The Porters of Machu Picchu

[BIRDS CHIRPING, NATURE SOUNDS]
ISAAC RIQUELME [TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH]: My parents raised me in the chacra, since I was 5 or 10 years old. We grew up in the fields, and I learned how to work from them.
TARIRO MZEZEWA, HOST: Isaac Riquelme grew up in a Quechua community called Huilloc. It’s an Indigenous village in the Sacred Valley of Peru — about an hour drive from Machu Picchu.
IR: Our ancestors left us these walls, beautiful places to walk and enjoy, and now lots of people come. We don’t know where they come from, and many things have changed.

TM: Huilloc used to be a farming town, but now it exists in the shadow of Machu Picchu — dominated by an ever-growing tourism industry.

IR: When I entered high school, we didn’t have enough money. The farm wasn’t producing enough to sell.

TM: Isaac became a porter, helping tourists hike the Inca Trail.

[MUSIC]

IR: We carried their equipment, everything they needed to cook, everything that had to do with the food for the tourists. It was more to support them. Take some camping equipment, and then more, so it was more or less an exchange with them, too, so that they felt good, calm.

TM: It wasn’t easy.

IR: We had to carry 40 or 45 kilos. There was no control. We just carried.

TM: That’s around 90 pounds of equipment on Isaac’s back, during an intense hike in high altitudes.

IR: Whether you could or couldn’t, you had to keep going, even if it was slow, as long as you got there.

TM: Many of his basic needs weren’t covered.

IR: The agency didn’t provide food. You had to carry your share. It was very tough during that time.

TM: It’s been 40 years since Isaac first hiked the Inca Trail as a porter. But the problem persists. Many porters are still mistreated.

MIGUEL GÓNGORA [TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH]: They’re seen as animals! I don’t know how else to explain it.

JUAN CAMA ARIAS [TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH]: They abused their power. They did whatever they wanted with the porters.

[THEME MUSIC]

TM: The porter industry is shrouded in secrecy. Many fear retaliation if they speak out publicly about their conditions.

MG: And the tourists see this. The tourists witness all this abuse.

IR: As a young man, I often wondered, “When will this change?”

JCA: They make a lot of money at the expense of our suffering, our humility, or our lack of awareness that we are Peruvians. We are people.

TM: From WHYY, this is Peak Travel. I’m your host Tariro Mzezewa. Today, we’re exploring Machu Picchu — an impressive feat of Incan engineering, and a tourist hub powered by an unseen workforce.

Peru has one of the largest populations of Indigenous people in Latin America. And for a long time, the country has been praised for celebrating this heritage. But over the last 50 years, visits to Machu Picchu have spiked by over 700%, and this tourism boom has exposed a world of discrimination and classism.

In this episode, we’re talking to the porters — many of whom are Indigenous to this region. They hike the trail daily, and bear the weight of the industry on their backs.

That’s coming up, on Peak Travel.

[MIDROLL BREAK]

[MUSIC]

TM: This is Peak Travel. I’m your host, Tariro Mzezewa.

Our producer Jimena Ledgard lives in Lima. She knows the landscape of Machu Picchu well.

JIMENA LEDGARD, PRODUCER: You are at what we call here in Peru the ceja de selva. And the ceja de selva means, like, the eyebrow of the Amazon, the eyebrow of the jungle, because it’s like, it’s a ridge, right before it, kind of, like, goes down into the jungle. So it’s high altitude, but it’s not so high, and it’s already tropical.

TM: Built in 1450, Machu Picchu is known as the “Lost City of the Incas.” The granite ruins overlook the Urubamba River Valley, and they’re a symbol of the skill and ingenuity of the Inca Empire.

[MUSIC]

JL: When you take the train it’s really fascinating because the vegetation starts changing. It becomes much more tropical. It’s like orchid territory, tropical birds, but also incredible mountains.

TM: No matter how many times she sees it, it never gets old.

JL: I actually have this recollection of the first time I went to Machu Picchu, and it’s happened every single time. You arrive at Machu Picchu Pueblo, which is just like a typical tourist town. And then you take a bus to go up the mountains.

[BUS SOUNDS]

So you’re going up and up and up the mountain in your bus. And then the bus takes a turn, and it’s the first time you get to see Machu Picchu in the distance, in this, like, peak. And every single time the whole bus goes like, oh! You know, you just hear, like, oh!, because it’s so breathtaking. It’s no wonder it’s a wonder of the world, literally.

MARK RICE: It actually represents quite well-crafted Inca engineering achievements: terraces built on a large plateau between two mountains, hundreds of feet above a river bend.

TM: Mark Rice, a history professor at Baruch College, has studied the development of Machu Picchu as a tourist site.

