Pablito Riccharte, the 8-year-old boy who guided Hiram Bingham to the lost city of Machu Picchu

Hiram Bingham's guide who took him to see Machu Picchu was a little boy whose name was Pablo Riccharte. Despite his young age, the minor knew how to get to the lost city of the Incas, which is why he is considered a key character in history.

Many years before Machu Picchu is chosen as one of the seven wonders of the modern world and annually receives thousands of Peruvian and foreign tourists to take a picture, a child used to play among the ruins of the lost city of the Incas. His name was Pablo Riccharte, or simply Pablito. Thanks to him, Hiram Bingham, the famous American explorer, was able to see the citadel that was built in the 15th century.

Pablito Riccharte was the boy who lived near the Inca citadel and guided Hiram Bingham on the right path to reach Machu Picchu.

Although today it is perhaps the main tourist destination in Peru, there was a time when Machu Picchu was just an uninhabited space that was sometimes visited by the inhabitants who lived in its surroundings, such as Pablito. The son of peasants, the little boy knew like the back of his hand the path that led to the famous masterpiece of world architecture.

How was Hiram Bingham's first visit to Machu Picchu?

Although Hiram Bingham was not the first man to discover Machu Picchu, he was a key figure in making the world aware of the historical and architectural importance of this place.

Before their arrival, the local population knew of the existence of the citadel. That is why the true 'discoverer' is considered to be the farmer Agustín Lizárraga, who first visited the area nine years before the American explorer.

The famous adventurer arrived in Peru in 1909 from an academic conference in Chile to meet the liberator Simón Bolívar. During his stay in Peruvian territory, he received an invitation to investigate the archaeological remains of Choquequirao in the province of La Convención, in Cusco.

Hiram Bingham spread internationally the architectural beauty of the city of Machu Picchu

This experience motivated him to learn more about the remains of Inca architecture. Thus, in 1911 he undertook an expedition to try to discover Vitcos, which had been occupied at the time by the Incas from Vilcabamba.

During his expedition he discovered a wealth of information about the local populations in the area. During this time, he consulted with different archaeologists and local residents so that they could provide him with some clues about archaeological remains that were in the region. One of the farmers he went to was called Melchor Arteaga. This led the American explorer to the Huayna Picchu mountain area.

How did Hiram Bingham meet Pablito Riccharte, the boy who guided him to Machu Picchu?

It was so that he arrived at the town that lived on the slopes of the aforementioned mountain. Two families lived in this place: the Álvarez and the Riccharte. The latter were a couple of peasants who had a son, whose name was Pablo Riccharte.

Bingham made contact with the Ricchartes. The farmer decides to call his son and tells her to guide the American to the place where he usually 'plays'. “Because that (the city of Machu Picchu) was Pablito's house. He played with the animals, with the plants, he went around, he played hide-and-seek with his friends too (in the Inca citadel)", the late journalist Carlos Sánchez Luna-Victoria, who specialized in the history of the Inca citadel.

Pablito Richarte with Sergeant Carrasco, who accompanied the minor and Hiram Bingham on the expedition to Machu Picchu

Sánchez also realized that "Pablito" was the right character to guide Bingham, since the boy knew the right path to Machu Picchu. "Bingham himself says in his blog that if he had not been for the child, he would not have been able to reach (the Inca city)," he added.

The 8-year-old boy went down in history when he became the explorer's guide Hiram Bingham. Sergeant Carrasco also participated in the expedition. That is how they arrived at Machu Picchu on July 24, 1911.

The following year, Bingham returned to the Inca citadel thanks to the sponsorship he obtained from Yale University and the National Geographic Society to clean the place together with the inhabitants of the area. In this way, he contributed to an initial study of the space that later became one of the most important tourist attractions in Peru.

Who was the German businessman who looted Machu Picchu 40 years before its discovery?

Various investigations show that the German businessman Augusto Berns located the lost city of the Incas in 1867. Not only this, studies indicate that he explored the territory for several years. Subsequently, he left Peru in the context of the War of the Pacific, but later returned to Peruvian territory to search for and exploit the treasures located in Machu Picchu.

Augusto Berns is considered the German businessman who looted Machu Picchu