The Bumpy Parts

I've been in Peru for over eleven weeks now and it has been an absolutely awesome experience. I could not have asked for a better host family or University. However, I would be lying if I told you that it has all gone perfectly. Part of this trip has been learning to adjust and take care of myself in a place that is unlike anywhere that I had ever been to before. Some of the differences that I have found are undesirable for me even after adjustment to them.

Traffic

First and foremost, the way people drive in this country is awful. I think I may have touched on this subject in an earlier entry, but believe me, it deserves to be said again. There is no respect for speed limits. People get from A to B as fast as possible. To avoid the danger of cars flying through residential areas at 50mph, there are speed bumps everywhere. This results in drivers flooring it and then braking hard just before the bump. As soon as they go over it, they floor it again until the next bump.

The concept of maintaining one's lane is unheard for Peruvians. If they want to turn they will just cut across traffic and join the unorganized conglomerate of vehicles waiting for the first opportunity to squeeze through oncoming cars.

There is also no respect for pedestrians. If you find yourself in Lima be careful crossing any street. Look both ways at least twice and don't expect anyone to slow down for you to cross. Instead of breaking they will just honk at you in an effort to make you get out of the way faster. I have often been tempted to give the old one fingered wave many times, but have managed to just blow off their honks and yells.

You would be better off calling a priest than an ambulance. They do not get over for any type of emergency vehicles. On the contrary, they will cut them off just like they do any other car.

I am from a small town. But from the time I have spent in American big cities, I can assure you that the traffic in Lima is on a different level from anything you'll find in the U.S.

As you can imagine, all this horrible driving results in accidents (however, I must say that I thought there would be more). In the city where they can't drive too fast and I have only witnessed a couple of accidents. But on the freeway I have seen many more. Insurance companies and tow trucks are stationed about every 10 miles or so to help clean up. One night we passed three accidents; two of which multiple cars were totaled. Traffic was backed up for miles, so many cars/trucks/buses decided to cruise on the small paved shoulder speeding past parked cars at speeds of 45mph at least.

Of course it is unfair to say that all Peruvians drive like mad men. There are exceptions, but the grand majority of Peruvians I've seen act like it's NASCAR. When I return, I will enjoy being back on roads where I can trust other drivers.

Crime

Another thing that I have had to adjust to is being more careful not to get robbed. Being white and foreign I am an easy target for a lot of thieves. My first month here I stupidly left my bag alone at the beach for 15 minutes, during which someone kindly took my camera off my hands. Although I have not been held up or attacked, a few of my fellow Nebraskans were involved in a mugging. No one was hurt, but that hardly makes the situation less frightening.

Not only are Americans targeted for good old fashioned robbery, we also have to deal with stores and taxis trying to rip us off. Most little shops don't mark prices, and taxis don't have meters. So we always need to know how much we should pay for something before we buy it. We also always need to check to make sure we are given real bills. One member of the group has been given fake money and had it thrown in his face when he tried to spend it. I have learned to be careful, but having to constantly be on guard gets old quickly and I look forward to carrying my wallet in my rear, unzipped pocket back in Nebraska.

Poverty

Poverty is a major problem in Peru, and over the past months we have grown accustomed to seeing it. Whenever I go out I walk past people trying to sell things on push carts. Whenever we're stopped in traffic people will come up to the window to show you their merchandise or to just simply beg. We all live in a nice residential part of town, but we often drive through poor neighborhoods with people searching through trash for things to recycle or maybe even to eat. Stray dogs run around everywhere, even in rich neighborhoods. I have seen dead animals lying on the side of the street on multiple occasions. On trips outside of Lima we see entire little towns with huts built out of scrap wood or panels of straw woven together. The residents are migrants from the mountains or had their homes destroyed in an earthquake back in 2007. These people survive on less than a dollar a day.

I realize there are people in extreme poverty in the states, but it's not on the same scale as what I've seen here. At first I felt sorry for them and a little guilty for not helping out. But now I have seen poverty so much I've become almost numb to it, which may be the saddest part of all.

Johnny Law

Perhaps the scariest part in my experiences here is the corruption of Peru's national police. I have been pulled over twice while riding with new Peruvian friends, and both times the police were just looking to be paid off in cash. The first time they pulled us over because they saw us leave a bar. The driver had hardly anything to drink and blew way under the limit, but the officers demanded that we pay them off so we wouldn't get into trouble. I was confused and couldn't understand all of what they were saying, but the cops even tried to come up with some bogus traffic violation to pin on us. After all the cops I had seen cut people off and run lights it sounded absurd to me. They didn't even want that much money, maybe twenty dollars, but I refused to pay. We told them to write us a ticket, but instead they ended up just letting us go. I was pretty upset and started asking friends what that was exactly. They told me that it happens all the time and that the corruption runs deep. Evidently the police don't get paid much so the higher ups will pool the bribe money and split it up between everyone.

The police also lack in numbers. There was a recent protest which blocked off a the only highway along the coast. This stopped buses for miles and actually stranded a couple of Nebraskans outside of Lima. It took the police two days to clear the protestors and burning tires from the highway. If something were to happen where I needed police help, I wouldn't have confidence in their ability or integrity.     

I hope this blog doesn't come off as me just complaining. I am simply describing my experiences. In part, I do this so future students of this program will know what to expect. With all this being said, my semester here has been great. Looking back now I am glad that I chose to come here and would make the same choice again. Negative aspects of a country are essential to the experiences this program wishes to give students. I've had bad days and missed my friends and family like crazy. I got sad and was ready to hop on the next plane home, but I stuck it out and I'm better off for it. Learning to adjust and roll with the punches are great life skills. I am pretty well adapted now and hope to learn from and enjoy all of my last few weeks here, even the bumpy parts.          

