Today’s New York Times has an article about Machu Picchu, ‘Lost City’ Yielding Its Secrets. The article notes that this Inca site is the most popular tourist destination in Peru. Has anyone been there? Is it still as unmarred as the traditional photos show, or are there T-shirt shops and hot dog stands?
Ah, the article requires registration, but I can help answer the questions.
I went there on May 2001, almost two years ago. It is mostly unmarred, the T-shirt shops and food stand are outside the city ruins and mountains, inside is a reserve, just the ruins.
It is mostly unmarred, although I sadly saw that a piece of rock structure was cut, probably accidentally. Cameras (they were filming documentaries while I was there), could have caused them, or it was just time (somehow that doesn’t seem right).
The views are still spectacular, the air is still pure. There was a restaurant just before entering, at the top of the mountain road, and shops and more restaurants at the base of the mountain, in the town.
Oh, there are a couple of other sites less unmarred, IIRC one of them is Urumbamba, between Cuzco and Machu Picchu’s area.
On the other hand, there are Incan ruins just outside Lima that have been vandalized, with words carved on the softer rock walls. I think there was a restauration project in that site.
I’ve not been there, but there is a (rather shrill) Save Machu Picchup group which has photos on their web site. They are particularly concerned about the cable cars.
I was there about 12 years ago and I love the place. The idea of the cable cars makes sense from the Peruvian POV. Machu Picchu is a cash cow and the Peruvian government wants it to be as accessable for tourists as Chichen Itza is in Mexico.
Frankly, I hate the idea of having more development at the site. One thing that I love doing at archaeological sites is trying to place myself at the time the site was occupied. It is next to impossible to do this at any site in Mexico, and adding cable cars to Machu Picchu would make it impossible as well.
I was there in 1997. Yes, it’s pretty much unspoiled within the area of the ruins themselves. (As Karl says, There is a hotel/restaurant just outside the ruins.)
The best way to appreciate the ruins is stay overnight in nearby Aguascalientes, then take the first bus up in the morning before the tourist trains from Cusco arrive. For a few hours you will have the area mostly to yourself (there may be a few dozen others scattered around), and it’s possible to imagine the place as it was in the time of the Incas. One can also stay late, after the day trippers have gone back to the city. Staying at the luxury hotel near the site also gives you access at times when the site is not too crowded, though it’s much more expensive than staying in Aguascalientes.
Hiking the Inca Trail (while admittedly not for everyone) gets you there to watch the sun rise over the mountain, which is pretty amazing, and you get to the ruins before even the first bus from Aguas Calientes. Of course, even though it’s a three-day hike, I would estimate that about 60 or 70 people arrived via the trail the same day we did. I.e. there’s no time that you can really have much solitude at Machu Picchu. But it is free of postcard sellers and the like.
Aguascalientes! That was the name of the town, thanks Colibrí!
I recall hearing that they wanted to build a hotel at the site, but I guess it hasn’t happened. A good thing, a very good thing.
I’d love to go myself. Maybe one day. I’ve been to Chichen Itza and quite enjoyed that experience.
I read an article about 2 months ago in my local paper that there was a hotel at the ruins. It was a big point cuz as a hotel patron, you could stay at the ruins long past everyone else, since they had to take the bus back to whereever they came from. Is that false?
Omar, there could be a resort, when I went there was just a restaurant but they were building something else. It is still outside of the ruins, inside the park there are no other buildings except the ruins.
When I was there, there was a hotel and a restaurant immediately outside the ruins. I was told by someone who had stayed at the hotel that, if you stayed there, you could visit the ruins at times when most other visitors were not able to. However, I don’t think this included times before dawn or after dusk. Since the first bus gets up to the ruins not too long after dawn, and the last bus leaves pretty late in the afternoon, I don’t think that staying at the hotel allows you all that much time free of other visitors, although there might be some.
Check out this month’s issue of Smithsonian for a nice article on Machu Picchu.