Machu Picchu · A City Built Above the Cloud Line

Machu Picchu stands on a ridge between two peaks, more than two thousand four hundred metres up. Its stone walls use no mortar; the blocks are ground to fit so closely that a knife blade will not go in. The irrigation channels were laid out by gradient and still drain after centuries.

The Inca built it and then abandoned it around the time the Spanish arrived, and it stayed in cloud and mist until it was “rediscovered” in the early twentieth century. Orchids grow on the stones of the lower slopes.

Entry is limited each day. The custodians say what this place fears most is not rain, but feet.

Historical Mysteries / Cusco · Peru / 1450