Amazon River

The Amazon River is about 6.400 kilometres long, and is considered the second longest river of the world. Depending on how the length is measured, it can compete for being the longest, but the Nile is generally accepted as being longer. On the other hand, the Amazon River is undisputedly the river with the largest water flow. It originates from the Ucayali-Apurimac river system in the Peruvian Andes Mountains, and flows through Colombia and Brazil before it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. At the widest part, the river is 10 kilometres across. During the wet season, though, the widest part can be as wide as 48 kilometres. The biodiversity of the river basin is incredible. It has more then 2100 different species of fish, and the number is growing as more are discovered. It also has a huge diversity in mammals, including the boto, or Amazon River Dolpin, which is the largest of the river dolphin species. Another famous inhabitant is the anaconda, one of the world's largest snakes.

The Amazon River


Machu Picchu

The ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu is located at a ridge between the two mountain peaks of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, 2430 metres above the sea level. It was built around 1450 as a military secret, hard to reach and easy to defend. One hundred years later, about the same time as the Spanish Conquest, it was abandoned, possibly due to an outbreak of smallpox, and forgotten by the world. It was brought back into the light by the Hiram Bingham, an American historian, in 1911. After that, it quickly became an important icon of the Inca World, and became known as the Lost City of the Incas. The city became an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Many of the old buildings have been restored and it has turned into a popular tourist attraction.



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