One Week Left in Perú

Oops, so I'm sure nobody checks this now that it's been a month since my last update. Things have just been sort of stressful and busy here. I hosted Mike at the end of November and then I went to Cuzco and southern Peru the first week of December, and all throughout, I have been dealing with the biggest bureaucratic mess ever to get my Chilean student visa. Wooh! finally got that on Monday, after the most stringent requirements for a medical examination ever. I got a blood test for every known disease, a urine test, X-rays, and a general physical from one of three approved cardiologists. I guess Chile has tough requirements for Peruvians (the countries don't have the best of relationships, though I doubt the nonstop propaganda/blab about the Chilean spies makes news anywhere outside of Peru).

On my week of travel to Peru's "gringo trail" tourist zone, I met various Americans who were/are studying this year in Chile, some of whom I will be seeing this spring. One rock climbs, which is awesome, and it's more accessible in Chile. I haven't climbed in the almost 4 months of being in Peru, which I am convinced is one of the reasons my health is so poor here, as well as the cause for my declining morale. It's an addiction, and when you lose it, it really sucks.

There are way too many annoying people in Cuzco, either the gringos (not so much Americans I'll say, but other English speaking people) who live in the English speaking hostels and barely go out, just spend their days drinking and living in a little English bubble in South America. As well as the terrible brand of Peruvian the tourism industry has created there, who is looking to screw everyone they can out of every penny they can. That said, I also met many, many really wonderful travelers and Peruvians alike, and I saw so many wonderful historical things and natural beauty.

The steep street my Cuzco hostel was on, tough in that altitude.

 View of Cuzco from Qorikancha

Qorikancha, the main temple of the Inkan empire, with a Catholic church built on the old foundations.

A sculpture in the pre-Colombian art museum. I will be forever baffled by this, since I didn't question at the time to read the description as to how they knew about Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer before Columbus.

Písac ruins

My horrible day in Machu Picchu. Don't I look happy?

summit of Huayna Picchu

Huayna Picchu in the distance, so steep! Everything got sunny as I was leaving...I was still miserably soaked anyway.

Lago Titicaca, the largest lake in South America, at 12,500 feet in the altiplano. Several indigenous communities live in the various islands, who kind of preserve their isolated, ancient lifestyles, but really survive now on tourism.

View from the balcony of the house I stayed in on Isla Amantaní

summit of Pachatata, on Isla Amantaní

Yuri, a sweet little girl I met and hung out with on Isla Taquile. Here she is presenting me some freshly picked muña, an ancient all-purpose drug used to make tea drunk with every meal.

Fresh juices in Mercado San Pedro, Cuzco.

Cuzco from Sacsayhuamá

A Bromantic Weekend in Quito and my injections at Peru's ESFAP (Air Force Academy)

Sorry this will be a bit long, but of course I've been lazy about updating. Last weekend, I traveled to Quito, Ecuador, to visit a BC friend Mike Saldarriaga.

It was a nice breather from life in Lima, though I couldn't breathe since it is the second highest capital in the world following La Paz, Bolivia. And a good time being around some BC kids, since I am so disconnected from that here.

The first night, we got a great dinner with Mike's parents, all 4 of us ordered lengua de res (cow tongue), which was absolutely delicious. While we were ordering the power went out in the restaurant, but things carried on business as usual, and this began a trend throughout the weekend of having to avoid going to some part of the city where the power was out, as Quito's hydroelectric plant currently has a shortage of water. Being in Latin America for some time though, you learn to not let these kinds of things really bother you at all.

The second night we went and spent the night in a cabaña in this town outside of Quito called Papallacta. The town is known for its hot springs, and this cabaña was particularly nice. The next day we got back to Quito a bit late, and went out to a salsateca. Finally, on Sunday, we went and walked around a park where Quito's artists display their paintings outside, and then to another park up on the hillside above the colonial center of Quito. Quito is nestled in a beautiful narrow valley, and there are innumerable spots in the city which offer spectacular views. We closed the night at a romantic cafe called Cafe Mosaico, up on the same hillside.

Hehe, I know that all sounds rather bromantic, but to clarify, other BC students went with us to Papallacta, and we had a good night of debauchery at our private hot spring, I'm sure disturbing the other guests at the high class Termas de Papallacta. Then, the next night, after Mike and I explored colonial Quito by night and enjoyed some eardrum destroying Latin rock in a bar on Calle de las Rondas, we went to Mariscal Sucre or "Gringolandia" and met some other BC students at a salsateca. Although as far as the last day/night with the beautiful views of Quito, there is no other description but bromantic.

I'm glad I went, though as small a country as it is, I obviously barely saw anything in 5 days, and it is definitely on my return list. Quito was a very awesome city, with beautiful colonial architecture and murals everywhere, and with lots of history, as it like Lima is a UNESCO world heritage site. and , the people I met were so much more formal. In Lima, there is that wonderful feeling that that everyone you interact with, you have known for years, but in Quito, it was complemented with respect and courtesy, something I find lacking in Lima.

