CUSCO, PERU - Well, a week from now I'll be waking up at my parent's house in Newark, CA (which they actually just sold and will be moving back to Fremont, CA shortly). But this morning I'm writing this episode while laying in bed, still in Cusco, looking forward to my return to the States, but sad to see that the time with my family in Peru is coming to an end.
This past week has been a blur of activity and I'm actually quite exhausted. For the last week and a half I've been chasing the trains that go from Cusco to Machu Picchu, filming it for a commercial documentary that my uncle Ricardo's boss Jorge wants me to make. This is particularly tiring as the trains leave Cusco at 6:00, 6:15, and 6:35 am every morning. So, on average, I've been getting up between 4:00 and 5:00 am each day, depending on where I have to go to film. But it is good to have a focus and the opportunity to answer one of the questions that I came to Peru to resolve: do I want to commit myself to a career in filmmaking.
I've also been doing a bit of shopping while I'm in a place where the prices are so cheap. Figuring that I'll probably return for a brief stint working in New York's financial district, I've been buying a bunch of good quality dress shirts at the local black market for about $6 a piece. I figure that money that I spend on these kind of basics is just money that I don't have to spend back in the States, where I'll be spending dollars. I also like to pick up music-related items and am planning on buying a typical Latin American instrument, a small guitar called a charango. I'm hoping that my musical ability will be good enough to try writing some background music for the doc I'm making.
Well, what have I been up to in the last 3 months since the events of my last blog, the end of my trip to Ecuador and Northern Peru? Just hanging out in Cusco with my friends and family, mostly. There have been 3 main things that I've done: taught English, had a visit from my mother and my aunt (which I'll cover in the next blog), and started filming the documentary.
TEACHING: IS THIS MY CALLING?
Simply put: no, it's not. I have to say that my brief one-month stint teaching English at the local US Embassy-funded language school Instituto Cultural Peruano-Norteamericano (ICPNA for short) was less than inspiring. But it has given me a lot more respect for teachers. Especially, those who teach teenagers.
Originally, I was told by the head of the program that I should plan on being in Cusco a month before I would begin teaching so that I could start training. Throughout May, they had me attend classes being taught by other instructors so that I could see what a typical teaching experience is like. It was a good introduction to the art of teaching English, and I was able to compare different styles and methods. Most teachers at ICPNA are actually Peruvians who learned English as a second language, so it's always good to have native speakers around (as the Peruvian instructor's English is often times a bit off).
As June and the time to start teaching approached, I was a bit concerned about how the school's system worked (as we were receiving almost no leadership from the school), but figured that I could work it out along the way. I met a few other new teachers from the States or England and, between the few of us, we pieced enough information together to understand how to navigate the system. We didn't receive books or even know what levels we would be teaching until the first day of class. So, I spent the first day just getting to know the students in both classes I was going to teach.
My first class, a mid-intermediate level, was filled with adults. I was happy because they seemed to be motivated to learn, probably by the knowledge that, in Cusco's tourist-oriented marketplace, people who know how to speak English have better work opportunities than those who do not. My second class, a high basic level, was at 2:15 pm and, because it started right after the end of high school day, was filled with teenagers. They, on the other hand and with a few exceptions, seemed to be there because they had to be. To the teenagers, attending ICPNA seemed to be more of a social opportunity. In fact, my friend Sandy has a teenage sister who wanted to attend ICPNA because it was the social 'thing to do', regardless of the fact that her English is pretty good and her parents actually own a competing English institute!
Throughout the month, I found that teaching is a lot of work. I only taught for 3 hours a day (2 one-and-a-half hour classes), but found myself having to spend a lot of time preparing for class, creating quizzes, or correcting them. The payoff for me was there for my adult intermediate class, the students liked to talk and discuss different topics and learn whatever they could about life in the United States. In my teenage class, however, it was much more like pulling teeth. I would introduce a topic and attempt to initiate a class discussion, but the students were so timid that they just didn't talk. I tried to steer the conversations towards topics that they would like more, but they just didn't respond.
With regards to grading, I think I'm a bit tougher of a teacher than most. In my own high school and early university career, I was not a stellar student and probably know all the tricks that students can play because, at one time or another, I've played them. So, while I tried to give my students several opportunities to score high marks (we had to test them individually for speaking, listening, reading and writing), my teenage class just didn't respond. I had felt, from the beginning, that there was an inclination at the school to pass people up the system when they completed each level, even if they didn't really master the material. Both classes had people that I felt didn't seem up to the level that I was teaching. In the end, 3 out of 13 in my intermediate class didn't pass while half of my basic class of 12 would have to repeat the level. It may sound harsh, but after looking at each individual student, I was confident that my system had appropriately selected those who should move on and weeded out those who should repeat the level. In the end, I felt a sense of accomplishment in completing even 1 month, but knew that this isn't the profession for me. I think I'm the kind of person who appreciates being the student and learning new things rather than being the teacher. It may a bit selfish, but hell, I would rather spend my time learning from a good teacher!
TRAINSPOTTING: A SURPRISING OPPORTUNITY
I basically fell into making a project about the train trip to Machu Picchu. Here's what happened: I was at a party with my uncle Ricardo and started talking to his boss/best friend Jorge, who owns the company that provides the catering for the Cusco-Machu Picchu trains and also sells tourist items on them. He mentioned that he commissioned a documentary made recently about the trip, but that it was really boring and not something that he could sell to tourists as a keepsake to remember their voyage. I mentioned that I had gone to film school and that I had studied editing in New York.
Now, something that he didn't know was that I had come down to Peru with an ultimatum for myself, either I start working on a film career and write or make films with my time here or I go back to the States prepared to take on another vocation. Honestly, I've been in a conundrum for years about whether to take seriously my desire to have film career, afraid to give it a shot (partly because everyone I know who works in film is dirt poor!) and afraid to give up the dream (what else would I do?). This inner struggle had defined my life for too many years and I needed to move on.
