Peruvian Unrest. Machu Picchu tour looking unlikely

[trk_koa]

I just read on the trip advisor Peru forum that a large tour company (not sure if I can mention the name here) has cancelled their trips to Peru through January 31. 
 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294311-i818-k14221405-Train_Service_to_Machu_Picchu_suspended_January_4th-Peru.html

Edited January 10, 2023 by trk_koa
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[FlaMariner]

Thanks for folks continuing to post updates.  It's difficult to get info.

 

We have plans for Machu Picchu in March.  It's either going to be the best time or the worst time to visit.  

[FlaMariner]

PeruRail has been rolling since 1/8.

 

https://www.perurail.com/news/resumption-of-operations-as-of-today-january-8/

 

[FlaMariner]

New alert on the USA Embassy site in Lima......I believe this references the city of Cusco (gateway to Machu Picchu) but I'll rely on others on here to correct me.

 

LOCATION:  Cusco and Puno, Peru.      EVENT:

Significant, sometimes violent, demonstrations and roadblocks continue in Puno.  Puno is under a curfew from January 10-12 between the hours of 8:00 p.m.-4:00 a.m.

Demonstrations and roadblocks continue in the city of Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and surrounding areas.  Demonstrators are attempting to block access to Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ) in Cusco.  Do not approach or attempt to drive around roadblocks.  U.S. citizens should avoid crowds and follow the instructions of local authorities.  The airport currently remains open for domestic and international flights, but please monitor the news and consult with your airlines about potential delays or cancellations.

[Mercruiser]

6 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

New alert on the USA Embassy site in Lima......I believe this references the city of Cusco (gateway to Machu Picchu) but I'll rely on others on here to correct me.

 

LOCATION:  Cusco and Puno, Peru.      EVENT:

Significant, sometimes violent, demonstrations and roadblocks continue in Puno.  Puno is under a curfew from January 10-12 between the hours of 8:00 p.m.-4:00 a.m.

Demonstrations and roadblocks continue in the city of Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and surrounding areas.  Demonstrators are attempting to block access to Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ) in Cusco.  Do not approach or attempt to drive around roadblocks.  U.S. citizens should avoid crowds and follow the instructions of local authorities.  The airport currently remains open for domestic and international flights, but please monitor the news and consult with your airlines about potential delays or cancellations.

Yes, it is Cusco city. The demonstrations are occurring right at the Cusco airport, used by tourists to/from Lima. (Previous demonstrations have been in places far from Lima or Cusco city.)

 

One of the major Peru news outlets is reporting 43 injuries and 1 dead in Cusco.

https://larepublica.pe/

 

It is fair to say that the violent demonstrations have escalated significantly this week. Regardless of your citizenship, I suggest following the Canadian government Travel Advice for Peru. They are updating it regularly with the latest information.

https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/peru

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by Mercruiser

[Mercruiser]

Unfortunately, the US State Department has not updated their Travel Advisory since Dec 22. 

 

The situation has changed drastically since Dec 22. Instead, they are relying on the US Embassy in Peru to issue alerts. 

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Peru.html

Edited January 12, 2023 by Mercruiser

[FlaMariner]

Front page of the WSJ this morning has a tank and soldiers with guns guarding Cusco (the city, it says).

 

This is the tagline....

 

TENSIONS: Police guard the city of Cusco, Peru, on Wednesday to prevent riots by supporters of Pedro Castillo, who was removed as president after he tried to close Congress on Dec. 7. At least 40 people have died in the protests.

[Mercruiser]

The Cusco city airport (CUZ) is closed. The last plane landed there at 2:28 pm. There have been no more arrivals or departures since.

 

Here is the notice on the Lima airport FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/aeropuertojorgechavez/

 

The ramification is no travel to/from the city of Cusco, the Sacred Valley, or Machu Picchu. I am reading some posts on the TripAdvisor Peru forum with travelers who are stuck there until the airport reopens. There are also lots of posts by people with upcoming package tours that want to cancel, understandably.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Mercruiser

[FlaMariner]

Here is an article from Reuters....

