Machu Picchu, the classic view

Machu Picchu; a splendid sight nestled in a lush section of the Peruvian Andes, one of many examples of the ingenuity of Inca architecture and how it blends spectacularly with the surrounding environment.

This particular example of Inca Architecture is considered by many to be the best way to examine the remarkable history of pre-Colombian civilisation in South America. The Inca empire first emerged around 150 years before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, the last of a long line of pre-Colombian civilisations that had developed in Peru for 5,000 years.

Many sections of the ruins reflect the surrounding mountains; they are almost always dotted with several people.

Machu Picchu now receives as many as 2,500 visitors a day, showing how immensely popular the site has become, and reflecting its dominance – at least in terms of tourism – over any other pre-Colombian ruin in Peru and the Americas (perhaps only rivaled by Maya ruins in the Yucatan). The massive profitability of such a site has indeed been recognised; travel to Machu Picchu is controlled and regulated by ensuring that it remains difficult to reach, and thus ensuring that travellers have little option but to pay a premium price to get there.

As a result, the only ways of currently getting to the ruins are: by walking the world famous Inca Trail; by means of a train journey from Cusco or the Sacred Valley to the small town of Aguas Calientes (situated in the valley beneath the ruins and built almost exclusively for this purpose); or by walking on one of the alternative trails that have been opened in recent years, namely Lares and Salkantay.

Unfortunately for skint backpackers, even the most economic of these routes is expensive; the train from Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley can cost between $60 and $500 return, while the train from Cusco can be even more than that. The Inca Trail costs a minimum of $400 for those who organise to go with guides from Cuzco, while the alternative trails can also reach into hundreds of dollars per person.

Luckily for those who cant fork out even $60 (that buys alot of beer in Peru), there is another way to get to the foot of Machu Picchu: it is possible to walk along the train track from the Hydro Electric Power Plant on the other side of the valley from Aguas Calientes. The aptly named hidroeléctrica de Machu Picchu can be reached from a small town called Santa Teresa, which is on the opposite side of Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes (see link to map below). The walk from the power plant takes about 2 to 3 hours, plus another 1 and a half hours to climb the steep hill to Machu Picchu.

In August, we went to Machu Picchu by this option following a 2 day jungle boat adventure near Quillabamba. This beautifully situated jungle town is relatively nearby to Santa Teresa, and it meant we didn’t have to travel all the way back to the Sacred Valley just to return again by train. And we were pleased to find it was relatively straightforward to walk, despite this not being the preferred route of the vast majority of those who travel to Machu Picchu, and even less popular amongst those who want to profit from them. Walking along the rails can be a bit hard on the feet without proper boots, and there is a precarious bridge to cross, but it is a nice walk and you can even see the ruins up above on the ridge.

My second time at Machu Picchu, looking thrilled

Below is a step by step guide to avoid letting your hard earned cash end up in the hands of Orient Express. This Chilean entity currently have a monopoly over the train routes to Machu Picchu, along with owning several 5 star hotels in Cusco and Lima, and one right next to the ruins themselves.

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How to get to Machu Picchu from Cusco via Santa Teresa

1. Go to Cusco and find your way to the “Terminal de carro a Quillabamba” – or the bus terminal for Quillabamba – this is easiest by taxi (3 soles minimum)

2. Take a bus to Santa María, which is on the road between Cusco and Quillabamba, about 4 hours from Cusco. This is a spectacular journey, through Ollantaytambo and then climing past the Nevado Veronica in the Cordilleras Urubamba, all in comfortable transport. Note that this road can sometimes be troublesome during rainy season (15 soles)

3. Take a combi (mini-bus) from Santa María to Santa Teresa, another breathtaking journey (6 soles min.)

4. Stay overnight in Santa Teresa, a pleasant town with some nice restaurants (hostal 10 soles min.)

The amazing journey from Santa María to Santa Teresa

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5a. Choose this option to arrive at Machu Picchu at around 10am

i. Get up early (6am) and take a combi to the nearby hydro electric plant (3 soles)

ii. Walk from the Hydro Electric Plant, along the train track, to the entrance at the foot of Machu Picchu

iii. Climb to Machu Picchu to arrive for around 10am.

