Machu Picchu Revisited

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 11:00 AM EDT

Machu Picchu Revisited

Tom Gjelten in for Tom Ashbook

Tackling the mystery of Machu Picchu –- one hundred years after an American explorer claimed to discover the lost Inca city.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Yale prof Hiram Bingham III's ''discovery'' of Machu Picchu. (AP)

Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca city high in the Andes, was largely unknown to the outside world until a Yale history professor named Hiram Bingham found his way there one hundred years ago this July.

Bingham was quite the explorer: the character Indiana Jones is said to be based on him. And Mark Adams, a magazine editor who hadn’t been camping since he was a kid, was so inspired by Bingham’s adventure that he set out to recreate it, step by step.

His story, this hour On Point: Turn Right at Machu Picchu.

-Tom Gjelten

Guests:

Mark Adams, author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time.

Sherri Downes, Hiram Bingham’s granddaughter.

Johan Reinhard, National Geographic explorer-in-residence, is also author of Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center.

More:

You can visit an exhibit featuring photos from Hiram Bingham at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. through September 11, 2011: Machu Picchu: A Lost City Uncovered Photographs from the Hiram Bingham Expeditions 1911–1915

Here are some photographs from Mark Adams from his trip to Machu Picchu.

Five things you should know about Machu Picchu.

We’ll hear two songs in hour two

“Sonido Andino” by Sol Andino

“El Condor Pasa” by Tupac Amaru

Mary Lou Frost

I visited Machu Picchua a few years ago. I was struck by the permanence of the simple construction techniques that were used. In contrast, our modern structures don’t have much permanence.

Mary Lou, Tonawanda, New York
Katherine Shaw

At age 19, my son Tevis traveled to South America in late 2005 early 2006 with his girlfriend. Their journey included Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru, with a major highlight being the trip to Machu Picchu. Less than a year later he lost his life in a fall at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, our home. We blew up the photo of him gazing at the site for his memorial service, and it has become an iconic treasure of family and friends. It is now an incredible memory of good times gone. I hope someday to retrace his travels. — Katherine Shaw
Puyao Li

I visited Machu Picchu with a group of Yale students in 2007 as a part of scientific expedition (to collect tropical fungi for study), and was expecting to face hostile Peruvians. When we arrived, we were surprised to find that while in Peru, none of the Peruvians knew anything about the legend of Hiram Bingham. The people were exceedingly welcoming to us.
Puyao
Cambridge, MA
Puyao Li

A picture of our Yale group
Mcion

This program has inspired me to finally after many years of thinking about it to make the trip to Machu Pichu this coming winter(summer in Peru). Can your guests recommend a tour company and best months to go? I am 74 years old, in fairly good physical shape, and will be travelling alone.

Magoo

I have been to Machu Picchu twice and I have used a wonderful guide both times. The first time he was our guide when I went with The New College, the second time he was my guide when i took my family over. He is the absolute best there is. I would be happy to give you his information. Actually we are going back in February, and I have asked him to plan our trip to other parts of Peru that we have not been to yet!
Linda Pickle

My husband and I (about your age and in good physical shape) are going next year with Road Scholar. They have several tours. Check out the website: http://www.roadscholar.org/Programs/search_res.asp?Type=A&CountryCode=Peru

Horia Albu

Listening to your wonderful program, at the time of the description of “being above the clouds” suddenly images of my youth came in my mind, clouds below me the furious rain and finally the sun restoring the previous view, but the air entering me was different,
Rstgsides

Richard visited machu Picchu in Nov. 2008, getting there via the Salkantay Trail, which is usually sold as a five-day hike. My issue is with the “solstice” window: the latitude of Machu Picchu is about 13 degrees south and it is not apparent to me that a solstice in June or December [whichever] means anything to people who live between the Tropic of Cancer and that of Capricorn. What might be meaningful is the day that the sun is most precisely overhead, presumably in November and again late in january. It would show in the morning ray framed by a window moving not at all to left or to right, just downwards, as the hours passed until noon.
Tiajudyc

My husband, 7-year-old daughter and I visited Machu Picchu in 1972. We rode up in a small van on a path with horseshoe curves. As we reached each curve, the same children would be there waving and obviously making better time. One thing that impressed us was the incredibly perfect fit of the stones in buildings. Did anyone ever figure out how it was done?

Jim

Yes. Macchu Picchu was never finished, and there are half-cut stones and half-built Inca walls that are revealing. http://www.caa.uidaho.edu/arch499/nonwest/inca/construction_theories.htm

Don

My friend and I walked the Inca Trail in 1974 as part of a 6 month low budget trip to S.A. using a tracing of a hand drawn map kept in a church in Cuzco. We did it with only a few basics: ruanas (Ecuadorian ponchos), no sleeping bags, hard cheese, bread, figs and water. It took 5 days and we were awestruck by the ruins, locations and views. We saw no other tourists and only a few locals after the first highland village. Our days were mixtures of: pushing on, doubting our decision to do it, powerful beauty and danger. 2 people died a couple of days ahead of us when they got lost, panicked and went into hypothermia. I was walking in a rain forest, on what I thought was a forest bottom trail on a steep mountainside, when I dropped through a pile of wet leaves and realized we were actually walking on leaf litter from trees growing out of a high cliff. Grabbing a branch above me was the only thing that saved me. I’m thankful a doctor left a metal rod in my arm after breaking it before the trip. The wild, isolated and beautiful trail was so fullfilling that when we arrived in Machu Picchu in late afternoon after it was closed to tourists; it seemed like big city and somewhat anti-climatic.

Sarahjanepullen

I walked the trail in 1974 too. What were the dates you did it. Unfortunately our camera plus all S.A photos, including the treasured photocopied map got stolen later so we have no visual material from the trip. Do you still have the map? Do you have photos from that time? Sarah

Jo-Ann

No one mentioned the magnificence of climbing nearby, steep Huayna Picchu and looking down at the miracle of Machu Picchu. The view of the village appearing like a stunning bird in flight is, for me, a once in a lifetime.
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Paulvitale

Fun book. Well developed and engrossing. However, I don’t understand last sentence of book. Why is Karl Marx introduced? Help me understand. Thanks.