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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Wed Aug 28, 2013, 12:49 PM Aug 2013

Peru plans tramway to Incan refuge of Choquequirao

Peru plans tramway to Incan refuge of Choquequirao

Mountaintop site is currently reached by 12- to 16-hour hike and gets far fewer visitors than nearby Machu Picchu

Associated Press in Lima
theguardian.com, Wednesday 28 August 2013 10.56 EDT



The former mountaintop refuge of Incan royalty has elegant halls and plazas much like those of the fabled Machu Picchu 30 miles away. Yet only a handful of tourists visit the ruins each day, those willing to make a two-day hike to reach its majestic solitude.

That is about to change: the national government has approved what would be Peru's first aerial tramway. Bridging the deep canyon of the Apurimac river, it is expected to make Choquequirao reachable in 15 minutes from the nearest main road.

The three-mile-long route will be designed to whiz 400 people an hour in each direction half a mile above the river. The president of the Apurimac state government, Elias Segovia, anticipates that the £30m tramway will bring about 3,000 tourists a day after it opens in late 2015. "This is going to generate tourist services. It will generate great investment," he said.

The idea is to shift some of the tourist burden from Machu Picchu, where authorities have a limit of 2,500 daily visitors and where reservations are now required for people who wish to hike the famed Inca trail to the ruins.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/28/peru-tram-incan-refuge-choquequirao

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