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5b. Choose this option to arrive at Machu Picchu at around 5.30am (for those who want to arrive early and climb Huanya Picchu (the mountain in the background)).

i. Spend the morning in Santa Teresa (there are delightful volcanic hot springs)

ii. Take a combi to the Hydro Electric Plant around 3pm (3 soles)

iii. Walk along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, arrive 5 or 6pm

iv. Stay overnight in Aguas Calientes (20 soles min.)

v. Get up at 4am and climb to Machu Picchu, arrive 5.30am ahead of the first bus load of people.

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A few more pointers for those who want to do this:

• You should buy your entrance ticket to Machu Picchu beforehand ($20 for students, $40 for Adults), this can be done in either Cusco or in Aguas Calientes after you walk there.
• Aim to walk back to Santa Teresa at about 3 or 4pm, before it gets dark. That should give lots of time to explore the ruins.
• If you walk form the Hydro Plant and climb to Machu Picchu on the same morning (option 5a.), it can be tiring, and will perhaps leave you quite exhausted for exploring the ruins.
• Any of the combi rides can be made by Taxi; if you are traveling with a group this can also be an economical option, costing perhaps a few soles extra per person.
• Believe it or not, a train runs along the train track from the hydro plant as well, but there are only 2 leaving a day; one leaves at 8am in the morning and is reserved for Peruvian nationals only (5 soles), the other leaves about 4 in the afternoon and costs $15 one way, for any nationality. Tickets can be bought from the office in Santa Teresa on the day of travel.
• I would have drawn a map, but Andean Travel Web have already made a very pretty one. This linked page also has more useful information about travel to Machu Picchu via Santa Teresa, while the rest of the Andean Travel Web site has excellent and comprehensive independent travel tips for across Peru.
• All this info is current to August 2009
• Watch out for trains when walking

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Thats it, I learned the cheapest way to arrive at Machu Picchu, for about 37 soles from Cusco (13 dollars, or even less, one way including the hostal in Santa Teresa). Stingy bastard huh? Well at least my money is in the hands of local transport companies.

In Santa Teresa, on an alternative route to Machu Picchu, my friend Mark and I stopped for the night before heading to the famous Inca citadel the next morning. Mark became thoroughly aggravated when we couldn’t access the Internet, despite the fact that there was a Cabina de Internet in the small town.

Well at least “Cabina de Internet” was how this burnt-out room full of PC’s had been advertised. When we finally got to a computer, it was unable to access our Hotmail accounts, let alone any web page at all. The guy in charge of the place was reluctant to give us another computer to try, given that all of his friends were busy trying to play World of Warcraft, Max Payne and other such games on the available machines. (On reflection, we realised that this was probably the reason the connection was so slow.)

As Mark stormed away in a rager, understandably ruffled by the guy’s lack of concern for his communication with home, I realised that I had become accustomed to public internet access here being totally shoddy and unreliable in the current absence of my own annoyance.

Internet connections in this part of South America are, for the most part, sporadic. The vast majority of people in Bolivia and Peru can get access through one of the many Cabinas de Internet; which usually come in the form of street-side stores that are full of PCs with a connection. For Cabinas de Internet per capita, Peru is one of the leading countries in the world.

Like the one in Santa Teresa, the connections can be woeful. During travel in Peru in Bolivia and living in Lima, I have uniformly had trouble accessing the internet through cabinas, with regular problems such as a painfully slow connection, websites and programs not working, and even power cuts taking their toll on some occasions.

I have learned that it is probably best not to expect too much when visiting a cabina; this way, when the internet does work, I take my internet time much less for granted, and realise just what a privilege this actually is. And apart from anything else the cost of using the internet is minimal when compared to expensive public access in the UK; perhaps not so minimal for those who need every last céntimo just to eat.

In the case of private connections, I’ve just been disconnected from the Internet since Sunday morning, essentially because the friend’s connection I had planned to use to write this blog was rigged off of another line. For people who can’t afford the high costs of the service providers, riggings are the most convenient form of home Internet access. I am currently sipping on an espresso to access this privelage.

