09 December 2010

I woke up on my own early without an alarm. There was no internet and there was no hot water. The clerk turned on the water and said wait five minutes then he reset the wireless router. After a few minutes I tried the water again and it was still not working. So I told them again. Apparently the first time he thought I meant the water was off and did not understand I meant only the hot water was not working. The lady at the front desk came up to my room and turned on the hot water valve which was hidden in the floor between the toilet and the shower.

After a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, biscuits, juice, and nescafe (not real coffee) I departed for Chile and was promptly stopped by a transit policeman on a motorbike for making an illegal left turn. I told him I did not see the sign and that the lack of signage was a common problem throughout South America. He let me go.

On the Peru side of the border I got mixed up and first went to the wrong side of the immigration building, the side for those entering Peru. The guard didn’t understand I was trying to leave but a gentleman speaking English pointed me the right way. I got my passport stamp and attempted to find customs. I was directed to an empty office building. A tiny building. An office of one. I waited for a while. Noticed another guy headed to the same office. Went and asked someone to call for whoever was supposed to be in this office. Nothing happened. No one came.  So I went to find some other customs officials and told them the situation and they picked up the phone and called the lady over to her office.

She gave me two sheets with two forms on each sheet to fill out. Two for Peru and two for Chile. After getting the right stamps I was finally able to leave Peru.

In Chile after filling out the right forms. getting my passport stamped, and having a guy search my car, I was told I needed to remove everything from my car and run it through an x-ray machine. I was pretty shocked and miffed to say the least.  What a complete baffling waste of time. I will have to do this process five  more times as I exit and enter Chile several more times on my way to Tierra del Fuego. I was told I might also have to x-ray all my possessions at fruit checkpoints inside the country.

With all my stamps and papers I headed toward Arica to find a bank to change my money. No money changers at the border. This was very frustrating as I didn’t know where to go. After finding nothing I checked my guide which thankfully had a map of Arica and a list of banks and money changers. Every other street was a one way and traffic was jammed everywhere. Despite all my cursing and despite backing into a pole as I backed out of a Blockbuster Video parking lot, I was able to find street parking and walk down the pedestrian mall to find a bank. I waited in line at one bank and the teller told me I needed to wait in a different line so I left and found a place that only changed money, a casa de cambio, and skipped the lines at all the banks.  The banks are always crowded. One bank even had a number ticket system in place like it was the DMV.

On the way out of Arica I got lost and went down a roller coaster of a road that would’ve plunged me into the Pacific if not for gravity. It took a few minutes to backtrack but I found the right turn and began the drive through the endless expansive wasteland that is the Atacama Desert.  The most arid and lifeless desert in the world. NASA does mars simulations out here because the terrain is so similar. 

Immense canyons. Infinite flatlands. Dust devils whirring all around in the distance. Lifeless. Arid. High winds tossing my car to and fro. Some of the desert hills were inscribed with ancient glyphs like the Nazca lines. There are several hills where you can see the geoglyphs drawn in the earth. I didn’t stop to observe closer but you could see them easily from the highway.

None of the desert shanty towns had a gas station and I was running out. So I cut over to Iquique on the Pacific coast.

The Atacama desert is on a high flat plain and the view from the mountain leading down to the city was astonishing. The city was laid out on the coast with its magnificent spread of shacks and high-rises. Overlooking all this, a gigantic sand dune rippled from the wind. Not as big as the one outside of Nazca but pretty large. I saw a Shell gas station but passed it thinking I’d find another gas station on the way out of town on the south end. I had to drive all the way back from the south end of town to the Shell. There was nothing down there. Gas in Chile is expensive.  Sixty dollars to fill my tank.

During all those incidents I was cursing loudly and screaming at no one and driving fast. Consumed with rage. It was a long and trying day because I have no patience.

I made it all the way down the jagged rocky coast of Chile to Tocapilla. Just outside the city I picked up an old man and gave him a lift to the center of town.

