Singaporean couple on 25th wedding anniversary trip at Machu Picchu stranded due to Peru protests

SINGAPORE: All Dr Ho Li-Ching and Dr Ang Wee Han wanted was to celebrate 25 years of marriage at Machu Picchu in Peru. 

The Singaporean couple enjoys visiting major cultural and historical sites of the world, such as Egypt for the pyramids and Turkey for the Ottoman Empire sites. 

And Machu Picchu, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had been a long-time bucket list item for the 49-year-olds, who wanted to commemorate their relationship milestone with a “major trip”. 

“We do like to go to unusual places, but within reason. We don’t make it a point to visit places that are in the middle of war zones,” said Dr Ho, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, over the phone with CNA on Monday (Dec 19). 

“The last time we did that was perhaps when we went to Israel and Egypt in the 1990s or so, when there was still quite a bit of terrorism and unrest. That was the last time we did something that was remotely dangerous.”

Then last week, Dr Ho and her husband Dr Ang, a chemistry professor at the National University of Singapore, found themselves among 800 tourists stranded in the small town of Aguas Calientes, which is the closest access point to the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. 

Demonstrators protesting the ouster and imprisonment of Peru’s former president Pedro Castillo had blocked the railway tracks on Dec 13, suspending the only way in and out of the town. 

“This is not planned. The adventure was actually to go to Machu Picchu and South America, which is fairly inaccessible to Singapore, although I work in the US right now,” said Dr Ho.

“We certainly did not expect this excitement, and all the drama and all the exertion.”

“ESCALATING LEVELS OF UNREST” FROM THE START  

On Dec 7, ousted former president Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. That same day, Dr Ho and Dr Ang landed in Peru. 

“We faced escalating levels of unrest from the start of our trip. The moment we flew in, there were protesters along the street, but just very localised in Lima,” said Dr Ho. 

“We could see it from our hotel, which was near the Historic Center. Even the next day when we had a tour, there were cops and barricades in the Historic Center near the Presidential Palace, as well as Congress and stuff like that. But we could still go in. That's the key thing.” 

The couple then embarked on a planned trip to Paracas – a coastal town about three-and-a-half hours south of Lima by car. They couldn’t go by bus as originally planned due to halted bus services. 

“In Paracas and in the city next to it, there were protesters who were burning tyres because the ousted president’s political stronghold was in the south of the country. They had more unrest compared to Lima. … But we managed to go there and come back in one piece,” said Dr Ho.

After returning from Paracas, the couple set off for the region of Cusco, which serves as the gateway to Machu Picchu. 

Again, plans went awry. In Cusco, their tour guides had to change their itinerary and take detours, as protesters were blocking the main roads. 

Eventually, they made it to the town of Machu Picchu – colloquially known as Aguas Calientes – on Dec 12. 

What they didn’t know then was that it was the last day the trains would run before rail service was suspended. 

“On Tuesday (Dec 13), we went on the Machu Picchu tour. We had beautiful pictures of Machu Picchu, free of tourists because there were no trains the next day,” recalled Dr Ho about their lack of awareness of what lay ahead.

ESCAPING AGUAS CALIENTES 

To get to Machu Picchu, visitors have to pass through Aguas Calientes, which is only accessible by train. 

“If the train doesn’t run, everybody is stuck. The only way out is to walk or to be evacuated via airlift,” explained Dr Ho. 

She and her husband were originally supposed to leave the town on Dec 13 right after their tour, but hung around and hoped emergency trains would run the next day. 

When there were still no trains on Dec 14 as the train tracks had been “sabotaged by protesters”, the couple decided to make the trek out. 

“On Wednesday night (Dec 14) we made the decision, together with another Singaporean couple who happened to be staying at our hotel, to all walk 30km along the train tracks to the nearest town with a road,” said Dr Ho.  

“We thought it would be tiring, but we’ll have lots of rest. … We heard it was fairly flat as well, so it wasn’t too intimidating. And we wanted to increase our odds of getting out and getting back to Cusco, because without roads, you have no options whatsoever.”