Cuzco and Machu Picchu

Last week I made my first trip outside of Lima with my fellow UNK students since we arrived in Perú eight weeks ago. The destination was Cusco and the world famous ruins of Machu Picchu. I had been looking forward to this trip ever since I decided to study abroad and was very excited to go.

My flight left at 8:00a.m. last Thursday, so my host brother and I got up before dawn to make the trip to the airport. I made it through security with no problems and my flight took off on schedule. The flight was very enjoyable. I had a window seat and a fantastic view. As we took off, I was able to look down on Lima and recognize many landmarks of the city. One landmark in particular was the "hill" that stands close to UPC campus. Before visiting the Andes I had thought this huge mound of earth to be more of a mountain than a hill. But as we flew over Lima I saw the real Andes mountains rising up into the clouds, making the hill next to campus look like a prairie dog mound. When the plane got above the clouds, snow capped mountains more than 18,000 feet in the air began appearing in the distance. It was a very impressive sight.

Coca Tea

The flight lasted an hour and a half, and when we landed I stepped of the plane and felt cool air for the first time in two months. It was actually quite refreshing. February is the rainy season for Cusco but we lucked out, and only had minor showers during the days we were there. The elevation at Cusco is 11,200 feet and I felt the difference in the air immediately, but I had taken some elevation sickness pill beforehand and they must have worked because felt fine the whole trip. From the airport our travel guide took us to our hotel. The we were served some coca tea (plant from which cocaine is made) which is supposed to help with the elevation adjustment as well. We spent the morning acclimating in the hotel.

During the afternoon we toured around the city of Cusco, which was the capital of the Incan Empire and a key point of Spanish conquest. The first stop was the Temple of Coricancha (Temple of Gold in quechua) with a Spanish convent built on top. This theme of Inca foundations with Spanish buildings on top was common throughout the trip. In the temple/convent we saw many paintings and some great examples of Inca/Colonial Spanish architecture. The Incan temples were built from only the best stones cut exactly to fit together without mortar like a puzzle. Instead of mortar, pegs and holes were formed in the stones to hold them together. The Incan structures, though hundreds of years older, are in better shape than the Spanish buildings on top of them. In fact, 25 years ago when a strong earthquake hit Cusco, many Spanish structures fell while the Incan ones stood strong.

Convent. You can see original Incan wall on the left side. It was drizzling.

Cathedral. Poor photo but its the only one I got.

The other tourist sight we went to on our first day was the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. We were not allowed to take our cameras in but believe me when I say the sights were unbelievable. There were wooden gold leaf shrines that went from the floor to the ceiling 60 feet above. The domed ceilings in the main hall reached even higher. Many beautiful paintings hung on every wall. An alter of solid silver that must have weighed thousands of pounds sat on the floor towards the back of the main hall. The size of the cathedral, with its columns, shrines, and alters of precious metals, was simple breathtaking.

On the second day, we rose early and made our first stop at Sacsayhuaman. This archeological sight may have been the most impressive part of the trip for me. These ruins were built with the same method as the temple but on a much larger scale. Some stones are more than 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide, yet they are all cut to fit perfectly without mortar. How the Incas built this place is unknown. Most experts say it was done with ramps, rolling logs, and some major man power. However, some people swear it must have been aliens. Sacsayhuaman sits at an elevation of 12,200 feet and has a wonderful view of the city of Cusco.

Cusco viewed from Sacsayhuaman

Dried fish, beef jerky, and corn. Supposedly they eat that.

After Sacsayhuaman we journeyed down the Sacred Valley of the Incas and the Urubamba river. At the end of the valley we arrived at the small village of Ollantaytambo. Many indigenous people live in this town and on our tour we were able to see one little neighborhood that appeared to be straight out of the 15th century. This village reminded me a lot of the readings and discussions that we've had in my Indigenous politics class with the different language, clothing, food, houses, etc. These things brought to life everything we had talked about; these communities still existing and how much they differ from Lima and other big cities.

The third day we went to Machu Picchu. We left our hotel at 4:00a.m. and made the bus ride back to Ollantaytambo. From there we got on a train and headed for Aguascalientes. We followed the Urubamba river wich turned very rough after Ollantaytambo. I've been to the Rockies and have even white water rafted. But those "rapids" are nothing compared to what I saw on the train ride. Millions of gallons of water raged against rocks the size of houses. Seeing the water crash its way down the valley gave me butterflies in my stomach and dropped my jaw to the floor.

Me with my hometown newspaper.

We arrived at Aguascalientes and I was expecting to be able to see the ruins from there. However, one has to climb or take a bus up another thousand feet before he gets to Machu Picchu. So we got on a bus and finally arrived at our destination. The views were unbelievable. The terraces had been cut out of the mountain and started a hundreds of feet down and worked their way up to the top. Llamas were wondering freely all through the ruins. Just chilling and grazing the terraces.The important buildings, such as the temple of the sun, were built using the same method of cutting the stones exactly to fit. The peak of Wayna Picchu also has buildings and we could see tourists climbing the trail to the tippy top. After a good tour we were free to wander as we pleased. However, we couldn't climb Wayna Picchu because there is a limit and we didn't get the required ticket. However, we did make it up to Intipunku which is at the top of the Inca Trail leading out of the valley and back to Cusco. The hike took about an hour but it was a great view and actually sits higher than Wayna Picchu.

Intipunku victory pose. Main ruins are far behind us next to my head. I was excited.

 The fourth day we checked out of the hotel and took a flight back to Lima. The trip was a great experience and it was really good to get out and see more of Perú beyond Lima.