An hour before Tocapilla I had to stop at customs and be inspected again. This time the guy gave me a stamp and looked in the car and that was that. I didn’t have to take everything out and run it through the x-ray machine. He seemed surprised that I was driving alone all the way from the USA. He discreetly asked for a penny because he said he collects coins so I gave him a shiny new penny with the shield on the back, a Canadian dollar coin, a quarter with NY on the back, and a regular dime.

I hope tomorrow will be better. Years ago I wrote that even if I went to Ushuaia I would still be the same person. It turns out I’m an even worse person than I imagined.

08 December 2010

The day started off on a sour note with me getting lost on the way out of Cusco and not being able to find a place to change my oil. I pulled into every gas station that had a sign for lubricenter and they all said no. One guy was gonna do it but he only had 20w so I said no and sped off in a huff of anger cutting off a car headed towards me. He honked and I flipped him off which really pissed him off. I could see him shouting and waving his hands. It’s easy to get angry in the crazy traffic down here but I have never seen tempers flare or heard obscenities fly except for mine.

I didn’t think I’d be able to change the oil for a while so I bought a quart to fill it up. A few miles later I found a shop that changed the oil. He put in 20w.

In Juliaca I got lost. The highway goes straight through town to a roundabout with no signs pointing the way to Puno. I probably wasted 40 minutes driving around asking questions and finally stopping at in internet cafe to use Google maps to find my way out.

Puno though was the absolute worst. In this town there are really no street signs, not on poles or on the sides of buildings, and the Lonely Planet map was no help at all. In fact with its lack of cardinal directions and more importantly the location of the lake, it was frustratingly disorienting. I couldn’t even tell which way I should be holding the map. It was impossible to find a bank. I was very, very, very angry and that is an understatement. I was absolutely incendiary and boiling with rage.

Puno and Lake Titicaca

I found Lake Titicaca and parked the car to walk up to it and have a look. I asked around and was directed to the plaza where the banks were but that took a while to find as well. All I wanted was a meal and with the 100 sola bills the ATM dispensed I wasn’t going to be able to do that. No one in Peru has change. The banks were closed for a holiday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I stormed into an internet cafe and explained my situation to the owner and he took me across the street to get change at a restaurant where a friend of his was running the cash register.

Lake Titicaca up close

There’s too much to write about Puno. It would fill this entire journal. I was beyond angry or mad or even livid. After I got my change I ate a chicken lunch and then booked out of town. The bathroom in the restaurant was disgusting and they didn’t even have soap and a towel to wash your greasy hands. One last stop at an internet cafe to check Google maps and I headed towards Moquegua which was disappointing because I had wanted to go to Arequipa. But the turn for the road was behind me and I didn’t want to backtrack. I wanted to go forward.

The drive to Moquegua was serene and peaceful. Most of the time I was the only car on the road. Just like the drive between Cusco and Puno the land was reminiscent of Montana or the Great Plains with large dramatic skies and grassy rolling hills and plains. Further down the highway I came across some snow. This meant I was at a much higher elevation then I’d been. In addition to the ladies I gave rides to this morning (one by herself and two together) I also picked up a drunk man on the side of the mountain on the way to Moquegua. I have no idea how he got there or what he was saying but I let him out in the center of town and sped off in the night through the desert to Tacna. It took a while to find a cheap room with wi-fi. 

I was able to see the stars again tonight. I am surprised I can still see Orion. Tomorrow I will be in Chile.

07 December 2010

This morning while waiting for the ride to take me to the bus to Ollantaytambo, a guy and a drunk girl stumbled out of a cab. She didn’t seem to want to go anywhere and he kept trying to walk her steadily or get her back into a cab. He walked off several times only to stand off at a distance in hopes she would calm down. This did not work and she stumbled up to me and started slurring and grabbing my arm asking me to take her somewhere. This new development began just as my ride, which turned out not to be a taxi but rather my travel agent from yesterday simply walking up to the front of my hotel so he could lead me to where the bus was parked, arrived. He jokingly asked if she was mi nova.