The group set out on Dec 15 around 6am, together with porters hired by the other couple to help them carry their luggage and a representative from Dr Ho and Dr Ang’s tour agency who had volunteered to guide them throughout the 30km trek. 

“When we walked along, some of the rocks and boulders we saw were quite big. Our guide said the protesters actually deliberately caused a mini landslide from the hills above, so the rocks would fall on the tracks and block the train from running,” said Dr Ho.  

“It wasn’t a proper path. You’re literally walking on the tracks and the tracks had a lot of stones, which made walking very challenging especially if you’re not wearing proper shoes. I was wearing trainers, which wasn’t the best for this kind of terrain.”

Still, most of the walk was “pretty peaceful” – until the group “reached places with roads”. Then, trouble started. 

ENCOUNTERING PROTESTERS 

The group arrived at KM 82 – a point along the railway line – about 12 hours after setting off.   

“We got into a van, but our van was prevented from leaving because protesters refused to let us pass. They were happy to let us walk, but not the van. They didn’t want to support any kind of tourist activity. So we walked again, but this time on the road, to the next nearest town,” said Dr Ho. 

“We passed a couple of roadblocks. These were makeshift roadblocks created by the protesters. They rolled big boulders and put trees to cut off access to the road.”

After another 45 minutes of trekking, the group arrived at the next town, Chillca, where they were picked up by a driver sent by the tour agency. The driver came with a police escort, which “made life a lot easier”, added Dr Ho. 

They encountered “at least three other roadblocks” on the journey from that town to Cusco, which proved to be “a bit more serious”. 

“At some of the roadblocks, our guide helped to clear the road to have a path for our car to drive through. Other parts, there were actually protesters who did not want to let us through. There was one protester who threw rocks at the vehicle in front of us,” she recalled. 

“Our driver and guide had to negotiate in Spanish. They were trying to explain and reason with the protesters, some of whose faces were covered in balaclavas. We were just sitting there waiting to see if they would let us through … which was somewhat exciting.” 

Once they could pass, the group took smaller roads to Cusco, eventually arriving at their hotel near midnight that same day. 

Dr Ho and Dr Ang were “completely exhausted”, but sleep had to wait. They now had to worry about how to get a flight from Cusco to Lima as the airport was closed – and time was running out.

The couple had to be in Lima within two days to make it for their scheduled flight out of the country on Dec 18.

“WE REALLY WANTED TO LEAVE” 

The tour agency managed to secure them an air ticket out of Cusco – but the flight was on Dec 18. 

“We spent the whole day trying to figure something out as we wanted to fly from Cusco on the 17th, and nothing seemed to work. But then we finally heard that the airport was going to open on the afternoon of the 16th,” said Dr Ho. 

The Cusco airport had been shut for a few days as “some protesters tried to breach the airport fences”, she explained. But the army and riot police managed to protect the airport, allowing the first flights from Lima to resume on Dec 16 eventually. 

By a stroke of luck, they then scored themselves a Dec 17 flight to Lima after exhausting various means.

“We really wanted to leave. It was a bit rough, and I think there was lots of stress involved," added Dr Ho. 

“COMPLETELY WORTH IT”  

Reflecting on their past week from New York, where they flew from Lima, Dr Ho recalled moments when she and her husband worried for their safety.  

“It was on the journey to Cusco in the car, where the protesters really did not want to let us through the barricade, throwing rocks at our vehicle. So that was a distinct worry because you don’t know what will happen,” she said.

“Likewise even in Cusco, the big city, where you had mass protests, we knew we were not the targets, but if you’re caught up in this kind of mob mentality when you have a whole crowd of angry people who are very frustrated, we might be collateral damage.” 

“(We don’t look for) this kind of excitement, not at this stage of our lives,” she added, laughing.

Despite the unexpected adventure, the couple fondly remembers the Peruvian people – and the trip of a lifetime. 

“In general, I have to say, we felt the Peruvian people, even just the general people on the streets and our tour guides and tour agency, were really nice and very helpful,” shared Dr Ho. 

“And Machu Picchu was beautiful. If you ask me, it was completely worth it. It’s amazing. You should go one day if you haven’t been there.”