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About the disoccupation when discovered |
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The archaeological discovery |
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Melquiades Richarte and Anacleto Alvarez lived in Machu Picchu, in the middle of the forest and the stones. They sowed the flat and fertile earth and were there just visits from time to time by other farmers from the vicinity. In fact, if they did not go to visit Richarte and Alvarez, they had no reason to go to this lost place, of hard and rustic access. Although there was good earth to sow, they had had to clear the scarce flat visible surface of the trees and thick weeds which covered it.
Richarte and Alvarez had built their houses near where a spring gushed fresh water which fell over the mountain. Their wives and children helped in the agricultural tasks, in the weeding and the cleaning of the irrigation canals. In the middle of the underbrush there were some ruined houses, very old, that both farmers had tried to occupy because they |
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were close to their biggest plots of land for cultivation. But they were very big and they were only used partially and sporadically. The children were the ones who mostly frequented the area.
Sometimes their neighbor Melchor Arteaga, who lived in Mandorpampa, was there to see them and also others from down there. In fact, every visit was a real event for both couples. There was not a proper road to Machu Picchu, even though in former times, there had certainly been one - at the foot of the peak Wayna Picchu - that began very close to Mandorpampa. Climbing up the muddy slippery path of the lofty mountain covered with weeds and predatory animals, then, only served for visiting the Richarte and Alvarez families, since Machu Picchu was not en route to anywhere. Near Mandorpampa there was a relatively low ford and before beginning the ascent one had to cross the Urubamba River which surrounded the peak on three sides. Finally, there was a lot of fog up there almost all year.
One day, 24 July 1911, Richarte and Alvarez received the visit of Melchor Arteaga, who that time came accompanied by a foreigner who said he was called Hiram Bingham and a Sergeant Carrasco of the police. They arrived very tired and the farmers gave them something to drink and offered to let them rest in their huts. But the foreigner had not come to see them; he wanted to see the old houses which were under the brush, close to his cultivation plots. Arteaga had told him that there were ruins there and had offered himself as guide Richarte put his son in charge of showing them the houses and the caves where he played.
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pag. 1 - 2
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