The bus was a block away around the corner. There was an Englishman on board chatting away with his friend about his travels in Cambodia. You can shoot dogs for sport in Cambodia. They transferred him and his friend to another bus but we ended up on the same train anyway. Also on the same train was a guy I had seen last night while buying my rainbow hat. To replace the Englishman and his mate a large group of young school girls came aboard. 

All Aboard!  Choo-Choo!

The train ride to Aguas Calientes was two hours.  On the train a lady asked if we could trade our assigned seats so she could sit with her friends. It took me a minute to find my contact at Aguas Calientes. She took me to a restaurant and told me to wait there while she went to go purchase my entrance tickets to Machu Picchu. They wouldn’t take my student ID. The receptionist said he wanted to see an expiration date.  The expiration date was on a sticker which had fallen off a few years ago. So that increased the price of the trip by 20 dollars.  In my student ID picture I am clean shaven while now I have almost two years worth of beard hanging off my face.

The road the busses take up to Machu Picchu narrowly winds its way up the steep mountainside in a most dangerous manner. It’s not big enough for two busses to pass one another so when two meet one is forced to back up or move over or both.

There was a guide assigned to me from the tour company waiting for me at the entrance. I asked her how I could climb Wayna Picchu, the large mountain overlooking Machu Picchu, and she went to see if there were any spaces available since they only allow 400 people a day to climb it and it was now 12:30 p.m. She returned with the good news that there was one slot left.  I had made it just in time. I would be the last person of the day allowed up the peak. She showed me the pathway. I had to make my way through the maze of steps and steppes. I had no idea where I was going or if I was on the right path. I just headed in the direction of Wayna Picchu and eventually found my way. There is a hut at the entrance of the path to Wayna Picchu where you must sign in before you climb. I left everything I had except my hat and umbrella.

I walked as fast as I could to beat the rain I knew was coming. At first the path goes down. Then It goes up extremely steeply for the rest of the way. About 30 minutes of steep narrow stairs. There are ropes bolted into the rock to give you support. I stopped to take a piss but had to stop mid-stream when I heard footsteps approaching. Closer to the stop the steps are almost vertical. It is quite daunting on the way down. I was panting hard on the way up.

After several impossibly narrow sets of steps I came to a cave with an arrow indicating the the direction of the path but I was confused as to wether it was pointing into the cave or up. I bent down and peered into the cave but I didn’t see any light so I started climbing up the wall in what I assumed was the path. But it just didn’t seem right. There’s no way this could be the path. So I shimmied back down and inspected the cave a bit more closely and sure enough there was a shaft of light peeping through the other side. I had to crawl on my belly to emerge from the tight hole. A few more dizzying sets of steps and a wooden ladder and I was on the top of Wayna Picchu. Machu Picchu lay spread out below me and all around the Andes towered high. I was on the roof of South America. So was a woman meditating.

Macchu Picchu from the top of Wayna Picchu

I climbed a few rocks to get higher up so I was on the penultimate point of Wayna Picchu. The Andes towered high and the mighty Incan city of Machu Picchu was so tiny below. I could see the mists and clouds and oncoming rain. It is natural at such a sight to attempt to utter or think something profound but amidst the statuesque marvels of God’s nature man’s words are impotent. 

The rain started so I headed down. I moved the lady’s backpack under a ledge. She said she had been meditating for several hours. It took her two hours to ascend because she kept pausing to meditate and take it all in. In my haste it took me 40 minutes.

Getting down the nearly vertical ancient steps was less a challenge on the legs, lungs and heart than on the nerves. I cannot imagine how the Incas built this fortress on top of a mountain and did it all barefoot or in sandals.  The descent would have been quicker if not for the rain making it slippery.