Well, Jorge and I put 2 and 2 together and came up with the idea that I should make a new, more tourist-friendly version that includes more history and interesting anecdotes for him to sell on the trains. I put on my business hat and decided that it would be more advantageous for me to put myself into the position of distributor, rather than just a filmmaker for hire. So, we made a deal that I would provide all of the production costs and sell him wholesale a DVD for $10 that he could mark up and sell retail for $20, contingent upon him thinking that the film was marketable. I have very little risk, since I already own and brought with me the equipment that I'd need (except a good tripod - Francoise!!) and he has little risk because he doesn't have to spend a dime until he sees a product that he likes. Now, I don't LOVE trains or anything, but this also gives me an opportunity to work on a project and fulfill my desire to see if filmmaking is really for me. So, even if, for some reason, we don't end up selling the video on the trains, everybody wins.
Well, the first day I went to go film the trains leaving the San Pedro station in Cusco (about 2 weeks ago), they wouldn't let me film since the company hadn't secured permission from PeruRail. I had to wait a week, with time ticking town until my departure from Peru, but finally last weekend I got the piece of paper that gives me free access to the trains and all the stations. As I said before, this means that I've been getting up quite early to track down the trains and film what they do: go by.
Last Wednesday, I got my aunt to allow my uncle Adolfo and I to use her family's car to shoot the train leaving Cusco and in the nearby countryside. I needed Adolfo as extra security since the train goes through some rather dangerous areas on its way out of Cusco. In the countryside, we found an area where the train parallels the nearby highway and we were able to shoot it close up from the outside. Many of the passengers were bemused by us, having seen us at several points along their route. In fact, the next day as I shot film of the Machu Picchu ruins (after riding and shooting the train from the inside that morning), I met several people who were amazed that I was that 'crazy-train-filming guy'.
On my trip to Aguas Calientes on Thursday and Friday, I decided that I would walk up from the valley to the monument so that I could get some shots of buses crossing the river and winding up the switch-backs to the monument. This was one killer hike! Determined, I finally reached the top, after taking about 6-7 breaks to deal with the exhaustion of climbing so many stairs. Needless to say, I met many people walking down, but no other hikers going up. Friday morning, I woke up early to walk 6 kilometers down the tracks to Kilometer 104 (Aguas Calientes is at Km 110), where people get off the train to take the 2-day Inca Trail hike. Unfortunately, there were only 2 passengers that got off (Km 82 is the more popular place to disembark for the 4-day hike)! Basically, I've done a hell of a lot of hiking in the last few days.
Yesterday, after filming the train arriving at its last station in the Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo, I took a stroll along the tracks in the countryside to find a good vantage point to shoot the next train passing by. I found a little ditch next to the tracks and prepared to get a dramatic shot from below of the train passing by. Everything went as planned, but as the train passed I felt a little smattering of liquid. Unfortunately, the bathrooms on these trains dump their contents right onto the tracks, so, most likely, I was showered in a mixture of water and urine. Ewwww! Oh well, anything for the shot, right?
Well, tomorrow I have to get up early to take a bus back to Ollantaytambo and then on to Km 82 to shoot hikers getting off the train for the Inca Trail hike. Finally, Tuesday morning, I'll be taking a taxi with Adolfo and shooting the remaining shots of the train leaving Cusco and getting a few shots of early morning Cusco. Then I'll have a few months back in NYC to edit the film and see if there's anything else that I need to get before possibly returning to Cusco for a few weeks in late November and December with my parents.
I'll keep you posted on the results, if you're interested.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
CUSCO, PERU - I only have a two-and-a-half more weeks and then my life-long dream of a Peruvian adventure will be accomplished. I'm positive that I will return, but it will probably be for only a couple of weeks at a time instead of 9 months.
I have a lot to look forward to when I return to the United States - a reunion with my high school friends in my hometown, a weekend wedding adventure with my NY friends, a new apartment in Brooklyn, and the fact that my best friend from high school, Bill Herkelrath, and his young family have also moved to Brooklyn. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about returning.
Well, as I only have a little over 2 weeks and I just returned from another animal sighting adventure in the jungle, I have a lot to write about. So, in the next couple of weeks expect a bit more activity from my blog in your email inbox.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, here's some pictures from my trip to Ecuador and Northern Peru:
Cuenca/Vilcabamba, Ecuador | Chiclayo/Trujillo, Peru
Huaraz, Part 1 | Huaraz, Part 2 | Lima, Peru
Enjoy!
-----------------------
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #3: CANYONS AND CASCADES
For those of you who haven't heard of the term 'canyoning', it refers to the sporting practice using ropes and rock climbing equipment to rappel down waterfalls. It's easier than rock climbing because all you are doing is controlling the rate of descent down a rock and water face, instead of the opposite direction, which would be much more difficult. It's pretty easy and you get to see some spectacular waterfalls and canyons.
Our canyoning adventure started rather inauspiciously with a rather abrupt and harsh morning rainstorm. We met early, 6:30 am, at the office of the canyoning guide and ended up waiting there for a couple hours to see where the weather was going. The rain eventually stopped and we loaded the mini-van and started making our way up a mountain near the city of Huaraz. We unloaded the van and started walking down little trails in-between the rustic houses of the campesinos (country people), consisting of dirt and clay.
We eventually reached the canyon we'd spend much of the day in, followed by one or two curious campesinos, and climbed down to put on our equipment. We were given instructions about how to rappel, which is surprisingly easy. Basically, you have a harness around you waist and legs which is attached to this resistance-figure-eight-looking device which allows you to control the rate at which the ropes pass through it. You use your left hand (for right-handers) on the rope above your head for stabilization and your right hand near your right hip to control the speed of the rope going through the resistance device and thus the rate of descent. The first time is always the most disconcerting, as you have to go against what your body naturally wants to do for survival, lean back and let the harness take all the weight. But after a few minutes, you get used to the sensation.
As the sun had refused to make an appearance, the day was not warm, so we all were trying to avoid getting wet. The first few cascades were pretty easy. We'd slowly work our way down the rock face, having to plunge our feet into the cold water of the waterfall and continuously look for where to step to achieve the best balance. The sun finally came out and we were able to warm ourselves in it. At one crevice, instead of rappelling down, we had to hoist ourselves across, heads down and stomachs to the sky.
