new bridge at the feet of machu Picchu?

is this new bridge going to be ready this year ??
it should allow people to take a bus to Machu Picchu without taking the
famous train.

"tile" wrote in message
...
is this new bridge going to be ready this year ??
it should allow people to take a bus to Machu Picchu without taking the
famous train.


What bridge? You need to also build a long road. The 4 wheel vehicles in
Aqua Calientes are brought in by train.

"Calif Bill" ha scritto nel messaggio
hlink.net...

"tile" wrote in message
...
is this new bridge going to be ready this year ??
it should allow people to take a bus to Machu Picchu without taking the
famous train.


What bridge? You need to also build a long road. The 4 wheel vehicles in
Aqua Calientes are brought in by train.


I have read a new bridge will be inaugurated in February.. allowing the
poeple of a nearby village to cross the river

apparently that would allow people to go to Machu Picchu in about 4 hours
from Cuzco

I do not remember the thread.. but some people were happy that the number of
tourists will go up to 4.000 a day. while other people were of the opinion
it will a disgrace to have more than 2500 tourists a day.

I have been there in August ( see www.vanhulsenbeek.com) and, with all
respect, I do not believe a word of this rumor. Direct car-acces to MP would
involve serious and destructive road building along the river for many
miles. Unlikely that Peru has the money or the will to do that in view of
the worldwide outcry it would receive.

Just Google Earth to machupicchu, peru , and see that nothing of the kind is
happening, even when the picture was taken some years ago.

The 4000 tourist story is true, and that is causing a daily mini-earthquake
already . 4 hours from Cuzco: dream on :-)
Sander

Amsterdam
Holland

quote:
I have read a new bridge will be inaugurated in February.. allowing the
people of a nearby village to cross the river

apparently that would allow people to go to Machu Picchu in about 4 hours
from Cuzco

"tile" wrote in message
...

"Calif Bill" ha scritto nel messaggio
hlink.net...

"tile" wrote in message
...
is this new bridge going to be ready this year ??
it should allow people to take a bus to Machu Picchu without taking the
famous train.


What bridge? You need to also build a long road. The 4 wheel vehicles
in Aqua Calientes are brought in by train.


I have read a new bridge will be inaugurated in February.. allowing the
poeple of a nearby village to cross the river

apparently that would allow people to go to Machu Picchu in about 4 hours
from Cuzco

I do not remember the thread.. but some people were happy that the number
of tourists will go up to 4.000 a day. while other people were of the
opinion it will a disgrace to have more than 2500 tourists a day.

Here is the story. Googling to Santa Tereas, you can see that is is
downstream from MP, far beyond the Hydroelectrica. The are some rough tracks
there, but it is "on the wrong side" of MP. The facts make the 4 hours story
even more unlikely: the bridge replaces a bridge that has been there before
at the same place. " The bridge, 12 miles from Machu Picchu at the town of
Santa Theresa, replaces one washed away in a 1998 flood but which the
government refused to rebuild." What's new?
And what about those 12 miles. 4 hours from Cuzco and then 2 days
alternative Incatrail? I still remember my 1st visit in 1979 when landslides
were rife in January below Winay Wayna and the tourists from the train had
to cross the mud in their high heels (Manolo's "avant la lettre" no doubt)

The Guardian's story is a misinformed hodgepodge IMHO

Sander
Amsterdam
Holland


"tile" wrote in message
...
is this new bridge going to be ready this year ??
it should allow people to take a bus to Machu Picchu without taking the
famous train.
(December 2006:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...978696,00.html

A Peruvian mayor has built a bridge leading to Machu Picchu, Peru's Inca
citadel, despite warnings it will wreck the archaeological gem and open a
route for drug smugglers. The 80-metre (260ft) long bridge over the
Vilcanota river is due to open this week in defiance of a court order and
protests from the government, which fears hordes of backpackers will swamp
the site.

The UN conservation agency Unesco is due in February to inspect the
mountaintop ruins, a world heritage site deep in the Andean jungle, amid
concern that there are already too many visitors. But Fedia Castro, mayor of
Convención province, said the bridge would end her community's isolation and
give tourists a cheaper option than a train which, until now, had a monopoly
on transport through the Sacred Valley. "It's almost ready, so they can't
stop it," she said.

Locals have welcomed the bridge for opening their remote province to
commerce and tourism. Instead of a treacherous 15-hour drive over mountain
passes farmers can truck coffee and fruit to Cusco in just three hours.

The bridge, 12 miles from Machu Picchu at the town of Santa Theresa,
replaces one washed away in a 1998 flood but which the government refused to
rebuild. "We begged and shouted but they ignored us," said Ms Castro. The
municipal and provincial authorities of Convención started building in
January, using £570,000 of public funds. The final touches are being put in
place.

The National Institute of Natural Resources filed a criminal complaint
against Ms Castro last month after she ignored a court injunction demanding
a halt to construction. Deputy tourism minister Alfonso Salcedo called the
mayor reckless: "This we will not allow."

Officials also expressed alarm that Convención, which is under a state of
emergency because of its coca production, could smuggle cocaine in the fruit
and coffee trucks crossing the bridge. Peru is the world's second largest
cocaine producer after Colombia.

The tourism ministry did not reply to queries last week about what, if
anything, would be done to stop the bridge.

Since Peru's guerrilla war ended in the 1990s the number of visitors to
Machu Picchu, 310 miles south of the capital, Lima, has soared to more than
4,000 tramping around the stone citadel daily.

Conservationists warned that the ruins were under stress and that wildlife
along the Inca trail was disappearing, prompting the government to limit the
number of visitors to 2,500 daily. Unesco is reportedly considering naming
it an endangered heritage site.

Ms Castro said other Inca sites nearby could draw many of the tourists and
relieve pressure on Machu Picchu, a secret city missed by the conquistadors
and unknown to the outside world until an explorer stumbled across it in
1911.

Conservation concern, she said, was a red herring to protect the monopoly of
PeruRail, part of Orient Express Hotels, which has operated the line since
1999. Every day hundreds of foreigners pay from £33 to £230, depending on
how much luxury they want, for a return trip. With the bridge backpackers
can take a £2.30 bus ride to the foot of the site.

The mayor alleged, but offered no proof, that three executives offered her a
£255,000 bribe in 2003 to forget the bridge. A PeruRail spokesman, Gonzolo
Rojas, rejected the claim.

Ms Castro lost her post in elections last month and is due to step down next
week. She has disputed the election result. The new mayor has supported the
bridge.

Sander van Hulsenbeek wrote:


The Guardian's story is a misinformed hodgepodge IMHO


My guess is, somebody is using _The Celestine Prophecy_ as a source of
information about Peru. :-(

--
Bob Broughton
http://broughton.ca/
Vancouver, BC, Canada
"It should be legal for a private maternity ward to permit smoking."
- Chuck Wright, May 22, 2006