MR: So it was built in the 1300s. It was both an administrative and ceremonial center to coordinate trade and labor and movement in this area of the Inca Empire, but also would have served as an area for ceremonies.

TM: After the Spanish colonized Peru, Machu Picchu fell into disuse. It took hundreds of years for Americans to find it.

MR: This all changes in 1911, when a U.S. explorer and instructor at Yale University named Hiram Bingham arrives in Peru.

[SOUND OF HISTORY LESSON ABOUT HIRAM BINGHAM]

HISTORY LESSON: July 24, 1911. Hiram Bingham arrived at a set of ruins on a nearly 8,000 foot peak in the Andes mountains of Peru. The place was Machu Picchu.

MR: Locals informed him that there was a ruin or archeological site at this base of this mountain called Machu Picchu. And Bingham basically ascends to the site to check it out.

TM: Then, Bingham did what colonizers often do when they stumble upon something that was built by someone else. He claimed it.

[MUSIC]

MR: He discovers to put it in, kind of, quote marks, Machu Picchu. So he can publish his photographs and his findings to a broadening middle-class public, which is interested in Latin America. And really, it’s in that postwar era where you kind of see the tourist imagination of what Machu Picchu means, this “Lost city of the Inca,” which is also tied up with, kind of, this notion of adventure that gets packaged in many ways and sold to tourism.

TM: The tourism industry seemed to bring notoriety to Incan history and achievements.

MR: When people in the United States or Europe or Asia for that matter, think of Peru, they think of Machu Picchu. So in many ways, the project of promoting tourism at Machu Picchu succeeded.

TM: But when outsiders think of hiking the Inca Trail, almost no one thinks about the porters. More on that, after the break.

[MIDROLL BREAK]

[MUSIC]

TM: Welcome back to Peak Travel. I’m Tariro Mzezewa.

Our producer Jimena says the Inca Trail is a tough hike.

JL: It’s difficult, like, even if you’re in a good physical shape, you’re going to struggle, like you’re going to huff and puff, and you’re going to be, like, out of breath. So then, that’s where the porters come in. And the porters are basically in charge of carrying the tourists backpacks. But not only the backpacks, they’re also in charge of carrying the tents, the pots, the food, in a lot of cases, the chairs, the tables, and for like a lot of, like, glamping situations, fancier stuff, kind of like a metal cutlery and like a porcelain plates. So the porters are basically carriers. That’s who they are.

TM: These trips also have tour guides, who speak English and interact with guests. The porters aren’t allowed to speak with anyone. But they’re the ones who make all these trips possible.

JL: A lot of porters will tell you, like they think of us as animals. Just kind of, like, as a donkey, where you just put the load on them, and they will carry it. Probably the Inca Trail, 99%
of people wouldn’t be able to do it without a porter, you know, for the reasons I mentioned, the high altitude, the going up and down, etc.

TM: Porter Miguel Góngora has endured this abuse while hiking the Inca Trail.

[MUSIC]

[NATURE SOUNDS, RAIN SOUNDS]

MG: I remember, I had an experience when I was young, when tents weren’t as they are now, not so fancy. I got soaking wet and cried, literally. I sat there at night. We were in Chaquicocha, and it was raining so much, because sometimes it rains heavily there. Everything was flooded: my sleeping bag, the sponge-like mat, all wet.

TM: Miguel says this is a common experience. Many porters don’t get tents or waterproof equipment, even in the rainy season.

MG: What do the porters do? They look for a solution. So, where are they going to go? They’ll go to the bathroom. And that, look, that still happens now. They sleep on the toilet. I mean, what would you prefer? Getting wet or sleeping with those smells and in that situation? And the tourists see this. The tourists witness all this abuse.

JCA: 99% of these agencies exist because of our efforts. Because on the Inca Trail, we, the porters, are the backbone.

TM: Juan Cama Arias is from the Indigenous community of Patacancha. He grew up hiking the trail, and helped build this area into what it is today.

JCA: We are more important than anyone else because, without us, how would a tourist who wants to hike and travel to Machu Picchu arrive? They wouldn’t.

TM: But they rarely see the benefits. And the pay is low. While the tourism industry in Machu Picchu rakes in about $40 million every year, most porters make just half the average monthly salary in Peru.

[MUSIC]

JA: Agencies continue to abuse us, the porters. They don’t provide us with good food. Our daily diet is rice and noodles, rice and noodles. And considering the nutritional balance, carrying 25 to 30 kilos on your back, climbing mountains, descending valleys, and only eating rice and noodles, it’s inexplicable.

TM: Instead, Juan says they are dehumanized by the industry.