I signed out and headed under a shelter to dry off. Right next to it was a huge rock where people were holding their hands up to it trying to feel its energy. I hiked around the ancient city for a while in the dank, humid air taking photos. I met a German named David.  After an hour as the fog began creeping in I headed back to the exit exhausted and in need of food and water. As I was hiking towards the exit at Machu Picchu a thick mist was beginning to enshroud the city. As I looked back the entire city had disappeared in the cloud and I saw it no more.

...a thick mist was beginning to enshroud the city.

In Aguas Calientes I ate at a restaurant where the lady actually haggled with me while I was pouring over the menu posted outside. Three courses for thirteen solas. Pretty nice. Turned out to actually be twenty-one solas because the water was not included even though she said the drinks are included. The drinks included were under the dessert or juice portion of the menu. In other words I had to choose between a dessert or a juice to drink. I wasn’t happy about that at all.

Dessert

I meandered around town for a bit looking at shops and I sent my sister a postcard. It was wrinkled and cheap but it was the best one there. I spotted two LDS missionaries kicking a soccer ball around and in surprise I started talking with them. Aguas Calientes is an extremely minuscule mission field but they are based in Cusco and travel to the surrounding towns on a rotating basis. There’s a lot of LDS in Cusco. The Mormons come over and tell all the locals that Jesus visited South America shortly after his resurrection and then they pray about it and get a burning in their heart and that’s how they know the missionaries aren’t just putting them on but are telling them the real truth of the matter. He suggested I get a book of Mormon when I return to the states and this opened the door to a lengthy and reluctant theological conversation on the falsity of Mormon doctrine which I got lost in while speaking because I was still exhausted from ascending Wayna Picchu and my mind was not entirely focused.

Mural in Aguas Calientes

I wandered through the market next to the train station after the missionaries and I parted company. Because of its remote location everything here is very expensive. On the ride here I read the Canons of Dort and some of the Belgic Confession. I will most likely sleep on the train ride back to Ollantaytambo and on the bus ride to Cusco. I was charged one sola for my train ticket at the restaurant where I picked it up. I was told it was a fee for the fax machine. But I still don’t have my bus ticket. Someone is supposed to meet me at Ollantaytambo with the bus ticket.

On the train I chatted with an Australian named Simon and his girlfriend Kate about freewill and Jesus and grace and calvinism and the gospel and even a bit of reformation history. He saw I was reading from the Belgic Confession and asked about it. He insisted that God is in all things keeping them together because he created them. He also insisted that God is the creator of sin.

On the bus ride back to Cusco my contact wanted an extra ten solas but I told him I paid everything yesterday. He called someone to ask about it presumably and then walked away.

Back at my hotel the girl from this morning was with a friend of hers in the room right next to mine.  She insisted we go out dancing but I was too tired and even if I hadn’t been tired I don’t think that would have been a very good idea.

06 December 2010

Left Abancay around 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Cusco three hours later. Along the way I gave a ride to an old man and two young men with a little boy. One of the men and the boy crowded into the backseat. The drive was quite normal and tranquil with long ascends and slinky switchbacks and the green Andes towering all around. Through breaks in the clouds I could see higher rocky snow peaks. Twice there were spots in the road that dropped off and my car went flying through the air like the Dukes of Hazard or Evil Knievel but on a smaller scale. Despite the heavy enormous pressure put on the shocks and the intense scrapping I hope there is no damage to the car.

I got lost in Cusco before I found the Plaza de Armas and was able to orientate myself with the map in my guidebook. I found a cheap room and booked a tour to Machu Picchu for $165. I walked to several bookstores looking for more detailed roadmaps of South America but the ones I found had less info than my AAA map.  The highways weren’t even numbered. I saw a Quecha woman walking down the street conversing with a friend and openly and casually nursing her baby.  Despite it’s name the South American Explorers Club didn’t have a roadmap of South America or Brazil. In fact the lady working the help desk said “Good luck” in reference to finding a roadmap of Brazil.  I can buy a roadmap of South America at any bookstore back in the United States but not in South America at the clubhouse of the group dedicated to exploring and traveling in South America?  That makes perfect sense. I got lost on my way to the SAE and two ladies saw me with my tourist book map and showed me the way. 

