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This pod is part of a capsule hotel in Peru. Each pod is 24 feet long and 8 feet wide. Visitors enter and exit from a hatch on the top.
Natura Vive
STANDARDS
NCSS: People, Places, and Environments • Science, Technology, and Society • Global Connections
Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.5, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.4, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.2, RI.6-8.3, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.5, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.4
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GEOGRAPHY
Room With a View
Adventure seekers in Peru can sleep in glass pods in this hanging hotel.
Jim McMahon/Mapman®
If clinging to a cliff is your idea of a fun vacation, there’s a hotel room in Peru with your name on it! Thrill seekers visiting Sacred Valley in that South American nation can stay at Skylodge Adventure Suites. The hotel is made up of three rooms and a dining area, all attached to a steep rock face.
Skylodge is located 1,200 feet high in the Andes Mountains, in the town of Ollantaytambo (oh-jahn-tai-TAHM-boh). It is a capsule hotel—one made up of small pods that hold beds and not much else. The rooms provide 300-degree views of the surrounding peaks—and of Andean condors, the majestic birds that inhabit them.
Each sleeping pod has four beds and a private bathroom.
While it’s easy to reach that height if you’re a condor, it’s more challenging for people. Accompanied by guides, visitors must make a steep climb to reach the pods. To leave, they descend via zip lines to Sacred Valley below.
The region was once at the heart of the ancient Inca civilization. The Inca settled there around 1200 and by the 15th century had built one of the largest and wealthiest empires in the Americas. Their skilled farmers grew crops in the valley’s fertile ground.
Today Sacred Valley attracts about 1.8 million visitors each year. Many hike the scenic trails and visit the ancient Inca ruins. And the most daring of them sleep under the stars at Skylodge.
—Lisa M. Herrington
Question: How might a capsule hotel like this one benefit local communities? What might be some drawbacks?