Tuesday, October 28

So I want to do one final Peru blog. Mostly just to tie up some loose ends so this may be a bit disjointed.

Peru is an intriguing place. A lot of variety and contrasts in a relatively small area. Not just in terms of ecological diversity and variety, but social and economic contrasts too. So following are some general impressions and observations.

Just in case you thought about smoking at the edge of a cliff.

The country is rich in terms of natural resources. There is a coastal area that produces fish, a mountainous area to produce potatoes and grains, and the jungle to produce fruits and beans. They have over 3,000 potato species, 55 corn or maize species, innumerable bean species, and dozens of native and cultivated jungle fruits. Enough to feed their own population and to export to the rest of the world. One guide complained that since quinoa has become a fashionable health food in the U.S., so much is exported that Peruvians can’t afford to buy it any more.

Lowland jungle fruits in a local market.

A few of the many varieties of potatoes, corn, and beans.

They also have some minerals like gold and silver and the tourism cash cow. But despite these resources, Peru is a poor third world country. The wealth just doesn’t seem to get to the general population. Lima and Cusco are large modern cities with flush toilets but there are a lot of isolated rural villages without basic amenities. In Agus Calientes, the tourist trap outside Machu Picchu, we watch laborers pushing construction materials and other supplies up a steep slope. Once they moved 30-foot re-bars with a wheelbarrow on each end and a set of wheels in the middle. Not a forklift or piece of mechanized equipment to be seen. So there is either a total lack of mechanized equipment or one really strong union.

Stefan doing a selfie with Cusco in the background.

A lowland village, usually cut off from the outside during the rainy season.

The farm/village where we lunched first day on the Inca Trail.

The nice church in the same village.

 Hauling materials by hand.

One reason for the poverty has got to be corruption. Government corruption is legendary in Peru. We got to see some first hand. On an excursion to the Sacred Valley our guide was pulled over at a checkpoint. There was something not quite right with his papers and he got into a long discussion with the officer. After a while, the officer went to confer with his superiors and the guide said, “He wants a tip.” Our guide wouldn’t give him a tip, so he had to get out of the car and explain everything over again to each successively higher command level. After about 45 minutes he came back with some kind of a citation to take to yet a higher authority.

We were there just before a major election for national, regional, and local offices. Political posters were everywhere, even painted on the sides of mud brick homes. Interestingly, voting is mandatory in Peru. Something you would think is concerning to corrupt politicians. We met an American expat photo-journalist while waiting to fly out of the jungle. He was doing a story on illegal gold mining in the jungle and took only his old camera equipment in case the miners trashed it. He has been in Peru so long he was required to vote. When we were talking about the Inca Trail he said, “I did the trail. Thirty years ago when I was 30.”

Political posters in a village.

Not unlike our worthless politicians, the Peruvian version goes to great lengths to justify their pathetic existence. Especially come election time. In one area they built bathrooms for everyone living in mud brick homes without a bathroom. But then, to let everyone know where the bathrooms came from, they painted them blue and white, the colors of the political party in power. Not the whole house, just the bathroom addition.

Each little blue and white speck is a new bathroom.

Tourism is a major industry for Peru, probably only second to drugs. While we were bopping around the country, living the expat life, we would meet up with people we had met other places. We met a very elderly retired British ornithologist, and his “traveling companion” (his words) at the cloud forest lodge. We ran into them again over week later in the jungle lodge. With the help of a guide he had gotten over 400 bird species on his trip. Another Brit we talked to at Machu Picchu ended up on the same boat we were riding to the jungle lodges.

The Peruvian government sees tourism as a cash cow and wants to add another half million tourists per year within the next few years. That ain’t gonna happen unless they seriously improve the infrastructure. Especially the bathrooms and driving conditions. If you go to Peru, get a driver. You don’t drive there unless you have either nerves of steel or no reason to live. Or both, I guess. Rules for traffic flow, centerlines, right of way, passing, and general safety, are either nonexistent or known only to a select few. And they choose to ignore them if they do know them. Once our driver pulled over on the middle of a bridge for lunch because it was the shadiest place he could find. Never mind that it might block traffic and we were on the side facing traffic, I guess we were there first.

The train just passed in front of the bus. No gate, no warning lights, nothing. Another bus just crossed the tracks right before the train. Lots of political signs though.

Turning onto the two way street our hotel was located on.

Parking on the bridge for lunch.

Stefan and Elsie birding off the bridge

The old single lane bridge our lunch bridge replaced.

Driving in the rain. Notice the lack of space between the white truck oncoming on the left and the parked truck on the right.

