16 Days Later: Vol. 1

After my trip to Peru, things got a little hectic as I returned to Ambato and prepared to head back to the States, so this post is coming late and in pieces as I try to write down everything noteworthy I did during my 16 days on the road.


The Journey South

My trip to Peru was shared with my coworker Caitlin and our mutual WorldTeach friend, Asia, who was based in Cuenca. Although the flight from Quito to Lima only lasts about an hour and a half, the fact that it is international apparently makes it very expensive. Caitlin and I weren't down to pay $550+ for a ticket, so we instead traveled to Guayaquil and took a 27 hour bus ride to the Peruvian capital where we would meet up with Asia.

The bus company was called Cruz del Sur, and after having my host sister-in-law make some phone calls we secured our seats on what turned out to be a legitimate ride. The seats went back quite far, we had a good view from the second floor of the double decker bus, and we were seated in front of the staircase so there was no one in front of us to recline into our laps. Three on-board meals, two immigration offices, and seven horribly dubbed movies later we touched down in Lima.

Ecuadorians don't have a culture that values travel, so nearly everyone I talked to about my trip had nothing to say from personal experience. Of course, that doesn't mean that they didn't have anything to say at all. The two most common comments I got were "Peruvian people are ugly" and "Lima is dirty and dangerous."

The first comment I found confusing, because I was under the impression that Andean people share a lot of the same ancestry (Quichua/Spanish mestizos) and more or less looked the same. With the exception of the occasional Chinese immigrant or Afro-Ecuadorian, the continuum of physical appearances in Ambato is due to the ratio of indigenous to Spanish blood in the individual. People with more indigenous blood have narrower eyes, darker skin, short stature, and no body hair. Those with more Spanish blood are typically whiter, taller, and able to grow facial hair. My students all had to fill out census-like sheets to take classes at SECAP, and not a single one of them identified him/herself as purely indigenous or purely white; they all consider themselves mestizos.

What I think is the difference in the perceived attractiveness of Peruvians by Ecuadorians, then, is the ratio of indigenous to European blood (Peruvians generally look more indigenous than Ecuadorians). For whatever reason, white is considered very beautiful in Ecuador (as evidenced by all of my white girl friends being hit on and gawked at constantly) and indigenous features are less desirable.

I find this very interesting because during our orientation we received a talk from some kind of sex and relationship expert who told us that the reason why the Spanish mixed so much with the indigenous people is because Spanish men found the indigenous women to be irresistibly attractive. Another thing I read recently said that people of mixed ethnic origins are generally considered to be more attractive than either single-race parent because the mixed ethnic features demonstrate a more diverse, and therefore more resilient, genetic makeup. In either of these cases, however, white skin would be an undesirable feature. The popular conception that indigenous features aren't attractive might have to do with the fact that very indigenous people work and live in rural areas and are poor.

The other popular comment about Lima being dirty and dangerous was completely off. It may have been that we stayed in a nice neighborhood and only hit touristy sites, but Lima was better looking and more modern than any city in Ecuador I have ever been to. I also felt safe the entire time carrying around my big camera and catching cabs around town.

One of the shopping centers in Lima

We entered the catacombs underneath this church

Visiting cities has never been a particularly attractive prospect to me because unless you know someone who lives there, it's sometimes hard to do things that don't cost lots of money besides look at buildings. The one cheap item I did have on my list of things to do was to get one of Lima's signature dishes: raw fish ceviche. I don't like ceviche of any kind to be honest, but when I travel I make an effort to try the local specialties. When we went to the market I ignored the menu full of appetizing, normal food options before me and checked one off my list by ordering the dish of uncooked fish, onions, and lime juice.

The woman at the market warned me not to eat the ceviche because it would be bad for me. That was followed by my friends telling me that if the person serving you food tells you not to eat something they are about to prepare, you probably shouldn't eat it. I ate it anyway, but just as I suspected from my previous experiences with ceviche, it was gross.

While searching for more cheap sights to see, we learned that Lima has the world's largest public park with fountains in it. If I remember correctly, there were 16 fountains in total with all kinds of designs. Although we didn't stay late enough to see it, at night they also have a light show in the fountains.

Trying to get a sip of that sweet tunnel water

The only other notable thing from Lima that I saw was in the McDonald's we entered to handle Asia's Big Mac craving. The employees there were all wearing denim shirts and jeans with the golden arches sewn into the butt pockets.

"Damn girl, can I get fries with that shake? No, for real, I'd like a small fries with my McFlurry."

Cusco

Luckily for us, flights within Peru are not nearly as expensive as international flights, so we bought plane tickets to our next destination: Cusco. At airport security I checked out the box that they use to contain all the potentially dangerous objects taken from passengers and noticed some interesting items worthy of a quick snapshot.

I want to see the biceps on the guy who felt it was necessary to bring a dumbbell in his carry-on

When Caitlin and I traveled, it was never our style to plan things out before going on a trip, so it was quite the surprise when we stepped off the plane in Cusco and were immediately greeted by dancing and music celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu. When the lady at the airport told us the significance of the date we had arrived on, we were nervous that it would mean an even more absurd tourist presence in the city, but it really didn't turn out to be anything outside of a concert in the main square.

The flag of the city of Cusco is a rainbow, and since it was a celebration of Machu Picchu they had rainbow flags posted up everywhere. It honestly reminded me of Gay Pride Week that summer I spent in San Francisco.

Main Square

Cusco is a very touristy. While the city itself is quite nice to look at, most visitors use it mainly as a launching point for their hike up one of the trails that leads to the ruins at Machu Picchu. Most businesses in the city are hiking gear rental places or tourism agencies, and nearly everyone in town tried to talk to us in English before checking to see if we spoke Spanish.

While traveling around in Ecuador, I never thought of myself as a tourist because I lived there and spoke Spanish well. Even when I was away from Ambato I still though of it as "my country", and when I spoke to people in Spanish and explained my situation, they were usually nice to me. The entire time I was in Peru I felt uncomfortably touristy and American.

"Ancient city of the Incas or not, I'm ain't going if they don't got a McDonald's!"

Whenever there are ancient places that have become tourist hot spots, there is always tension between the locals and the tourists. One of the signs I saw at an outside art show said something along the lines of, "Those who carried the rocks up to Machu Picchu now carry the backpacks of tourists." Seeing that sign made me wonder what most people in Cusco think of the tourism industry that has very visibly become the main source of income in their city. During the next part of my journey, I would discuss this topic at depth with our indigenous tour guide.

So after two short-winded days of adjusting to the altitude in Cusco, frantically getting all our bus tickets and hiking equipment sorted out, and trying (unsuccessfully) to convince Asia and Caitlin to go to the Machu Picchu Electro Party, we packed our stuff and headed out to the Salkantay trail to start our five day hike to Machu Picchu.