In 1911, the American explorer and future politician Hiram Bingham discovered the Inca city of Machu Picchu. A large plaque at the entrance to the site commemorates his achievement. Next to it is a smaller rock with an inscription honoring the two Peruvian men, Melchor Artega and Alvarez Quienes, who were living and farming at Machu Picchu when Bingham arrived. The two prominent markers compete for attention from the more-than 1,000 people who visit Machu Picchu every day.
They arrive there by bus or on foot from the only nearby town of Aguas Calientes. The pedestrian trail up the mountain to Machu Picchu is a steep stone staircase through the forest.
On a recent morning two Peruvians, Martin Escudero and his girlfriend Rocio, were making this hike when they ran across a group of foreigners. “When I told them I was Peruvian,” said Escudero, who is a 37-year-old fireman, “I couldn’t let them beat me up the hill. I couldn’t get beat up my own hill by tourists.”
This was Escudero’s first trip to Machu Picchu, yet as he stood on a terrace overlooking the city he spoke of it, and his experience being there, as if the place were perfectly familiar. He seemed, like the inscribed stone at the park entrance, to claim the site as his own.
“I’m very proud of being a descendant of the Incas,” Escudero said. He explained Machu Picchu’s geographical importance – on the eastern slopes of the Andean mountains, in the semi-tropical, highland jungle – and eloquently defined its architectural beauty. “People travel great distances to see my country, to see Machu Picchu,” said Escudero. “It’s a mystical place.”
His girlfriend Rocio agreed. “For Peruvians it’s a spiritual place where they come to get energy and feel better. Peruvians believe in the apus, in the energy of the land.” Apus (pronounced ahpoos) is a Quechua word for mountains. It is spoken with a careful respect, the way one says the word grandmother. As she spoke, Rocio embraced the high, dark, cloud-crowned apus in a sweeping gesture with her hand. “All the energy is right here.”
Was this also her first visit to Machu Picchu? It wasn’t. Rocio, 23, couldn’t remember immediately how many times she had been there and finally resorted to counting them on her fingers. “Four times,” Rocio said. “And I’ll keep coming back.” Escudero said he would, too, and added, “Peruvians want to come to Machu Picchu many times.”
Many Peruvians do indeed visit Machu Picchu at least once in their lives, said Jose Luis Loaiza Medina, the director of the Archaeological Park Machu Picchu, which is owned and operated by the Peruvian government’s Institute of National Culture (INC). Some, like Rocio, make multiple visits thanks to school field trips.
Others, like Escudero, must wait half a lifetime or longer. “It’s important for Peruvians to come to Machu Picchu because they need to learn to identify with their own culture,” Loaiza Medina said. “Machu Picchu is the icon of Peru. Peru is known for it. It’s the great inheritance left to us by our ancestors.”
Cost becomes an issue
If it is important for Peruvians to visit the site, it is also expensive. In the past several years, said Loaiza Medina, it has become increasingly difficult for them to afford the trip at all. The single-day entrance ticket to the park and site costs roughly $40 dollars for the international tourist. In an effort to attract Peruvians, the INC charges them half-price.
On Sundays, Cusqueños – residents of the department of Cusco where Machu Picchu is located – can visit the park for free. And the country’s only railroad company, PERURAIL, charges all Peruvian citizens traveling by train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu only $5 – a fraction of the tourist price.
Yet despite these discounts and incentives, said Loaiza Medina, Machu Picchu remains very costly. “You have to have an established income,” to make the trip, he said.
Loaiza Medina estimated it costs Peruvians around $50 dollars – about one third of a minimum wage-earner´s monthly salary – to visit the park and stay overnight in the town of Aguas Calientes. “If we charged a Peruvian the tourist price (for admission) Machu Picchu would not be accessible.”
Without the current government-subsidized admission discount, a majority of Peruvians could not afford to visit one of their country’s greatest archaeological and cultural sites.
Rone Hendozg knows this. Hendozg makes an annual pilgrimage to Machu Picchu, though the two-day trip costs him a fourth of the monthly salary he earns as a grade-school teacher. Hendozg said he considers himself lucky; he knows there are some Peruvians who will never get the opportunity to see the place even once.
Hendozg said he will continue visiting Machu Picchu until he can no longer afford to. “I feel that I have a responsibility to come here,” said Hendozg. “Coming here to Machu Picchu means finding your roots. You always have to be in contact with your roots.”