In Peru, up until recently, private connections had been monopolised by company Teléfonica. This monopoly was handed on a plate by now incarcerated ex-president Fujimori to a Spanish company Teléfonica.  During his burst of privatisation in the early 90’s, his government sold off what was previously a nationally owned enterprise, through ENTEL Peru and Compañía Nacional de Teléfonos, for around two hundred million dollars. This was despite Fujimori stating in his campaign that he would do no such thing.

Teléfonica’s dominance has remained strong and has continued into the Internet age; it is rare to find a connection not provided by the company. This means they can keep the price of private connections high, and that cabinas remain by far the most affordable form of Internet use.

Even in some cases when people seek a legal Internet connection from Teléfonica, their service can be very inefficient. It took 18 months for them to respond to the friend whose connection I was using, never visiting said person’s home to install the line even after repeated phone calls. And in the end, it was actually a Teléfonica employee to whom they turned to rig the line, paying a one-off sum for unlimited internet access.

The competition is starting to get its act together, thankfully, as Teléfonica’s contract with the government has run out; maybe this will spur them to providing a better service.

Luckily for me, my work has provided me with an internet connection the entire time; quite simply, they have the plata to do so. Not wanting to spend the entire day on the computer, though (a previous concern of mine), I’ve never bothered with a private Internet connection, partly tempered by the fact that my humble Laptop has all but died.

Through my experience outside of the workplace I have learned that Internet access is absolutely a privilege. Of course, it should be a right; hopefully it wont hinder future blog posting….

After 16 months of sweat and hard graft, yesterday was my last day at work, prompting a partially obligatory leaving party, in which there was ample supply of Pisco, a popular Peruvian grape brandy best enjoyed with ginger ale, granadine, lime and ice, or in the renowned Pisco Sour cocktail, which is Pisco blended with ice, lime, syrup and topped with cinnamon. Quite delicious, and the pride of Peruvians, who have actually outlawed any other drink by the name of Pisco to enter the country in an attempt to stop the Chilean version creeping north, an ongoing and bitter dispute between the pair of old rivals: no sh*t.

I’m digressing. During the despidida (farewell party), I became aware just how far my Spanish has come in my time here, when I was asked to make an impromtu speech by heckling work companions, mostly Spanish speakers. I managed to thank everyone for the oppertunity, for how great they’d all been to me, talked about how much i’d learned and how much I had enjoyed my time in Peru, and i think everyone understood. Not bad for a gringo.

My Spanish now is probably about a hundred times better than the non-existent version I spoke when I first got here, but i would need to be a thousand times better to call myself fluent. It is a massive language, and words regularly pop up that I have never needed to use before, while the conjugation of more complex grammar is still very difficult.

Immersion definitely helps; it was certainly much easier to learn when i was living in a house full of Spanish speakers, and had no choice but to pick up words to communicate, while learning became a bit more difficult when I moved into a house of Australians.  And having a Peruvian girlfriend in the meantime has definitely helped me to keep the Spanish up, although her English is so good that Spanish sometimes needs to be sidelined.

There was a brief period when I was doing internal communication for my company, which needed to be in both English and Spanish, and so this helped me to pick up some written grammar.  The same position required me to correspond with job applicants who, can you believe, hadnt even bothered to learn English? And I even gave the odd job interview in Spanish, though my role was usually reduced to asking the applicant what sports they practiced.

Now i have the confidence to hold my own in a conversation, book a bus ticket and even order a pizza, but i still have problems with my accent and listening, because people speak very quickly and use alot of slang words. But then I had that problem in Aberdeen sometimes, too.

To master a language is a gradual process, built upon over several years. I have probably been too impatient at times when I havent understood something, and have learned that even in my lifetime I will perhaps never be perfect at Spanish, presuming of course that perfection is possible in any language. And I have to bear in mind i didnt even take a class.

So: immersion + girlfriend + work responsibilities + daily use in practice = I have become proficient in Spanish (at least thats what the CV says).

A FEW SITES THAT HAVE HELPED ME ALONG THE WAY

http://www.spaleon.com/index.php

http://dictionary.reverso.net/spanish-english/

Bolivia? christ that happened almost a year ago. Well then, given that i’m leaving in about 6 or 7 days, I had better make some sort of decent attempt to finish what I started and actually complete this blog.

