Machu Picchu

Video 3 Machu Picchu

This beautiful, quiet place is covered in sunshine and has mountains all around it. Its name is Machu Picchu. It’s sometimes called the lost city of the Inca, and it’s nearly8000 feet up in the Andes. “It’s a magic attraction, than you can feel it here.” “It’s know all over the world that Machu Picchu is one of the magnetics centers of the ancient world.”
Machu Picchuis more than 500 years old. Today, it’s a favorite place for visitors from all over the world. Even in the rain and fog, it’s wonderful to walk through the ruins. When the Inca civilizations ended,few people knew Machu Picchu existed. For a long time it was lost to the outside world. Then, in 1911, an explorer named Hiram Bingham found it again. At first, very few people visited Machu Picchu. Butnow, hundreds of tourists come here every day. They walk up the steps of the ancient city and climb over the ruins. Machu Picchu is no longer quiet. It’s full of the sounds of tourists. Some peoplein Peru hope that more tourists will come here. They think it will mean more business and money for the country. However, some conservationists worry that more visitors won’t be good for Machu Picchu.They say that tourism may not be good for the environment. Jose, a local hotel owner says Machu Picchu and Peru can take a few more visitors.
“Why not be like the rest of the worl?” “Why not exposeand show Machu Picchu to the rest of the world?” “It’s such a wonderful place…why keep it to the few?”
The truth is that parts of Peru are very poor, and tourists bring money to these communities.Aguas Calientes is a town that grew suddenly near an area where visitors get on buses to get to the summit of Machu Picchu. The people here live completely on money from tourism. The town is just agroup of stalls where local people sell art and things they have made to visitors. The lost city is no longer lost. Tourists have found it. The modern world is coming closer to this ancient world every...