The "Inca route", a tourist trail linking Peru, Chile and Bolivia will be opened on June 21, Spanish state news agency EFE reported on Wednesday.

 

The project, also dubbed as Manco Capac Route, is similar to the Quetzal Route, which is backed by the Spanish government that has been open since 2002 and allows tourists to follow the route of the first Spanish scientific travel to America in 1571.

 

On June 21, Bolivian President Evo Morales will unveil the route, which will be first walked by 350 university students from Latin America and Europe, in the pre-Inca city of Tiahuanacu.

 

Within Bolivia, the students will go through La Paz in the west, Oruro in the southwest, and visit the salt lake of Uyuni in the southweatern state of Potosi. After Potosi, they will travel into Chile, visiting the central capital city of Santiago, and passing through Atacama, Pozo al Monte, Iquique, Arica, Parinacota, and Putre in the north.

 

Finally, on July 9, the students will visit the south of Peru: Tacna, Moquegua, Arequipa, Puno, Cuzco and finally the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, where the 41-day journey will end.

 

Ruben La Torre, former Peruvian ambassador and founder of the project, said that the journey does not have its own budget, so the students will pay 300 US dollars per person to make the trip.

 

He said that such an investment was worthwhile because during the 41-day trip they will have an unforgettable experience which they will share with young people from many different cultures.

 

In Inca times, Peru, Bolivia and Chile were part of the same nation. Manco Capac, is the legendary founder of the Inca empire who emerged fully formed from the waters of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest freshwater lake.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)