The Lost World of the Incas

Hiram Bingham’s sense of wonderment when, in 1911, he discovered the ‘lost’ city of the Incas can scarcely be imagined. Not only was there no written record that Machu Picchu had ever existed but its ruins were extensive, unspoiled and stood in surroundings of outstanding natural beauty.

The Inca Empire stretching from Chile to Ecuador was the largest the Americas has ever seen and at its time was the greatest in the western hemisphere. Highly advanced in terms of architecture, government administration and agricultural techniques it had nonetheless failed to discover the wheel and had developed no writing system for its language, Quechua. This allied to the fact that its heartlands lay mainly amongst the inaccessible peaks and jungles of the interior of Peru largely explains why these important sites remained undiscovered for so long.

This arrangement explores not only Machu Picchu and the principal Inca sites in the Sacred Valley of the Incas but also investigates the fascinating marriage of Inca and Spanish colonial architecture to be found in Cuzco, the former Inca capital. Several outstanding colonial monuments are also visited during our brief stay in Lima and time is additionally set aside for contact with present-day descendants of the Inca, the Quechua-speaking Indians living in Andean mountain villages and on the shores of Lake Titicaca.