Researchers in Peru Unearth a New Section of the Incan Trail Near Machu Picchu · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Machu Picchu. Image on Flickr by szeke. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Machu Picchu may be an ancient city, but there are still new things to discover. A new section of the Inca Trail, the vast network of paths built by the Incan empire, of which some of the most popular with hikers nowadays lead to Machu Picchu in today's Cusco, Peru, has been discovered. It leads from Wayraqtambo (Wind Inn), behind Machu Picchu, to a lookout spot that provides unique views of the Inca llaqta (village).
Cusco's Decentralized Direction of Culture announced the finding on their website, which was republished by site Cusco 2.0:
El impresionante camino descubierto consta de aproximadamente un kilómetro y medio de largo y entre 1.20 y 1.40 metros de ancho, variando según la topografía del terreno. Aún no puede ser apreciado en su totalidad por estar cubierto por vegetación, pero gracias al equipo de investigadores del Parque de Machu Picchu, algunos tramos pudieron ser liberados de la maleza y árboles que los cubrían, evidenciando muros de contención de factura inca de hasta tres metros de altura.
The impressive discovered trail is about a kilometer and a half long and between 1.20 and 1.40 meters wide, and it varies according to the land topography. It can't be fully appreciated yet as it is covered by vegetation, but thanks to the researchers team from Machu Picchu Park, some parts are now free from underbrush and trees that were covering it, thus showing Inca-built containment walls that go up to 3 meters high.
Meanwhile, website Mystery Planet noted:
Hoy en día solo el 25 por ciento de la red vial inca es visible. El resto fue destruida antaño por los conquistadores o contemporáneamente por construcciones modernas. Aún así, investigadores en Machu Picchu anunciaron el reciente hallazgo de una nueva sección de camino […] ubicada en la parte posterior de la montaña Machu Picchu, entre los sitios arqueológicos de Wiñay Huayna e Intipata.
Today, only 25 percent of the Inca road network can be seen. The rest of it was destroyed long ago by the conquerors or more recently by modern buildings. Researchers in Machu Picchu, however, announced the recent finding of a new section of the trail […] located at the back of Machu Picchu, between the archaelogical sites of Wiñay Huayna and Intipata.
Newspaper La Nación went into further detail:
El Camino Inca (Qhapaq Ñan, en idioma indígena) es una red vial de 40.000 kilómetros que unía Perú, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina y Bolivia que se acabó de construir durante el imperio inca y cuya mayor parte se encuentra en Perú.
Varios gobiernos de la región han solicitado, de manera conjunta a la ONU, que declare al Camino del Inca como Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad.
Inca Trail (Qhapaq Ñan, in indigenous language) is a road network of about 40,000 kilometers that connected Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia whose construction ended during the Inca Empire, with its main part in Peru.
Several governments in the region have jointly asked the UN to declare the Inca Trail as World Heritage Site.
On Twitter, users shared the news, and many of them posted photos and images of the Cusco sanctuary:
Nuevo camino inca a #MachuPicchu fue descubierto. Su tramo es de 1.5km y en él se puede apreciar un túnel Inca. pic.twitter.com/llYHK2Uk2W
— Visita Perú (@peru) junio 9, 2014
New Inca road to Machu Picchu was discovered. Its 1.5km long and there you can see an Inca tunnel.
[VIDEO] Camino Inca hacia Machu Picchu es el destino favorito para los ‘mochileros’ http://t.co/sXRx5N5Vq0
— AméricaNoticias.pe (@noticiAmerica) junio 6, 2014
[VIDEO] Inca trail to Machu Picchu is favorite destination for ‘backpackers’.
Even some Catalan users shared the news:
Descobert un tram del Camí #Inca construït fa 500 anys que porta al #MachuPicchu. S'havia mantingut ocult a la selva http://t.co/9q1vlXkD5y
— Sapiens.cat (@sapienscat) junio 12, 2014
500-year old section of Inca Rail to Machu Picchu recently discovered. It had been hidden in the rain forest.