Machu Picchu experience

Today was the Machu Picchu experience. Our guide (Ruben) was a passionate but sincere advocate for Peruvian socialism, environmental protection and a variety of other causes. At first I was not convinced but after a while I decided he was indeed sincere. I am still not 100% sure of all his facts, especially in cases where he was trying to make a political point but at least for some of the time he tried to distinguish between fact and conjecture.

I was interested in the three primary threats to the site. First and not surprising is the physical threat resulting from over-exposure by tourism. I did not realise that there is no limit to the number of tourists per day which often reaches 3000. One university has estimated that the current rate of degradation will totally destroy the site within 75 years or so. This has not been helped by the inane and highly subjective “New Seven Wonders” http://www.new7wonders.com/classic/en/n7w/results/

The second threat is one of land ownership. Apparently one Zabaletas family is claiming ownership through a Spanish land grant and the matter is currently in the courts. Lawyers are representing them on a contigency basis and for the publicity the case is generating. The third threat is the humidity/rainfall that is causing the whole complex to sink. It was, after all, built on a man-made earth infill between two mountains.

Incidentally, we also learned of a woman 19th century mountaineer who climbed some of the highest mountains in South America, including one close to Machu Picchu. See http://www.wingsworldquest.org/cgi-bin/iowa/explorers/record/77.html and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Smith_Peck

The risk of an Aguas Calientes strike has diminished. Maybe I did not clarify why a train strike is a big deal here ….. its because there are absolutely no roads in or out of this place …. its either go by train or grow wings. I guess I am over-sensitive to the risk of any significant schduling delays as we have less than a week after our return to empty the house in San Antonio prior to closing on the deal.