Peru Wrapup

A combination of laziness and busyness have combined to drag on this whole "talk about Peru" thing on forever. So I'm going to try to wrap it up here.

Our last leg of the trip was a quick journey to Paracas. It's about 4 hours south of Lima by bus (and the bus is very nice by the way - sorta like what flying used to be only add Bingo and desert scenery) and on the coast. This part of Peru is basically one giant desert. Not much to see aside from the coastline (which is beautiful at times), some farms (sorta Star Wars-esque), and lots of sand. Also, Paracas was pretty much leveled in last year's earthquake, so there is basically no place to stay there. The hotel we would have stayed at is currently 1 floor. I have no idea how many floors it used to be, but I know it was more than one.

So, we stayed in a small town about 45 minutes inland called Ica. This would be a pretty nothing town except that it's astride a desert oasis - yeah, the kind you think about in Lawrence of Arabia or something. We were only there for a very short period of time (less than 12 hours total) but it was very cool. My wife even climbed up a huge sand dune and rolled back down. She loved the sand.

At any rate, the sole reason to travel to Paracas is to go to Islas Ballestas which is a rock island about 40 minutes off the coast that has penguins and sea lions. Early on Easter Sunday, we hopped into a boat with about 30 other people, and jetted out to the island. On the way you can see a giant Incan "drawing" on a rocky coast that is called the "Candlestick". They really have no idea where it came from or what it's function was and there is no organic matter there so they can't even carbon date it. Very cool.

Anyway, Islas Ballestas is, like I said, a giant island of rock that holds an uncountable number of birds in addition to pengiuns and sea lions. The birds produce such an enormous quantity of guano that they actually harvest it and sell it as fertilizer. So if you ever see fertilizer with the words "made in Peru" or "imported from Peru", that's where it came from. I wasn't terribly interested in the guano (no matter how many times our tour guide proudly declared its importance) or even the birds for that matter. It was the penguins and sea lions that got my gander up.

I can confirm that, in the wild, penguins do stand around doing nothing. They are awfully cute and it's easy to understand why penguins are so personified in animation. You can just imagine them with glasses and a bow tie giving a lecture on particle physics. As far as appearances go, penguins come across as distinguished and clever.

The sea lions stole the show, however. Our first encounter was with a female sea lion teaching a baby how to swim. She was somewhat aggrieved by our passage but probably more concerned with her baby than anything. Either way, she chatted us up a bit fiercely all the while encouraging her little one to keep at it. We found at least one other mother teaching her cub to swim.

And then we found the men. When the women are doing all the work, what are the men doing? Lazing on the beach while having a talk-about. I imagine they were debating England's World Cup chances or something given how loudly and boisterousy they were arguing, although I did not see a bar anywhere. The male sea lions were also rather fat compared to the females which I guess makes sense. If you sit around all day going on about the merits of English football versus Peruvian football instead of actually doing some of the work around the house, you'll fatten up quick.

After our excursion to the island, we had about 5 hours to relax in Paracas before our bus back to Lima. We essentially did nothing but walk around, have lunch, and sleep a bit. It was very nice.

On the last night I was in Lima, my wife and I stayed at the conference hotel which is a lovely 5-star joint in San Isidro called "Las Delfines" or "The Dolphins". I only mention it because it has a large tank that contain two Dolphins that swim about and do tricks. They were apparenty injured in the wild and now can not be returned to their natural habitat. In the basement of the hotel is a bar which is partially under the tank. We had a drink there and watched as one of the dolphins swam about. He was very graceful. The other one was a bit of a sluggard though. At first we thought he was dead but then we realized he was sleeping. Either way, it's pretty cool drinking a pisco sour in the middle of a dolphin tank. I think I should build a hotel and call it "The Sharks" or "The Hammerhead" or something and then equip it accordingly.

