VUG Media

Today marks one week of being away from Vancouver. I've had extremely bad luck at finding a consistent Internet connection, so I´ll have to make this one massive post. Feel free to take your time reading as I will not have any more to updates (or any photos) until around the 19th, after the Salcantay trail and Machu Picchu. Stay tuned!

Lima

Landing in Lima was a surreal. Surreal not because of the flight itself but the first-hand experience of entering a foreign country with little idea of what to do next. Our first taxi ride to our hostel was an eye opener as we passed through shanty towns surrounding the city... I couldn't help but wonder what I was getting myself into. I knew going into this trip that I would be in the midst of poverty but passing through kilometers of dilapidated houses puts a human face on problems that were previously the domain of late night infomercials and classroom debates.

It took maybe a day or so to get over the culture shock and face up to the fact that 90% of the local´s conversations were incomprehensible. I've done well with communicating numbers but remembering phrases in a pinch is a continual challenge that is improving at a glacial place. After a week or so we are all getting better and are able to order food (most of the time) as well as figure out the general idea of what someone wants from us.

In fact, after using our primitive Spanish for a few days we were emboldened enough to take the public bus through "El Salvador", one of the worlds largest squatter camps that happens to be located just outside of Lima. The bus ride was a quick eye opener to the living conditions and workings of this self-governed camps spreading up the hills outside of the city. The houses are very basic stucco squares, often with open roofs. The streets are filled with garbage and the building exteriors filthy. Yet these camps still seem to function, with makeshift food markets and taxis made from converted motor bikes.

The city of Lima itself has its charms but can generally be described as a foggy, loud, vendor filled, taxi infested, smog covered modern colonial city. What a mouthful! While at times trying, Lima did have its saving graces. For me the first saving grace is how friendly the people are. We even went as far as getting directions from the AK-47 totting guards at Peru´s department of Defense! The coastline down by Miraflores is a particularly nice district with cliff top views of the Pacific Ocean below. It seemed that everywhere I looked there were lovey-dovey couples occupying the city benches along the pathways. The love-bird trend continued through the beautiful town squares where young people congregated in pairs. While Jeremy and Aaron didn't necessarily appreciate this "feature" of the city it made me want to show a lot of the city sights to Lana... and not just for park bench make-out sessions! The city has a romantic feeling to it in some parts: the sea-side park in Miraflores even had a gigantic public sculpture depicting two lovers lying down, arms wrapped around one another.

Some of the so-called faults of Lima actually became endearing over time, particularly the life vs. death thrill of the taxi rides. Never before have I witnessed an eight lane freeway merge into four lanes in such a chaotic fashion. Street lights and car lanes are next to meaning less here, as traffic is a much more organic process. I never thought I´d use "organic" to describe the movements of thousands of petrol fueled hunks of metal but the adjective is fitting once you've see the seamless blending of intersection traffic and the precision the drivers avoid sure to be fatal accidents. Aaron describes the traffic as "New York cabbies in rush hour on speed thinking that they are invincible" (paraphrased) which is just about as accurate a description as could be written.

Picso, the Ballestia Islands and Paraca's National Park

After a few nights in Lima our inner tourists got the better of us so we took a trip four hours South to the ocean side tourist friendly town of Pisco. Pisco was a breath of fresh air from the big city of Lima and featured a busy town square, plenty of old buildings, churches and a small market to boot. While these features were great at the time, and still are, I know now that nearly every town in Peru sports similar characteristics. Unbeknownst to us, Pisco was at the tail end of a week long festival, which meant plenty of free music that was enjoyable but ultimately kept Jeremy and Aaron up until the wee-hours of the night. As for myself, I've quickly learnt that my largest asset as a traveler is my uncanny ability to sleep soundly nearly anywhere no matter the volume. Praise be for this gift as I certainly know that this isn't passed on genetically!

