Peru is one of the beautiful places in the world that has so much places to visit and most of them are very accessible for everybody and also for the people with any health disability.
The great desire of all the tourists is to visit Cusco and Machu Picchu and these are very easy to access for most of the people; although there are some special requirements for some of them… the ones with disabilities
Machu Picchu is definitely one of the most desire travel destination of our times, included in bucket list many travelers from different ages. Being seat on top on the Machu Picchu mountain witnessing from above the beautiful terraces, stone stairs, and yes it is probably one if the less accessible places for wheelchair users. Once you are seat at the top of this magnificent mountain and your eyes run through what is seems endless stairs made on stone and terraces, is not doubt that is also one of the most inaccessible places for a wheelchair user.
It has an approximately 3,000 steps and about 8,000 feet of elevation, it is seemingly a one giant staircase. As when you see it in photos, truly looks like the only way to reach this place is by rappelling or be taken from a helicopter, or perhaps to rock climb up the side of the mountain. But the Brightside is that in the last decade new accessible travel companies all over the world like View Peru have emerged and they count with all the necessary equipment to make this wonderful place easier to visit.
In order to arrive to Machu Picchu, you have to take a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, also known as Machupicchu Pueblo, where you have to caught a bus to take you up to the mountain. You have to leave your wheelchair in Ollantaytambo and the travel agency provide you a much lighter manual chair. You will be accompanied for a complete camp staff as well as the guide to help you get around the citadel as there is no other way to visit this special place.
To arrive into the itadel there is only one road for transportation and there are medium size buses that take everyone up and down. Before entering Machu Picchu, you can see a nice and preserved bronze plaque in memory of Hiram Bighman the person who discover the citadel. Next to it there is another plaque that says “The national Institute of Culture Cusco pays homage to Melchor Arteaga, Richarte, and Álvarezwho who lived in Machu Picchu before the arrival of Hiran Bingham.” History tell us that Arteaga was the one to showed Bingham the way to the site and Richarte and Álvarez were working on the terraces way before Bingham first arrived.
Machu Picchu has become a much more accessible place for people with reduced mobility, luckily and due to the idea of two Chileans and entrepreneurs who create a travel agency dedicated to those adventure seekers with reduced mobility who would love to explore hidden places just like Machu Picchu.
Their names are Alvaro Silberstein, 33, and Isabel Aguirre both from Chile have become the first quadriplegic and paraplegic respectively to traverse an 11-kilometre section of the Inca Trail in wheelchairs.
For the first time in its 5000 years, Machu Picchu has become an accessible place wheelchair visitor but further more you would like to visit the rest of Peru such as Cusco or even the Inca Trail. At the end of the day nothing is impossible, especially if there is people who would love to help you to make your dreams come true!