 

RE: protests in Lima and Cusco's closed airport all on Thursday 1/12....(the city of Cusco, not the Cusco Dept....for those that are more geographically understanding of Peru and the important need to be correct in disclosing locations):

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/thousands-march-peru-capital-demanding-034056163.html

 

We still have our air & hotel reservations to for Cusco (the city, not the dept) in mid March prior to our Santiago cruise .....We plan to make the go/no go decision 30 days prior.  If we were traveling in the next 30 days, the decision would be no.

 

I continue to appreciate the updates folks are posting.....especially the details by @Mercruiser

 

 

[joetop2467]

Our 18 night trip to Brazil, Argentina, and Peru was canceled by Gate 1 Travel on Friday.  We were due to leave January 26.  We had the option of just doing Brazil and Argentina for 10 days but Peru was out.  Must be bad down there.  The good news is that we booked back to back Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises on Celebrity Reflection on February 19 and Celebrity Beyond for February 26 at super cheap prices.  While we’ve done these cruises numerous times, we sure don’t want to be stuck in Peru.  

[FlaMariner]

Peru government has extended the state of emergency........not looking good.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/peru-extends-state-emergency-one-154115344.html

 

 

[DCThunder]

With the US State Department having a "Reconsider Travel" advisory out for Peru since mid-December, tours to Machu Pichu being cancelled, and the unrest spreading to Lima, will cruise lines start bypassing Lima as a port on South American itineraries?  

 

Peru protesters, fired up by deaths, march on Lima demanding change (devdiscourse.com)

[FlaMariner]

Looks like no trains, no air in Cusco.....Probably time to cancel our pre-cruise Machu Picchu trip in March.

 

https://pe.usembassy.gov/demonstration-alert-u-s-embassy-lima-peru-january-19-2023-2/

[trk_koa]

Even though our trip is over and went well, I’m still keeping an eye on the situation in Peru. I really feel for our guides and drivers whose livelihoods depend on tourism. 
 

I’ve been keeping up on the trip advisor Peru forums and there are links there to good sources of information. 

[Mercruiser]

There has been a lot happening in Peru these last few days. Of relevance to Machu Picchu:

 

1) The MP rail line is closed again: https://www.perurail.com/news/notice/

 

Protestors tore out a section of railroad tracks used to access MP.

 

2) The MP site (Machupicchu llaqta) and the trails network is now closed according to the Ministry of Culture.

https://www.culturacusco.gob.pe/noticia/imagen/comunicado-sobre-cierre-de-machupicchu-y-red-de-caminos-inka/

 

Translation from the orginal in Spanish (red emphasis mine)

DECENTCENTRATED DIRECTORATE OF CULTURE OF CUSCO

PERU

 

COMMUNICATE

The Decentralized Directorate of Culture Cusco of the Ministry of Culture

and the Headquarters of the Historic Sanctuary of Machupicchu of the National

Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State -(Sernanp) communicate that

in view of the current social situation in which our region and the country

find themselves , the closure of the Inka Road Network and the

Machupicchu llaqta has been ordered, from January 21, 2023 until further

notice, to safeguard the safety of tourists and the population in general.

Likewise, it is communicated that all the facilities will be provided to

national and foreign tourists who are affected for the use of tickets,

from January 21, 2023 until one month after the conclusion of the

social mobilizations or request the return of the amount of the ticket.

 

3) The Cusco airport (CUZ) was closed yesterday, but is now open again. This is a very fluid situation. So we can anticipate the possibility of more closures. Basically, they close the airport when protestors attempt to breach the security perimeter.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Mercruiser

[FlaMariner]

From BBC.  Machu Picchu closed "indefinitely" and rail shut down.  Stranded tourists rescued again.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/peru-protests-iconic-machu-picchu-175632326.html

 

 

[FlaMariner]

Canceled our pre-cruise mid March Machu Picchu trip.

 

We will visit another time.

[jocan]

Hello FlaMariner , we are on the mid March tour as well , just curious whether you cancelled yourself or did Princess cancel ? Some of the Rolls for that MP land tour state that Princess has cancelled the tour of March 13 2023 due to the current unrest.

