Peru Part 2: Machu Picchu

This is the second post in a series about a two-week trip I took with my three friends to Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.  
Today is the day for Machu Picchu!  We woke up at 4 a.m. and got ready for an incredible day.  Haley and Katie decided to hike up the mountain to the Machu Picchu site while Steph and I took the bus—a decision we were even happier to have made as it was pouring when we woke up.  Thankfully, by the time we entered the park, the rain had let up.

In order to understand the next part of the story, you need to know a little about how Machu Picchu works as a tourist site.  The Peruvian government runs the location and only sells a limited number of tickets per day.  Your ticket gets you into the park, and then when you purchase the ticket, you can add on an additional ticket to climb Machu Picchu Mountain or Huayna Picchu for an additional fee.  You have to buy your tickets at the office in Cusco or in another town, as they do not accept money at the park itself.  The ticket is associated with your passport number or some other form of identification. 

At 6 a.m., we prepared to enter the park with our guide, Joel.  We had received our tickets the night before, but did not bother to check to see if all the information was correct.  As we enter, Katie and I get in with no problem, but Steph and Haley’s tickets are for the wrong day!  Since we paid for a tour and the tour company bought the tickets, we didn’t have a receipt or anything from the park to show that an error was made.  The park officials don’t want to let them in.  We call Joel, who now got stuck dealing with the situation.  He tells those of us who got in to explore for an hour and come back.  Katie and I, with no other options, go take a quick walk around Machu Picchu. 

Early morning at Machu Picchu.

The site at 6 a.m. was truly incredible—we saw the clouds and fog passing over the ruins, llamas grazing on the terraces (llamas are used to keep the grass short), and more buildings and artifacts than we could believe.   I was really surprised just how large Machu Picchu was.  After an hour, we went back to the front, where Steph and Haley’s ticket situation had been solved.  We then took a guided tour with Joel of the site, learning about the Incas (group who constructed Machu Picchu); they built the site on the top of a mountain to be closer to one of their most important gods, the sun god. 

Machu Picchu was much larger than I realized.  The terracing on the sides helped create flat areas for walking and growing crops.

Representing IU at Machu Picchu.  (Photo Katie Kartheiser.)

Our tour was about an hour long, and then we walked around for a while and then planned on heading over to climb Machu Picchu Mountain, a 90-minute climb that promised great views of Machu Picchu.  However, it was at this point we realized that when Joel changed the tickets for Steph and Haley, he did not include access to Machu Picchu Mountain.  We raced to the entrance looking for Joel, who at this point was gone.  We had no cell phone number except for the tour agency, but we would have to wait an hour for them to open.  The officials at Machu Picchu wouldn’t let us transfer the mountain to another person nor buy access to the mountain at the park. 

We left the ticket office with no idea what to do.  We didn’t know if there were still tickets available for Machu Picchu Mountain that day, as access is restricted to a limited number of people to preserve the path.  At some point, Haley and Steph went back in the office, and in a lucky coincidence the manager, Rosa, appeared at the same time and was sympathetic to the situation.  She agreed to call their names up to the entrance of the mountain and told us to go up there quickly.  At this point, I am just in shock that Haley and Steph are able to go up at all, given all the problems we had had so far in the day. 

Now it was time to climb the mountain.  I was still having some effects of altitude sickness—I’m out of breath every few minutes, sweating profusely, and my head aches.  As we started the climb up the mountain (which I have been told will be a “ramp-like” climb- wrong!), I begin to have some difficulty breathing.  I took breaks every few minutes, and it took me close to two hours to make it to the top.  Adding to the terror of this whole situation is the fact that there is no guardrail, nothing to protect us from falling off the side of the mountain.  I had many moments where I realized that I could easily fall into the Peruvian jungle.  Panting and sweating, I finally made it to the top.  It was a little difficult to see the site with the clouds, but still very powerful to be so high up nonetheless. 

At the top of Machu Picchu Mountain.  (Photo Katie Kartheiser.)