The next morning we woke up early for the real highlight of the jaunt - a trip to Ballestia Island and Paracas National Park. Both of these places were completely foreign to me until a week ago and I'm guessing you, gracious reader, are in the same boat. Ballestia Island is a small island 20 minutes off shore that is owned by the hundreds of thousands of birds that call it home. There are so many birds here that some areas of the island are covered in 50 meters of guano (aka. "bird shit"). Previously I didn't know that Guano is a valuable natural fertilizer. So valuable in fact that a number of wars have been fought over the poop!

The island benefits from warm waters and a thriving ecosystem which brings many other sea animals. On our trip we were lucky enough to spot a pod of dolphins about 20 feet from our boat! The island is also notable for its population of the rare Humboldt penguin and hundreds of sea lions. My "things to see before I die" list has suddenly become just a bit shorter!

The bus tour of Paracas National park didn't have the same excitement of seeing so much wildlife but was a welcomed change of pace as it allowed for more freedom to explore through caves and along the shore. The highlight of this part of the trek for me was being able to walk up to a baby sea lion lying about the beach and see it up close. In reality this was not much different than exploring the coast of BC except for the novelty of different types of wild life. Still quite the experience though.

Huancayo

Right now I´m gearing up to leave the gorgeous of Huancayo, which is located in the Andes 7 hours East of Lima. Our three night stay at Hostel La Casa De Abuela (which translates to "Grandma´s House") has been fantastic. The staff and fellow travelers are some of the warmest people I've met yet and the hostel is easily my favorite of the trip. Sweet old Grandma Abuela is always around the home, cooking, weaving and laughing, hence the hostel name! Although Abuela is bubbly personality she´s still quite loco. In fact, there are actually signs around the house warning that Grandma may misplace some of your personal belongings when trying to clean up... I guess her memory isn't what it used to be!

Grandma´s son Hugo stopped by the hostel this morning for breakfast and the conversation that we had with him was informative and inspiring. It turns our that Hugo is actually a successful business man in town, owning the hostel, a restaurant across the street as well as his a mountain tour company. Over the 25 plus years in business in Huancayo he developed the tourism industry and helped other locals succeed.

With our last week of travel in mind I asked him about Peru´s ongoing economic evolution from an traditional agrarian nation to a modern industrialized nation. It is his opinion that Peru has much potential for improving its economy and standard of living but has continually sold itself short as it grows. For instance, he told us a story about how 25 years ago a retired Police officer that he knows invested in starting a taxi business in Lima, one of the first of its kind. The taxi business was a profitable enterprise that contributed to living-wage employment. However, the second that others saw this success the copycat business began to appear, undercutting the profitability of all by slashing prices. Now, in 2006, there are too many taxis on the road for any one person to be very profitable.

Hugo explained that this process of copying common business has persisted through out Peru's economy. Primary markets such as textiles, street vendors, fishermen, Internet cafes and so on have all been effected by the race to rock bottom prices. While these prices are enticing to travelers such as myself I can't help but feel that my money isn't enough to help these people. For instance, today for lunch we ate at a small restaurant for two and a half sols, which works out to be sixty cents Canadian! All of this for a meal that included drinks, an appetizer, chicken, rice and jello for desert! Even a cheapo such as myself couldn't help but think that the deal was too good to be true. The problem is that I'm right - it´s the restaurant owner that is loosing out.

In Hugo's opinion, what is needed to prevent situations such as above is an education system that doesn't teach children to obey orders but to rather think for themselves and believe in their own ideas. Only with innovation will Peru´s economy diversify to the point that the free market isn't causing undue hardship for Peru's many entrepreneurs. I tend to agree.

While conversations like this might not thrill the few of you reading (sorry!) I found it fascinating. It fit so well with some of the theories of development and underdevelopment that I studied in school. To see a local Peruvian leader with wisdom and influence gives me hope that the country can navigate itself into a better position. What is needed more than international aid is leadership from within to make economic reforms work for the people, rather than those dictating stipulations from the West.