Machu Picchu, Peru

And this is my new country!!! Number 81!!! We are moving forward, heehehhehehehee!!!

And i have this one thanks to Veronika who as well sent me that Valparaiso card, and as well two other Chilean cards, but you'll get to see them at some future update....I actually won this one in a lottery...and actually this is the first card i had won in a lottery, just that Veronika wasnt able to send them until recently...yup, i do know how it feels actually :)

Machu Picchu (or Old Mountain) is a pre Columbian Inca site, situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Often referred to as the 'Lost City of the Incas' Machu Picchu probably is the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

It was built around the year 1460, but abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was said to have been forgotten for centuries when the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction.

Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO whs, in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and it is considered a sacred place.

It 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 are located in what is known by archaeologists as the "Sacred District" of Machu Picchu.