JCA: But over the years, as tourism increased, companies grew substantially. They make a lot of money at the expense of our suffering, our humility, or our lack of awareness that we are Peruvians. We are people.

TM: When Isaac first started as a porter decades ago, he split his time between working in the tourism industry and caring for his family farm. He talked to some of his fellow porters and realized this treatment was widespread.

[NATURE SOUNDS]

IR: At that time when I was young, I was the president of my community. And I said, “Friends, can’t we form a union? Can’t we form something to be a force? That way, we could present our complaints.”

TM: Isaac organized his community to take collective action.

IR: Since there were many porter colleagues, we could become a force. Maybe even get a law passed.

[MUSIC]

IR: We took our proposal to Cusco and presented it there. And we elevated the proposal as a law to Congress. We were pushing this for a year. Our colleagues didn’t believe in it, but when the law was approved, that’s when they believed.

TM: The Porters’ Law passed in 2001, and initially, it felt like a huge win. It set a weight limit of about 45 pounds per porter. It also gave compensation guidelines. Juan was thrilled — until he went back to work.

JCA: Inside the Inca Trail, it was different.

TM: He soon realized the law only existed on paper. It didn’t hold the agencies accountable to follow it.

JCA: They laughed at the law, they still do. For them, the law is a joke.

TM: For example, there’s a spot where porters are supposed to weigh in, to make sure they’re not over the limit.

MG: At kilometer 82, there’s a checkpoint, they pass through there, and everyone passes with 20 or 22 kilograms. But the agencies have devised a way to bypass the system: they add more weight at kilometer 88 by train. They bring it on horses, donkeys to Huayllabamba. And on the second day, all that they’ve put on horses, the porters have to carry. And, well, one day they entered with 22, and on the second day, they’re carrying 45. And that practice is widespread.

TM: Each violation against the porters is a symptom of a larger problem.

[MUSIC]

MG: That is part of colonialism, how people see tourists, the white man in general. That they deserve everything, and we don’t deserve anything. And that is seen in very small things, like for example, “We don’t burn in the sun. We’re used to it,” right? “We don’t feel cold. We’re used to it. We’re from here,” right? And the truth is that’s false! We all feel cold. So the well-being of the tourist, their four-day experience, has to be the best, and our experience, which we carry every day, that’s never taken into account.

TM: In this industry, there’s an old-school class system at work, says anthropologist Fernando Ríos Correa.

FERNANDO RÍOS CORREA [TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH]: There has always been a powerful landowning class and, obviously, a powerful bureaucratic class, during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It has had its own dynamics of social segregation and racism.

TM: Wealthy people in the nearby city of Cusco first developed tourism in this region.

FRC: The Cusco middle class has built a tourism industry based on the idea that they are the modernizing channel, and modernity, of course, is represented by the tourists.

TM: And as Jimena explains it, in Peru, it makes a huge difference if you’re from the city, or from the rural communities in the mountains.

JL: What happens in Peru is that the higher up the mountains you go, the more the state forgets you. And “forget” is kind of like the nice way to put it. The more the state abandons you, because you’re so far away from power, access, visibility, that you can just be left behind.

TM: People in the city still control much of the industry today. Often, that comes at the expense of Indigenous Peruvians.

[MUSIC]

FRC: When the logic behind tourist routes began to be developed in Cusco from the 1970s, it was permeated by that mindset, the idea of, “I’m going to take the tourist to the place where the last Indigenous person is, and we’re going to take them there, because we’re going to benefit from this.” So, tourism arrives with this idea that, “These Indigenous people have been in the 14th century all this time.”

TM: This practice is baked into the tourism industry. And the way Fernando sees it, it’s racist.

FRC: They perceive the Indigenous people not as allies, but as recipients of the benefits they can give them. Why? Because they assume Indigenous people as ahistorical, stuck in time, and lacking agency.

TM: But unfortunately, for many of the people in this region, working in tourism is the best way to get by.

FRC: Come on, people aren’t stupid, right? I mean, there isn’t anyone, no Indigenous person who’d say, “No, I’ll defend my Indigenous purity, and refuse to work with this racist tourist entrepreneur.” People aren’t characters from a novel. They negotiate and say, “Well, tourism is bringing in a little more money, so obviously I’m going to fully dedicate myself to this.”

TM: Still, Fernando is holding out hope that more companies will abide by the laws in place — and treat the porters better.

FRC: I believe, slowly, more companies have started working more closely with communities, aiming to respect their ways, giving them more say in what they do. There are even companies, mostly led by young people from Cusco, who’ve begun to criticize the employment conditions and the exploitation of porters.

[NATURE SOUNDS, RAIN SOUNDS]

TM: Miguel, who used to work as a porter, started his own ethical hiking company called Evolution Treks Peru.