The sun stayed with us for a few hours in the middle of the day and we were able to have a warm, pleasant lunch by the edge of the stream. Each waterfall we'd climb down we'd get a little wet and we had been warned that there was one that we wouldn't be able to avoid getting drenched. Unfortunately, by the time we approached that particular cascade the sun had gone hiding behind an overcast sky. Sure enough, when it was my turn, I was confronted with the fact that there was nowhere to go to avoid getting wet, so I tried to get down the waterfall as quickly as possible as the water fell all around me, completely drenching my clothes.
Thankfully, we only had one more cascade to go after getting drenched and we all stood around shivering, a bit tired of the whole experience. We quickly descended what was actually the most beautiful waterfall of them all, surrounded by a canopy of trees and beautifully striped rocks of yellow, orange and red. Afterwards, we quickly climbed down the remainder of the stream looking for the meeting point so that we could change into our dry clothes. Happily dry, we made our way out of the canyon along a little stream/aqueduct carved on the side of the path. My childhood memories of Peru are filled with the wonder of these types of streams, marveling at how the population was able to control so creatively where water went. Walking along this little stream gave me a feeling of contentment and we returned to Huaraz happy with our little adventure.
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #4: CLIMBING GLACIERS
For our final adventure in Huaraz, we decided to go 'ice climbing', which is taking pick axes and adding these spikes to the front of your boots and scaling a wall of ice. Sounds like a bit of a pain and it is, but the other reason for taking this particular excursion was that it was in a beautiful area of mountains at a very high altitude (5400 meters - that's about 18,000 ft!). I hadn't really had a conception of just how beautiful this area was, but it was simply breathtaking (literally)!
We loaded into a 6 am van which drove into mountains for 2 hours until we reached a base camp kind of area with little wooden shacks, the last point at which to buy anything (for more expensive prices than Huaraz). We then started on a rock path (a 45 min.-1 hour walk with frequent brakes) that lead up to the glacier. We were greeted with a sign pointing toward our destination that read (in Spanish, of course) 'Access difficult but not impossible'. Reassured, we continued up the slanted (and occasionally slippery) rock faces as the trail ended. We eventually reached an area that looked as though a thick sheet of ice had slid over the mountain face like lava. This was the glacier.
We quickly made camp as the guides started to set up the ropes that would protect us from falling when climbing. As others in the group started their climbing, I took this opportunity to do a little exploring. I found a few high altitude ponds, beautifully still, reflecting the cotton-candy cumulous clouds floating above. One of these ponds bordered the edge of the glacier and was fed by the run-off via a glorious patch of long icicles. I found a short step up to the glacier which allowed me climb on and walk up its gentle slope. Halfway up, I found a man building . . . not a snowman, but more like a snow bear. I continued past him to the top shelf and could see a few skiers higher up on the slope skiing down the main face of the glacier in the warm mountain sun.
Eventually, I came down from the wonderful sights on top of the glacier to take my turn at ice climbing. The guides slapped some spikes on my boots, tied my harness to the security ropes, and handed me two ice-picks. The key to ice climbing is slamming the ice-picks hard enough that they can support your weight as you pull yourself up. Then you kick your boot spikes into the ice and stand on them as they support you. You repeat this process over and over again until you find yourself quite a ways up the wall of ice. The biggest problem and most tiring aspect is to get your picks to penetrate the the ice. It usually would take about 3-4 swings to get them in enough to support weight. Most of the time they just bounce off the ice or take off small ice chunks. Repeatedly swinging axes at an altitude of 18,000 can get a bit tiring. I kept repeating to myself 'this is such a pain in the ass!'. After scaling about 50 ft I found myself on a little ledge, only about 10 ft from the top where the guides had mounted the ropes. Suddenly, I felt one of my shoe spikes fall off. This was a bummer as it had been happening repeatedly to people in our group. This left me with one working one, but not enough to really be able to go any further, which was fine with me. I began to rappel down, stopping for a moment to retrieve the lost shoe spike which had fallen into a small crevice in the ice, until I reached the rocky surface below. I am glad that I now know how to climb ice, but I don't think I'll be picking it up as a sport any time soon.
As more people from our group continued scaling the glacier, we noted a dark patch of clouds engulfing a not-too-distant mountain in a cloud of snow. We decided to cut the day a little short, which was fine with most of us, tired from just one go at ice climbing. As we walked down the long and rocky path back to the bus, the snowstorm caught up and sprinkled little snow flakes upon us. We hopped aboard the bus and hightailed it back to Huaraz.
Rebecca, Saffron and I had decided to take an 11 pm bus to Lima, but Ben decided to stay in Huaraz for a couple of days and take advantage of the cheap rock climbing activities it afforded. After a little dinner and some rest, we boarded the bus and found ourselves in Lima early the next morning.
LIMA, PERU: THE BIG SURPRISE
When traveling through South America you hear nothing but bad things about Lima. 'It's just another big city!' 'It's so dangerous!' ''There's not much to do there!' Stepping off our bus and quickly catching a taxi, I could feel the humid, overcast morning and it felt good. As we headed towards the posh Lima suburb of Miraflores, driving down a sunken freeway, I was struck at how the feel of the city reminded me of my years in Los Angeles. I had decided to stay at a certain place called 'A Friend's House', unwilling to take up the 'only the cheapest' mentality of Rebecca and Saffron. So, as it was, we went our separate ways and I was back on my own.
I checked into my hotel and caught a few hours of sleep before heading out to explore the area. I walked to the coast and was surprised to find that I really liked the vibe of Lima. I headed to a cafe and ordered breakfast. The table next to me housed a quartet of septuagenarian American ex-patriots. We started talking about why they were living in Peru and their lives there. It was an eye-opening conversation that supported a growing idea I've been having over the last few years about my general retirement plan: get out of the U.S.! They had all worked for oil companies in the Iquitos area of Peru (the northern jungle area) and several of them had married Peruanas. Their general opinion was that the U.S. was a country for young people, a place where older people were forgotten or segregated into old people's communities. They moved to Lima and were able to live a fuller, more active life because their money goes so much further there and the Peruvian culture integrates older people so much better. Sounds good to me!
