Rediscovery:
|
The Incas built the estate around 1450, but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of what the structures originally looked like.By 1976, thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored. The restoration work continues to this day. Since the site was not known to the Spanish during their conquest, it is highly significant as a relatively intact cultural site. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll. Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its three primary structures are the Inti Watana, 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. Machu Picchu is vulnerable to threats. While natural phenomena like earthquakes and weather systems can play havoc with access, the site also suffers from the pressures of too many tourists. In addition, preservation of the area's cultural and archaeological heritage is an ongoing concern. Source - Wikipedia |
|
Missing Persons
Too incredible to be true? Survivor tells of Pacific ordeal - Sceptics query castaway's account of survival after 13 months adrift in a tiny fishing boat. By Jonathan Pearlman, Majuro 10:00PM GMT 03 Feb 2014 Shuffling down the gangplank of a rescue boat, Jose Salvador Alvarenga smiled briefly as he stepped on shore. As a crowd gathered, he began to recount a tale so stunning that cynics might not consider it entirely shipshape. Mr Alvarenga said he left southern Mexico in December 2012 with a 15-year-old named Ezekiel on a day trip to catch blacktip sharks. More than a year later, he washed up alone, 8,000 miles away on a Pacific atoll in ragged underpants and a bushy beard, after an ordeal that could be a record for survival at sea. Asked how he survived, Mr Alvarenga said he prayed to God. “If I was going to die, I would be with God,” he said. “So I wasn’t scared. I imagine this is an incredible story for some people.” Speaking at the hospital in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, the survivor sat meekly on a soft chair in clothes donated by local authorities. “I didn’t know the hour, nor the day. I only knew the sun and the night,” he said. “I never saw land. Pure ocean. I was worried I would go crazy.” Questions have already been raised about Mr Alvarenga’s account. “It’s hard for me to imagine someone surviving 13 months at sea,” said Tom Armbruster, the US ambassador in the Marshall Islands. “But it’s also hard to imagine how someone might arrive here out of the blue. Certainly this guy has had an ordeal.” Some small scars were visible on Mr Mr Alvarenga. His fingers had apparently been pecked by seagulls, which he said he killed by hand before drinking their blood. His ankles were bloated and swollen, because he would trail his feet in the water for long periods to prevent the skin from cracking. His condition and strength has surprised doctors, who are used to seeing fishermen from neighbouring islands drift ashore after weeks or months. Survivors of such ordeals are typically emaciated and fragile. Mr Alvarenga’s only serious pain was in his joints, while he appeared well fed. However, a Norwegian anthropologist who saw him when he arrived last week on the outlying Ebon atoll said he was “not in great shape”. Mr Alvarenga’s account sometimes appeared confused. He mixed up details such as the date of his departure or his age of 36 or 37 — though this may not be unusual after more than a year at sea. Mr Alvarenga, who is originally from El Salvador, said he had been fishing in Mexico for 15 years and lived in Tapachula. He has three brothers and a 10-year-old daughter in El Salvador. He said his ordeal began several hours into the fishing trip when his boat’s motor died, 25 miles from the coast. He and Ezekiel soon began to drift westwards into the Pacific. Four months later, Ezekiel became increasingly weak after refusing to eat. Eventually, he moved to the far end of the boat and “decided to pass away”. Mr Alvarenga said he contemplated taking his own life after his young friend died. But he mustered the courage to survive, armed only with a knife. For the following nine months, Mr Alvarenga saw no sign of land until he came to Ebon, with a population of 700, one phone and no Spanish speakers. “I cried, 'Oh God’. I got to land and had a mountain of sleep. In the morning I woke up and heard a rooster. I saw two native women screaming and yelling.” After months adrift, he now faces a wave of doubt. Published in The Telegraph (UK online paper) |
|
Lost Treasures
Kubla Khan BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round; And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover! And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, A mighty fountain momently was forced: Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail: And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever It flung up momently the sacred river. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, Then reached the caverns measureless to man, And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean; And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far Ancestral voices prophesying war! The shadow of the dome of pleasure Floated midway on the waves; Where was heard the mingled measure From the fountain and the caves. It was a miracle of rare device, A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice! A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid And on her dulcimer she played, Singing of Mount Abora. Could I revive within me Her symphony and song, To such a deep delight ’twould win me, That with music loud and long, I would build that dome in air, That sunny dome! those caves of ice! And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. |