If you've worked with a knowledgeable travel agent, you can be fairly certain your trip objectives will be met, but to get the most out of every destination, take time to learn about where you're going.
In preparation for a trip to Machu Picchu, for example, I began reading articles and watching related videos. Different items would pique my interest, including travelogues, Inca legends, Spanish conquest and even UFOs, and I would follow interesting items down different trails.
At the library, I did a search and found Turn Right At Machu Picchu, an adventure travel book that follows the rapid rise and fall of the Incas, the early-1900s explorations of Hiram Bingham (who many consider the inspiration for Indiana Jones and who brought an international spotlight to the region), as well as the modern day re-tracing of Bingham's trail by the yuppie author and his rugged guides. It was a good read that I'd recommend whether or not you plan to visit Peru.
Between it all, I stretched my mind into that vacation mode where we begin to see the world anew, away from the daily routines that can limit our thinking. The mysteries of Machu Picchu provide ample depths to plumb.
Since Bingham "rediscovered" Machu Picchu in 1911, the world has wondered what Machu Picchu is. Was it the Lost City of the Incas where they fled to escape the conquering conquistadors, or a shrine for worshippers to visit a tomb or golden idol for the greatest Inca leader, Panchacuti, who is assumed to be its architect?
Maybe, like many who have come after him including Mad Ludwig of Bavaria and Royal Caribbean of the Seas, Pachacuti did it because he simply wanted to build an incredible structure from which to appreciate a gorgeous natural setting. Could the Inca Trail, ending at this magnificent city in the clouds be a Mesoamerican Disneyland? It certainly seems to still attract a lot of tourists.
Like many others, I am also left wondering where the Inca story really began.
Legend says their leaders were ancestors of the Sun God who emerged from Isla Del Sol in Lake Titcaca, but perhaps due to latent memories of an SRA story about Thor Heyerdahl and his boat Kon-Tiki that I read back in Miss Lindsey's class in sixth grade, I found myself wondering if instead they came from Polynesia in the same manor the Maori had arrived in New Zealand. Could the rise and fall of Easter Island have been an intermediate step for the Incas? I found an article that isn't exactly that theory but does make it seem plausible.
I doubt I'll solve these great archaeological mysteries during my brief visit to Machu Picchu, but it will certainly influence how I see it.
We all glean unique perspectives from travel, and the journey itself may be destined to reveal to you what you need to know, regardless of your preparation, as what seemed to happen to me in Scotland, but learning about distant lands before you arrive essentially stretches your vacation to make it begin before you leave home. Why not begin your vacation today?
You can search this blog for a topic of interest, and then follow hotlinks embedded throughout to new threads. It's free to dream. As my dad always said, be careful what you think about, because you'll probably get it.
