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Well, it's taken me a while to get started but now I'm sitting on the beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica. 'Jamaica?' you say. 'I thought you were going to Peru!' You see, it's like this... Our 8AM (Sunday) flight had already been delayed to 10:30AM by the time we got to the airport (6AM). We boarded at 10:30, only to deplane, still at JFK, at 1:30PM, at which point they projected an 11PM departure! This wrecked havoc with our 3:30PM Aero Peru connection, but there was nothing else to do but wait. Air Jamaica put us in 'day rooms' at a nearby hotel. We had dinner at 6, and napped/watched TV until 11, when they called our room to tell us the bus was there. When we got downstairs, it turned out to be a false alarm. We slept until 1AM (Monday) when they finally did take us back to the plane and we took off at 3:15AM! The 80 passengers whose cruise ship sailed at 8PM weren't too happy--or mellow--but arrangements were made to fly them to the ship's next port. It looks like we'll miss the half-day tour of Lima, but should make our flight to Cuzco. (There are 14 of us 'Peruvians' on the plane; the rest were 'cruisers' or 'Jamaicans.') There is a Japanese couple, Katsu and Kuniko, who are also taking the Peruvian Explorer package, so we'll get to the hotel with them if we can't Telex ahead for ground transportation. Ah, life's little adventures.
But the beach? Well, when we landed at 6:30AM (gorgeous sunrise, by the way, from the plane), Air Jamaice had us taken to a beach hotel for breakfast and a few hours rest on the beach. Too bad Aero Peru has our suitcases. I can't wait to change clothes!
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We took off from Montego Bay, but not without problems. In spite of Air Jamaica telling us we had confirmed seats on the flight, and in spite of the Kimuras' travel agent verifying this, we still ended up on standby. I suspect we got the seats for Monday's Air Jamaica transfers, because they were 4 hours late and missed the flight.
One problem with resorts, I realized in Montego Bay, is their sameness. The hotel in Jamaica looked just like the hotel in Cozumel. There must be some way to go for a relaxing vacation and still know where you are.
Immigration and Customs were much faster in Lima than in Jamaica, and when we got through, we found the representative from the local tour company (Receptour Peru) waiting for us. This was a surprise, since we hadn't been able to Telex him our new flight information. Apparently he had met the flight the night before and picked up people who were supposed to get in the night before that, and figured we would arrive a day late also. Jamaica was nice, but don't fly Air Jamaica to get there.
Admittedly you don't see the best part of a city driving from the airport to the downtown area. Still, I was less than impressed with Lima. It looks old--not quaint old or historic old, but used old. There don't seem to be many tall buildings (because of the danger of earthquakes) and almost all of the buildings are old, with peeling paint, etc. The Hotel Crillon is a fancy (older) hotel.
Oh, true to form, we did have one problem at the airport. Angelo (our host) apologized for having to park the van outside the airport, but he said a car had 'exploded' at the other terminal and the road was blocked. I don't know if he meant 'caught fir' or 'exploded.' At any rate, he talked to us on the way to the hotel and told a little about Lima and its problems. One major problem is the influx of people from the countryside. Lima now has seven million people, and while the government is trying to encourage development elsewhere in the country, the city is already overpopulated. Mexico City also has this problem, as do many cities in undeveloped countries. One book described it as 'In the countryside, they can scratch out a subsistence living. They come to the city for TV and end up with nothing.' THE EMERALD FOREST shows this also.
Angelo also talked a little about terrorism (mostly in the northern part of the country, though there have been incidents of bombing of electrical towers in the cities) and crime (not much violent crime because of strict gun control, but a lot of theft).
In the hotel, we went over our itinerary. Without our even mentioning it, Angelo said it would probably be possible to get our half-day city tour of Lima at the end of the trip (it was supposed to be Monday, which we passed on the beach). Our flight to Cuzco is at 6:30AM, so pickup was set at 5AM. We didn't get much sleep, but at least we knew when we had to get up.
We are now waiting to take off. It looks like the Kimuras are the only other people who signed up for the package. I assume we'll combine with other groups on some of the tours.
(I realize I haven't written much yet, but we haven't seen much yet.)
It's now 7:40AM. We should be arriving in Cuzco soon. We've seen some mountains poking through the clouds, but now we're flying too high (we're probably at 30,000+ feet; Cuzco is at 11,000 feet and it's high in the mountains, though La Paz is higher).
