How to See Peru’s Machu Picchu the Sustainable Way可持续探访秘鲁马丘比丘

More than a million travellers descend on Peru’s mystical Inca citadel in a typical year. With the impact of overtourism more concerning than ever， how do you minimise your footprint？

秘鲁神秘的印加古国要塞，每年蜂拥而来的游客超过百万。过度旅游的风险令人忧心至极，你会怎样将自己带来的影响最小化呢？

“Here in the Andes we believe in reciprocity，” my guide Isao tells me， handing out coca leaves and instructing me to hold the dry stalks together， creating a fan of brittle green from my fingertips. Until this moment， I’ve chewed them and infused them in tea for soroche—altitude sickness. Now at the Salkantay Pass， we’re a heady 4，620 metres above sea level， just 200 metres shy of the summit of Mont Blanc.

“在安第斯山区，我们信的是互惠之道。” 我的向导伊绍边说边递给我一些古柯叶，教我把叶柄捏在一块，用手指捻开形成一把翠绿色的叶扇。方才我已经嚼了一些，还泡了些在茶里预防高山症，西班牙语管这个症状叫索罗疾。此刻我们到了萨尔坎泰山口，身处令人晕沉的海拔4620米，比勃朗峰将将低200米。

To ask for safe passage on this trek， I place the coca leaves on the rocks at my feet. It’s an offering to the gods （known as Apus） who， according to Andean beliefs， inhabit these mountains， including the snow-clothed 6，271-metre Nevado Salkantay， in whose long shadow I stand.

为求这趟徒步平平安安，我留了些古柯叶在脚边的石头上。这是我给神灵（当地人称“阿普斯神”，即“山神”）的供奉，在安第斯山区的信仰里，神灵居于这些山脉之中，其中包括海拔6271米、终年积雪覆盖的萨尔坎泰山，而此刻我正立于这座雪山的巍巍长影之下。

This talk of reciprocity isn’t just a trendy buzzword in this part of the Andes. It’s an integral part of the contract between humans and the environment—something we might instead refer to as “sustainability” elsewhere on the planet—that has existed here for millennia.

在安第斯地区，讲求互惠绝非赶时髦追热点。它是人与自然所缔结之约的应有之义，已在此方地界绵延千年，而在世界其他地区，我们或可称之为“可持续性”。

I’m trekking the Salkantay Trail， a four-day， 64-kilometre hike that scrambles between lofty Andean mountain passes in the Vilcabamba range， spitting distance1 from the former capital of the Inca Empire， Cusco. From the pass， the trail plunges into yawning2 river valleys blanketed3 with bottle green Cloud Forest to reach Aguas Calientes， the town beneath the remarkable Inca citadel4 of Machu Picchu.

我正在萨尔坎泰小道上徒步，这条线路耗时4天，跨越64公里，蜿蜒在比尔卡班巴山脉的安第斯高山间，距印加帝国的昔日首都库斯科不过咫尺。从山口出发，小道一路向下延伸，进入被郁郁葱茏的云雾森林覆盖的宽阔河谷，最终抵达热水镇，这座小镇正位于著名的印加城堡马丘比丘山脚下。

Although I spent seven months living in Cusco a few years back， I’d never set foot in Machu Picchu. Instead， I focused on immersing myself in the local scene， reluctant to add my footprints to those of the 25，000 hikers clattering along the Inca trail each year.

我前些年在库斯科住了七个月，却从未踏足马丘比丘。与其去那，我更醉心于库斯科的风光，印加古道上每年的徒步客已有2.5万之多，我委实不愿再加上自己的足迹。

This mountaintop city’s battles with tourism and sustainability have been widely publicised. In 2017， UNESCO threatened to list Machu Picchu on its Heritage Sites in Danger， while a controversial new international airport proposed in nearby Chinchero is due for completion in 2025， with big implications for overtourism.

这座山顶之城与旅游业和可持续性的斗争已广为人知。早在2017年，联合国教科文组织就警告称，要将马丘比丘列入濒危遗产名录。与此同时，钦切罗镇附近拟新建一座国际机场，预计2025年竣工，此举备受争议，因为一旦建成将大大增加过度旅游的风险。

Larger than Cusco’s existing airport， it’ll make it possible for flights from as far away as Europe to bypass Lima and Cusco and land directly on Machu Picchu’s doorstep. Critics are concerned about the environmental impact that a dramatically larger influx of visitors could bring.

新机场比库斯科现有的机场面积更大，有了它，远至欧洲的航班绕过利马和库斯科，可直接降落到马丘比丘跟前。批评人士担忧，数量远超以往的大批游客涌入可能带来环境危害。

As a visitor， I’m acutely aware of contributing to the region’s sustainability concerns. Taking a lesser-hiked trail that disperses visitors more widely across the Andes—as well as offering financial opportunities to local farming communities to diversify their income—is one way to minimise this impact.

身为游客，我十分清楚旅游业给当地可持续发展带来的消极影响。选择较少人涉足的徒步路线可使游客在安第斯地区更广泛地分散，还能为当地务农的村民提供挣钱的机会，增加收入来源——这是将不利影响降到最低的一个办法。

Unlike the Inca Trail， on the Salkantay path you’ll find no lines of weary walkers or bloated campgrounds. In fact， aside from my trekking group of just eight people， I meet only a couple of other hikers along the entire route. Run by indigenous-owned company Alpaca Expeditions， our tour stops at a local coffee farm and employs guides， porters and chefs from the remote communities that surround the Sacred Valley.

跟印加古道不一样，萨尔坎泰小道上看不见成群结队的徒步客疲惫跋涉，也没有一个挨着一个的露营地。其实，除了我所在的8人徒步小队，整条路上我碰见的徒步客就那么几个。我们的徒步旅行是当地阿尔帕卡徒步旅行社安排的，我们在当地一家咖啡农场短暂停留，从圣谷周边的偏远村庄雇来了向导、搬运工和厨师。

To help acclimatise pre-hike， I’d switched Cusco’s 3，399-metre elevation for the lower altitudes of the Sacred Valley， a fertile strip of land 15km northeast of the city and revered by the Inca people for its bountiful harvests. At Inkaterra Hacienda5 Urubamba， a sustainable five-star hotel operated by the world’s first climate-positive hotel brand6， I learned how they have been supporting sustainability efforts in Machu Picchu.

为了在徒步前适应海拔环境，我从海拔3399米的库斯科来到地势更低一些的圣谷，这是库斯科东北15公里外一块狭长的肥沃之地，因其农产丰饶，被印加人奉为圣地。当地的茵卡特拉乌鲁班巴酒店是由全球首家气候正效益酒店品牌创立的五星级可持续酒店。我在这里见识了他们一直以来是如何助力马丘比丘可持续发展的。

“First we donated a compacting machine to process the seven tonnes of plastic waste produced daily in Aguas Calientes，” explains general manager Joaquín Escudero. He details how they then built a treatment centre to convert organic waste into biochar， a fertiliser now used to reforest the Andean cloud forest surrounding Machu Picchu. The Inkaterra team has also installed facilities to turn cooking oil into biodiesel-fuel that， it is hoped， will soon power the buses carrying visitors up to the star attraction. All of these initiatives aim to make Machu Picchu the first carbon- neutral wonder of the world.