Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machupicchu are some of the best tourist destinations in the world. The beauty of the archaeological sites in a unique natural setting is mind-blowing. How long however will tourists accept the officially organised extortion? How long will young people be able to afford to visit them?

It starts with the Boleto Turistico that you have to buy in Cusco and that gives access to archaeological sites in and around Cusco and to museums for a period of 10 days. This Boleto costs 43 USD (September 2008) which is expensive to South American or to Peruvian standards. At the selling points, there is no posted information that you could consult at your ease before buying the ticket. You need to ask very specific questions to the vendor or the Tourist Information Desk but most newcomers are relatively uninformed and the information in the travel guides are already outdated even if you bought the newest edition. You would believe that with this Boleto, you would be able to visit the most important things. This is true for the archaeological sites. The Boleto gives access to 9 sites including the top sites, but some sites are quite far out of the way so that depending on the tour you are making, you would miss 2 or 3 of the less important ones. It is impossible to buy single tickets for the sites you want to see so you have no choice but to buy the complete ticket. Yes there are 2 partial tickets but the validity of 1 or 2 days and the distance range are almost not feasible. The museums included in the ticket appear to be of second or third rank. None of the top museums nor the cathedral or other churches are included. The “Religious Circuit” costs another 17 USD. One thing I found exceptionally grave: The Qoricancha is the former Inca palace of which only some parts are still visible after the conquistadores built the Dominican Cloister on top of it. This Qoricancha is a must for tourists. The Boleto contains access to the “Museo de Sitio del Qoricancha” and the map that goes with the Boleto shows a picture of the real Qoricancha. In reality, what you can visit is a small third rank underground museum at the side (not the site!) of the Qoricancha where you spend less that 15 minutes looking at primarily replicas. In my book this is called plain fraud!

The entrance to Machupicchu is not included in this Boleto but this was obvious from the beginning and the cost of 43 USD is probably what you have to pay nowadays for a world class site. The problem is with the train from Cusco or Ollantaytambo and the bus from Aguas Calientes, the village at the foot of the Machupicchu site. Both means of transportation are monopolies. Unless you walk the (also expensive) Inca Trail for 5 days, there is no alternative to get to Machupicchu than by train, unless you want to hike along the track which is very dangerous and of course forbidden because breaching the monopoly, or buying an old inner tire and letting you drift on the treacherous waters of the Rio Urubamba. This Peru Rail train section is given in concession to “Orient Express Luxury Trains” with registered office in the Bermudas but in reality a British company. Again, at the ticket selling point in Ollantaytambo, there is no posted information of the time schedule and the price. Everything has to be asked at the ticket boot. The cheapest train is (yes, how did you guess it?) 43 USD for the one way 1 hour and 40 minutes trip of 43 km. How does this compare to the similarly priced train to the top European tourist site of Jungfraujoch in Switserland? The main part of this latter railway track is cut inside the mountain and goes to the foot of a glacier in the Swiss Alps. The Machupicchu railway was built in 1931 on the then existing road. First lesson in how to ensure your monopoly: get rid of the road where all kinds of busses could bring tourists and put a railway instead. A Swiss train conductor gets a monthly salary of around 3500 USD whereas the Peruvian train conductor makes 740 USD a month. Seventeen passengers pay the months salary of the Peruvian conductor on a track that is relatively easy (and cheap) to maintain, whereas you need 81 passengers to pay for the monthly salary of the Swiss conductor of the Jungfraujoch train on a track that is very expensive to maintain. Both the Machupicchu tourist and the Peruvian workers are being robbed. Oh yes, I almost forgot the bus from Aguas Calientes to Machupicchu which costs 7 USD one way for a 20 minute ride. A luxury night bus in Peru costs only 5 USD per hour and a normal day bus 1,25 USD per hour but they are not golden coloured mercedeses as the ones in Machupicchu. Alternatively, you can climb the hill in around an hour if you are physically fit to do so.

According to a travel guide from 2004, prices in Cusco have quadrupled. How much longer are tourists going to accept this? A World Heritage location recognised by UNESCO should be accessible at a reasonable price so that everyone can afford to visit it. We hear that more and more young travellers need to take a long but cheap local bus ride from Cusco or Ollantaytambo to Santa Teresa and then have to walk a difficult 5 hours to reach Aguas Calientes in order to avoid the train racket. More tourists should do so.

Patrick Debouck
Belgium