Peruvian Unrest. Machu Picchu tour looking unlikely

[FlaMariner]

On 1/29/2023 at 1:42 PM, MakingUpForLostTime said:

How do we find out? 

 

Maybe research roll calls? 

[Mercruiser]

I've been monitoring the Cusco - Machu Picchu situation for the last few weeks. There are some very active social media groups for Expats in Peru and those who want to Explore Cusco and Peru. I like these because they are primarily written by people who are actually in Lima, Cusco, etc.

 

Macchu Piccu is still closed. The trains are not running.  In contrast, the flights between Lima and Cusco have mostly been on schedule.

The situation is Cusco continues to worsen. Because of all the road blockades, Cusco is basically out of petrol, diesel, and cooking gas (propane). Grocery stores are running low on stock. As a result, many restaurants are closed because they don't have enough tourists, enough propane, or enough food to stay open. (Cusco does not have piped natural gas, so all cooking is done with propane.) Many hotels have shut down because of the lack of tourists. The petrol shortage means that getting a taxi to take you to the Sacred Valley sites can be a problem. There are also periodic road blocks that might keep you from seeing the sites. Street protest marches are a daily event, with lots of noise and air horns. You don't want to have a hotel room on one of these streets. Every time a protest goes by, all the shop owners roll down their security doors and close.

In my humble opinion, Cusco is not presently ready to host tourists. Some adventure travelers may insist on going to Cusco no matter what. They will be fine. I don't think Cusco is any more dangerous than any other city in the world.

 

But you're not going to have a good tourist experience with all the closures, lack of supplies, and constant noise from protest marches.

[mlgb]

Machu Picchu is now open again. The trains are supposed to return to regular schedules on February 20. For now, they have added  bimodal service from Cusco to the local mixed class trains. It will take a while to get the small town of Aguas Calientes ready to handle the influx of tourism.  Cusco no longer has shortages of cooking gas/petrol. 

 

https://www.perurail.com/news/news-release-train-operations-as-of-february-15/

Edited February 16, 2023 by mlgb

[GonzoWCS]

On 2/15/2023 at 6:41 PM, mlgb said:

Machu Picchu is now open again. The trains are supposed to return to regular schedules on February 20. For now, they have added  bimodal service from Cusco to the local mixed class trains. It will take a while to get the small town of Aguas Calientes ready to handle the influx of tourism.  Cusco no longer has shortages of cooking gas/petrol. 

 

https://www.perurail.com/news/news-release-train-operations-as-of-february-15/

Any word on folks going back to Machu Picchu now that things are trying to return to normal?

 

Cheers

[mlgb]

If you read through the "Live From" report for Sapphire Princess it appears that the pre-tour including Machu Picchu went off okay, as did a port stop in Paracas/Pisco.

 

[GonzoWCS]

32 minutes ago, mlgb said:

If you read through the "Live From" report for Sapphire Princess it appears that the pre-tour including Machu Picchu went off okay, as did a port stop in Paracas/Pisco.

 

Had not thanks for this!

 

Cheers

[SueMo]

Was there last week.  We had the Machu Picchu Express tour through Inca Expert precruise.  No signs of protests.  Low crowds at Machu Picchu—had a great time!

[mlgb]

In addition see the above-linked Live Report, they did visit Lima with a free transfer to Miraflores (looks like to LarcoMar Mall). From photos, they went to Barranco with a free lance guide and also went downtown.