Machu Picchu is a very old, small Incan city located in Aguas Calientes, Peru. It is about 7,000 feet above sea level on top of a large hill between Urabamba Valley and the Andean Mountain Range. Machu Picchu is often referred to as the "lost city", it is man-made structure built in about the 1400s by Incans. It is rumored that the city was built as a getaway spot for the emperor because of its seclusion and how far away it is from the villages. Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 and has since become a large tourist spot or well-known place to visit. The "lost city" is composed of old stone brick found on the very hill that it sits on. There is nothing holding the stone brick together, the structures were merely put together like a puzzle, a very strong puzzle. Machu Picchu has become very important to the human population near the city by bringing tourist to the surrounding villages which brings revenue, food, and other resources to the villages. Tourist pass through these cities to get to Machu Picchu and even get help from the people living in the village to find Machu Picchu.
After researching Machu Picchu I learned that one natural change to the land is El Nino, which is an equatorial countercurrent that makes waters off the coast of Peru warmer resulting in a southern oscillation or a lot more precipitation. All of this precipitation is wearing out the stone brick of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is now endanger of climate change because El Nino is not only wearing out the city itself, it is destroying the villages surrounding Machu Picchu which is forcing the people to leave and it deterring tourist from visiting the site. The rains are so heavy that they flood entire villages, cover railroads which allows tourist to get to Machu Picchu, and make the people lose revenue. I didn't find other natural changes occurring to Machu Picchu, besides El Nino, Machu Picchu is as strong as it was years ago.