9:15 and we are in the Hotel Libertador in Cuzco. The view when the plane comes down through the clouds and you see the Andes for the first time is magnificent! Snow-capped peaks in the distance, green ranges closer by, with fantastic gorges and valleys. This is what we came to South America for. The air did seem thinner, but they may be the power of suggestion. Mark took out a bag of corn chips he got in New York and it was all puffed out. We opened all our unsealed bottles and it was the same with each one. (That, by the way, is why my purse smelled of vanilla for about three months after our Mexico trip--the bottle of vanilla leaked in the lower cabin pressure of the flight. Plastic bottles can puff out; glass leaks out the lid.) We are not rushing out, because there is a two-hour rest period for all incoming tourists to adjust to the altitude. Also a cup of coca tea (mate)--not narcotic, mind you. We put some SPF8 on our faces just in case the sun is strong. The temperature is about 10 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) so suntan lotion may seem silly, but there's a lot less atmospheric sunscreen here. We are at 3400 meters (11,000'). I was wondering what altitude most airlines pressurize their cabins to. My pulse is about 90--I think it's usually about 75, but I'll check back in Lima.
I suspect the Kimuras may have some language difficulty, since they don't appear to know Spanish. Most people we have dealt with speak some English, but even a little Spanish is helpful. Of course, it's always the important word that you don't know. At the hotel in Lima, there was some confusion when they couldn't find the bill. I wanted to say that we had paid yesterday by voucher, but my Spanish doesn't include 'voucher.' Coffin, I know, is ataud, but voucher they never taught.
After our nap, we went to an alpaca factory. Factory is a word used all over the world with different meanings everywhere. In the U.S., it means a place of manufacture. In China, it's a place of manufacture with a store for tourists attached. In Latin America, they eliminate the noise and pollution of the manufacture and have only the store. And the store sells everything, not just alpaca products. It's the equivalent of a Chinese Friendship Store, but privately-owned, not governmental.
Unfortunately for the owner, we had all come to see Peru, not to buy alpaca sweaters. Why is it that gringos are known as buyers everywhere? And every guide book include copious shopping tips. I admit I enjoy buying chatchkas--small knickknacks, a hat, a T-shirt (how American!). But I don't travel to buy jade, or silk, or alpaca, or anything else. Why do I travel? Good question, glad you asked. :-)
(By the way, :-) is a smiley-face and means that the statement preceding it was tongue-in-cheek.)
I travel to learn. Reading about someplace or something, or even seeing a film of it, isn't the same as being there. But I do that also before a trip, so I guess I learn to travel too. Everywhere we've gone has been different than what I expected, and in totally unpredictable ways. But I can't explain how--it's more a feeling a place gives you.
One of the things I've learned from this trip (and the studying for it) is that when the Spanish decided to loot South and Central America instead of settle it, they impoverished first Latin America and then themselves. Let's hope we've learned since then.
Well, enough philosophy--back to the travelogue. We returned to the hotel from the 'factory' via taxi. It took a long time for the shop owner to flag one down and then he and the driver had a dispute over what the fare should be (paid by the shop, I should add). I suspect the other taxis would rather pick up rich tourists who don't know what the fare should be.
We then went to the bank to change money, but it was closed, whether for lunch hour or Christmas Eve, we couldn't tell. Yes, it's Christmas Eve and the plazas are packed. La Plaza de Armas has been closed to vehicles and is apparently a street fair, but we're really not up for that. Anyway, we ended up changing money at a money exchange. We got 16,800 soles to the dollar. Since we change $100, we're millionaires!
We had a light lunch at the hotel. I had cream of asparagus soup, flan, and mate. Mark had a cheese sandwich, flan, and a chocolate milkshake.
Our afternoon tour of Cuzco--again, just the four of us-- started with a somewhat hair-raising drive to Saqsayhuaman. They don't believe in guard rails for cliffs here. Saqsayhuaman (it means 'grey hawk') was an Incan fortress. We got to see the stonework up close. The stones are fitted together without cement, and not just rectilinear lines either. This makes the construction earthquake-proof because the walls can give rather than break. Where some stones had been removed you could see that the inside edges were not as precise. There were also women in traditional dress who would pose for your pictures (for a fee, of course). And lots of people selling souvenirs.
Then we drove even higher, to Tambomachay, where there is a mountain spring that the Incans built a tambo (inn) around. There was also a temple of part of the inn.
More exciting roads and more ruins, but just seen from the road. From that height you also get a magnificent view of all of Cuzco with its red tile roofs (required by law).
A couple of side topics now--those who don't want to wait to hear what we did next can skip this and the next paragraph. Soroche is the Qechua word for altitude sickness. (Qechua is the primary Indian language of Peru, and as common here as Spanish is in New York.) Most people get the shortness of breath that comes with the altitude. Some get headaches (lower pressure on the head), dryness of the throat, etc. So far we've been lucky, with shortness of breath only when climbing stairs or hills. A short sit-down and you're fine again. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
Other topic--research. My research for this trip included Prescott's THE CONQUEST OF PERU, Darwin's THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE (excerpts on Peru and Ecuador), Melville's 'Las Encantadas,' and the films THE EMERALD FOREST, ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN, and SECRET OF THE INCAS. (Also several guidebooks and newspaper clippings.)
Back to the plot--we then returned to Cuzco where we saw the Monastery of Santo Domingo, which used to be the Temple of the Sun. |
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| Copyright © - "Evelyn C. Leeper" |
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