Far from not wanting to share photos, stories, annecdotes, trivia with all 6.5 billion of you since my last post in March, it simply became far too difficult to write about life and travel in Peru anymore. In short, when I originally started writing, everything in this country was still new and fresh, a new experience. Then everything became a bit more familiar, and it became harder and harder to write about, until eventually, I couldnt be bothered any more, and this blog became defunct.

Only temporarily though: with my immenent departure, i will soon no longer have the privelage of writing a Peru travel blog from within the country itself. So I’m going to attempt to round the whole thing off splendidly with a nice big fat red ribbon.

I’m not even going to attempt to give a day by day description, a blow by blow account: that would be manic and probably a bit crap given i can barely even remember what I did last weekend. So, well, I thought it would be more constructive if I looked back at my time here (aww) and figure out just exactly what I’ve learnt, if anything, and try and sort it into some sort of more coherent thought than the mess of ideas that is currently flying around in my head just now.

That is why we travel, right? To learn? well obviously minus booze cruises and beach holidays, work trips and …. ok, well the reason I am travelling is to learn. And learn I haved.

So here it is (uhm, or here it will be in the coming days), a series of posts engineered to assertain just exactly what the feck it is i’ve learned in 16 months in Peru.  Or something like that. Gosh, I can almost hear you gasping with anticipation already…

… anything becomes newsworthy

Things have been shaken up a bit in the last couple of weeks.

Up until last Tuesday I lived in a house with nine fellow foreigners. This was a perfect scenario when I first arrived. I immediately got to know people who were in the same situation as me: twenty-somethings travelling to Peru to do internships or to study whilst embracing/experiencing/immersing themselves into a new culture and language. My housemates were Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorian, French, German, Swiss and, like me, were all new to Lima and Peru.  We discovered the city together: did all the touristy stuff in the city centre, went out to bars, had parties at the house, went on excursions outwith the city and generally just chilled out together in our free time. The multicultural/international vibe was cool with various themed nights based on different countries, with food, dancing and liqour from all across the world featuring for the arrival and departure of new people.

However, as is a consistent feature of life, things always have to change. I have now moved into a new apartment with two aussies, one of whom is from my work. Our apartment is on the edge of a slightly more run down part of town with the surroundings noticeably less pristine – though I’m not sure if you would ever use the word pristine to describe any part of Lima.

Nevertheless, it has several benefits. We live on the seventh and last floor on a newly built high rise building which means we (and only we) have access to a generously sized roof terrace which has a spectacular view across the city. The security is fine with a strong fence stretched around the perimiter and 24hr security guards at the gates. This is pretty much standard for a district where gunpoint robbery and other such violent crimes are commonplace.

The apartment is good and new with plenty of space though it is lacking in maintenance and furniture as of yet. But most importantly I have my own room after sharing for almost 5 months. Sorry Peter, but I’m sure you appreciate the peace and quiet too So I’ve been pretty busy in the last couple of weeks, moving my immense mass of possessions (haha), buying mattresses and learning the directions to give taxi drivers.

Leaving the old house was pretty sad, I had good times there and met alot of good friends, but I couldn’t have lived there forever. One feature of the house is that there is a constant turnover of personage; the nature of temporal internships and studying meaning that people only stay there for the months that they needed to be in Lima before travelling or returning home. So alot of the people that I have known from the start have left and now felt like my time to move on. Plus the kitchen was always f**king manky and constant noise is no good for a light sleeper.

For my own despidida (leaving party) I slapped on the kilt, made some stovies and scotch eggs and gave a typically sarcastic appraisal of my country in powerpoint presentation form whilst fuelled by a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label. Not sure if Scottish self-criticism has quite the same ring in grammatically questionable Spanish. The next day I made my last house-excursion as we all went to a beach resort 2 hours south of Lima to swim in the Pacific, lie on the beach, sample some (delicious) seafood and soak up some sun. In my case meant getting badly burned after stupidly skipping my stomach when applying suncream and simultaneously forgetting that the southern hemisphere has a nice big hole in its ozone layer. Lesson learned …

So that’s it – my time in the house is over. Granted, I’ve taken a slightly different approach to my interning housemates after only buying an expensive one way ticket and leaving myself with only enough money to move in with my ex-pat Australian friends and briefly sojourn to Bolivia in order to change my 2-month-expired visa.

