As Machu Picchu Gets Trashed...A Town Fights to Save Its Heritage (int'l
edition)
Standing in the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, guide Adriel Quispe faces a stone
that resembles a scaled-down cruise ship. The sacred Intiwatana, or ''hitching
post for the sun,'' is carved out of a single block of granite with a funnel
shape on top. The shadows it casts probably marked the seasons for the Incas.
Quispe tells the rapt crowd of tourists: '"This stone is beyond price."
Well, sort of. In September, for a $200 fee, a camera crew filmed an ad there,
propping a beer bottle and glass on the stone. Their six-meter-long crane gave
way, and a cameraman fell on the Intiwatana. A corner of the monument snapped
off, marring its perfect lines. ''It is as though they stole a part of the
Incas' knowledge,'' says Quispe.
The incident brought to a head growing concern about how mismanagement and the
race for dollars threaten to damage the mountain citadel and the fragile,
32,000-hectare natural reserve around it. Machu Picchu, of course, is a magnet
for tourists, but its very success is becoming a threat. Up to 2,500 tramping
tourists a day and a throng of minibuses are taking a toll. ''The situation is
becoming critical,'' says British tour guide Peter Frost.
It may get worse fast. President Alberto Fujimori has announced a drive to
raise the number of tourists visiting Peru from fewer than a million annually
to 2.5 million by 2005. The burgeoning tourist trade at Machu Picchu has
spurred chaotic growth in the nearest town of Aguas Calientes, where some three
tons of garbage is burned or thrown in the river daily. The nature preserve is
under strain, too, with its 372 bird species, dozens of rare orchids, and
spectacled bears. Last year, some 76,000 tourists hiked through it on the Inca
Trail. The paucity of proper campsites and waste control has left at least 23
hidden garbage pits along the way, and the trail is eroding in parts.
Although Peru is poor, it doesn't lack resources to protect Machu Picchu. On
$10-a-head entrance fees alone, the citadel brings in more than $3 million a
year, a quarter of the National Culture Institute's budget. Former Institute
Director Luis Repetto--he was replaced in October--claims that 30% of these
revenues stay in the Cuzco area. But whether they're spent well is another
question. ''Basically, it's a management problem,'' says Finnish Ambassador
Mikko Phyhala. In 1996, Finland offered $6 million for the area's conservation
under a debt-swap agreement. Less than a third has been spent, though the
program was due for completion this year. Agencies with overlapping
responsibilities tend to pass the buck on conservation.
RIGHT BALANCE? Phyhala, however, adds that he's ''more hopeful now.''
That's because last month the government bolstered the authority of a year-old
management unit for the reserve. This January, the fee for hiking the Inca
Trail will be tripled, to $50, and stricter rules for garbage disposal imposed.
Repetto says more sensitive rules for commercial use will be drawn up to find
the right balance between tourist demand and site protection. ''We are still in
time to turn around the situation,'' says Edwin Florez, president of the Cuzco
Tourism Agencies Assn. But time is running out.
Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley between Cuzco and Machu Picchu calls itself
a ''living'' Inca town, one of the very few left. It is surrounded by
agricultural terraces that are still traditionally irrigated and farmed. Mayor
Benicio Rios says he was astonished to discover early this year that the state
cultural institute had ''given the green light'' to construction of a major
road that would destroy 124 original Inca terraces. Rios sent out an open
letter on the Internet denouncing the plans. ''If we had not protested, the
project would have been started by now,'' he claims.
Since the protest, plans to build the road have been on ''standby,'' says Rios,
partly because of Peru's political crisis. Rios insists he's not opposed to the
road but wants Lima to consider alternative routes that may be more expensive.
''After all, no amount of money can ever buy new Inca terraces,'' Rios says.
The Ollantaytambo area is dotted with ruin sites, but dozens are abandoned and
unprotected from land grabs and grave robbers. These are among thousands of
archaeological treasures all over Peru, too many for the Cultural Institute to
protect. Former Director Repetto says it does what it can, ''but the only real
solution is to get the local community involved in protecting their own
heritage.'' Ollantaytambo is showing how that may work.
$2,500 visitors a day, Machu Picchu and its surrounding preserve are suffering
damage
Copyright
2005, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.