I really enjoyed talking to these gentlemen and at the end of our conversation I ran into Rebecca and Saffron walking by. We decided to go downtown and check out a few of the sights. After figuring out the local bus system, we caught a bus that went downtown. There, we walked around the colonial center, which houses the Presidential Palace and the city's oldest Cathedral, which was built by the conquerer of the Incas and founder of Lima, Francisco Pizzarro (who's body is also buried there). We then headed over to the Iglesia of San Francisco, as we had heard that they have some good catacombs there. We went on the tour and explored the catacombs, then parting ways so that we could run our errands.
The next few days consisted of me going to my favorite mall of Miraflores, LarcoMar, on the Limeno coast, and catching up on a few movies, and running general errands. I went out with a few people from the hostel to the neighboring area of Barranco, the center of nightlife in Lima, and was quite impressed with the it, a mix of Venice, CA coastal feel and the Berkeley bohemian vibe. And surprisingly pretty, too! We met a group of people from a nearby hostel, called The Point, and decided to move there the next day. I stayed there for a few days, occasionally partying until I decided that it was time for me to return home to Cusco. I hopped online at 6 pm, bought a ticket on AeroContinente by 7 pm, and was back home by 7 am the next morning. I love the flexibility of modern transportation.
--------------------
That does it for my 2 months jaunt into Ecuador and Northern Peru. Sorry, it took so long for me to complete it, but I hoped you enjoyed. Next time I write, I'll let you know about more recent activities (I did just return from the jungle!). Thanks for bearing with me.
Tim
I have a lot to look forward to when I return to the United States - a reunion with my high school friends in my hometown, a weekend wedding adventure with my NY friends, a new apartment in Brooklyn, and the fact that my best friend from high school, Bill Herkelrath, and his young family have also moved to Brooklyn. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about returning.
Well, as I only have a little over 2 weeks and I just returned from another animal sighting adventure in the jungle, I have a lot to write about. So, in the next couple of weeks expect a bit more activity from my blog in your email inbox.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, here's some pictures from my trip to Ecuador and Northern Peru:
Cuenca/Vilcabamba, Ecuador | Chiclayo/Trujillo, Peru
Huaraz, Part 1 | Huaraz, Part 2 | Lima, Peru
Enjoy!
-----------------------
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #3: CANYONS AND CASCADES
For those of you who haven't heard of the term 'canyoning', it refers to the sporting practice using ropes and rock climbing equipment to rappel down waterfalls. It's easier than rock climbing because all you are doing is controlling the rate of descent down a rock and water face, instead of the opposite direction, which would be much more difficult. It's pretty easy and you get to see some spectacular waterfalls and canyons.
Our canyoning adventure started rather inauspiciously with a rather abrupt and harsh morning rainstorm. We met early, 6:30 am, at the office of the canyoning guide and ended up waiting there for a couple hours to see where the weather was going. The rain eventually stopped and we loaded the mini-van and started making our way up a mountain near the city of Huaraz. We unloaded the van and started walking down little trails in-between the rustic houses of the campesinos (country people), consisting of dirt and clay.
We eventually reached the canyon we'd spend much of the day in, followed by one or two curious campesinos, and climbed down to put on our equipment. We were given instructions about how to rappel, which is surprisingly easy. Basically, you have a harness around you waist and legs which is attached to this resistance-figure-eight-looking device which allows you to control the rate at which the ropes pass through it. You use your left hand (for right-handers) on the rope above your head for stabilization and your right hand near your right hip to control the speed of the rope going through the resistance device and thus the rate of descent. The first time is always the most disconcerting, as you have to go against what your body naturally wants to do for survival, lean back and let the harness take all the weight. But after a few minutes, you get used to the sensation.
As the sun had refused to make an appearance, the day was not warm, so we all were trying to avoid getting wet. The first few cascades were pretty easy. We'd slowly work our way down the rock face, having to plunge our feet into the cold water of the waterfall and continuously look for where to step to achieve the best balance. The sun finally came out and we were able to warm ourselves in it. At one crevice, instead of rappelling down, we had to hoist ourselves across, heads down and stomachs to the sky.
The sun stayed with us for a few hours in the middle of the day and we were able to have a warm, pleasant lunch by the edge of the stream. Each waterfall we'd climb down we'd get a little wet and we had been warned that there was one that we wouldn't be able to avoid getting drenched. Unfortunately, by the time we approached that particular cascade the sun had gone hiding behind an overcast sky. Sure enough, when it was my turn, I was confronted with the fact that there was nowhere to go to avoid getting wet, so I tried to get down the waterfall as quickly as possible as the water fell all around me, completely drenching my clothes.
Thankfully, we only had one more cascade to go after getting drenched and we all stood around shivering, a bit tired of the whole experience. We quickly descended what was actually the most beautiful waterfall of them all, surrounded by a canopy of trees and beautifully striped rocks of yellow, orange and red. Afterwards, we quickly climbed down the remainder of the stream looking for the meeting point so that we could change into our dry clothes. Happily dry, we made our way out of the canyon along a little stream/aqueduct carved on the side of the path. My childhood memories of Peru are filled with the wonder of these types of streams, marveling at how the population was able to control so creatively where water went. Walking along this little stream gave me a feeling of contentment and we returned to Huaraz happy with our little adventure.
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #4: CLIMBING GLACIERS
For our final adventure in Huaraz, we decided to go 'ice climbing', which is taking pick axes and adding these spikes to the front of your boots and scaling a wall of ice. Sounds like a bit of a pain and it is, but the other reason for taking this particular excursion was that it was in a beautiful area of mountains at a very high altitude (5400 meters - that's about 18,000 ft!). I hadn't really had a conception of just how beautiful this area was, but it was simply breathtaking (literally)!
We loaded into a 6 am van which drove into mountains for 2 hours until we reached a base camp kind of area with little wooden shacks, the last point at which to buy anything (for more expensive prices than Huaraz). We then started on a rock path (a 45 min.-1 hour walk with frequent brakes) that lead up to the glacier. We were greeted with a sign pointing toward our destination that read (in Spanish, of course) 'Access difficult but not impossible'. Reassured, we continued up the slanted (and occasionally slippery) rock faces as the trail ended. We eventually reached an area that looked as though a thick sheet of ice had slid over the mountain face like lava. This was the glacier.
