As a UNESCO World Heritage site, Machu Picchu has started to put its name down for another world record. It’s taking place now, just a perfect ending for Women’s History Month.
It is the first time ever in history that an all-women group of porters, tour leaders, and clients are going to trek together to Machu Picchu. The Evolution Treks team will set off on their journey on March 30, yes TODAY! Just in time to end Women’s History Month at its peak.
Lucia Merclajuly Vela Sosa told Lonely Planet that she is so excited because a pure women’s group trek means things are changing. That they are proving they can do it without men. Trekking to Machu Picchu makes it more exciting. She’ll be participating in the trek as the group’s tour guide, with a second leader and between eight to 10 porters.
Although ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions seemed to force them to alter the route at any time, the plan was designed to lead the group on a five-day trek to Machu Picchu. The porters would carry the equipment so that the group could set up camp alongside the trail, eat, rest, and spend the night before continuing on the next day.
The brilliance of this plan is that when you realize that until 2017, only men worked as porters to Machu Picchu. This time, as we could say 2020 was the year of protests, Evolution Treks, thought of women for women. So they started to recruit women as porters and guides and other campaigns followed their lead.
Let’s hear it from Miguel Angel Góngora Meza, co-founder of Evolution Treks “We hope to do this, every two weeks in 2021. Every week or more in 2022. There’s a lot of interest in this. Machu Picchu was just the first step.”