Wiñay Wayna (Forever Young) is Inca ruin located along the Inca Trail. Peruvians call it Little Machu Picchu. It’s built into a steep hillside overlooking beautiful scenery of the Urubamba River and Sacred Valley. The site consists of upper and lower house complexes connected by a staircase. A long flight of fountains/baths runs between the two groups of buildings surrounded by agricultural terraces built above and below the houses. Winay Wayna’s location and architecture tell it was an important place of the lost Inca Empire.
Interesting that archaeologists have only partly uncovered the ruins, leaving a chance for discovery to next generations. If you are on the Inca Trail trek going towards Machu Picchu, after passing a waterfall (a few hundred meters from the uncovered Winay Wayna ruins) start looking through the trees on your left-hand side. You should be able to see stone structures taken by jungle.
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