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A new “Two for One” promotion was announced yesterday for the Boleto Turístico (tourist ticket) for entrance to archaeological sites in the Cusco region.

The promotion was announced through a statement published by the Committee of Integrated Cultural Tourism Services Cusco COSITUC.

The promotion applies to operators, agencies, tour guides and visitors.

Two for one tickets go on sale today and are effective beginning on Monday (January 11) and lasting through January and February. The cost for a single ticket was 130 soles prior to the start of the COVID pandemic and likely remains the same thought this has not been reported.

Tickets will be issued ONLY at the offices of the Deconcentrated Direction of Culture in Cusco on Calle Maruri Street 340. (This office is located across from ScotiaBank and is also the office where Machu Picchu tickets can be purchased.)

During this promotion, tickets will not be available for purchase in the archaeological parks.

A list of open sites that are included was not available. At least one — the Pachacuteq Monument — was not open as of a few days ago and I believe not all of the museums have been open as well. I will try to check on this and will update when I have more information.

This is a list of the sites that had previously been open prior to the COVID pandemic:

• Archaeological Park of Sacsayhuaman including Qenqo, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay)
• Archaeological Park of Pisac
• Ollantaytambo Archaeological Park
• Archaeological Park of Chinchero
• Archaeological Park of Tipon
• Archaeological Park of Moray
• Pikillaqta Archaeological Park
• Contemporary Art
• Museum of Regional Historical Art
• Qorikancha Site Museum
• Pachacuteq Museum

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Diario Correo is reporting that, due to the flooding of the rivers in the district of Machu Picchu (Cusco), the Risk Management Office of the Municipality of Machu Picchu activated the early warning system for possible dangers, in order to provide permanent monitoring of the flow of the Alcamayo, Aguas Calientes, and Vilcanota rivers. (The Vilcanota is also known as the Urubamba.)

The mayor of the district, Darwin Baca, confirmed the implementation of the system with 21 people in charge of monitoring the level of each river, flow, turbidity, odor and noise 24 hours a day as they cross the district of Machu Picchu and its communities that are on alert due to the increase in flow before the constant rainfall.

The local authority specified that the people in charge of the control have a communication system through UHF radios and repeaters with Hustler antennas, which guarantee timely information for any eventuality that may occur during the rainy season.

He added that his office has arranged for the permanent alert of the Risk Management personnel and officials of the local municipality and the approval of the contingency plan for these cases.

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(Thanks to Gloria Chan for proving this extremely useful information.)

If you need a PCR test for COVID-19, here are the laboratories where it can be done as reported by the Ministry of Health:

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The Peruvian Congress just removed President Martin Vizcarra on charges that he received bribes when he served as regional governor of Moquegua (2011-2014) for the Lomas de Ilo irrigation and Moquegua Regional Hospital projects.

In tonight’s vote there were 105 votes in favor of vacating the Presidency, 19 against, and 12 abstentions.

The President of Congress, Manuel Merino de Lama, called for a Congress meeting tomorrow at 10:00 am at which time Merino will be sworn in as the new President of Peru. (This was a late night change from the originally scheduled 5 pm ceremony.)

Later in the evening President Vizcarra said he would not take action against Congress’ vote and left the Presidential Palace.

[I strongly encourage everyone to stay home — especially in Lima — just to be safe as rioting is possible.]

The Archbishop of Lima, Monsignor Carlos Castillo, criticized Congress for approving the vacancy of President Martin Vizcarra. “We are in need of people who have sanity, wisdom and see strategically the needs of the whole country,” he said in RPP.

“I call on you to rectify the measure you have taken. What can they do if they can’t even handle national representation? We need people who have sanity, wisdom, and see strategically the needs of the whole country,” he said during an interview with RPP’s Conexión program.

Monsignor Carlos Castillo lamented that this political crisis is being crossed by “anger, jealousy and aggressions against each other”, in reference to the confrontation between the Executive and the Parliament.

The Archbishop of Lima considered that, after the presidential vacancy, the country could live a “very unstable period” at a time when Peruvians face great challenges, such as the fight against the new coronavirus pandemic and the celebration of the general elections next year.

The Archbishop of Lima wondered if the current head of Parliament, Manuel Merino, who would take over as the new president, “will have the capacity to handle” the dramatic economic and health crisis that is hitting the country.

“We are entering a chaotic process towards the elections and we even have the possibility that they will delay it, just when we wanted more stability,” he lamented.

The governor of Tumbes, Wilmer Dios Benites, called on all citizens to salute democracy and respect governance.

“Democracy has made it possible to obtain 105 votes in favor, therefore, democracy allows for the existence of governability? we as governors, me especially, have been supporting governability,” he said.

Dios Benites said he hopes that Manuel Merino De Lama, also from Tumbes, can fulfill important suspended projects for this region. He said that, although the time left for the next presidential term is short, the population has many expectations.

Likewise, Benites said that in view of this measure there will be delays due to possible ministerial changes.

The regional governor of Cusco, Jean Paul Benavente Garcia, showed his disagreement with the decision of the majority of the Congress of the Republic that approved the vacancy of the president, Martin Vizcarra, because this would generate instability and the postponement of development projects.

“We have to pass this stage of instability and we want to evaluate what the future scenario is…we have always pointed out, that there should not be a vacancy before July 28, but now we will also evaluate, how within the framework of the law we proceed as regional authorities”.

The governor of Cusco said that the decision of Congress is contrary to that of the majority of Peruvians, and said he hoped that the vacancy would not be synonymous with the postponement of the 2021 elections.

The authority asked the citizens to remain calm so as not to generate any damage during possible protests in the country.

The mayor of Huamanga province, Yuri Gutiérrez, told RPP that he supports the democratic system and asked the population to remain calm and stable in the face of this situation.

Gutiérrez said that he is surprised by the performance of the congressmen and hopes that the transition of command will take place in the best conditions and that the next government will be within the reach of the majorities.

The mayor of Huamanga indicated that in these 200 years of history the country has had problems of anarchy, short regimes, dictatorships and all kinds of problems, and for this reason it is necessary that the population, as voters, assume their political and civic responsibility.

The provincial mayor of Acobamba, Rolando Vargas, in the Huancavelica region considered that the vacancy of the president, Martin Vizcarra, approved in the plenary session of Congress, will harm the advanced projects and the budget designation.

Vargas pointed out that the local and regional authorities will be the most harmed because the possible changes of ministers will delay the advance of the technical files.

The mayor of Acobamba added that one of the main projects that was advancing was to provide drinking water and sewage for his province.

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I’ll admit I’m too lazy to wrote much about Monday’s hike from Pachar to Ollantaytambo, but I did get a few nice photos that to share.

Smoke from a large fire near km 82 where the famous Inca Trail begins covered the valley about halfway through the hike obscuring distant views. (Remember that this hike was almost completely along the same Inca Trail to Machu Picchu before access becomes controlled and restricted.)

Be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version!

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This week I took a break and went to Lima for a couple of days. My main goal was to purchase a new drone as my old original Mavic Pro wasn’t giving me the quality videos that I would like as easily as I’d like.

My new Mavic Air 2 does that and more. It will be a big help in exploring and documenting the places I go, but most of all, I think the ability to capture the beautiful scenery that surrounds me almost everywhere here is going to be a lot of fun!

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