Peru Quake and Machu Picchu

A superstition in sports circles holds that a Sports Illustrated cover means that a favored team or athlete won't prevail in the next championship or big game. The most recent New York Times travel pages, published just four days ago, featured a piece called "Machu Picchu Without Roughing It." The report was of lodge-to-lodge trekking to this fabled Inca citadel (right) as an alternative to camping for those who wish to spend several days approaching on foot. Mountain Lodges of Peru now has four comfortable lodges en route that take the rough edge out of roughing it as travelers approach this fabled site.

Yesterday, Peru appeared on front pages and broadcast news all over the world following a major earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter Scale and four lesser aftershocks. Casualty figures are revised as rescue efforts proceed and now, the death toll, tragically, stands at well over 300. But Machu Picchu appears in no major media reports thus far. ETN Travel News did report, "'The tourist and local people continue living his live,'" said an eTN reader from Cusco. 'Our monuments in the city and Machu Picchu are very well and we hope that the airport normally works tomorrow.'" I am presuming, or at least hoping, that this report is correct and that Machu Picchu remains intact. The quake's epicenter was off the coast, while Machu Picchu is far inland. It is some 725 miles from Lima to Cusco and another 70 miles farther to Machu Picchu.