I returned to the hotel to freshen up but they had no toilet paper. Only in the private rooms they said. But luckily they sell toilet paper. So I got the extra paper I had in my car. I was going to hang out in my room but the shoddy wi-fi drove me out to a cafe on the plaza for a few hours. While in the cafe the rain began to fall in sheets. There was also a bit of hail and it all got inside since the large balcony doors were open. There was also an astrologer giving a reading via Skype.

A storm rolled in very quickly

After taking a shower I wandered the cobblestoned, narrow, hilly streets of Cusco looking for a food and a knit rainbow hat. The rainbow flag is the flag of the Incas and as a result everything in Cusco is bright and colorful.  All the knit hats and shirts and clothes are bright and cheerful. I bought a leather journal with a Moon/Sun design.  Pachamama and Viracocha. I kind of regretted this after seeing more elaborate journals at other stores. It took me forever to find the hat I was looking for and it turned out to be in a shop not far from where I had begun my search.  I had gone in a circle around the Plaza de Armas. I think it might have been a useless quest.  I think the majority of this trip has been a massive waste of time. What am I even doing?

Nirvana and Pearl Jam played a show in Cusco

How about some dinner?

The streets of Cusco are narrow and cobblestone. Very steep and very narrow. More like alleyways than streets. Tomorrow I will go see Machu Picchu and then I will never see it again. So what’s the point? At the cafe I listened to Joel Beeke preach about killing remaining sin. Perhaps the whole journey is nothing but deep founts of my wickedness springing forth from my heart. What am I doing to glorify God? Nothing. This trip does nothing to glorify God.

05 December 2010

I could not sleep last night because of the loud accordion music party coming from the club around the corner. But I finally got a little sleep and woke up just before 6:30 without the alarm going off. I got to the airport about 7:15 so I wouldn’t be late but the plane didn’t take off until 8:30. Finally seeing the Nazca lines after reading about them for so many years and contemplating their mysteries was nothing short of spectacular. The pilot rolled the plane left and right so we could all get good pictures.  There were only five of us tourists on the plane. I thought I was going to vomit.  Some of the lines were a bit hard to make out at first. I’m not sure how high up we were. 

When I got back to the hostel around 9:15 there was a note for me from Laurie saying she would be back at noon but that I could leave for Cusco if I needed to and I didn’t have to wait for her. I met her at the hostel last night and told her she could ride to Cusco with me. I waited until noon but she didn’t show up so I left a message with the hostels owner and left.

The road out of Nazca to Cusco is painfully steep, winding, and treacherously narrow for a long while until you are high in the mountains. Then it flattens out and is less dangerous. For 120 miles the road goes from winding and steep to flat stretches until you get to one final long dive to the bottom of a mountain and then the road snakes along a river between the mountains all the way to Abancay for about 150 miles. At the bottom of the mountains is a toll booth. The lady in the booth jumped out and took a picture of my license plate as I approached. Just after the toll I picked up a guy who needed a ride to Abancay. I was planning to stop halfway between Nazca and Cusco at Chalhuanca but I figured I should ride along with what Providence had thrown my way. When we got to Abancay he directed me to a cheap hotel.

Huge sand dune near Nazca

I picked up two other people before him. The first woman started to leap out of the car before I had even stopped. I had to pull her back inside. And just as she exited another old lady got in. She needed a ride to Puquío.

Higher up the in the mountains there were herds of llamas and free ranging burros. Every beast was tagged with a ribbon in each ear. It hailed for a little bit. I hope it does not rain in Machu Picchu.

