Destination: Machu Picchu

Leaving Europe altogether, one place I have never been and have always wanted to go is South America, and specifically, Machu Picchu in Peru.  My desire to see this location is based on a couple things, one I love anything historical, and two, if you see a picture of this place...it looks absolutely amazing!

Built in the 1400's, this empire was abandoned when the Spanish arrived.  The site was unknown to most of the world until 1911.  Of course, now it has become a very popular tourist site and people come from all over the world to see this place.

As someone who loves mountains (ahem, Granada...), this location is very appealing to me.  Machu Picchu is still preserved as it was when it was built, where as other cultural landmarks were ruined during the Spanish Conquest.

Most interesting about this place, is that tourism has become a huge threat to Machu Picchu, as the number of visitors have increased each year, an attempt was made to make the area more touristy with an addition of a cable car and shops, however this was opposed by local Peruvians in fear that the ruins would suffer because of the increase of visitors this would cause, and the plan never followed through.

So while I've never visited this historical and beautiful place, I fully intend to venture up into these ancient ruins one day (hopefully sooner rather than later).


Ciao,


Lauren