This weekend on An Idiot Abroad Karl Pilkington conquered the last of the world's seven wonders: Machu Picchu in Peru.
Of course, Ricky Gervais wasn't going to let his sidekick have an easy time of it, especially on his last trip, so he planned an excursion through the Amazon for Karl which included a visit with a local tribe who seemed to be as confused by Karl as he was by them. ]]>
It's already been almost two months since out of control flood waters washed away the main routes for accessing the remote Inca ruins site of Machu Picchu, in Peru. But today, the Peruvian Minister of Tourism has announced that the UNESCO World Heritage site will reopen to tourists on April 1, 2010, barring any other weather delays.
Since the heavy rainfall of January caused the nearby Vilcanota River to tumultuously overrun its banks and take out rail lines and roads, stranding thousands and thousands of tourists in the small town of Aguas Calientes for days before being evacuated by helicopter, tourism to the country has been severely impacted. Airlines that fly many visitors to Peru, like Delta, offered one-time ticket changes for people postponing trips, and many with booked package tours were issued refunds or change waivers. ]]>
We like to think that Machu Picchu really is a great destination, not to be detracted from just because it wound up on the biased and strange New 7 Wonders list. So it shouldn't come as any surprise to hear that tourist numbers to Peru's famous Inca ruins are rising rapidly.
Unfortunately we're not sure if this is a good thing. With tourist numbers constantly rising in the past decade--they'd already reached 400,000 a year in 2003, and 850,000 are predicted this year--they'll soon reach the one million a year mark. Disregarding peaks in tourist traffic, that means on average we'll have to share Machu Picchu with another 3,000 cameras and backpacks on the day we visit, and that makes a remote scenic ruin turn into something of a tourist trap.
Related Stories:
· 800,000 Tourists to Visit Machu Picchu [Living in Peru]
· Waterworld II: Machu Picchu Island [Jaunted]
· New 7 Wonders of the World Announced [Jaunted]
[Photo: Marc Schandro]]]>