(TAN): Jesse Katayama’s plan was to do a short and memorable trip to Machu Picchu. Memorable it was, but short it wasn’t, thanks to Covid-19. The 26-year-old tourist from Osaka, Japan waited for seven months, but the wait was worth it, when Peruvian authorities granted him special permission to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Machu Picchu even as it remains officially closed due to Covid-19 related restrictions, said media reports.
Katayama arrived in Aguas Calientes, the town from which most people begin their journey to Machu Picchu, on March 14 with a March 16 ticket to visit the site. But that was when the Peruvian government ordered the closure of the site.
The tourist from Japan was stranded at Aguas Calientes. Being unable to visit other South American destinations due to the lockdown, he made the most of the unprecedented situation by exploring local attractions like Putucusi Mountain and the Calientes Waterfalls.
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A boxing instructor by profession, Katayama even gave boxing lessons to local children and made new friends as well while living in a rented house in the area. But Machu Picchu continued to elude him.
When he started running out of money, Katayama made a final desperate attempt by submitting a special request to the Peruvian Ministry of Culture with help from a local tour company.
The mysterious ruins of the Inca empire finally opened their doors to him. Katayama was granted entry to the site by the ministry accompanied only by two photographers and the head of the site Jose Bastante. Normally a crowded place throughout the year, Katayama had Machu Picchu nearly all to himself.
He took to Instagram to celebrate the “success” and went on to thanking the government of Peru for the gesture.
“The Japanese citizen has entered together with our head of the park so that he can do this before returning to his country,” Peru’s Minister of Culture Alejandro Neyra confirmed to reporters. He added that there are plans to reopen Machu Picchu to visitors at 30% capacity, but did not specify an exact date.
Machu Picchu was built more than 500 years ago by the Inca empire that ruled parts of western South America before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. The ruins were rediscovered in 1911 by American explorer Hiram Bingham and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
