supplementing agriculture "andenes" (constructed terraces). At the time of the Spanish conquest, the site was abandoned, and knowledge of its existence remained lost to the outside world (locals knew of it, of course) for centuries until the rediscovery in the early 20th century by Peruvian explorer Agustín Lizárraga. For myself, I have had a quiet fascination and interest in Machu Picchu specifically and pre-Columbian civilisations of the Americas more generally; the Pueblo, the Iroquois, the Olmec, the Teotihuacan, the Mayans, the Toltecs, the Cañari, the Aztecs, the Incas and many more. This is certainly something I share with my good friend Justin A., whom I visited before leaving Melbourne and with whom I discussed his far more extensive and in-depth journeys from some decades in the past.
I feel like writing more extensively about the Incas now, having some direct experience and extensive conversations with our Quechua guide. However one matter I wish to address the notion of the Inca Empire as being "mysterious" which, of course, leads to all sorts of wild speculations. What we do know is that they were an early Bronze Age civilisation that was the largest in South America. They did not have a fully-developed writing system, but used quipu a sort of rope-based tally system which allowed for complex calculations. They had advanced drywall masonry, extensive agricultural systems, including freeze-drying. They had no currency but used barter and corvée labour for taxes. They did not develop the wheel, but used rollers and stones when required. Their emperor was seen as semi-divine, "the son of the Sun god," and they had a hierarchical and polytheistic religion. They practised trepanation, cranial deformation, and child sacrifice. In summary, they were not so mysterious, but as a result of their geography, they developed a unique society that has a lasting interest.
Machu Picchu itself is quite an extraordinary complex of buildings with characteristic dry-stone, and is rightly considered on modern lists as a "Wonder of the World", and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located on an Andean mountain ridge at a height of roughly 2,5K metres, it was probably an emperor's estate, with an average population of around 750, with goods and services coming in from all directions supplementing agriculture "andenes" (constructed terraces). At the time of the Spanish conquest, the site was abandoned, and knowledge of its existence remained lost to the outside world (locals knew of it, of course) for centuries until the rediscovery in the early 20th century by Peruvian explorer Agustín Lizárraga. For myself, I have had a quiet fascination and interest in Machu Picchu specifically and pre-Columbian civilisations of the Americas more generally; the Pueblo, the Iroquois, the Olmec, the Teotihuacan, the Mayans, the Toltecs, the Cañari, the Aztecs, the Incas and many more. This is certainly something I share with my good friend Justin A., whom I visited before leaving Melbourne and with whom I discussed his far more extensive and in-depth journeys from some decades in the past.
I feel like writing more extensively about the Incas now, having some direct experience and extensive conversations with our Quechua guide. However one matter I wish to address the notion of the Inca Empire as being "mysterious" which, of course, leads to all sorts of wild speculations. What we do know is that they were an early Bronze Age civilisation that was the largest in South America. They did not have a fully-developed writing system, but used quipu a sort of rope-based tally system which allowed for complex calculations. They had advanced drywall masonry, extensive agricultural systems, including freeze-drying. They had no currency but used barter and corvée labour for taxes. They did not develop the wheel, but used rollers and stones when required. Their emperor was seen as semi-divine, "the son of the Sun god," and they had a hierarchical and polytheistic religion. They practised trepanation, cranial deformation, and child sacrifice. In summary, they were not so mysterious, but as a result of their geography, they developed a unique society that has a lasting interest.