[FlaMariner]

Hey Jocan

 

Our MP tour was DIY pre-cruise.  Not thru cruise line. 

 

Instead of flying to Cusco pre-cruise, we are now heading directly to Santiago to catch our Holland America Line cruise on 3/24. 

 

Our cruise stops in Peru and includes overnights in Lima.  I'm curious if that will happen also. 

 

Enjoy the cruise....with or without Peru!

 

 

[KarlGermany]

We planned a Galapagos cruise post tour to Lima and Machu Picchu area (post cruise part would have started Feb. 25), all booked through Celebrity.

they cancelled the post cruise part today, telling our travel agent they would reimburse us for this part plus an addition payment up to 500 USD for any additional expenses due to rebooking flights.

well, not unexpected.

however, so far Celebrity didn’t tell us how much they are going to reimburse, they even didn’t tell us, where and when exactly the booked tour now ends. I hope they provide flights from Baltra to Quito and a night in Quito, depending on at which time we will arrive and at which time flights into US are available.

Actually I would have expected that they do offer a little bit of assistance in rebooking. It’s also not really nice to get this information on a Friday without chances to get any additional information before next Monday.

hey, maybe I expect to much for such a ‘cheap’ tour, it was just a bit more than 10.000 USD each 😂😂😂, not the amount they would offer some really good service maybe.

well, we are still looking forward to the Galapagos cruise itself and maybe we can arrange a short round tour in Ecuador instead of Machu Picchu.

 

[SunDog19]

On 1/27/2023 at 11:02 AM, KarlGermany said:

We planned a Galapagos cruise post tour to Lima and Machu Picchu area (post cruise part would have started Feb. 25), all booked through Celebrity.

they cancelled the post cruise part today, telling our travel agent they would reimburse us for this part plus an addition payment up to 500 USD for any additional expenses due to rebooking flights.

well, not unexpected.

however, so far Celebrity didn’t tell us how much they are going to reimburse, they even didn’t tell us, where and when exactly the booked tour now ends. I hope they provide flights from Baltra to Quito and a night in Quito, depending on at which time we will arrive and at which time flights into US are available.

Actually I would have expected that they do offer a little bit of assistance in rebooking. It’s also not really nice to get this information on a Friday without chances to get any additional information before next Monday.

hey, maybe I expect to much for such a ‘cheap’ tour, it was just a bit more than 10.000 USD each 😂😂😂, not the amount they would offer some really good service maybe.

well, we are still looking forward to the Galapagos cruise itself and maybe we can arrange a short round tour in Ecuador instead of Machu Picchu.

 

Thanks for the info Karl. Please keep us updated!

We are booked with Celebrity MP land tour as well. Our trip is in June.

On their website they have 7, 10, and 16 day (includes MP) tours. I would speculate that if you look at the 10 day itinerary, it will probably be what you can expect without MP.

 

[Mercruiser]

I was wondering if cruise lines are still making port calls in Peru. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' MV Balmoral made her port call in Lima today.

 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:369172/zoom:14

 

[KarlGermany]

20 hours ago, SunDog19 said:

Thanks for the info Karl. Please keep us updated!

We are booked with Celebrity MP land tour as well. Our trip is in June.

On their website they have 7, 10, and 16 day (includes MP) tours. I would speculate that if you look at the 10 day itinerary, it will probably be what you can expect without MP.

 

Yes, that’s what we expect, getting the 10 days tour, however, I would also have expected Celebrity that they would tell us exactly this and not just „we cancel the post cruise tour“. 
I think you agree, that this is not the cheapest cruise Celebrity offers, I believe it’s not over the edge to expect kind of good service 😉

well, we hope to get more info by tomorrow 

[MakingUpForLostTime]

5 hours ago, Mercruiser said:

I was wondering if cruise lines are still making port calls in Peru. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' MV Balmoral made her port call in Lima today.

 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:369172/zoom:14

 

It could very well be just a technical stop for food/fuel etc. Several ships are not letting passengers off. How do we find out? 

[Travels with Lisa]

My guess is the cruise line would make a decision when you get close to your arrival date as  conditions are changing on a daily.