2010 : Access to Machu Picchu Completely Destroyed

Access to Machu Picchu completely destroyed

Source

"Heavy rains that trapped some two thousand foreign tourists in the town of Aguas Calientes have also caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the region in decades.

Perhaps as big as the personal loss felt by the individuals affected is the economic loss now set to blight Cusco.

Three days have passed since the town of Aguas Calientes was cut off from the rest of the Sacred Valley and airlifts are still occurring to get the increasingly desperate stranded tourists out of the town and back to Cusco."

For any other ancient civiliation buffs, who may like I did, started out with Fingerprints of the Gods, the ancient site of Machu Picchu is well known. I did not realize that this flood had befallen the site, and from what I read it could be weeks or months before access to the site is restored.

I also did not realize how heavily Peru promotes Machu Picchu, even though there are many other very tourist worthy in the country.

"t’s sad that a country with such a large variety of attractions, many hundreds from archaeological to natural, is only associated with one: the citadel of Machu Picchu.

Although it offers great views, it was never an important Inca site, it is not the most remote, it is not the only site undiscovered by the Spanish and is not home to the finest Inca construction work.

Machu Picchu… and Cusco for that matter… is just one attraction in a country so rich in them you’d need months to see them and all easily match it.

Unfortunately, it is more profitable to advertise a single location and concentrate foreign tourists there to more easily relieve them of their money with inflated prices."

At any rate, this is the first I have heard of the disaster in Peru.

I guess with the Haiti mess, other humanitarian disasters have not gotten much media attention. With something this big though, I would have thought there would have been something, anyway, here are a couple of other links regarding the flood.

news.brunei.fm...

globalvoicesonline.org...

From above:

"The situation in Cusco, Peru remains difficult because the rains have not ceased. However, that is not the only problem the region faces. Amid allegations and rumors [es] that tourists [es] were charged money in order to be rescued, which is something that the authorities have denied [es], the Chilean government sent a Hercules aircraft [es] on January 21 to pick up Chilean citizens. There are photos of those rescued here."

www.peruviantimes.com... onths/294710

From above:

"President Alan García called for public calm on Friday after flying over areas devastated by torrential rains, mudslides and floods in Peru’s southern Cusco department. García said the government will guarantee the reconstruction of the regions infrastructure and relief aid for some 25,000 people left homeless by the floods, daily El Comercio reported."

That's a lot of homeless people.

This is certainly horrible. I havent heard anything about this.

But the disaster heading is currently set to "earthquakes". Flooding will have to wait it's turn.


Good post

wow,
I was just there last april.
Machu Picchu is one of the greatest places I've ever seen. Your right though, there is a lot to see in Peru. I imagine this will be a huge economic hit though because everyone that goes to Peru wants to see Machu Picchu.

I really hope the ruins themselves aren't damaged, that would be a terrible disaster.

I was also there a few years ago, awesome place. Sad to hear this news, looks like mother nature is taking it back.

I have not had a chance to travel outside my country yet, so I was extra saddened to hear of this, as it seems to be one less place I may get to visit. The nazca Lines, I have read, are disappearing/degrading. It just shows how unpredictable Mother Nature truly is, I am sure none of the tourists expected to be stranded on their vacations.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


but you know what?

I cant tell you how many times I've been on "vacation"(I hate that word) and hoped to get stranded. I'm sure the real thing is never how it is in my mind(seems totally logical that a cheerleading squad would also happen to be stranded at the same time and place as me...).

just being in a different setting adds a whole new element to your day to day. Basically everything changes, and theres something to that.....if I had infinite funds I'd be a nomad til the day i died. Absolutely no question about it.

No home. Scant posssesions. Friends and acquaintances everywhere.....
To always be where the action is....

even as an old man....that still wins as best lifestyle ever....


I digress..sue me, its almost 3 AM in seattle...

They say the nasca lines are fading, but I never even saw them when I was in peru, there's sooo much else. You'll never see it all so don't worry about what you don't see, just go see what you get the the opportunity to go see. Looks like machu picchu is out of commission for a while, but there's no way peru is gonna let that money maker stay down for too long..if anything a disaster there will help the economy so long as they are smart enough to hire local......



....a..n.d scene.....

Here is one man's personal blog, his girlfriend was trapped in this disaster.

www.garyandrews.net...

From his blog:

"And now the aid itself. With so much devastation, with or without tourists, it was clear significant aid was needed. The government insisted it could manage, so made no requests to international aid agencies, the local Red Cross, or other countries.

In essence, the government control every aspect of the rescue and aid effort. If they don’t request any help, none can be given. Yet a week later, other than the tourists and the locals in Machu Picchu, the aid effort appears slow in the wider region of Cusco. This is worrying. The foreign press will now have turned their attention away from Cusco."

And:

"The area around Cusco has been designated an emergency zone, not a disaster zone. A disaster zone would have been more likely to bring international aid. An emergency zone meant the government could take care of it themselves? Why? It’s clear that foreign aid would have been useful here. ...

One theory (and apologies, as I’m moving of facts here to speculation) concerns the tourist trade. Peru is currently being sold as a booming economy, albeit one that relies heavily on tourism. It would make life uncomfortable for the authorities if a growing country with a strong economy couldn’t quickly look after its own citizens. They may also be worried about the effect abroad – hence the quick(ish) evacuation of the tourists, and the slowdown when it comes to aid for its own citizens."

Here is an article on the death toll: (it stands at twenty):

news.bbc.co.uk...

"The number of people killed in heavy flooding over the past several days in southern Peru has risen to 20, local officials say.

They say that at least five more people are missing and almost 40,000 others have been affected. "

So it looks like the Peruvian government did not ask for international aid, and is taking care of this domestically.

i arrived in aguas calientes from machupicchu the day before the rains started. they closed the inka trail and machupicchu two days after i finished my trek. i'm glad i was able to get out. they were airlifting folks out. i have tons of images from the ruins along the trail as well as machupicchu itself. the place is amazing. the quechua are a spiritual people and fully believe that there is a fundamental shift coming to this planet. i'll post some images in the next day or two.

[edit on 7-8-2010 by slowisfast]

wow that is messed up

I don't think Peru is the wealthiest of Nations ,certainly they have fewer resources that the US and I think we've noticed by now with all of our Floods and hurricanes and oil disasters that just having resources doesn't help if there is no way to get the people out or the help in

as to Machu Picchu being the only promoted site and I think it has to do with guest accommodations roads accessibility and what not.
I haven't been there but just guessing from what I seen on travel channel outside the cities it's pretty primitive,I think are also Bandits of some ilk or another

[edit on 9-8-2010 by slowisfast]

reply to post by hotbakedtater


No metal, mortar or written language. And their reign was only 100 years. Who were these people?

I found these awesome pictures of Machu Picchu on these 2 websites
somethinbeautiful.blogspot.com...
si.smugmug.com... (scroll forward for the Machu Picchu pics here) All his pics are great.