PERU
Aug/Oct 2006
Airline folds; tickets worthless.
After Bolivia’s
wind-swept plato we headed for Arica, the northernmost
city of Chile and driest city in the world. There was posted:
“free camping” next to the beach... and we also noted the
Tsunami warnings and the evacuation routes! Although there were
kilometres of parking, groups chose to drink and play loud music
right next to us throughout each night. However, it was a good
place to chill-out, write, edit photos, work on Dipli, etc. When
the solar panels could not keep up, nobody cared when we had the
little generator going to charge the batteries; due to cloudy
days (but it has not really rained in Arica since Pizarro landed
in 1535!)
We sampled some
scrumptious olives and were fascinated to learn how waters from
the Andes have turned an arid valley into a productive olive
exporting region.
Peru.
Then it was
getting used to 3,23 Peruvian Soles to the dollar; (having just
been accustomed to 520 Chilean pesos and 7,95 Bolivianos per $).
The Pan
American “Highway” runs all the way along the West coast of
South America. We were about ¾ of the way up, heading north.
Jolly nuns and the ice maiden.
We digressed
from the coastal route, through barren hills, to visit the
beautiful convent in Arequipa. Here behind high walls in
brightly painted quarters with flowered courtyards, high-class
nuns from Spain had kept slaves and had lived it up in style for
three centuries...
In her own
museum “Juanita, the ice princess” lies in a glass walled
refrigerated “coffin”. She was an Inca-child-sacrifice. A
mountaineer found her recently, high up on an Andean peak
wrapped in richly patterned textiles where she had been offered
to appease the gods 500 years before. She had been almost
perfectly preserved in the snow.
We were parked
in Arequipa when a passing taxi driver saw our 2x20kg
cooking-gas cylinders mounted on the back. He did not to know
that we had just emptied one and that we were resenting the
usual hassle of trying to find a place to have it filled. He
stopped and indicated how to get to a gas filling plant. Nice
things also happen!
We were back on
the winding coastal road. We noticed frequent perfectly round
damage-indentations in the smooth tar road. Then we saw a sign:
“It is forbidden to burn tyres in the road”. We never found out
why Peruvians burn tyres on the roads??
The beautiful
blue bay of Puerto Inca was the port for Cuzco from
whence fresh fish was once transported by runners; to arrive
fresh in the Inca capital 240km away. Now there is a charming
restaurant next to the ancient ruins... We sipped the pisco
sours and sampled “ceviche”, Peru’s most popular dish (fresh
fish marinated in lemon juice and chilli peppers).
The
oasis-resort village of Huacachina has giant sand dunes
around a small lake with graceful palm trees. Tourists flock
here for sand-boarding and to rent dune buggies.
An sms on the
satellite phone sent us into the town of Ica where we
found an Internet café to sort out a business crisis back home.
We discovered a gem of a museum. We were amazed by the fine
multi-coloured belts, cloths and cloaks created thousands of
years ago: They were woven, knitted and embroidered from
materials like cotton, llama wool and feathers. Skulls with
holes and healed lesions showed how head surgery (trepanation)
was performed way back.
At each toll
booth on the Pan Americana we had to argue that Dipli was not a
truck – traffic lining up behind us.
The Nasca lines.
After taking
some airsick tablets we flew in a 6-seater aircraft over the
stony desert to admire the mysterious Nasca lines. These
huge shapes were created by removing the dark stones, piling
them on either sides of the Lines to expose the light sand, thus
creating geometrical, plant and animal designs. Jan liked the
spider and the monkey; Leone’s favourites were the humming bird
and the tree. They were made from about 400BC to 1000AD. Their
purpose still remains a mystery.
Nasca was
where, on our previous visit to South America, we had turned off
to drive up to Cuzco to visit Machu Picchu with our daughters.
The shanty
homes of Lima start 50km from downtown. In horrific
traffic we made it to the Hitch Hikers Hostel in Miraflores,
where we had heard we would be able to park at night. The
security gates were opened and Dipli squeezed into the
courtyard. It is a very clean place with free internet and
friendly staff. We were also able to arrange to park there for 2
months while we went back to SA. This was important as the crime
situation in Lima is nearly as bad as in Johannesburg.