We quickly made camp as the guides started to set up the ropes that would protect us from falling when climbing. As others in the group started their climbing, I took this opportunity to do a little exploring. I found a few high altitude ponds, beautifully still, reflecting the cotton-candy cumulous clouds floating above. One of these ponds bordered the edge of the glacier and was fed by the run-off via a glorious patch of long icicles. I found a short step up to the glacier which allowed me climb on and walk up its gentle slope. Halfway up, I found a man building . . . not a snowman, but more like a snow bear. I continued past him to the top shelf and could see a few skiers higher up on the slope skiing down the main face of the glacier in the warm mountain sun.
Eventually, I came down from the wonderful sights on top of the glacier to take my turn at ice climbing. The guides slapped some spikes on my boots, tied my harness to the security ropes, and handed me two ice-picks. The key to ice climbing is slamming the ice-picks hard enough that they can support your weight as you pull yourself up. Then you kick your boot spikes into the ice and stand on them as they support you. You repeat this process over and over again until you find yourself quite a ways up the wall of ice. The biggest problem and most tiring aspect is to get your picks to penetrate the the ice. It usually would take about 3-4 swings to get them in enough to support weight. Most of the time they just bounce off the ice or take off small ice chunks. Repeatedly swinging axes at an altitude of 18,000 can get a bit tiring. I kept repeating to myself 'this is such a pain in the ass!'. After scaling about 50 ft I found myself on a little ledge, only about 10 ft from the top where the guides had mounted the ropes. Suddenly, I felt one of my shoe spikes fall off. This was a bummer as it had been happening repeatedly to people in our group. This left me with one working one, but not enough to really be able to go any further, which was fine with me. I began to rappel down, stopping for a moment to retrieve the lost shoe spike which had fallen into a small crevice in the ice, until I reached the rocky surface below. I am glad that I now know how to climb ice, but I don't think I'll be picking it up as a sport any time soon.
As more people from our group continued scaling the glacier, we noted a dark patch of clouds engulfing a not-too-distant mountain in a cloud of snow. We decided to cut the day a little short, which was fine with most of us, tired from just one go at ice climbing. As we walked down the long and rocky path back to the bus, the snowstorm caught up and sprinkled little snow flakes upon us. We hopped aboard the bus and hightailed it back to Huaraz.
Rebecca, Saffron and I had decided to take an 11 pm bus to Lima, but Ben decided to stay in Huaraz for a couple of days and take advantage of the cheap rock climbing activities it afforded. After a little dinner and some rest, we boarded the bus and found ourselves in Lima early the next morning.
LIMA, PERU: THE BIG SURPRISE
When traveling through South America you hear nothing but bad things about Lima. 'It's just another big city!' 'It's so dangerous!' ''There's not much to do there!' Stepping off our bus and quickly catching a taxi, I could feel the humid, overcast morning and it felt good. As we headed towards the posh Lima suburb of Miraflores, driving down a sunken freeway, I was struck at how the feel of the city reminded me of my years in Los Angeles. I had decided to stay at a certain place called 'A Friend's House', unwilling to take up the 'only the cheapest' mentality of Rebecca and Saffron. So, as it was, we went our separate ways and I was back on my own.
I checked into my hotel and caught a few hours of sleep before heading out to explore the area. I walked to the coast and was surprised to find that I really liked the vibe of Lima. I headed to a cafe and ordered breakfast. The table next to me housed a quartet of septuagenarian American ex-patriots. We started talking about why they were living in Peru and their lives there. It was an eye-opening conversation that supported a growing idea I've been having over the last few years about my general retirement plan: get out of the U.S.! They had all worked for oil companies in the Iquitos area of Peru (the northern jungle area) and several of them had married Peruanas. Their general opinion was that the U.S. was a country for young people, a place where older people were forgotten or segregated into old people's communities. They moved to Lima and were able to live a fuller, more active life because their money goes so much further there and the Peruvian culture integrates older people so much better. Sounds good to me!
I really enjoyed talking to these gentlemen and at the end of our conversation I ran into Rebecca and Saffron walking by. We decided to go downtown and check out a few of the sights. After figuring out the local bus system, we caught a bus that went downtown. There, we walked around the colonial center, which houses the Presidential Palace and the city's oldest Cathedral, which was built by the conquerer of the Incas and founder of Lima, Francisco Pizzarro (who's body is also buried there). We then headed over to the Iglesia of San Francisco, as we had heard that they have some good catacombs there. We went on the tour and explored the catacombs, then parting ways so that we could run our errands.
The next few days consisted of me going to my favorite mall of Miraflores, LarcoMar, on the Limeno coast, and catching up on a few movies, and running general errands. I went out with a few people from the hostel to the neighboring area of Barranco, the center of nightlife in Lima, and was quite impressed with the it, a mix of Venice, CA coastal feel and the Berkeley bohemian vibe. And surprisingly pretty, too! We met a group of people from a nearby hostel, called The Point, and decided to move there the next day. I stayed there for a few days, occasionally partying until I decided that it was time for me to return home to Cusco. I hopped online at 6 pm, bought a ticket on AeroContinente by 7 pm, and was back home by 7 am the next morning. I love the flexibility of modern transportation.
--------------------
That does it for my 2 months jaunt into Ecuador and Northern Peru. Sorry, it took so long for me to complete it, but I hoped you enjoyed. Next time I write, I'll let you know about more recent activities (I did just return from the jungle!). Thanks for bearing with me.
Tim
Saturday, July 03, 2004
July 3, 2004
Cusco, Peru
Just a quick note of what I've been up to: just finished my first (and final - more about that some other time) month teaching English at the local language institute, my mother and aunt are in town from the States, and I should be returning in almost exactly one month.
I'm looking forward to getting home. Nine months is a long time to be away, especially if you are a New Yorker (as I found that they seemed to be the most homesick travelers I met on the road). I'm planning to come back, as originally scheduled, on the 31st of July. I'm going to have to race back to the East Coast for my friend Karl's wedding on August 8th in Maine. So, for all my Bay Area friends, I hope to see you in that small sliver of time that I'll have there, probably Aug 1-4.