[MUSIC]

MG: We grew up in a family where we were always told to not stand by injustice.

TM: Above all else, Miguel wants his porters to be treated with respect. He guarantees them some basic rights, like good food and high-quality equipment.

MG: That’s our goal. There’ll never be another Inca Trail without tents for the porters, without ergonomic backpacks. Unlike all the other operators, we ask our porters to interact, to speak. We have them eat together with the tourists, because that’s what the experience is about. That’s what we sell. And if the tourist doesn’t like it, oops! They should’ve read who we were. And we’re definitely a bit more expensive, because we have to pay people what’s fair.

TM: Miguel thinks it’s the least tourists can do.

MG: So, yes, it’s true, many times tourists are complicit in this, and that’s what we’re trying to change, right? We try to change this issue, but it’s best if it can change by making the tourist understand the role they play. And one of the things we do is make them understand that the money they invest in our company, for example, is well-distributed.

TM: He hopes they learn something from how he treats his porters, and that there are downstream effects for people at other destinations they may visit.

MG: At Evolution, we’ve always thought that tourists are like pollinators, but of ideas. They travel the world and get infected with all kinds of ideas, experiences, and they transmit those experiences, or take them to their next destinations.

TM: And when it comes to the power that tourists have, Jimena has some practical advice: Don’t stop at checking the trekking company websites. Reach out to them directly.

JL: If you’re going to book a tour with a company, you’re going to have to email with them. So just ask on your email to put in writing what the conditions of the porters will be, and telling them that you are, you know, you’re going to be looking out for that, and that you are going to write a review if that’s not done.

TM: And when you get home from your trip, follow up with action.

JL: And then if that’s not respected, then I mean, you can still use, like, your TripAdvisor power or your, like, Google recommendations power.

TM: It might take some effort. But to see a wonder of the world, Jimena says it’s worth it.

JL: I get that we all have, like, busy lives and we’re all, you know, overworked or whatever. But you’re having this huge privilege, which is to travel to a different country, visit a different culture. So, you know, with great power comes great responsibility, right? [Laughter]

Like, it’s not a great responsibility to write an email. It’s very doable, right? It’s very doable. We can all do it.

[BIRDS CHIRPING, NATURE SOUNDS]

[MUSIC]

TM: This episode is dedicated to Fernando Ríos Correa.

[THEME MUSIC]

Next time, on Peak Travel…

CLAUDIO VERNIER [TRANSLATED FROM ITALIAN]: Mayors of many cities in Europe used to say, “You don’t want to end up like Venice, do you?”

TM: We visit Venice, the iconic city on water — and the poster-child for overtourism.

COSTANZA SPOCCI, PRODUCER You have these huge waves, you know, from the sea, and from the waves of people actually invading Venice, and making this unique city in the world even more fragile.

ENRICO TREVISAN [TRANSLATED FROM ITALIAN]: If someone doesn’t do something about the wave motion, there won’t be anything left. The entire habitat of the islands in the Venice Lagoon will be ruined.

TM: And unpack the controversial measure they’re using to save it.

SIMONE VENTURINI [TRANSLATED FROM ITALIAN]: The situation is this: either we try to use this tool as a control for the expected numbers of different tourism management, or we do nothing, nothing else.

TM: That’s next time, on Peak Travel.

This is Peak Travel. I’m your host, Tariro Mzezewa.

Our senior producer is Michael Olcott. Our producer is Michaela Winberg, and our associate producer is Bibiana Correa. We had production help on this episode from Jimena Ledgard.

Our editor is Meg Driscoll. Original music, mixing and sound design by Catherine Anderson. Engineering by Al Banks, Charlie Kaier, Diana Martinez, and Mike Villers. Our tile art was created by Nick Rogacki.

Special thanks to the voice actors who helped bring this episode to life: Rodolfo Fernandez, Diego Osorio, Mauricio Pérez, and Esteban Silva.

Our executive producer is Tom Grahsler.

Peak Travel is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX, and part of the NPR podcast network. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, the iHeart Radio app — or wherever you get your podcasts.

Executive Producer: Tom Grahsler
Senior Producer: Michael Olcott
Producer: Michaela Winberg
Associate Producer: Bibiana Correa
Additional Production: Jimena Ledgard
Editor: Meg Driscoll
Original Music, Mixing, and Sound Design: Catherine Anderson
Engineers: Al Banks, Charlie Kaier, Diana Martinez, and Mike Villers
Tile Art: Nick Rogacki

Special thanks to the voice actors who helped bring this episode to life: Rodolfo Fernandez, Diego Osorio, Mauricio Pérez, and Esteban Silva.

Peak Travel is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX, and part of the NPR podcast network.