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.