land is already being cleared at the town of Chinchero—between Machu Picchu and Cusco—for a major international airport that would receive direct flights. Machu Picchu sits in the 37-mile-long Sacred Valley, once the heart of the ancient Incan empire, and activists are worried that the airport (and increased tourism) would despoil the miles of paths, terraces, and other vulnerable sites in the valley. Marisol Mosquera, founder and CEO of Aracari Travel, said: “It breaks my heart to see one of the most monumental and gorgeous landscapes in the Andes being defaced in the name of ‘progress’. Our goal was to promote sustainable, low-impact, high-quality tourism. Now the destination is being destroyed.”