Peru

My journey through Peru on Google Earth

From Baños in Ecuador, I am continuing my journey over land to Peru. As I am crossing the border, the landscape is changing from lush mountains to a dry desert, which extends all 2’000km along Peru’s Pacific coast to the border with Chile. Peru’s northernmost towns, Piura and Chiclayo are windswept towns, where everything looks dusty and sandy. I can hardly see seems any speck of colour. I directly carry on and arrive in Trujillo after 30 hours travelling. I am visiting the nearly two-thousand year old Mocha ruins, possibly some of the oldest in South America, and the beach town of Huanchaco, where I wet my toe in the Pacific for the first time.

Passing through Lima, I arrive after another long bus ride in Arequipa, where I am staying for two weeks. It’s a lively small town, with beautiful colonial buildings, museums and excellent restaurants. From Arequipa, I am making excursions to the Colca Canyon, the Chacani Mountain and to go river rafting. In the Colca Canyon, I can view condors flying by, almost within the reach of my arm. The condor is the largest bird of the world and I am awed seeing these large birds gliding effortlessly in the thermals without ever beating their wings. The excursion 1’000m vertical meters down into the Canyon was both exhausting and informative. The Chechua Indios from the Colca Canyon have arranged for centuries with their Spanish and clerical conquerors without ever fully adapting. Their economic system is still based on the exchange of goods, with every village contributing something different: meat and wool (Llamas & Alpacas), fruits, salt and trading. Also, they are preserving their faith to the mountain goods, accommodating their Christian masters by posting crosses on their altars. In turn, the churches are adorned with outside balconies (said to be unique in the world), so that the priests can pray towards the main square, where the people usually meet on Sundays, and can claim that the Indios have attended mass!

I am trying to climb another mountain – the 6’075m high Chachani. I am feeling well arriving in the 5’000 meter high base camp in the afternoon, but once it is time to start the climb at 1am, I am feeling the effects of the altitude sickness. I would like to make the 12 hour hike in good shape without suffering and decide not to attempt the climb. In hindsight I am second guessing my decision: isn’t it arrogant to expect to climb such a mountain without suffering?!?

After Arequipa I am spending two relaxing days on Lake Titicaca, visiting the Uros Indios, who live on floating islands in the lake. The reed of the islands is rotting away from the bottom and every week they are replacing new reed on top and placing their huts on the new layers. They are leading a very basic life, owning hardly anything other than the cloths they are wearing, but seem much happier than most people in the Western culture.

From Lake Titicaca I would like to drive to Cusco, but this easier said than done, because the Indios/farmers are striking and blocking the road on a distance of 40 km. The first few hours go well, but then we are hitting the first roadblock, which we can pass after a few hours. But then nothing moves. I am sleeping in the bus and leave on foot at 5 am like so many other passengers. I am walking for the better part of 6 hours with my full luggage, catching the odd short ride in a cattle truck, an overfilled mini-bus or in a taxi (with 8 people in a small limousine). It’s mostly peaceful and I have a long conversation with one of the strikers, except once when the Indios are throwing stones at the taxi, discouraging the driver to transport passengers. But finally, I am making it safely to Cusco, glad that I had a wheeled bag rather than a backpack!

Cusco is a very touristic town with nearly all people living from tourism. While it is well preserved, the preservation quality is far from the splendor of the colonial towns in Columbia. I am spending a few days visiting the Inca ruins in Cusco and the sacred valley, before embarking on a four day trek to Machu Picchu. On the first day we are biking down from 4’300m above sea level to below 2’000m, crossing many different vegetations zones and shedding more and more cloth, where I am seeing for the first time in my life coca plants. The leaves of the coca plant are mostly boiled for tea or chewed and most of the leaves are sold in the markets of Cusco, but some find their way to some laboratories.

The next two days I am hiking through tropical rainforests passing the hot springs of Santa Teresa. The next day I am visiting Machu Picchu. Due to a train strike (yes, there is a strike every week in Peru!), only a few hundred rather than a few thousand visitors are visiting Machu Picchu. Great, because I can much better feel the grandeur of this sacred Inca place, where some 500 priests and nobles have lived (the capital of the Inca Empire has been Cusco). It is a powerful place and I can well understand why they built the temples here.

Due to the strike I have to walk nearly three hours on the train tracks to the next village, where a bus picks us up and bring us on a big detour back to Cusco. As beautiful as Machu Picchu is, there remains a stale taste: The whole site including the train (there is no road to Machu Picchu) and the bus are state controlled and they demand unjustified prices.

From Cusco I am flying back to Cartagena, where I find Blue Bie in best order and an eye test reveals that my vision is very good and I don’t need follow-up surgery. I have therefore a week time to travel in Colombia before flying home to Switzerland, which I am spending in Taranga and the Tayrona National Park, relaxing and diving, before diving into the cold Swiss winter and fog.