Machupicchu or Machupicchu Pueblo, also known as Aguas Calientes, is a location in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

situated in the

Cusco Region Cusco, also spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu suyu ), is a department and region in Peru and is the fourth largest department in the country, after Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto. It borders the departments of Ucayali on the north; Madre de ...

Urubamba Province Urubamba Province is one of thirteen provinces in the Cusco Region in the southern highlands of Peru. Geography The province is bounded to the north by the La Convención Province, to the east by the Calca Province, to the south by the Cusco Pro ...

. It is the seat of the

Machupicchu District Machupicchu (from Quechua Machu Pikchu, "old peak") is one of seven districts of the Urubamba Province in Peru. Its seat is the village of Machupicchu. Geography The Urupampa and Willkapampa mountain ranges traverse the district. Some of t ...

. Machupicchu lies at the Vilcanota River. It is the closest access point to the historical site of

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain range.UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, whi ...

which is away or about a 90-minute walk. There are many hotels and restaurants for tourists, as well as natural hot baths which gave the town its colloquial Spanish name. The village of Machupicchu did not exist until the railroad was built, as it was a center for construction workers. It took off after the railroad opened in 1931 and foreign tourists started arriving to visit the Machu Picchu ruins. Enterprising individuals set up businesses serving the tourists, primarily restaurants and small hotels. Those who could afford luxury stayed at the luxury hotel up by the ruins.

Name

The official name comes from Quechua Machu Pikchu from ''machu'' old, old person, ''pikchu'' pyramid; mountain; or prominence with a broad base that ends in sharp peaks. The addition of "pueblo" comes from the Spanish word for town. It was formerly called Aguas Calientes meaning "hot waters" or "

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...

History

Settled by a few farm families in 1901, the settlement was transformed into a busy railway worker's camp called ''Maquinachayoq'' (possibly from Quechua ''makina'' (a borrowing from Spanish ''máquina'') machine / locomotive, train, ''-cha'', ''-yuq'' suffixes, "the one with a little machine, locomotive or train", ''Makinachayuq'') during the construction of the railroad through there in the late 1920s. The town was the central hub for worker lodging and their equipment until the railway was completed in 1931.

Transport

Machupicchu serves as a terminal for the PeruRail and Inca Rail passenger train service from

Cusco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru ...

. Trains serve locals and tourists arriving from Cusco and

Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo ( qu, Ullantaytampu) is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of above sea level in the Ollantaytambo District, district of Ollantaytamb ...

to visit Machu Picchu. Avenue Pachacutec is the main and only thoroughfare of the town, connecting the baths to the town's main square.

Industry

The Central Machupicchu

Hydroelectric Plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

(''Hidroelectrica'') is nearby at the

Urubamba River The Urubamba River or Vilcamayo River (possibly from Quechua ''Willkamayu'', for "sacred river") is a river in Peru. Upstream it is called Vilcanota River (possibly from Aymara ''Willkanuta'', for "house of the sun"). Within the La Convención ...

. It generates about 90 MW for the regions of Cusco, Puno, and Apurímac . It was first constructed between 1958 and 1965 and expanded between 1981 and 1985. The plant was damaged by a landslide on 28 February 1998 and ceased operations until 13 July 2001.Central Hidroeléctrica Machupicchu
Empresa de Generación Eléctrica Machupicchu S.A.

Gallery

File:Urubamba river Aguas Calientes.jpg,

File:Aguas Calientes, Cuzco, Perú, 2015-07-30, DD 69.JPG, Train tracks bisect the town File:Machupicchu Village.jpg, Machupicchu Village Scene, March 2006 Aguas Calientes, Cuzco, Perú, 2015-07-30, DD 70.JPG, Statue of Inka Aguas Calientes, Cuzco, Perú, 2015-07-30, DD 67.JPG, Church Machu Picchu Aguas Calientes (Peru), interior of the church.jpg, Interior of the church File:PeruRail 291.jpg, Railbus Officials in Aguas Calientes.

Twin towns

Haworth Haworth () is a village in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, in the Pennines, south-west of Keighley, west of Bradford and east of Colne in Lancashire. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope. Nearby villages incl ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

* Otama village, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

References

External links

Aguas-Calientes.com

Aguas Calientes
at cusco-peru.org * {{Authority control Populated places in the Cusco Region Tourism in Peru