Anyway I got back to Lima's airport and was joyfully greeted by taxis trying to charge me double what is acceptable. After I got it down to a normal price, and we were driving away, he says to me, "Oh, ya conoces Peru, eh?" (Haha, you already know Peru). I get it, he has every right to squeeze every penny out of unsuspecting gringos. There are too many reasons that this is totally acceptable. If he is good at it, I fully support him. But I wish he would have some pride in it and not take on the inferior attitude that people in his country have to take advantage of others. It's a hard reality, but it's a simple fact that that is what he has to do to survive. Unfortunately, it goes both ways, and it is a daily struggle to avoid passing judgment on the character of Peruvians that have come from a much different background than I could ever imagine.

In other things, life is going well enough. I had a great Halloween, dressing up as a woman along with 10 other guys from my house doing the same. We were the life of the party, and the most disturbing one, Mateo from Florida who has just gone home, won best costume.

After lots of preparation (much of which us interns were not involved in), my organization began yesterday a course for Peru's forces of order regarding control of illegal arms trafficking. It went very well, and I get to go back next Monday and Tuesday as well. As has become the norm for my time here, though, my physical condition got in the way of my experience. I have been going on Saturdays to Huachipa to volunteer; still in Lima, but more like the campo, and this time I got 4 mosquito bites. But apparently my body didn't like that, and they turned into 4 painful black bruises. So while at the course being held at Peru's air force academy, I went to the clinic there, and they were pleased to stick me with an injection with a couple of vials of steriod and anti-allergy medicine. So, for the bulk of the course in the afternoon, I sat there falling asleep all drugged up...gotta love Peru!

Antisana, volcano near Papallacta

Beautiful greens and steep hillsides of the Ecuadorian Andes

Mike in the back of a pickup down from Papallacta

Waiting to hop on a bus

Quito from neighborhood below Parque Itchimbia. Good way to protect your property I guess, this is something I saw a lot of in El Salvador, but don't see at all in Lima.

Colonial Quito and south, and Cerro El Panecillo, a perfect hill in the middle of the long city, with Quito's virgin at the top.

Mike at Cafe Mosaico

Colonial Quito

More colonial Quito

Extraño la naturaleza, me encantó Huaraz.

So, I've got a lot to update on since I've been lazy with the blog, but I'll try to keep it short. Two weekends ago, as I mentioned, a large group headed up to the beautiful mountain town of Huaraz. After a scary overnight bus ride which swayed and rocked more than a small boat in the ocean, we arrived at 6 am, and the cool, clean air was such a relief coming from the pollution of Lima.

After a good breakfast, we walked up the main street, Calle Luzuriaga, which was a really interesting sight. Here all aspects of Peruvian society are smack dab in one place, as opposed to Lima where classes and cultures are well separated. Among all the modern corporate symbols and technology, the streets were filled with indigenous Quechua on the roadside selling crops, herbs, chickens, coca plant, and pig.

The main street

Quality selection

This woman yelled at me, saying the picture was not free.

We then hired a tour guide to take us to Nevado (snow-capped mountain) Pastoruri, which has an altitude of about 5200 meters. We stopped along the way on the drive and had some mate de coca (coca leaf tea), which really did help to relieve the moderate altitude sickness I felt coming on.

Highway out of Huaraz

Entrance to Parque Nacional Huascarán

Silly rest stop at this little pool where carbonated water comes out of the ground.

The face of Jesus on the distant mountain, the tour guide said.

Puya Raimondii plant, an interesting Andean high altitude species that blooms every 40 years and then dies.

Upon reaching the final parking lot around 4900m, there was the option to walk or ride a horse for 5 soles, up to the base of the mountain. I was very grateful for the horse, as well as the men who ran alongside us...

The group at the base of Pastoruri. We didn't go to the top, but only as high as we had to to get to the glacier (which has apparently receded in recent years and will disappear soon).

The following day, a group of 10 rented bikes and paid the company to drive us up 30 km west of Huaraz, into the Cordillera Negra this time.

Huaraz in the valley, and the Cordillera Blanca on the opposite side.

Later, when we would bike down past these villages, every young child seemed to know how to say "Hello," even in this further isolated highway.

Upon reaching the point where the van dropped us off, the afternoon rains had begun. At an altitude of 4000m, it was cold and miserable. But we were still smiling, as the adventure was just beginning. As we made it a few kilometers into the ride, we figured finding a way down on a trail instead of the winding narrow highway would be safer. So we took a cutoff road that an indigenous man said would get us back to the main road eventually. Soon we entered an extremely isolated village, where I somehow saw a car, but I don't know how it got there. Everyone there was having a cheerful, drunken Sunday, and I'm sure it was quite the sight to see our crew riding through.