As corrupt as it is, the government does keep limits on some tourist sites to protect them. Only 500 people a day are allowed on the Inca Trail. Stretched over 28 miles, 500 people isn’t too bad. We rarely ran into other hikers except at the designated campgrounds. And they eliminated pack animals after the last village. Supposedly to protect the trail but I think employing porters also figures in too. A couple thousand people at a time are allowed in Machu Picchu but it still seems able to swallow them up. When I commented that I wanted all the tourists out of my Machu Picchu pictures our guide, who was raised in a mountain village without electricity or running water and only spoke Quechan until he went into school, looked at me and said, “Photoshop.”

Campground site on the Inca Trail. Different guide companies use different colors.

The hordes of tourists waiting to get into Machu Picchu.

Tourists cluttering up my picture.

Dogs – Loose dogs are ubiquitous in Peru. Busy Cusco intersections, dusty rural roads, parks and plazas, there are always dogs just laying around or hanging out. Sometimes even small packs of them. No apparent owners, but they’re always well behaved and they look like they’re well fed. There’s no obvious homeless population either so maybe there’s a correlation to well fed dogs. Interestingly, no piles of dog droppings lying around either.

Dogs.

The coca plant was a scared plant to the Inca. The head Inca headdress contained coca leaves. Coca leaves have been used as an effective pain suppressant and medicinal for a long, long time. Even today, it’s everywhere, a constant in Peruvian culture. Peruvians are allowed to grow a hectare (2.5 acres) of coca. All hotels and restaurants serve coca tea. We used it on the trail. You fold up the leaves, kiss them while making a wish, offer it up to the gods, and then slip a pinch between your cheek and gums. Just like Copenhagen but it doesn’t cause cancer. International smuggler that I am, I brought back a granola bar made with coca leaves. That’s probably worth 30 years if it was up to the Republicans. I can just hear Nancy Reagan scolding me – “now be a good boy Ed, and just say no.”

Coca plantation.

The farmhouse. Doesn’t look like they’re getting rich from coca.

Stefan and Jamie prepping a coca leaf offering at Dead Woman’s Pass.

Putting the offering in the cairn.

Then came cocaine, a highly processed derivative of the coca leaf. Like Robin Williams said, “Cocaine is god’s way of saying you make too much money.” Peruvians have a hard time understanding the U.S. and European government’s hell bent desire to eradicate the coca plant. From a number of people it was, why eradicate a sacred and useful plant that we depend on. Cocaine use is your problem, not our problem. We don’t like the drug lords any more than you do. Why don’t you just stop your people from using cocaine and the drug lords and cocaine problem will go away.

Coca granola bars – probably a gateway drug. Next thing you know I may try something truly deadly – like cancer causing tobacco supported with governmental agriculture subsidies that can be bought legally in any store.

If you go to Peru, guides are essential. Don’t even try to do Peru without guides. You will get a far better understanding of Peru that you just get can’t on your own. Our guides were all great. Turns out Peru has a specialized, university level, guide training program. Guides go through several years of general guide training, plus specialized training for the type of guiding they will be doing. Cultural guides are expected to be versed in the natural history. Natural history guides are versed in cultural interpretation. They’re all multilingual. So the guides hawking their services at the base of Machu Picchu are all trained and licensed.

Stefan and our guide/driver Percy.

Percy in a village.

Stefan and Jamie our trail guide.

Elsie, a great birding guide.

Walter the driver with nerves of steel. I think he knew every truck driver on the road to the cloud forest lodge.

So to wrap things up, we were there long enough to get a feel for the country and the people. My general impression of the Peruvians is that they are proud of their country and their culture. They acknowledge imperfections, especially government corruption, but they’re proud. They’re proud to be Inca descendants. They’re proud of their ancestor’s accomplishments. And they’re proud of their current country, even with its flaws. I enjoyed the Peruvian people I met way more than some of the fat obnoxious tourists we encountered.  

Peruvians.

When all is said and done, this was a fantastic trip. Lise knows someone that said something like “trips are best enjoyed in retrospect.” I’ve never believed that and this trip is a case in point. I loved every minute of it, even on the trail, huffing and puffing through the rain wearing a plastic poncho. Sure, we stayed in hotels and did tourist tours, and I liked that. But we were also out there, without the creature comforts. Places where a mistake could mean real problems. I haven’t felt like this since I was riding the aircraft carriers. This was one of those life changing events, for me at least. Floating down a river looking at European castles just isn’t my idea of a vacation anymore. I want to go where the wild things are.

One of the wild things.