I decided yesterday to go to the jungle with my mother and my aunt from the United States and we're leaving tomorrow morning for a trip to a pristine 'biosphere' to get eaten alive by mosquitoes and hopefully see some jungle life. I'll be gone until next Saturday, so if you don't hear from me in the next week, it's probably because I'm wrestling a jaguar.
I'll finish up my Huaraz trip details and get you caught up with my more recent adventures when I get back from the jungle, so be prepared for a more-active-than-usual blog in July. Until then, here's the first installment of my Huaraz adventures:
--------------------------------
HUARAZ: JEWEL OF THE ANDES (just to remind you this took place at the tail end of April)
After a hazy night heading south from Trujillo along the Peruvian coast, our bus took a sharp left heading up into the Central Andes region called the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountain Range), the highest and most scenic part of the Andes. We stumbled out of our bus at 6 am and the girls (Rebecca and Saffron) immediately befriend an elderly lady who said that she had a cheap place for us to stay. BIG MISTAKE: the place was a dump.
This scenario underscores an age gap that I felt generally exists between older travelers (I'm 32) and the younger ones (Rebecca and Saffron are 21 and Ben is only 19). When you are a really young traveller, you generally have no money and are trying to travel around South America on, say, $1000 for 3 months. Seasoned travelers will agree that this is possible, but you really have to reduce your spending rates. As these young kids haven't been out in the 'real world', their ability to make money for traveling is much lower. In contrast, while I certainly didn't stay in expensive hotels, I liked to stay in places that were at least comfortable. It's the difference between paying $6-8 a night and only wanting to pay $2-3 a night, but that creates a HUGE difference in quality. Needless to say, as I was traveling with a pack of young'ns, I went with the what the group wanted. The result was a place that had no electricity in the bathroom, no hot water, and beds with limited covering to protect you from the Andean cold. The owner had said that he was going to fix everything quickly, but the term 'quickly' in Latin America is loose concept. After a few days of discomfort, Ben and I moved out to more appropriate accommodations. I was happy.
Outside of my experience with our initial accommodations, Huaraz is quite an amazing place. It is situated within sight of 23 snow-capped peaks and the center of a more youth-oriented, adventurous traveling circle. Surprisingly, if you ask most people who have visited Peru about Huaraz, they've never heard of it. It's one of those jewels that you'll only go to if you've heard about it from someone else who's been there. That being said, if anyone out there plans a trip to some point in the future, I would HIGHLY recommend taking at least a week to explore Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca. It's best done while you're young or in good shape as the activities range from high altitude hikes (1 to 9 days!), mountain climbing, rock climbing, river rafting, canyoning (rappelling down waterfalls), and ice climbing (on glaciers!), all done at a fraction of the cost of doing them in the States or Europe. The beauty and adventure of this place made me immensely proud to be half-Peruvian.
Our first day was spent getting situated in our hotel, checking out Huaraz, and visiting travel agencies to set up what would become four days of adventure:
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #1: LAGO 69
For our first official adventure day we decided we would take on a hike to prepare for the more difficult days ahead of us (after all, we had returned to pretty high altitudes in the Andes after spending a couple of weeks in much lower altitudes). I had heard of a beautiful lake, titled 'Lago 69' (I guess it hasn't deserved a real name yet), from the Australian couple that I met up in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. In order to get there, we had to take a 6:30 am bus through a town named Yungay, whose claim to fame was its incredibly sad fate surrounding an avalanche that buried the town in May 1970. The incident was caused by an earthquake in the area (which itself killed 50,000) and the subsequent avalanche killed almost all of Yungay's population of 18,000. Well, you take a right turn at Yungay and head straight between 2 gigantic, snow tipped mountains, passing bright blue lakes of drinking quality water (which is quite a feat for the ever-polluted Peru!).
The bus dropped the four of us off at a part of the road called Cebolla Pampa (Onion Flats). We climbed down to the trail on the side of the road and found ourselves in a pretty, green pasture filled with cattle and a beautiful little stream running through it. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the map that one of the tour guides had given us, but the trail was pretty clearly marked. We marched up through the pasture, taking a few moments to chase a little calf that was lingering there, chomping on grass. The trail led up the pasture to a rock face, whereupon the trail became a series of switch-backs, ascending an area sandwiched between two beautifully cascading waterfalls. As we had no map, we had no sense of how close we were to our destination. Finishing our first major uphill ascent for the hike, after taking many a break due to the high altitude (about 4300 meters - 13,000 ft), we were happy to see a little lake and believe that we had reached our destination. However, the trail continued past the lake, through another pasture until we found a sign pointing to Lago 69 up another steep rock and terrain face. Already exhausted, we collected our constitutions and proceeded up the next set of steep switch-backs, taking more and more breaks to regain our strength and enjoy the oxygen-challenged air. Finally, we approached the top of the ridge and through an opening in the rocks we could see the absolutely fantastic view of a bright turquoise lake, being fed by a tall cascade coming from the tall white-tipped mountain above it. Quite a sight!!
Feeling a mixture of exhaustion and the exhilaration of accomplishing our trek, we plopped ourselves down next to the blue (and freezing!) water to have a victory lunch consisting of bread rolls, tuna, and beef jerky. After lunch, the young'ns were so drunk on the beauty of the bright turquoise water that they felt that they absolutely had to jump in. As the lake was being fed directly from melting snow and ice, I decided to sit this part of the adventure out. The two girls and Ben stripped down to their underwear and attempted to wade in, only to find the water so cold that they began to feel a stinging and numbing reaction to their feet. Undeterred, they decided it would be better if they just jumped in and jumped out. Entering the water in full force, they turned right around and deserted the water. After bouncing around in the warm sun for a few minutes, they finally began to get feeling back in their bodies and quickly redressed. There's certain experiences that a decade more of life allows you to avoid. I might not be quite as adventurous in my 30's (I don't think I'd have jumped in the water in my 20's), but I was warm!!