Which leads on nicely to me saying I’m going to Bolivia on Sunday. 2 weeks in the heart of South America, followed by Christmas at Lake Titikaka with a whole bunch of stuff I’m not even going to dream of planning for in between.

Good times.

Today I was granted a day off work in order to urge President Elect Barack Hussain Obama to keep his word and close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

In order to make the plea, myself and several dozen other like minded people from Amnesty International assembled at a pretty green park overlooking the Lima waterfront to dress in orange overalls, don white masks (cleverly, you’ll note, in the same fashion as prisoners at Guantanamo) – and enact a brief demonstration of why current president Bush’s government has acted to violate the human rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and why it needs to be immediately closed.

"come on Barry, just close the camp"

Several press-types from various tv channels and websites attended with all their crazy cameras and news reporters and there was even security guards and riot police who were standing by in case things got a bit rowdy. I did two interviews. The first one was in Spanish and the reporter soon got bored after she found out that I could barely say more than “Human Rights are Important” in my strained (but improving) take on Castillian. The second – for which I was chosen because I spoke native English -  I rambled on a bit about the reason why we were protesting and why a Scottish guy in Peru cared so much about an inhumane prison camp in Cuba. I have no idea where these will end up.

All in all it was a pleasant morning at the park was spent and George Bush will hopefully think twice before detaining people indefinately without trail and subjecting them to degrading, inhumane conditions again.

Our protest timing, far from being spontaneous, was in order to coincide with the imminent APEC summit which is being held in Lima. Several thousand foreign dignitaries – including George W himself – are descending on the city this weekend to chat about free trade and how to get richer during a financial crisis. It’s a pretty massive event for Lima – the government even granted two days holiday on thursday and friday, though this is probably to get as many people out of the city as possible so that the traffic has at least some chance of functioning whilst there are “real life important people” visiting. I’m writing a newsletter article on it at the moment so will post it as soon as it’s written – god bet you cant wait for that!!!!!!

So, I say to you Mr Barack Obama, if you stumble across my blog, let it be known that I urge you to close Guantanamo Bay as you have stated that you will. And, President George W Bush, should you chance a peek at this post, I’ll see you in court. At least you have the opportunity to go to court …

N.B. This all happened in Lima btw so is totally legit for a travel blog. Actually I dont even know if this ever was a travel blog, so it’s legit either way.

Lima from a 21 storey building, Miraflores facing Centre

So last week was a run down of just some aspects of the city shown – in part – in the picture above. With a population 1.7 times that of Scotland, 42 times that of Aberdeen and 1678 times that of the Isle of Arran, it is by far the biggest place that I have ever lived. Travelling from one side of the city to the other is an eternity, even with the smaller of combis which are better adapted for zipping in and out of the relentless stream of honking (in both the sense of sound and of smell) traffic.

Even with it’s massive size, much of Lima still has a small town feel to it. There are noticable differences between the different districts that spread throughout the city making each part feel like a small city in its own right. There are richer districts such as San Isidro and San Borja – where the key financial institutions of the country are based – banks, large multinational businesses etc. -  and swanky resedential areas where all of the politicians have their houses built behind large walls and fences.

The district where I live and work – Miraflores – contains a large chunk of business as well though it also acts the tourist heart of the city, in that people spend the night here before heading off to Cusco and Machu Picchu. There are various classes of hotels, shopping centres, bars and restaurants that are largely tourist and backpacker orientated. The prices in many places are inflated in accordance with the fact that westerners are willing to pay more money for things. In fact it is usually the equivalent of the lowest of European and North American prices, it’s just that these are expensive in proportion to what things cost in other parts of Peru that are outside of the mainstream tourist flow.

