More than a million travellers descend on Peru’s mystical Inca citadel in a typical year. With the impact of overtourism more concerning than ever， how do you minimise your footprint？

秘鲁神秘的印加古国要塞，每年蜂拥而来的游客超过百万。过度旅游的风险令人忧心至极，你会怎样将自己带来的影响最小化呢？

“Here in the Andes we believe in reciprocity，” my guide Isao tells me， handing out coca leaves and instructing me to hold the dry stalks together， creating a fan of brittle green from my fingertips. Until this moment， I’ve chewed them and infused them in tea for soroche—altitude sickness. Now at the Salkantay Pass， we’re a heady 4，620 metres above sea level， just 200 metres shy of the summit of Mont Blanc.

“在安第斯山区，我们信的是互惠之道。” 我的向导伊绍边说边递给我一些古柯叶，教我把叶柄捏在一块，用手指捻开形成一把翠绿色的叶扇。方才我已经嚼了一些，还泡了些在茶里预防高山症，西班牙语管这个症状叫索罗疾。此刻我们到了萨尔坎泰山口，身处令人晕沉的海拔4620米，比勃朗峰将将低200米。

To ask for safe passage on this trek， I place the coca leaves on the rocks at my feet. It’s an offering to the gods （known as Apus） who， according to Andean beliefs， inhabit these mountains， including the snow-clothed 6，271-metre Nevado Salkantay， in whose long shadow I stand.

为求这趟徒步平平安安，我留了些古柯叶在脚边的石头上。这是我给神灵（当地人称“阿普斯神”，即“山神”）的供奉，在安第斯山区的信仰里，神灵居于这些山脉之中，其中包括海拔6271米、终年积雪覆盖的萨尔坎泰山，而此刻我正立于这座雪山的巍巍长影之下。

This talk of reciprocity isn’t just a trendy buzzword in this part of the Andes. It’s an integral part of the contract between humans and the environment—something we might instead refer to as “sustainability” elsewhere on the planet—that has existed here for millennia.

在安第斯地区，讲求互惠绝非赶时髦追热点。它是人与自然所缔结之约的应有之义，已在此方地界绵延千年，而在世界其他地区，我们或可称之为“可持续性”。

I’m trekking the Salkantay Trail， a four-day， 64-kilometre hike that scrambles between lofty Andean mountain passes in the Vilcabamba range， spitting distance1 from the former capital of the Inca Empire， Cusco. From the pass， the trail plunges into yawning2 river valleys blanketed3 with bottle green Cloud Forest to reach Aguas Calientes， the town beneath the remarkable Inca citadel4 of Machu Picchu.

我正在萨尔坎泰小道上徒步，这条线路耗时4天，跨越64公里，蜿蜒在比尔卡班巴山脉的安第斯高山间，距印加帝国的昔日首都库斯科不过咫尺。从山口出发，小道一路向下延伸，进入被郁郁葱茏的云雾森林覆盖的宽阔河谷，最终抵达热水镇，这座小镇正位于著名的印加城堡马丘比丘山脚下。

Although I spent seven months living in Cusco a few years back， I’d never set foot in Machu Picchu. Instead， I focused on immersing myself in the local scene， reluctant to add my footprints to those of the 25，000 hikers clattering along the Inca trail each year.

我前些年在库斯科住了七个月，却从未踏足马丘比丘。与其去那，我更醉心于库斯科的风光，印加古道上每年的徒步客已有2.5万之多，我委实不愿再加上自己的足迹。

This mountaintop city’s battles with tourism and sustainability have been widely publicised. In 2017， UNESCO threatened to list Machu Picchu on its Heritage Sites in Danger， while a controversial new international airport proposed in nearby Chinchero is due for completion in 2025， with big implications for overtourism.

这座山顶之城与旅游业和可持续性的斗争已广为人知。早在2017年，联合国教科文组织就警告称，要将马丘比丘列入濒危遗产名录。与此同时，钦切罗镇附近拟新建一座国际机场，预计2025年竣工，此举备受争议，因为一旦建成将大大增加过度旅游的风险。