After basking in the beautiful sight of the lake one last time, we headed back down the trail. We were hoping to catch a bus that was supposed to be passing by the rather remote road we had been left on at 3 pm, but we ended making it back to the road at around 3:30 pm. We started walking down the rough dirt road, thinking that we'd might as well get more exercise until the next bus came at 5pm. Lucky for us, a taxi driver came by and offered to take us down to Yungay. 45 minutes later, we caught a combi van that drove us back to Huaraz.
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #2: WALKING BY DUMPS AND DOGS
The next day we decided to take it easy and confirm our plans for our last few days in Huaraz. Ben and Saffron decided that they wanted to do some rock climbing for a few hours in the afternoon, so Rebecca and I opted to take another hike. The plan was to make our way up a valley and meet the rock climbers at some steam caves in a nearby town to relax in the natural sauna.
Originally, we were going to bike our way there, but instead Rebecca and I decided to walk, not knowing how long the walk would actually be. We started a little late, around 2 pm, and took the combi up to the town before where Saffron and Ben had to get off to walk off to the rock face. We started to walk down this dirt road that parallels the main road that runs through the valley. The most unfortunate thing about life in Peru is pollution. Everywhere there is a river, the local inhabitants have decided that it is an excellent place to leave their trash. The scents that emanate from these places are absolutely the worst thing I've ever inhaled. Much to our collective chagrin, our impromptu hike took us next to much of the local dumping ground.
We continued down this road, taking a right when we found the road we needed that would take us up into the hills. Unfortunately, the many houses that we passed had dogs that would constantly bark. It seemed as though, with each house that we passed, the dogs would get more ferocious. Finally, being confronted with 2 dogs that would not get out of our way, I, having remembered that you're not supposed to show them fear, had to pick up a large rock and threaten them with it. Dogs don't seem to like being confronted with large rocks, so they backed away.
We continued up this road, but it soon became clear that this path was much longer than we anticipated. We asked several locals along our way, but they said that it was 30 km to where we wanted to go!! For some reason, Rebecca was determined to do it. However, I was a bit concerned because of the dark clouds looming above and the fact that we had started to lose light behind the high mountains surrounding us. Finally, I convinced her to see reason and we flagged down a passing truck which took us back to the main road. We walked to the next town and, as luck would have it, just happened to pass by the rock face where Ben and Saffron were finishing their climb with their instructor.
Afterwards, we walked up a road and found the 'thermal caves'. While in the US we tend to leave places like this in their natural state, in Latin America they always seem to build enclosures or pools around their thermal caves or hot springs. We bought a ticket, switched into our swimsuits, and went into one of the cabins, which encloses an individual thermal cave. It was fantastic! We'd take turns sitting in the hottest area of the cave and then jumping out into the cold showers that they had installed into each cabin. By the time we left, we were really relaxed. We walked back to town and caught a combi back to Huaraz. We decided to take an easy night as the next day we'd be getting up early to go canyoning . . .
Cusco, Peru
Just a quick note of what I've been up to: just finished my first (and final - more about that some other time) month teaching English at the local language institute, my mother and aunt are in town from the States, and I should be returning in almost exactly one month.
I'm looking forward to getting home. Nine months is a long time to be away, especially if you are a New Yorker (as I found that they seemed to be the most homesick travelers I met on the road). I'm planning to come back, as originally scheduled, on the 31st of July. I'm going to have to race back to the East Coast for my friend Karl's wedding on August 8th in Maine. So, for all my Bay Area friends, I hope to see you in that small sliver of time that I'll have there, probably Aug 1-4.
I decided yesterday to go to the jungle with my mother and my aunt from the United States and we're leaving tomorrow morning for a trip to a pristine 'biosphere' to get eaten alive by mosquitoes and hopefully see some jungle life. I'll be gone until next Saturday, so if you don't hear from me in the next week, it's probably because I'm wrestling a jaguar.
I'll finish up my Huaraz trip details and get you caught up with my more recent adventures when I get back from the jungle, so be prepared for a more-active-than-usual blog in July. Until then, here's the first installment of my Huaraz adventures:
--------------------------------
HUARAZ: JEWEL OF THE ANDES (just to remind you this took place at the tail end of April)
After a hazy night heading south from Trujillo along the Peruvian coast, our bus took a sharp left heading up into the Central Andes region called the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountain Range), the highest and most scenic part of the Andes. We stumbled out of our bus at 6 am and the girls (Rebecca and Saffron) immediately befriend an elderly lady who said that she had a cheap place for us to stay. BIG MISTAKE: the place was a dump.
This scenario underscores an age gap that I felt generally exists between older travelers (I'm 32) and the younger ones (Rebecca and Saffron are 21 and Ben is only 19). When you are a really young traveller, you generally have no money and are trying to travel around South America on, say, $1000 for 3 months. Seasoned travelers will agree that this is possible, but you really have to reduce your spending rates. As these young kids haven't been out in the 'real world', their ability to make money for traveling is much lower. In contrast, while I certainly didn't stay in expensive hotels, I liked to stay in places that were at least comfortable. It's the difference between paying $6-8 a night and only wanting to pay $2-3 a night, but that creates a HUGE difference in quality. Needless to say, as I was traveling with a pack of young'ns, I went with the what the group wanted. The result was a place that had no electricity in the bathroom, no hot water, and beds with limited covering to protect you from the Andean cold. The owner had said that he was going to fix everything quickly, but the term 'quickly' in Latin America is loose concept. After a few days of discomfort, Ben and I moved out to more appropriate accommodations. I was happy.
Outside of my experience with our initial accommodations, Huaraz is quite an amazing place. It is situated within sight of 23 snow-capped peaks and the center of a more youth-oriented, adventurous traveling circle. Surprisingly, if you ask most people who have visited Peru about Huaraz, they've never heard of it. It's one of those jewels that you'll only go to if you've heard about it from someone else who's been there. That being said, if anyone out there plans a trip to some point in the future, I would HIGHLY recommend taking at least a week to explore Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca. It's best done while you're young or in good shape as the activities range from high altitude hikes (1 to 9 days!), mountain climbing, rock climbing, river rafting, canyoning (rappelling down waterfalls), and ice climbing (on glaciers!), all done at a fraction of the cost of doing them in the States or Europe. The beauty and adventure of this place made me immensely proud to be half-Peruvian.
