Ruined
Making do without Machu Picchu
Feb 11th 2010 LIMA From The Economist print edition
AFP
WHEN the Pacific Ocean becomes unusually warm, as it does periodically in the weather phenomenon called El Niño, that spells trouble for Latin America, and beyond. Last time this happened, in 1997-98, extreme weather killed 23,000 people worldwide and the damage cost the region about $33 billion. The impact of this year’s El Niño has so far been less severe, but bad enough.
Since December flooding has claimed 201 lives in Brazil, 43 in Mexico and 15 in Bolivia, whereas drought has contributed to electricity shortages in Venezuela and Ecuador. But it is Peru that often bears the brunt of El Niño (the last one cost it $3.5 billion). In late January torrential rain in the Cusco area brought chaos and tragedy. The Urubamba river, which runs through the Sacred Valley of the Incas and down past the ruins of Machu Picchu, swelled to an unprecedented volume of 1,100 cubic metres (39,000 cubic feet) a second.
Flooding killed at least 26 people and destroyed the homes and livelihoods of some 20,000.
The river undermined eight stretches, totalling 28km (18 miles), of the railway line that is the only way to get to Machu Picchu (except for the Inca Trail footpath). The government had to borrow helicopters from as far away as Brazil for a weeklong airlift of 3,900 tourists stranded in Aguas Calientes, the small riverside town at the foot of the ruins.
Officials reckon the damage to infrastructure and farming totalled $240m. They estimate the losses to the tourist industry will be at least $1m a day. The Cusco regional government says at least 15,000 people in the tourism business will be out of work for a few months.
Although the rains did not affect Machu Picchu, it is now cut off. Some 68,000 people a month normally visit the ruins. The only thing that has prevented the site from being further overrun is that there is no road to it from Cusco. The government issued a decree for the rapid rebuilding of the railway, which is operated by PeruRail, an affiliate of Orient-Express Hotels, a Bermuda-based company. Enrique Cornejo, the transport minister, has promised that the link will be restored by the end of this month.
That strikes many Peruvians as wildly optimistic. Peru’s tourist industry fears the prospect of being deprived of its main attraction for several months. Machu Picchu is “on vacation,” declared Martín Pérez, the tourism minister.
This ought to be an opportunity. To relieve the pressure on Machu Picchu, and to encourage repeat visits, officials and operators have long tried to encourage visitors to explore other parts of Peru. They are now hurriedly promoting the Nazca lines (giant, pre-Inca geoglyphs, or drawings, in the desert south of Lima) and the Colca canyon, where condors fly over an abyss twice as deep as the Grand Canyon (though less sheer).
They also want to encourage tourists to continue to visit Cusco. Northern Peru holds many recent archaeological discoveries. Lima, once bypassed by tourists, has begun to attract gastronomes, because of the excellence of Peruvian cuisine.
The problem is that none of these places quite has the allure of Machu Picchu (voted one of the seven wonders of the world in a privately organised poll in 2007). Governments have talked about developing new tourist destinations for decades. But away from Cusco and Lima, hotels and other facilities are often limited. Tour companies reported many cancellations this month.
Peru is braced for further rain. Lake Titicaca is close to overflowing. At least meteorologists say that the Pacific has begun to cool. And Machu Picchu should be open again for business by May, the start of the high season in the Peruvian Andes.
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