Varig calamity.
When we went to
confirm our flight we were told that all Varig flights had been
grounded because of financial problems. After much effort we
were given seats on Lloyd Air Boliviano leaving the next day for
Sao Paulo, via La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz! Then SAA to JNB;
all of which took nearly 48 hours. After 2 busy but rewarding
months in South Africa, seeing friends and family and welcoming
our new grandson, we found that our return tickets to Lima were
now worthless. We battled to find seats, (due to the Brazilian
Grand Prix). We had to take the long haul via London and Miami
to Lima. We were in transit but we and our luggage and our
travelling plans were thoroughly investigated, by the US
officials in Miami (fortunately we still had valid US visas).
Our last Sunday
in Lima was an unforgettable day: Morning in the amazing
archaeological museum. Lunch in the central plaza with the
cathedral and white painted buildings with carved wooden
balconies. The evening we came across a magnificent folklore
show put on for locals; not another tourist in sight.
(Unfortunately camera batteries were flat).
Replete with
water and diesel and food from Vivanda Supermarket (Lovely
name), the Pan Americana Norte took us away from the ever-foggy
Lima. We had no idea where we would be spending our nights. We
did not know that we would park within sight of ancient
historical sights three times and that there would be two nights
on the beach. A surprise was to find a green hilly nature
reserve in the brown barren region. The yellow flowers and the
trees and the grass gain their moisture from the coastal mists
in Reserva Nacional Lomas de Lachai.
Most towns in
the desert were a collection of woe-be gone unfinished
buildings, but trade was busy and blue and yellow three wheeled
motor-bike- taxis were frantically dodging Dipli. (And visa
versa)
Years ago we
climbed this brown Pyramid of the Moon as a family. Now the
Moche culture’s Huaca de la Luna has been excavated to
reveal 6 levels of ceremonial platforms with multi-coloured wall
paintings and reliefs. As often in those times, depicting human
sacrifice and the priest drinking blood.
The dogs with
the brush cut.
The Inca’s had
kept hairless dogs as pets. We saw some with their smooth black
skins and a tuft of blond hair between the ears and a brush of
fair hair on the thin tail.
After many
archaeological sights like Paramonga, Chavin, Sechin, El
Brujo, Tucumé we were almost “ruined out”. Then we were awed
again, by the splendid new ‘Royal tombs of Sipan’ museum in
Lambayeque! Theses noblemen had been buried in splendour
1700 years ago. The burial places with their riches were
discovered in 1987. Exquisite pottery, beaded necklaces (from
shell) and many large masks, breast plates and other adornments
from gold, silver and copper had accompanied them to the
afterlife.
The ancient
fort in the clouds.
We could
have continued through Northern Peru to Ecuador along the dreary
coastal road but then the guide book mentioned this rarely
visited sight high up in the mountains. As the condor flies, it
would have been close… First there was tar with big pot holes.
The track was hewn from cliffs above raging rivers, like the
Utucubamba, which feed into the mighty Amazon river. The narrow
dirt road twisted and turned and snaked its torturous way up.
Dipli was overheating. The 200km had taken two long days. We
were enveloped in saturating fog. The sun came out and there was
the ancient pre-Inca city of Kuélap. We walked 3km up.
Trees with orchids and bromeliads were growing from the stone
relics. The 17m high walls had been built with stone blocks
weighing up to 200kg. About 3500 Chacapoyas people had lived
within the ramparts. Apart from some llamas we had the
atmospheric place to ourselves. When we got caught in a thunder
storm we slipped and slided back down the muddy path, to find
that Dipli had a flat tyre!
On the way back and all the
way
to the Ecuador border at La Balsa, past sugar cane and rice
fields in the valleys, we had to make do with camper-sized
slivers between road and river, to park overnight.
This journey up to October 2006:
Time on the road (excluding home
visits): 4 years, 2 weeks.
Kilometres driven: 176 000
Countries visited: 72
