Machu Picchu

Several years ago, Evelyn and I spent some time in Peru to get a feel for the Lord's kingdom in that country. We spent a few days in Lima, then caught a small plane to Cusco up in the mountains. We spent the night there, then caught a bus further up the mountains to the ruins of Machu Picchu, "The Lost City of the Incas."

The Incas started building the site around 1430 AD and was constructed around 1462 AD, then abandoned approximately 100 years later. Invading Spaniards did not find this site. The American historian Hiram Bingham of Yale University discovered this site on 24 July 1911.

Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These were dedicated to Inti, their sun god and greatest deity. Machu Picchu is above Urubamba Valley. From atop the clift of Machu Picchu, there is a vertical rock face of 2,100 feet rising from the Urubamba River at the foot of the cliff. The location of the city was a military secret, and its deep precipices and mountains provide excellent natural defenses. The Inca Bridge, an Inca rope bride, across the Urubamba River, provided a secret entrance for the Inca army. The buildings of Machu Picchu are made of enormous blocks of stones, and how the Incas brought these blocks here and made these buildings is still a great mystery. There were more than 100 flights of stone steps--often completely carved from a single block of granite--and a great number of water fountains that are interconnected by channels and water-drains perforated in the rock designed for the original irrigation system. The irrigation system was used to carry water from a holy spring to each of the houses in turn.

The more we learn about human history, the more amazed we become about the knowledge, ingenuity, determination, and abilities of peoples throughout history. We speak of "modern" and "ancient" peoples. AND YET, many of these "ancient" people accomplished things which we still cannot comprehend or replicate.

Who peopled such people on earth through history? Who enabled these peoples to do what they did? What amazing accomplishments these people achieved. How can anyone view such sites as the ruins of Machu Picchu fail to realize that our God is an awesome God?

I hope you will appreciate more and more the achievements and determination and foresight of peoples of years of centuries ago. Let me know how YOU respond. Tell me your stories.

John Willis