Places arielspace Wants to Go

The mysterious "Candelabra of the Andes" could represent anything from a god's trident to a hallucinogenic plant.

Lima’s Museum of Anthropology is lined with thousands of elongated human craniums.

Death rituals and sacrifice inside a Peruvian megalith.

These steeply terraced ruins are a stop along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

Huge stone depressions which may have acted as an Incan agricultural experiment.

The stones of this Incan wall complex fit together so well you couldn't fit a piece of paper between some of them.

The large collection of pre-Columbian pottery might make you blush.

If you’ve ever seen a picture of Machu Picchu, then you’ve seen a picture of Huayna Picchu—you just didn’t realize it.

This scalding hot river was thought to be a myth until one geoscientist made it his quest to study the mystical waters.

Preserved Inca city and site of the last Inca stronghold against the Spanish conquistadors.

A set of ancient drawings in the desert of Peru that are so massive, many of them can only be fully seen from the sky.

The intricate stonework of Machu Picchu serves as a testament to Incan engineers.

This stone complex marks the urban center of a lost civilization.

Now containing the bones of the actual conquistador, instead of someone else.

The remains of what was the most important religious complex in coastal Peru for over a millennium.

A market for witches is hidden within a train station.

The mortal remains of an estimated 70,000 people lie in the basement of a monastery in Lima, Peru.

America's only city hall with minarets took architectural cues from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

A tiny, unassuming park in Tampa that belongs to the Republic of Cuba.

A vast array of tropical plants collected by a vacationing couple.

Location of a reliquary containing bone fragments of 18 saints.

This underground oasis is one of North America’s most fascinating prehistoric places—and you can scuba dive in it.

One-time winter retreats of prolific inventor Thomas Edison and his friend Henry Ford.

An octet of classic chrome trailers speared into the ground act as a tribute to the silver bullets of the open road.