Machu Picchu Protest

Visits to Machu Picchu are even tougher than Montalbano described. We were with a group of about 18 tourists scheduled to stay at the Machu Picchu Hotel overnight during March. Two days before the event our Lima agents said that the railroad from Cuzco was on strike but that management would run the trains from Urubamba to the bus station, and that our hotel reservations had been changed because the hotel was overbooking. . . .

The overbooking was confirmed by another group who were refused rooms and put on a bus down the hill after dark to arrive at the train station after the last train had departed. They started walking down the tracks with worry about bandits and other night fears with only three flashlights. They were halfway through a very narrow tunnel when the train headlight showed up, but fortunately it was their rescue train and stopped for them. They spent the night in a hostel, not what they expected.

MITCHELL H. DAZEY

Palos Verdes Estates