The legend of the Golden Garden is one of the most famous in Peru. Various Spanish sources unanimously assert that the garden described in the legend actually existed and rightfully earned the title of a golden wonder of the world. The garden once adorned the capital of the Inca Empire - the city of Cusco. The Incas called themselves the sons of the Sun, of which gold was considered the symbol. Everything that the inhabitants of the Empire of the Sun observed around them was reproduced in this garden of gold: patches of Peruvian fields, corn, the unripe ears of which were woven from silver wire, herds of llamas with their young, two dozen Indian shepherds, as well as stately girls picking golden fruits from golden apple trees. Golden birds sat on the branches of the golden trees. Golden snakes with eyes made of dark precious stones crawled on the ground. Golden butterflies and dragonflies fluttered over the flowers, and golden beetles scurried everywhere... Each object stood in the place that made it most similar to the depicted nature.
The Incas in my mind, shaped by a youthful fascination with adventure books, were a wise and freedom-loving people. Perhaps that is why I awaited my meeting with Cusco with special trepidation.
An hour and a half flight from Lima. A few circles over the toy-like neighborhoods, with red streams flowing down the green ridges, and a soft landing. Here it is, the sacred land of the Incas. A land of mysteries and secrets, legends and treasures.
In Cusco, we were welcomed by the cozy hotel "Sueños."
It was approaching noon, and our guide Irina—a pleasant woman, as we had noticed—gave us twenty minutes to recharge.
And here we are walking through the streets of sacred Cusco. We descended a stone staircase to the intersection of narrow streets. We walked down one of them towards the square. Massive stone foundations and walls tightly compress the cobbled street, above which brightly painted balconies hang.
- Here it is, the famous stone masonry of the Incas, - pointing to the foundations, Irina begins her story. - The street Haitun Rumiyoc is one of the most popular attractions and the most famous in Cusco. Haitun Rumiyoc demonstrates all the mastery of the Incas' building skills, who mysteriously placed stones on top of each other and secured them with astonishing precision. Real natural boulders, polished and fitted together, are laid out with jewel-like precision. One of the stone walls of the street, which is currently supporting the archbishop's palace, is known worldwide. The twelve-angled stone, impressed in the middle of the wall with a geometric pattern, astonishes with its size and perfect shapes. This wall was part of the ancient palace of Inca Roca, one of the rulers of the Inca Empire. The street leads to the picturesque neighborhood of San Blas, which represents one of the most picturesque parts of Cusco. The neighborhood is characterized by long narrow streets that zigzag past old mansions built using the famous Inca stone masonry. The church of the neighborhood, built in 1563, impresses with its engraved wooden platform and is the oldest parish church in Cusco. San Blas, from where one of the best views of Cusco opens up, has become a refuge and workshop for many artists and master builders.
Descending Triunfo Street, we reach the main square. With the arrival of the Spaniards, stunning stone arches appeared here, preserved in their pristine form to this day. In 1560, the famous Cusco Cathedral began to be built, and its construction was completed in 1664. Huge slabs of red granite used in the creation of the cathedral were transported from the nearby fortress of Sacsayhuamán. The facade of the building is done in the Renaissance style, which harmonizes beautifully with the overall Baroque architecture of the cathedral, as well as with the large amount of silver in the interior.
The cathedral houses a large collection of colonial period artifacts made of gold and silver, as well as exquisite wooden altars and a magnificent collection of oil paintings.
The second prominent object in the main square of Cusco is the church of La Compañía. The Jesuits began building it in 1576. The most impressive feature is the fantastic facade of the building, made of carved stone, as well as the extraordinarily beautiful altar. Inside La Compañía is a large collection of sculptures and paintings.
The San Domingo Monastery was built on the ruins of the Coricancha temple in the 17th century. Its creation reflects how colonial structures could be combined with the unique knowledge of the Incas in construction and stone masonry. Strong earthquakes only slightly damaged the monastery. The Inca stone walls used as the foundation managed to preserve the exterior appearance of the building.
The Coricancha temple was the most important sanctuary during the Inca Empire and was specifically built for the Sun God Inti. The name "Coricancha" translates from Quechua as "golden courtyard." The walls and floors of the temple were once completely covered with gold plates, and the inner courtyard was adorned with golden statues. The grandeur of the temple in ancient times was so great that many people living in remote areas from Cusco sought to come here to visit this sacred place and honor the gods. The Spaniards, upon entering Coricancha, spoke of the temple's astonishing appearance, calling it a true "wealth beyond belief."
