Porters of Machu Picchu, Photo by Lola Akinmade
Plenty of people haven’t seen their own country’s most famous sites.
Americans who haven’t seen the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. Mexicans who have never been to Chichen Itza. Egyptians who’ve never cast their eyes upon the Sphinx.
It’s one thing to choose not to visit these places. It’s another entirely when your job involves ferrying travelers to the edge of these wonders but never being able to cast your own eyes upon them.
Such is the case in Peru, where porters carry 55 pound packs of travelers’ gear right to the edge–but not within viewing distance–of Machu Picchu before turning around and catching a train to Cusco to start the trek all over again. “[V]ery few porters [can] ever actually visit Machu Picchu,” wrote JoAnna Haugen, adding, “[It] hits a nerve. Global travelers can probably name countless times they’ve met local people who have never experienced the things that draw travelers to a country.”
And she wanted to do something about it… at least in Peru.
Collaborating with Julio Tello, the founder of the tour outfit Karikuy, Haugen co-founded the Karikuy-Haugen Fund, which is raising money to pay`for porters to visit Machu Picchu.
Read more about the fund and learn how you can support the project here.
Community Connection:
Headed to Machu Picchu? Matador Trips co-editor Hal Amen tells you how to visit on the cheap.
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9 Comments... join the discussion!
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Wow! How often do we lament a problem and do nothing about it? This is not only a great idea, but inspiring. I also love that Matador is highlighting community members’ achievements like this!
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Way to go JoAnna. I love seeing change like this in the world and Matador reporting on it.
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This is awesome, JoAnna. Hopefully you can also raise awareness about mistreatment of porters. If a tourist on the trail twists an ankle, it’s a huge deal, but porters put up with so much abuse–some have literally keeled over and died–and the government/industry does nothing to protect their welfare.
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amazing!
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Thanks for getting the word out about the Karikuy-Haugen Fund! I’ve received a lot of positive feedback and am excited that we’ve been able to get this off the ground. Thank you for your support!
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I think it’s great when we find some way to break the heavy chains and carbon footprints we so often leave on our hosts. imho. This is why I’m a Matador fan! Keep on, Truckin folks.
Belles
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Good work JoAnna! I spared a thought for the porters at Mount Kinabalu when I was there, could pay a bit for a porter to take a 10kg bag up for you, I carried my 13kg bag by my own and that was hard enough, what I didn’t realise was the porters were taking 4-5bags at a time! That’s 80-100lb’s ! Backbreaking stuff.
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Congrats on doing something to help!
Yes, the tragedy of the middle class traveler – how to deal with the hired help. Um, helping them make a living wage would certainly help. I suppose health care and paid vacation and sick leave would be next. Perhaps paternity leave would have to wait a bit.
Our M-P trip with a dozen others in 2006 had this little dilemma as we pondered and then debated how to split our ‘contribution’ between the porters (umpteen of them) and the leaders (2). We left the trip dissatisfied because the split left the porters with very little – $5 usd? and the leaders with $25 usd? As I type this, it’s almost absurd how little we left them.
At least 2 other ideas:
1. Pay them what they what you think is a fair wage; recognize up front that these folks are making peanuts and talk with the others in your group that you want to pay them close to what you think their work is worth.
2. Explore local groups that might be working to improve working conditions of the porters (and other employees that help make our trips vacations).
M-P is a great place and hopefully we won’t mess it up too much.
Happy travels
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