Machu Picchu porters overworked and underpaid

USA Today reports how the exploding popularity of Peru's Inca Trail trek is also overtaxing and underpaying the porters who tote tourists' luggage.

All tourists who want to make the historic hike must now go with a guided tour that can cost hundreds of dollars - and to lure in budget travelers some companies cheapen their prices by paying their porters less but requiring them to haul more weight.

Although a law in 2003 made it mandatory for porters to make $15 a day and only carry 57 pounds - it's easy for companies to dismiss and porters happy to make any money still work for less:

"Victor, 22, [said he was carrying over-regulation weight — 66 pounds — for $9 dollars a day and complained bitterly about not getting enough food,] as he labored alone on the final ascent to Warmiwanusca, Quechua for "Dead Woman's Pass," the grisly name for the trail's highest point at 13,779 feet.

Unlike porters with other agencies, Victor didn't have a water bottle and his dry, cracked toes jutted out from the end of worn-down sandals, covered in dust from the trail.

Jorge Villasante, Peru's vice labor minister, acknowledges that enforcing the 2003 law is a problem."

Read the full story: Machu Picchu tourism boom puts extra burden on Inca Trail porters