Cusco is located in the mountains at an altitude of 3,310 meters above sea level. The immense height creates challenging climatic conditions here. The air is clean and cool, the sun is particularly bright, and the insufficient amount of oxygen in the atmosphere causes headaches and feelings of weakness. People react differently to these changes. It all depends on the body's adaptation.
From the balcony overlooking the main square of Cusco, the view is simply magical. The atmosphere of the 16th century is everywhere! And one wants to go further, deeper into history, to see what Cusco looked like before the Spaniards arrived here.
From my diary. Now that my dream has come true, here in Peru, in the very heart of the Inca Empire, I realized that my ideas about the Incas, their empire, and their feats were only partially correct. My first misconception was that I considered the Inca civilization one of the main ones in the ancient world. As for Rome, Persia, Babylon, Egypt - all of this, it seemed to me, came later. Now I learn and see with my own eyes that Inca history begins in the 15th century AD. This, of course, surprised me. I just hadn't delved into the dates before. It turned out that when the Romans and Greeks were building magnificent marble palaces, carving sculptures from stone, writing laws and books, creating theaters, the Incas were running around with spears in loincloths and living in reed houses. More precisely, they didn't even exist at all and formed only a thousand years after the fall of Rome. Yes, I will have to rediscover South America.
The Incas worshiped the sun, the moon, the stars, and the supreme Inca—the son of the Sun. They achieved perfection in the construction of monumental structures from stone blocks and boulders, but they never managed to create their own writing system. Partly for this reason, no dates are known in the history of their civilization. When I returned home and got to the Internet, I was relieved to learn that when Columbus brought news of the Indians, almost the entire Old World was astonished.
The most detailed description of Cusco during the empire I found in the book of the famous Czech writer Miroslav Stingl "The State of the Incas: The Glory and Death of the 'Sons of the Sun'." Here, on the sacred land of the sons of the Sun, these memories gained reality.
"The inhabitants of the capital of the empire traditionally divided it into two parts: the northern part, located higher, called Hanan Cusco (literally - upper Cusco), and the southern part, located lower, - Hurín Cusco (Lower Cusco). While Hanan Cusco belonged to the people, the lower part of the city, Hurín, was the residence of a small group of the ruling elite of the Inca state. From early on, Hurín Cusco was the absolute center of this Indian state. It was here, as legend has it, that the legendary founder of the empire—the first Inca Manco Cápac—settled in the valley of Cusco. In this part of the city, all the Incas' shrines were later erected and the foundations of the palaces of individual rulers were laid. The great reformer of the empire Pachakuti—"The Transformer of the World," as a free translation of his name goes—was the author of the plan and subsequently the first Inca to begin the reconstruction of Cusco.
The center of Hurín was the vast Plaza de la Alegría, which in the Quechua language was called Huacapata. This square and the surrounding streets were enclosed by the most important buildings of the empire. Among the most significant, without a doubt, was the complex of shrines and temples, over which towered the national sanctuary of the Incas—the huge magnificent Temple of the Sun—Coricancha. The walls of the Temple of the Sun were lined from top to bottom with gold plates (for the Incas, gold was the symbol of the Sun, and silver was the symbol of the Moon). Inside the temple was an altar with a huge image of the solar disk, from which golden rays radiated in all directions. Later, when the Spanish conquerors divided the plundered treasure in the capital of the Incas, a certain Mancio Sierra de Leguizamo received this heavy golden solar disk.
In addition to the sun, the national sanctuary Coricancha honored the mummies of deceased rulers. They were placed along the walls of the temple. They sat here on majestic golden thrones. In addition, there was a raised area covered with a carpet woven from golden threads.
Adjacent to the Temple of the Sun was the palace where the Supreme Priest resided. His house and five other magnificent buildings where assistants lived were covered with white straw woven with golden wire. In Coricancha, not only the Sun was honored. According to the Incas' beliefs, the Moon was both the wife and sister of their national deity. Just as the golden disk adorned the altar of the Temple of the Sun, a massive silver disk sparkled on the altar of the Temple of the Moon. Along the walls of the Temple of the Moon, the mummies of deceased Incas sat on silver thrones.
