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The great Inca rip-off
Millions of visitors to an ancient Inca site where women supposedly used to go to cure infertility have – not to put too fine a point on it – been conned.
The online news provider Ananova, quoting the South American media service Las Ultimas Noticias, states that ruins in the Peruvian village of Chucuito were in fact built by the present-day villagers – about 12 years ago.
The Inca empire was at its height roughly between the years 1430 and 1530. Millions of tourists were reportedly attracted to the ruins, but experts recently found out that they had been built in order to persuade authorities to invest more to persuade more travellers to visit.
Rolando Paredes, director of the National Culture Institute of Puno, a nearby town in the Peruvian Andes, is quoted as saying: “People have literally created a myth.”
On further investigation by News From Abroad, it appears that several UK-based operators, who perhaps should not be named, are still offering visits to the site, which comprises 24 large, stone penises.
Those not of a nervous disposition may want to view the “ruins” at http://www.rhymer.net/New%20Folder/ftemple3.htm
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd.
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