Bad weather leaves thousands stuck in Machu Picchu

The Seattle Times reports on the 2,000 stranded visitors in Peru's Machu Picchu ruins.

Heavy rains and mudslides this week blocked the critical train track in Machu Picchu Puebla (the village near the ruins) to nearby town Cuzco.

Perurail spokeswoman Soledad Caparo told the AP that train company crews were working nonstop to clear rock and mud covering the tracks, but she said flooding of the adjacent Urubamba River had slowed the cleanup.

Rains stopped Monday night and Perurail said in a statement that service could resume Tuesday, "weather permitting." It added that military helicopters delivered food and water to the village and would return Tuesday to continue evacuations.

Read the full story: Rains strand 2,000 tourists at Machu Picchu ruins

Photo by Danny Catt

Global warming's dire effects

Reuters video reports on the trickle-down effects of global warming from melting glaciers to drought.

Lima, Peru is the driest city on earth because of the rapid decline of the glaciers that supplied rivers and other water sources, according to the report.

Australia is also experiencing a seven-year drought, the longest on record and no end in sight.

Watch below:

Deforestation caused Peruvian natives decline; study

Reuters reports that deforestation caused the decline of Peruvian natives called the Nasca according to a new study.

The Nasca people, famed for the lines that depict animals or geometric shapes most clearly visible from the air, became unable to grow enough food in nearby valleys because the lack of trees made the climate too dry, scientists said.

The report, led by Cambridge University in England, said that the findings showed a need for more action now to protect the world's arid lands.

Read the full story: Deforestation sped demise of Nasca in Peru: study

Photo from Thomson Reuters

Did global warming help Incas?

Reuters video reports on the new theory that South America's Inca population was helped by a warming planet.

Scientists now believe that the Incas were able to expand their food crops to higher altitudes when the temperature went up and thus able to sustain their growing population.

Watch the full report below:

Community-based tourism in Peru

USA Today reports on the growing trend of travelers to Peru getting away from tourist traps and living like local villagers.

Peru tourism has exploded in the past six years and more visitors are seeking out a unique cultural immersion that community-based tourism can provide.

"In the late 1990s, a group of enterprising [Vicos] villagers founded a community tourism project to promote sustainable tourism in the popular trekking area, while sharing their customs with travelers."

The back-to-basics approach also gives tourists hands-on experience tending the villagers' organic farms.

Read the full story: Tourists step off the beaten path to experience Peru's culture

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

For-profit ecotourism in Peru reaps many rewards

The Economist magazine highlights how a for-profit ecotourism outfit in Peru has the best interests of the Amazonian rain forest in mind... something that NGOs or non-profits have struggled with.

The area of the Amazon in Peru is fast becoming an eco-tourist destination with a reported 20-times increase in the past 15 years.

Rainforest Expeditions operates Posada Amazonas the largest tourism outfit in the area. Its goal has always been conservation through tourism, which has been successful, but it has also enriched the local families in the area as well. RE has actively involved the local community in the tourism projects, the locals get most of the profits and eventually will take over entire control. The peoples literacy, health and nutrition levels have benefited greatly while the forest has remained intact.

But the future of Peru's rain forest is still up in the air because of a newly paved road straight through it leading directly to Brazil. Past statistics of paved roads leading into Brazil's Amazon have shown that an increase in damaging development has occurred.

Read the full story: Rumble in the jungle