Since Coricancha was lined with gold plates on the outside, the dazzling shine of the buildings sparkling in the sun made a strong impression on the first Europeans. That is why wherever possible, these gold plates were first stolen. The first chronicler to mention these Inca treasures reports that his compatriots stripped more than 700 gold plates, weighing a total of 22 kilograms, from a single building 350 feet tall! Here were also the unique golden garden and the Temple of the Virgins of the Sun. These girls came to Cusco from all corners of the empire to serve both the divine sun and its son, the great Inca."
Thus, according to Miroslav Stingl, Cusco of the Incas appeared as a miracle city of stone and gold.
From the northwest, at an altitude of about 3,700 meters above sea level, the monumental archaeological complex "Sacsayhuamán" adjoins Cusco—a fortress of the Inca civilization. In the Quechua language, "Sacsayhuamán" means "the predatory bird of gray stone color." The defensive shield of the capital consists of three gigantic stone walls that wave along the mountain. Sacsayhuamán is built from tightly fitted massive stone blocks that even the most modern machines could not move. The Indians not only transported them to the top of the mountain but also erected impregnable walls from them. The most powerful is the first fortress wall. It consists of stone blocks nine meters high, five meters wide, and four meters thick. The weight of the largest boulder reaches 350 tons. On the territory of the complex, between the zigzagging walls, there were ritual sites where the Incas performed ceremonies and offered gifts to their gods.
Scientists and historians are still scratching their heads: how did the Incas manage to build such majestic walls of the fortress? Leaving the scientists to ponder, we move on.
In the times of the Incas, Cusco, located on the edge of the Sacred Valley, was considered the center of the universe. In Quechua, "Cusco" means "navel of the earth." And if Cusco was the center and navel of the earth, then Vilcanota, along which the Sacred Valley stretched, was the main axis of all creation and the entire Inca civilization. The Incas believed that the Milky Way in the sky was merely a reflection of the Urubamba River, which also has the name Vilcanota. In Inca cosmology, the connection and mutual influence of the stellar and earthly worlds played a fundamental role, so the priests were simultaneously astronomers, and along the Vilcanota River, religious objects were built that mirrored the outlines of Inca constellations. Thus, a clear connection between the stars and the land was established, proclaiming the stability and immutability of civilization.
The Sacred Valley is significantly lower than Cusco, and the climate here is much milder and warmer, so much so that peaches and oranges are grown here.
Our minibus stops at a platform before descending into the Urubamba Valley, which winds along its bottom.
Emerald fields step up the steep slopes of the mountains.
We descend into the valley and cross the Urubamba by bridge. Further stretches the territory of the ancient Inca city of Pisac—the birthplace of corn and potatoes. Irina suggested we visit the Indian market, which did not impress much, and we rushed along the bank of the Urubamba to the northwest. There too stretched the sacred valley of the Incas.
High above the city, located on the banks of the Urubamba River, rises the majestic monument of the Inca civilization Ollantaytambo. The military fortress-citadel is interesting, the main part of which is carved directly into the rock. The scattered blocks of porphyry indicate that the construction of this structure was not completed by the time the first Spaniards arrived.
The archaeological complex of Ollantaytambo is located 78 kilometers northwest of Cusco, in close proximity to the town of the same name, where the inhabitants still actively honor ancient customs.
At the top, on the highest steps of a huge staircase consisting of beautifully constructed terraces, there are temples. Among them are the ruins of the unfinished main sanctuary of this great city. Here, at the very top of Ollantaytambo, lies the most mysterious feature of this city: a huge mass of six stone monoliths, very smoothly polished and fitted together. The six columns are made of beautiful pink porphyry, and each of these monoliths weighs about 50 tons. It remains unclear how the Indians managed to transport these massive stone blocks, quarried on the opposite bank of the river, to such a high altitude. The purpose of the Ollantaytambo complex remains unclear: a city, a pyramid, a fortress, a religious center... Or simply a decorative terrace for growing flowers.
An interesting theory regarding this place is presented in Miroslav Stingl's book:
"In addition to the six pink columns, this city once housed a hundred golden statues. They were erected when a terrible drought struck the empire. It was then that Inca Pachakuti decided to call for rain using these golden figures, supposedly endowed with supernatural power. The lord ordered these statues to be placed in the central square of Ollantaytambo. The Inca commanded the golden statues to call for rain within three days, but despite the lord's order, the rain did not come. After three days, the statues were beheaded in punishment in the square."