In conclusion, Peru was a very nice trip, albeit a short one. I heartily recommend it. As I said before though, minimize your time in Cusco and plan more days. Cusco just isn't worth it and you really need more than a week in Peru. Instead of Cusco, visit Ollantaytambo which is the site of some Incan ruins relatively near Macchu Pichu or just hike the Incan trail. We missed out on the Nazca lines as well which I gather is a must see kind of deal. With more time, you can visit Paracas then go to Nasca before returning to Lima or possibly continuing south to Arequipa and then on to Cusco/Macchu Pichu (completing a circle). There are various options. Finally, the question of when to go comes up frequently. I recommend end of March, beginning of April. Any later than that and you're going to run into some serious crowds and it will prove more expensive. And if you're gonna book a trip the week before Easter, book in advance. A lot of people travel in Peru that week and you don't want to get screwed out of hotels and/or buses.

Peru: A trip worth retaking

Over the next several posts, I’ll be talking about our trip to Peru but today I wanted to start with general reactions. As the title suggests, we had a great trip and I would go back. Seven days is really not enough time as we barely got to know Lima and there are many more ruins than just Macchu Pichu. Plus, I think hiking the Inca trail would be an incredible experience in itself.

At any rate, I’ll get to the specifics of each site we visited in subsequent posts but for today, I have the following thoughts. As always, these thoughts reflect my personal experiences over the course of seven days and should not be taken as universal truth.

1. I felt safe. This is a big one. In Bogota I have non-clinical paranoia to avoid any and all crime. It’s essentially a siege mentality that has been programmed into my brain by everyone I interact with here (particularly my wife and her grandfather) and by the fact that in Colombia, “a fool and his money are easily parted”. Not so in Lima. The city is well policed and it has a vibrant “city life” in that at night time its common to see couples walking in parks, people in the streets, etc. In Bogotá, due to climate and crime, people generally scurry to their homes or to Parque 93 or the Zona Rosa.

But more than just that, Lima is terror free at the moment as is the rest of Peru. The country is not in the midst of a guerrilla war. It’s not besieged by kidnapping terrorists who have only weak affiliations to a political ideology. And there is virtually no mafia to speak of. That all makes a difference and it’s something I felt acutely.

2. It’s clean. Lima, or at least the barrios we were in (San Isidro and Miraflores), is a very clean city by any standard. It’s noticeable. They have legions of city employees cleaning the streets at all times and it works. This stands in stark contrast to London or Bogotá.

In addition to clean streets, however, is the relative lack of pollution. I make no claims that Peru pollutes less than Colombia (or any other developing nation) but it is aided by its geography. Lima rests on a desert plateau next to the Pacific. The winds coming off the ocean are strong and relentless and this helps the city stay relatively cool and blows noxious fumes and toxic emissions to the east. Bogotá is less fortunate. It straddles a vast green valley and to some extent, experiences the “LA Effect” of trapped emissions.

3. The desert means less food diversity. Peru has a reputation of having some of the best food in South America. That reputation is not without merit. We did not have a bad meal while we were there and on several occasions had excellent meals. The flip side of that, however, is that Peruvian geography does not permit the type of food diversity that is found in Colombia. Fresh fruit juices found in Peruvian restaurants, for example, are mostly limited to Papaya, Orange, and Pineapple, with the occasional Strawberry or Mango. I’m accustomed to having no less than six choices in Bogota (and that’s on the low side). Even the fruit they do have is a shadow of what one finds in Colombia. The papaya is almost mango colored (it’s pink in Colombia) and not as sweet as I’ve come to expect while everyone knows that Orange pales in comparison to mandarin. But deserts aren’t so hot for agriculture and they grow what their climate and geography permits.

I imagine that this is also the reason why they didn’t appear to have any really good meats. Colombia has spoiled me. When I go for a steak in Colombia I know that it will not only be excellent in quality, it will be cooked to perfection. In Peru, there is much less of a “cattle culture” (where to raise them?) meaning that the quality of the meat isn’t as good and the institutional knowledge of how to cook a steak properly has not disseminated throughout the culture. The one exception to this would be Lomo Saltado which is a sort of national dish (ceviche being the real national dish – and damn tasty) that is prepared with cubed steak, red onions, tomatoes, garlic, a bit of hot pepper, vinegar, and soy sauce (I guessed the ingredients correctly and confirmed them on the internets). It’s a very tasty dish.

