PAT Testing

Heavy rains caused severe damage to the 122-kilometer long railway infrastructure between Cuzco, Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes, the access point for Machu Picchu, resulting in many tourists being stranded at the legendary site of the Incas.

Although the sector from Ollantaytambo to Piscacucho, the trail head of the four-day Inca Trail, is fully accessible by road via Ollantaytambo to Cuzco, even hard core trekkers do not dare to walk out from Machu Picchu following this ancient camino andino.

To restore the railway line damaged buy the landslides will take up to eight weeks. Although the rains have diminished, it is a rainy season in Peru and the inclement weather will no doubt continue to adversely affect the repairs of the railway tracks.

With Machu Picchu being impossible to access at the moment and you are on your way to Peru, best opt for visiting other destinations in the Peruvian Andes such as Huaraz. Alternatively take out your Latin America map and go elsewhere.

To evacuate the stranded tourists caught buy the rains in the area, the Cuzco local government, Peruvian national government, the US embassy and the Peru Rail have all provided helicopters to evacuate the tourists from Machu Picchu to  Ollantaytambo, from where they can be safely then transferred by road to Cuzco.

Although more than ten helicopters have been involved in the evacuations, weather conditions have slowed down the evacuations. Full evacuation of all travelers from Machu Picchu is expected to be completed this weekend. Though stranded at the Machu Picchu ruins the tourists stay at local lodges and medical services have been provided by the Peruvian army.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.