We had a nice conversation with a couple of farmers who certainly had not seen many gringos pass through their land.

As we left the village, the trail turned horribly steep and rocky, and the rain picked up. We had to walk a lot of it, as it was seriously professional terrain. I took a complete forward tumble once, and then broke my back brakes when we entered mud so thick and sticky it clogged up our bikes, let's just say we barely made it back to the highway with enough time to get down before dark.

Almost 2 Months

So, I am sure everyone at BC has seen this already, but I am posting it here because it is literally la verdad!

http://www.backupcollege.com/

(dang, it used to link to Notre Dame, still close, but not as funny)

GO EAGLES!

After a long week, tonight I am headed up to Huaráz, Peru with 15 people or so from my house and our soccer rivalry house Casa Roja. It is a beautiful, small city in northern Peru in the Callejón (Alley) de Huaylas known as the Switzerland of the South, because it sits in a valley between two beautiful Andean ranges, the Cordillera Blanca (which hosts Peru's largest peak at 22.2 thousand feet), and the Cordillera Negra. We will take an 8 hour bus ride overnight Friday and Sunday night to be back by Monday morning.

Lima has been okay lately, I really think if I hadn't been sick the whole time I've been in Peru, I would be more active/enjoying it a lot more. I really HATE my immune system right now, and the fact I do not know how to cook probably hasn't helped. The bike has also proven to be one of the worst decisions I have made, as it is impossible to ride it on the sidewalks, and to ride it on the streets is a death wish here. I've already hurt myself because of the excessive amounts of curbs I have to go up and down, but the other day I crashed into a man who stepped right in front of me in the street to get into a taxi (hailing a taxi and getting in can take less than 5 seconds here, you don't see it coming). I also went to a really good live music bar in Barranco twice this week called La Noche, once with Taylor Morton, on his way through Lima back to the States (we saw an Amazonian art/music presentation), and last night with some roommates. It feels like a classy, small hipster club in Central Square, only better, with cool wooden architecture and an awesome balcony.

Anyway, I am still motivated for the second half of my time here to really try to get to know more of the city and the people here outside of my bubble, because so far I haven't been too successful with it. I guess I could motivate myself by planning to write some articles, or consider it as potential thesis material. I have a few things lined up to volunteer with for the rest of my time here, so that should help a bit. I have a growing interest in the politics about Lima's pueblos jóvenes, and I really want to learn more about them. Many were established as organized land invasions where a migrant group of 100 families or so would settle unused lots in the outlying areas of Lima, and the government was very hesitant to evict them in the insecure environment of the Sendero Luminoso war, which would have fed people right into the palm of the said paramilitaries. Since then, many of these have grown into slums with hundreds of thousands of people.

One little adventure I had recently was a shoe shopping quest. My only outdoors/active shoes I brought were totally falling apart after a few games of soccer, so I went to find some cheap shoes on my tight budget. I first went to Polvos Azules, a popular commercial center in Central Lima with massive amounts of counterfeited, well produced CDs and DVDs. I found lots of shoes from 30-40 dollars which may/may not have been fakes, but seemed to be good quality. Ignorantly, I proceeded further to a market called El Hueco, in a more crowded, sketchy area. You walk down into "the hole," and there is aisle after aisle of crowded vendors mostly selling fake brand name shoes in this curiously dark, black lighted shopping environment. I guess the point is so you can't see too well what you are buying. Well, I got some Fadidas for about 12 dollars, and one week later they are falling apart! I should have known they would with how thin they are...I'll put a picture of them up sometime. I guess I may have to go back and get some more expensive fake shoes that will actually last. Here are some pictures of my shoe shopping day in central Lima:

Soccer Stadium

 

Peru's Supreme Court/Judicial Branch

 

old theatre

 

Parque Universitario, where hundreds of people were watching old couples dance cumbia in the ampitheatre (this seems to be happening everywhere in parks on Sunday)

 

 

I walked past this child selling candy right outside the park twice in a few hours.

 

Paracas National Reserve/Ballestas Islands

See previous post for first part of my trip. This post is mostly just photos from my tour of the Paracas Peninsula and the Ballestas Islands. It would have been much more beautiful if it wasn't such a foggy day, but I guess it's kind of a cool effect.

Paracas peninsula, where General San Martin began his liberation of Peru

The Candelabra of the Andes, a geoglyph with unknown origins. One hypothesis is it is a jimson weed, which ancient Peruvians might have obtained in California and used this as a return landmark, as there is a similar one drawn on a rock in California.

 

 

 Ballestas Islands

 

Pingüinos closest to the ecuator

 

some lovebirds (I can't remember what they were called) and pelicans

 

more lovebirds

 

The black and white masses on the island are the different types of birds, ahhh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

whoa.