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TRAVEL Bloomberg Pursuits January 29, 2018

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and dressed in a colorful Andean wrap. (Those tourists should also be warned: monopoly, its training methods, he
Driving back to the lodge after our Along the switchbacked drive up to says, are intended to create a boom-
full-day hike, Sumire tells us that an 14,500 feet, their water bottles could let of similar outfits—and a rush of sus-
international airport may soon come explode from the change in pressure.) tainable tourism development. “Our
to Chinchero—a way to get more trav- It’s not just the altitude that steals guides will leave and take elements
elers to the Sacred Valley. Peru’s pres- your breath at the top. To the north, from our ideas as they adapt them for
ident, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, laid a tiny specks that turn out to be macaws their own businesses.”
symbolic cornerstone for its build- swoop in and out of a tangled green Joining their ranks is chef Virgilio
ing in February 2017, but then the valley. In front of me, in the near dis- Martínez, whose Lima flagship,
public-private funding partnership tance, sheets of chalk-white ice cling Central, ranks fifth on the World’s
fell apart. (The project still seems likely to ash-black rock, ringed with swirls of 50 Best Restaurants list. In February
to move forward.) Word is starting to cloud that look like the manifestation he’ll open Mil, a 20-seat spot near the
get out that there’s more to Peru than of an Andean god. And to the south, a Inca terraces of Moray in the Sacred
Machu Picchu, whether or not the res- razor-thin mountain ridge, which we Valley. His goal is to spotlight local pro-
idents of the Sacred Valley are ready to will walk like a balance beam before ducers and ingredients such as salt
receive tourists by the busload. dropping into a glacial valley. from Maras, cacao from Quillabamba,
For now, there are still places where “The kind of thing we do, walk- and indigenous roots. At $145 per head,
it’s possible to have a secluded experi- ing and trekking in the moun- Mil represents the area’s rising star.
ence: just you, a guide, and the open tains, nobody did it before us in the “The people of the Andes are deeply
world. An unforgettable sight for tour- Sacred Valley,” says Pedro Ibáñez Jr., connected to Mother Earth,” Martínez
ists lucky enough to catch it is the who sits on Explora’s board. Rather says. “Food is just another understand-
snowcapped peak of La Veronica. than work to protect the company’s ing of life in the Sacred Valley.”