At any rate, the specialty in Peru, for obvious reasons, is the seafood. The ceviche is very good, probably the best in the world (I only say “probably” on the unlikely chance that some other country does it better), and they have a seafood soup that is excellent (tried it the last night I was there – doh!). That being said, I found the normal seafood to be lacking in creativity. I had fried shrimp once which I expected to be very good but was really just…fried shrimp. And the menus weren’t particularly inspiring. I had Trout al Ajillo (which is a garlic sauce) once which was good, but nothing compared to the Colombian equivalent (and I mean like single-A ball compared to the Bigs here) and that was at a good restaurant. I guess, given the reputation and my experiences in Colombia and the great quantity of seafood they consume, that I was expecting more.

The one thing that did not disappoint, however, was Alpaca. I wanted to try it (always try exotic meat I say), especially after it was described as a kind of “white steak”. Fantastic. Very tasty meat. Allegedly has zero cholesterol. Sort of like a combination between chicken and steak. I had it twice. I would eat it again. Today. For lunch. Or mid-morning snack. So, if you get a chance to eat Alpaca, go for it.

4. An overall lack of diversity. As I mentioned earlier, I have been extremely spoiled by Colombia. It’s not only the first South American country I’ve visited and lived in, but it’s in the family, so to speak, and I’ve come to love Colombia like a second home. And one thing about Colombia, it’s not boring. Every region is different. Different races, different food, different music and dance, different festivals, etc. Peru, by comparison, is lacking in such diversity. It’s essentially and “Incan” nation in that most of the people look the same and there is no apparent diversity in music, food, festivals, etc. Some people suggest that Peru has an African heritage like Colombia and that has enriched the country. I didn’t see it. Aside from the giant doorman at our last hotel, I don’t think I saw a single other person of African descent the entire trip. It’s very odd seeing such a homogenous culture after living in Colombia.

5. The people are extremely friendly. This is probably a truism across Latin America but Peruvian people, from the street vendor to the waiter, were extremely nice. They would offer you goods in a very polite way and then once you refused they would say, “maybe later” and let you go on your way.

They are also very stubborn. In our limited experience, Peruvians want to offer you something in only the package that they present it. Any changes are either to incomprehensible to fathom or resisted for resistance sake. This was a bit annoying at times. Bottom line, in Peru, it’s not “your way, right away”.

6. English and dollars rule. Virtually everyone except the taxi drivers spoke some English. The language is so pronounced there that I think English speakers would have zero problems. It’s incredible. I’m so used to hearing Spanish only that I almost felt like I was in Miami.

The dollar thing is a little bizarre. The Peruvian currency is the Sol. It’s about 2.75 Soles to the Dollar. But everyone accepts dollars and gives change in Soles. I think we only changed dollars for soles twice – once to pay a taxi driver and the other time to pay the one shopkeeper in all of Lima that doesn’t accept dollars. I don’t know what this means aside from the obvious – if you go to Peru, just take dollars.

7. It’s less developed than Colombia. There’s no doubt that Peru is on the way up but they’re not in Colombia’s league at the moment. Ever wonder what happens to all the used Japanese cars that the Japanese don’t want to keep? They don’t have space on the island so they convert the steering wheel to the left side and sell the in Peru (and probably other countries). Lima, for example, is dominated by second hand Celicas and Corrollas. It’s almost like walking back into the 90s. But beyond cars, the buildings, roads, infrastructure, etc are all lagging. I don’t say this to criticize. Peru has its own problems (terrain and earthquakes among them). But it is shocking to see some of the hovels where people live.

I’ll stop here for now and conclude with this: I really liked Peru in general and Lima in particular. I could live there. And I’m sure that living there, I would find that some of my observations are not entirely accurate. But even with these observations, I felt comfortable in Peru and I would definitely go back.