Mountain llamas

While walking around the market in Nazca I came upon signs indicating today was an election day. People were lined up to vote. Across the country I have seen ads for politicians inscribed in the mountains and rocks and on billboards. Each candidate has his own symbol relating to the province and the add says to mark that symbol when you vote.

04 December 2010

Driving through Lima was crazy and doubly so because of the massive detour due to construction. The streets were clogged with cars forcing their way in between and beside one another. Finally though it was over and before I left Lima I filled up and fixed my cruise control for the second time. There is a button on the brake pedal that needs to be kept pushed in or the brake lights will remain on and the car will think the brakes are being used and the cruise won’t work. Last time I used a wadded up sheet of paper to wedge between the pedal and the button.  This time I superglued a bottle cap up there. But it wasn’t enough so I folded up my gas receipt and placed it inside the bottle cap to add the extra millimeter or so I needed.  It worked perfectly.

I made it to Nazca but not in time to catch a plane to see the lines. I made a reservation for the next morning. Just outside the city is a hill you can climb up to see the lines. It’s inside the huge rock field where the lines are. You can’t see anything. On the way here I got a lot of flashing lights and honks from passing cars. I think it’s because I’m driving with my lights on. But that just means they can see me which is the reason I’m driving with them on.

Polluted traffic

Though there is a lot of harsh thick sandy desert in Peru there are also patches of fertile green fields. Row after row of crops and people out in the fields harvesting. But other spots are too inhospitable such as between Ica and Palpa. Though enclosed by mountains the desert seems to stretch forever into the limitless horizon. The wind is very powerful with gusts that shake the whole car threatening to blow it over and into the sand. In other places the wind merely gently blows the sand across the asphalt like a dancing ghost.

Desert wasteland

I listened to the entire Final Fantasy VII soundtrack today. In Lima I put on the Mega Man soundtrack because navigating that hectic traffic is definitely like a video game. I keep thinking about what I will do and where I will go when I return to the USA but returning is not going to be easy and I’m here. I’m in South America. This is what I need to focus on. South America.

Driving though Lima I’m not sure if it was simply cloudy and foggy or that the whole city is ensconced in a thick smog. Surely there is a lot of smog in Lima with all the busses, trucks, and cars billowing black clouds of exhaust. I had to rollup the window several times so I could breathe.

03 December 2010

I used the ATM this morning to withdraw 500 solas and the machine wouldn’t complete the transaction so I withdrew 200 and then 300. For a while the landscape was all shanties and dunes and scraggly vegetation. This suddenly gave way to a flat expansive sandy nothingness. In all directions just sand and a watery mirage on the horizon. I was able to go 70 mph. What an exciting change of pace from the slow going mountains of Ecuador. Today I drove almost 500 miles which is double what I had been doing in the Andes.

The desert of Peru is very reminiscent of the Death Valley area in California. Pure desolation. Absolute nothingness. Except for the Pacific lapping away at the edge of this immense desert and the large piles of trash on the sides of the road it’s not that different. Large mountains, sand dunes, high winds forming drifts all along the highway. But the trash makes the air stink. It seems as if garbage trucks collect the trash and dump it along the highway outside of town. Then they burn it.

Peruvian houses constructed from refuse

I gave rides to two men today. They wanted to pay but I refused and told them it was free. The second man was with a group of six others but I only took him. I think I should rearrange my things in case I need to fit someone in the back.

Just sand

The desert had turned to sea

Sunset in the Peruvian desert

I was stopped outside of Chiclayo and the cop asked if I had any soda. I did not. I also got stopped outside of Paramonga and was asked for my insurance. I do not have Peruvian insurance so I showed them my New York insurance and they let me go. I thought I was going to make it to Lima but night fell and I stopped two hours away in Barranca. The restaurant inside the hotel has very rich chicken. The meat simply falls off the bone it is so moist. The hotel is very cheap. Only seven dollars. Gas however is expensive. Four dollars a gallon. Forty-six to fill up the tank. The cook here said he has a brother who lives in New York City.