Opposite the giant staircase carved into the rocks, one can see the naturally carved face of the supreme god—the creator of the Andean peoples, Viracocha. According to one legend, it was here, in the caves, that the first Incas awoke (according to another, it happened at Lake Titicaca). The side valley leading away from Ollantaytambo also turned out to be quite rich in various ruins and Inca sites.
In conclusion of the story about the Inca sanctuary, I want to return to Stingl's book.
Here, in his opinion, in one of the temples of Ollantaytambo, the royal hearts are buried. After the death of the sons of the Sun, their bodies and the bodies of their wives were embalmed, and they remained forever in the temples of the Sun and Moon in Cusco, while their hearts were buried in the ground for eternity. And this happened here, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, in the sanctuary of Ollantaytambo.
The last object of our program is the town of Chinchero, located at an altitude of 3,780 meters, 28 kilometers north of Cusco. It is guarded by the snowy mountain Chicon, and its name comes from the word "chinch," which in Quechua means "brave man." Chinchero was the settlement of Inca Tupac Yupanqui, his summer residence. The Inca commissioned the construction of temples, baths, terraces, and a large royal palace in 1480.
Chinchero has a rich cultural heritage. It is one of the few places in the Valley of the Incas that combines stunning landscapes, history, and modernity. The remains of the Inca palace, the colonial church built on a stone foundation, its impeccable terraces, and the colorful Sunday market are the main attractions.
The present-day town of Chinchero, like others in the Valley of the Incas, is built on the site of an Inca settlement. The buildings on artificially raised platforms adjoin the hills. The square city lies on two levels. The upper corresponds to the church atrium, while the lower is the square itself. Since the city center is located on the platforms, the builders of Chinchero used stairs and slopes.
The day was coming to an end. The sun hid behind the ridge of the Andes. It was cold and damp. A herd of llamas grazed, enjoying the wet grass. Personally, they seemed to me like large sheep in luxurious white and yellow-brown ponchos.
Our lovely hotel greeted us with warmth, magical music, and tea brewed from natural coca.
In the morning, we head to the nearby station Ollanta. From here, the train to Machu Picchu departs. More precisely, it goes from Cusco, and Ollanta is just a stop along the way. Nevertheless, there are masses of people. Almost all are foreign tourists: Americans, Europeans, Japanese—there's a mix of everyone. And here comes the train, stopping for just a few minutes. The cars only have seats. Blowing its horn, the train set off and glided along the tracks, winding along the turbulent Urubamba. The narrow gorge was stunningly beautiful. Vertical walls covered with a green layer of moss and creeping plants disappeared into the low-hanging clouds. They looked like the decorations of a fantastic film about flights to Saturn.
Impressed by the landscapes flowing past the window, we began to talk about treasures. I am sure that the theme of Peruvian treasures is known to every tourist arriving here. And this is far from a fantasy. There are real facts described by eyewitnesses and historians.
...When Pizarro's entourage arrived in the capital Cusco, the first thing they did was loot the temples and palaces. Records of the division of the spoils have been preserved. The total amount of gold plundered only in Cusco amounted to 27 tons! Pizarro shared the loot with the King of Spain and also with 480 of his warriors. According to a contemporary chronicler, Miroslav Stingl reports, Philip II received, in addition to gold bars, a female statue weighing 29 kilograms, as well as eleven other female figures, a life-sized statue of a llama weighing 26 kilograms, and several statuettes of Inca gods. Ordinary participants in the expedition received thirty kilograms of gold each.
However, all the gold obtained by the Spaniards represented only a fraction of the true wealth of Cusco. According to one of the countless "golden versions" of Peru, after the Spaniards stripped the gold cladding from the Coricancha temple and looted the Golden Garden, the remaining treasures were transported from Cusco to the city of Vilcabamba, built after the arrival of the Spaniards. This happened at the initiative of the first Inca after the conquest, Manco II, who initially pretended to cooperate with the Spaniards but then unexpectedly left Cusco with a large number of his supporters and began a liberation war.
This was preceded by another event officially recorded by chroniclers.
When Manco II met with the Spanish ambassador Ruiz Diaz, he poured a glass of corn grains onto the table. He took one of these grains in his hand and said, "This is all you managed to steal from the gold of the Incas." Then he pointed to all the remaining grains and said, "And this is the gold that we have left."
