User:Marcoporres/Sandbox

Agustín Lizárraga was born in Mollepata, midway between Abancay and Cuzco. At the age of 18 he fled the village with his younger brother, Angel Mariano, to avoid being conscripted by the Peruvian army. Very little is known about his life but the fact that he, and not Hiram Bingham, actually discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu in 1902. ). He was accompanied by his friends from San Miguel, Enrique Palma, Gabino Sánchez and Toribio Recharte.  The ruins then were well hidden by thick vegetation but Lizárraga seemed to understand their importance and, with a sharp stone, inscribed on the wall of the three windows: “Lizárraga, 14 de Julio de 1902 para la posteridad” (Lizárraga, 14 of July, 1902, for posterity He did not inform the State authorities or the press (probably fearing punishment for fleeing conscription) but he did relate the news to the villagers of Mandorpampa and San Miguel (now called Aguas Calientes). When Hiram Bingham arrived at Machu Picchu nine years later in 1911 he saw Lizárraga’s inscription beside the three windows and he recorded it in one of his notebooks. This was confirmed by his son, Alfred Mitchell Bingham, who also added in his own book that his father rewrote the history of the discovery of Machu Picchu and eliminated the name of Lizárraga. In February, 1912, eight months after Bingham’s first visit to the ruins, Lizárraga was attempting to cross the wooden bridge at San Miguel when he was swept away by the torrid river Urubamba. His body was never found. Every year on July 14 there is a march in his honour in Cuzco and academic activities in the local schools.