Our first day was spent getting situated in our hotel, checking out Huaraz, and visiting travel agencies to set up what would become four days of adventure:
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #1: LAGO 69
For our first official adventure day we decided we would take on a hike to prepare for the more difficult days ahead of us (after all, we had returned to pretty high altitudes in the Andes after spending a couple of weeks in much lower altitudes). I had heard of a beautiful lake, titled 'Lago 69' (I guess it hasn't deserved a real name yet), from the Australian couple that I met up in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. In order to get there, we had to take a 6:30 am bus through a town named Yungay, whose claim to fame was its incredibly sad fate surrounding an avalanche that buried the town in May 1970. The incident was caused by an earthquake in the area (which itself killed 50,000) and the subsequent avalanche killed almost all of Yungay's population of 18,000. Well, you take a right turn at Yungay and head straight between 2 gigantic, snow tipped mountains, passing bright blue lakes of drinking quality water (which is quite a feat for the ever-polluted Peru!).
The bus dropped the four of us off at a part of the road called Cebolla Pampa (Onion Flats). We climbed down to the trail on the side of the road and found ourselves in a pretty, green pasture filled with cattle and a beautiful little stream running through it. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the map that one of the tour guides had given us, but the trail was pretty clearly marked. We marched up through the pasture, taking a few moments to chase a little calf that was lingering there, chomping on grass. The trail led up the pasture to a rock face, whereupon the trail became a series of switch-backs, ascending an area sandwiched between two beautifully cascading waterfalls. As we had no map, we had no sense of how close we were to our destination. Finishing our first major uphill ascent for the hike, after taking many a break due to the high altitude (about 4300 meters - 13,000 ft), we were happy to see a little lake and believe that we had reached our destination. However, the trail continued past the lake, through another pasture until we found a sign pointing to Lago 69 up another steep rock and terrain face. Already exhausted, we collected our constitutions and proceeded up the next set of steep switch-backs, taking more and more breaks to regain our strength and enjoy the oxygen-challenged air. Finally, we approached the top of the ridge and through an opening in the rocks we could see the absolutely fantastic view of a bright turquoise lake, being fed by a tall cascade coming from the tall white-tipped mountain above it. Quite a sight!!
Feeling a mixture of exhaustion and the exhilaration of accomplishing our trek, we plopped ourselves down next to the blue (and freezing!) water to have a victory lunch consisting of bread rolls, tuna, and beef jerky. After lunch, the young'ns were so drunk on the beauty of the bright turquoise water that they felt that they absolutely had to jump in. As the lake was being fed directly from melting snow and ice, I decided to sit this part of the adventure out. The two girls and Ben stripped down to their underwear and attempted to wade in, only to find the water so cold that they began to feel a stinging and numbing reaction to their feet. Undeterred, they decided it would be better if they just jumped in and jumped out. Entering the water in full force, they turned right around and deserted the water. After bouncing around in the warm sun for a few minutes, they finally began to get feeling back in their bodies and quickly redressed. There's certain experiences that a decade more of life allows you to avoid. I might not be quite as adventurous in my 30's (I don't think I'd have jumped in the water in my 20's), but I was warm!!
After basking in the beautiful sight of the lake one last time, we headed back down the trail. We were hoping to catch a bus that was supposed to be passing by the rather remote road we had been left on at 3 pm, but we ended making it back to the road at around 3:30 pm. We started walking down the rough dirt road, thinking that we'd might as well get more exercise until the next bus came at 5pm. Lucky for us, a taxi driver came by and offered to take us down to Yungay. 45 minutes later, we caught a combi van that drove us back to Huaraz.
HUARAZ ADVENTURE #2: WALKING BY DUMPS AND DOGS
The next day we decided to take it easy and confirm our plans for our last few days in Huaraz. Ben and Saffron decided that they wanted to do some rock climbing for a few hours in the afternoon, so Rebecca and I opted to take another hike. The plan was to make our way up a valley and meet the rock climbers at some steam caves in a nearby town to relax in the natural sauna.
Originally, we were going to bike our way there, but instead Rebecca and I decided to walk, not knowing how long the walk would actually be. We started a little late, around 2 pm, and took the combi up to the town before where Saffron and Ben had to get off to walk off to the rock face. We started to walk down this dirt road that parallels the main road that runs through the valley. The most unfortunate thing about life in Peru is pollution. Everywhere there is a river, the local inhabitants have decided that it is an excellent place to leave their trash. The scents that emanate from these places are absolutely the worst thing I've ever inhaled. Much to our collective chagrin, our impromptu hike took us next to much of the local dumping ground.
We continued down this road, taking a right when we found the road we needed that would take us up into the hills. Unfortunately, the many houses that we passed had dogs that would constantly bark. It seemed as though, with each house that we passed, the dogs would get more ferocious. Finally, being confronted with 2 dogs that would not get out of our way, I, having remembered that you're not supposed to show them fear, had to pick up a large rock and threaten them with it. Dogs don't seem to like being confronted with large rocks, so they backed away.
We continued up this road, but it soon became clear that this path was much longer than we anticipated. We asked several locals along our way, but they said that it was 30 km to where we wanted to go!! For some reason, Rebecca was determined to do it. However, I was a bit concerned because of the dark clouds looming above and the fact that we had started to lose light behind the high mountains surrounding us. Finally, I convinced her to see reason and we flagged down a passing truck which took us back to the main road. We walked to the next town and, as luck would have it, just happened to pass by the rock face where Ben and Saffron were finishing their climb with their instructor.
Afterwards, we walked up a road and found the 'thermal caves'. While in the US we tend to leave places like this in their natural state, in Latin America they always seem to build enclosures or pools around their thermal caves or hot springs. We bought a ticket, switched into our swimsuits, and went into one of the cabins, which encloses an individual thermal cave. It was fantastic! We'd take turns sitting in the hottest area of the cave and then jumping out into the cold showers that they had installed into each cabin. By the time we left, we were really relaxed. We walked back to town and caught a combi back to Huaraz. We decided to take an easy night as the next day we'd be getting up early to go canyoning . . .