The Inca promised the ambassador to give all this gold if the Spaniards permanently left the land of the Incas. The Spaniards did not agree and therefore remained, while the gold went into hiding, where it still rests today.
In the basin of the Urubamba River, below the Valley of the Incas, lies what treasure seekers believe is not a fictional but a real Vilcabamba. This undiscovered city, hidden by jungles during the time of the Spanish conquest, was the capital of the Incas. From here, the surviving sons of the Sun resisted the new masters of the land.
It was the lost city of Vilcabamba that American historian Hiram Bingham sought in the jungles of the Urubamba River valley, discovering the unprecedented wonder created by the sons of the Sun—Machu Picchu.
Thus, slowly, flipping through the beautiful book of enchanting landscapes, we arrived in the town of Aguas Calientes. This is the final destination. The town seemed to me fantastically beautiful. Located on the right bank of the turbulent Urubamba, it climbs in tiers up the steep slopes, covered with a green blanket of soft mosses. Several turbulent tributaries, collecting rain moisture from the winding streets, carry it, dropping it from the steep cliffs into the Urubamba. The banks, connected by rainbow bridges, are built up with small hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops. The town arose thanks to the discovery of Machu Picchu. It is surrounded by unexpected vertical spaces. Peaks rising into the sky straight from the valley floor look like forgotten giant rockets. Between them are the sheer walls of a kilometer canyon and the floating caps of jungles hanging on the crests and ledges of hidden green rocks. I have never seen anything like it. A fairy-tale land created by time and nature. Here, on these verticals at an altitude of 2,500 meters, hangs a masterpiece of Inca architecture—one of the lost cities of history, Machu Picchu, which translates from Quechua as "Old Mountain." The city is located in a belt of mountain jungles that receive moisture from clouds and mists.
Buses lined up in the square of Aguas Calientes wait for tourists to take them up the serpentine road to Machu Picchu. The road is like something out of a fairy tale—I have never seen such picturesque mountains anywhere.
The Urubamba Canyon impresses with its grandeur. The bus approaches the hotel complex "Machu Picchu Ruins." This is the only hotel built on the territory of the Machu Picchu sanctuary museum. Rooms here cost from $300 a day; all other hotels are located in Aguas Calientes, including our simple and cozy hotel "Machu Picchu Inn." The border of the sanctuary museum runs right from the square, surrounded by souvenir shops. Interestingly, there are no buildings visible in the surrounding expanses. Where is Machu Picchu?
At the checkpoint, the guard stamped our ticket and said, "Welcome!" Stepping onto the path and not having time, as they say, to recover, we found ourselves at the edge of a cliff, from which something unearthly opened up. In the torn clouds floating above the ground, an alien city appeared and disappeared, perched on the steep slopes of the mountains.
It is now that a railroad has been laid to the foot, a winding serpentine has been carved into the steep slope, and hotels and restaurants have been built. But earlier, during the time of the Spaniards, secret paths known only to the sons of the Sun led here through dense jungles.
Machu Picchu is often called the "eighth wonder of the world," a wonder of ancient America. Looking at what has opened before our eyes, it is indeed appropriate to say many beautiful words and comparisons. A city flying in the greenery of tropical jungles. A city framed by the peaks of mountains. A city of the highest earthly harmony and beauty. And one could go on speaking like this endlessly. And all of this would not be enough to convey the delight that arises at the sight of this stone miracle.
The main part of the historical monument is located on the saddle of the ridge, occupying seven square kilometers at heights from 2,500 to 2,700 meters above sea level. The outer boundaries of the city end at the edge of deep chasms, dropping from seven-hundred-meter vertical walls.
The first thing that strikes here is the extraordinary beauty of the mountain landscape. Machu Picchu is a whole complex of archaeological groups, the number of which currently reaches 24. The main part of the city consists of the Sacred Plaza, the ruins of the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Three Windows, the remains of various structures, and more than a hundred staircases, aqueducts carved into the rocks. The most important religious site in Machu Picchu is a large vertical stone block carved from a monolith, known as the observatory or "Sun Stone" Intihuatana, which translates to "The Place Where the Sun is Tied." The Incas marked the position of the sun on it during the winter solstice and believed that this way they prevented it from disappearing completely.