Other districts are much in the same vein as Miraflores and the above as far as residential areas are concerned. Though not quite so touristy or finance orientated, there are many pleasant residential areas of the city where the middle class population of Lima live, where the main Universities are based and where various shopping districts are located. To the south of Miraflores is a district called Barranco, which has beaches and ideallic views of the Pacific and colourful colonial buildings crumbling at the corners. This has earned a reputation for being the bohemian haunt of the city with many artists and musicians residing there. It’s got the best night life as well with bars and nightclubs open til the morning – ahem, not that i’d know of course.

Moving outside of the districts where all of the money is, things start to get a bit more sketchy. There are less security guards and buildings are noticeably more dilapidated, many having fallen into disrepair. It’s also much dirtier as people are not hired to sweep the streets or water the parks or pick up litter (a chronic problem) outside of the “most important” districts in the city, which could be better described as the places where people pay taxes.

The centre of the city can be quite dangerous away from the heavily guarded government buildings and it is certainly not advisable to travel there after dark. It’s usually in such areas where the taxi driver advises you to lock your door in the event of him having to stop in traffic and theives storming the car (i’m told it happens).

Then – spreading around the kernels of wealth and economy – are the slums that have evolved over the last thirty years. I’ve only driven through some of these but the highways and main roads avoid the worst parts for sure. I’m sure I’ll get a proper chance to visit while I am still living here, but i’ll probably not be taking my passports/money/camera with me.

So thats a wee breakdown of how Lima works. I wish I had learned more but -as i’ve stated – this city is very big, and when working forty hours a week it is easy to fall into a comfort zone as everything i need i can have in Miraflores – with a quick taxi ride to Barranco every now and again.

For a repitition of many of these facts and statistics, check out Wikipedia, the most reliable and unbiased source of information that exists on all of the whole entire internet.

Food in Lima is quite simply delicious. It is often argued by many ex-pats living here that Peruvian cuisine should be ranked amongst the highest in the world. Were I to attempt such a ranking:

1) Indian 2) Peruvian 3) Italian 4) Thai 5) Mexican

That looked like an attempt, but anyway, my point is that Peruvian food is exquisite. It just hasn’t been recognised worldwide yet. Not too many Peruvians travel the world to start restaurants or spread the word of their cuisine, although one celebrity chef is attempting this at the moment. Another reason: Peruvians have no confidence in their culinary abilities and don’t often see the need to share recipes past those in their families.

For me, aside from my friends here, food has been by far the best thing about the city. One of my friends at work recently wrote an article for our news letter explaining why it is thriving. Another article in “The Examiner” argues that Peruvian cuisine is set for world domination. Here’s my own summary of reasons why Peruvian food is excellent:

1) Seafood is fresh. The Pacific Ocean swells to the east and the same point of the coastline that makes clouds build up during winter has the effect of shoring up (is that a palinism??) the massive variety of marine life that originates in the Pacific. Fishing boasts dont have far to travel before they can find a catch to bring directly back to the city.

2) Peru is biologically diverse – jungle, mountains, coast is the basic formation from east to west and within these areas are different climatic conditions where a vast variety of wonderful ingredients can be produced. Many types of Potatos in the mountains – endless fruits and vegetables in the Amazon – fish and seafood on the coastline.

3) Varied traditions – The Inca empire and those before it were renowned for successfully managing food production and distribution within Peru’s diverse climate range. Their traditions have since been built upon by the numerous culinary styles of people immigrating to Peru from across the world – Europe, China, other Latin American countries – to create a fantastic fusion of different flavour combination and techniques

Maybe the best thing of all is that this food is readily available. All over the city there are markets and restaurants that provide a good range of Peruvian fare for very little. Lomo saltado is a popular type of stir fry with beef, onions and peppers which is rich and flavoursome.  Some of the more expensive restaurants – still the same price as budget restaurants in Europe – have absolutely wonderful dishes, with fantastic creamy sauces poured over generous cuts of meat or crunchy shellfish served fresh in a marinade of lime and chili.

And then there’s aji. Peru wouldnt be Peru without aji. This is essentially chili sauce which can range from bright yellow to deep red to rose pink. It has a really full pepper flavour and can be mildly picante or burn your mouth out. I eat it every single day, with tasty chicharron (lightly fried pork) sandwiches or mussells or anything that i’m eating.

Which is anything here, because everything tastes good

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