The creators of the lost city of Machu Picchu have given rise not only to admiration but also to serious reflections. Why was a place located so high and inaccessible chosen? Perhaps to be closer to the sun. As for the purpose of the lost city, there are only questions. What was it? A fortress, a palace, a cult temple, or a women's monastery?
Authors of one version claim that Machu Picchu is the ruins of a military fortress built by some tribes before the arrival of the Quechua people, who made up the population of the Inca Empire. According to another version, it was the last refuge of the last Inca Manco II and his court. Finally, the most widespread version recognizes Machu Picchu as a sanctuary specifically built to shelter the "Virgins of the Sun." This version is supported by the fact that during excavations in Machu Picchu, 173 skeletons were discovered, of which 150 turned out to be female.
A hundred years have passed since the ruins were discovered. However, it remains a mystery what the age of Machu Picchu is. Who were the people who erected these structures? Perhaps giants? After all, such stones, weighing 150 tons, cannot be lifted and even more so moved over significant distances. Did people live here permanently or temporarily? And what was the true purpose of Machu Picchu? According to Peruvian historian Victor Angeles Vargas, there existed a pre-Inca civilization, and the area of Machu Picchu occupied one of the main places here. It developed on its own but did not exist as a separate state. It is reliably known that there was a single ethnic component in this territory with one form of government. However, due to destructive wars, plagues, and other diseases, the inhabitants began to leave Machu Picchu and settle at the foot of the mountains.
The day at Machu Picchu flew by swiftly, like an Indian arrow. Fortunately, in Aguas Calientes, where we descended by bus again, there was plenty to do: there is a beautiful pool with hot springs, many cheap souvenirs, and cozy restaurants. And in the evening, when the bright moon hung over the canyon, the steep vertical walls and peaks ignited with a gentle silver light.
The next day, we again ascend to Machu Picchu. We have two tasks: to climb Huayna Picchu (Young Mountain), which impresses with its classic shapes, and to walk the Inca Trail, laid over the abyss in ancient times.
Huayna Picchu rises above the opposite edge of the abyss in an elegant pyramid. In essence, it is an integral part of the ancient city, its watchtower.
Before the start of the trail to Huayna Picchu, there is a guard booth. Here you need to write down your last name for registration. After 1 PM, no one is allowed on the trail. Steep stone stairs, spiraling upwards, take those who dare to embark on this journey 500 meters above the main city of Machu Picchu. The reward for this challenging excursion is a rare beauty of the surrounding mountains and canyons, intertwining into a single vast panorama. It is deep, silent, and divine.
After descending from Huayna Picchu, we head to the opposite slope towards the exit. From here, delving into the jungles, a sufficiently wide path leads away. After about five hundred meters, it turns into a narrow, barely noticeable ledge carved into the sheer wall above the deep abyss.
Unfortunately, access to this section of the trail is prohibited. Nevertheless, after climbing over the fence, we managed to reach the bridge, beyond which the trail hung in the spaces of the cliffs and verticals.
We return. The last photo against the backdrop of Machu Picchu. The last glance at the stone miracle. And the last touch to the sacred stone of the Sun. The program in the Valley of the Incas is complete.
From my diary... The rain pours all the way to Cusco, the rhythmic rocking of the carriage carries me into a world of thoughts. Different thoughts about lost and yet to be found cities, about treasures, the interconnections of peoples and continents, and their influence on past history and events. I thought about tourism, about how the idea of searching for lost cities and treasures could receive significant development in the adventurous direction of tourism in Peru. Legends and chronicles, real events of the 16th-17th centuries, the jungles of Vilcanota and Urubamba. Hidden ravines in the Valley of the Incas, and even the inaccessible jungles of the Amazon. All these are treasures created by the Incas, time, and history. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't even matter whether the lost treasures will be found and become the heritage of humanity. They already exist; we see them, participating in this exciting search for truth.
Machu Picchu is visited by one and a half million tourists. The entrance ticket costs $40. However, the program is structured so that all arriving tourists ascend to Machu Picchu twice, which means the visit costs $80. Over the year, this amounts to $3 million, or 150 kilograms of gold. And the golden flow does not only trickle down from the heights of Machu Picchu. Dozens of golden streams run into the coffers of countless hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops, into the cash registers of buses and the pockets of service infrastructure employees. So the golden flow of the sons of the Sun is once again on the altar of time.