The rain began again on our walk down the mountain, and we explored the park a bit more before heading back to Aguas Calientes (the town near Machu Picchu) around 4 p.m.  We took a train back to a small town and then a car to our hostel in Cusco. 

Visiting Machu Picchu was one of the highlights of our two-week trip.  I cannot express the power of seeing a complex place constructed out of stones on top of a mountain, complete with the fog and rain.  It is amazing to think that this site went “missing” for so many years, only to be found by a professor from the United States.  I am so glad I got to see this while it’s still open to the public. 

Best photo of the entire trip-- thanks to the other group of student tourists we met who took this gem.

Peru Part 1: If It Can Go Wrong, It Will Go Wrong (and Will Be Resolved)

The plan to go on a great South America Extravaganza began in October, when my friends Katie and Haley and I realized we had some extra time after our final exams to travel.  We knew our time in South America would not be complete without a trip to Machu Picchu, and figured while we were at it we would explore Bolivia and parts of Chile as well.  Our friend Steph decided to join in too, so we were a group of four off on an adventure.  The morning of December 4, we all arrived at Haley’s apartment before dawn to take a car to the airport.  It was then we realized we had a very tight layover in Lima (for more on the story of buying these plane tickets, see my earlier blog post, “Historias Extraordinarias”).  We were able to get our seats moved to the front of the plane, in hopes that this would help with our connection to Cusco. 

After realizing that with the time change of two hours between Argentina and Peru we would be able to make our two flights, we were happy campers.  We arrived in Cusco, Peru, around 2 p.m.; we had asked for the hostel to arrange a cab to pick us up, and we would pay the hostel when we got there.  However, after dealing with a barrage of aggressive taxi drivers, we discovered that no one had appeared to get us.  After paying quite possibly three or four times more than what we would have to get to the hostel (though still only costing each of us $4), we arrived at Loki Hostel.

I think the best way to describe Loki is as a fortress.  Guarded from any intruder by a 45 degree-angle hill, the hostel has a restaurant, bar, game area, tv room, and really anything else you could need inside.  This fact became very important the next day. 

We had booked a tour through the hostel that would take us to Machu Picchu in four days.  The plan was the bike, hike, and zipline from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (the tourist town adjacent to Machu Picchu), with some help from vans and cars along the way.  We would spend the last day at Machu Picchu and then take the tourist train back to Cusco.  This was a cheaper and less physically strenuous alternative to the Inca Trail, a five-day hike from a starting location to Machu Picchu.  We would leave Cusco on Thursday morning and not return until Sunday evening, carrying all the things we would need in backpacks and leaving our other items locked at the hostel. 

The plan was to leave the next morning at 6:30 a.m. for the tour; however, beginning around 6 p.m., I started to not feel so well.  I was very tired and nauseated.  After attempting—and failing to keep down—plain spaghetti, I knew something was wrong.  As I curled up in a ball in my bed, my friends researched and discovered the problem: altitude sickness.  There’s no reason why some people experience altitude sickness and others don’t, but everyone is impacted when there are fewer oxygen particles in the air at higher altitudes.  We all had a higher likelihood of getting altitude sickness because we did not ascend slowly (we flew in and just dropped our bodies at 3,399 meters above sea level).  Essentially, having altitude sickness is like having a hangover that you can’t do anything about—I had a headache, felt weak, was vomiting, among other less than pleasant symptoms.  Most people recover within a few days, but for some, the symptoms do not go away until you go to a lower altitude. 

The tour was leaving with or without me, so the next morning at 6:15 a.m., I made the decision to stay in Cusco another day to see if I felt better.  My friends left on the tour at 6:30, and I was assured I would be able to meet them by 5 p.m. the following day if I felt well enough.  At this point, I was too weak to leave the hostel, so thankfully where we were staying was well equipped to help me.  I made friends with the tour operator, Ivan, who had me come do a health check every two hours.  The reception staff offered to call me a doctor should I need one and everyone had suggestions of what to eat and drink to speed my recovery along.  At this point, I was very alone in a strange land, very ill, and without a way to know when I would feel better.  The biggest help in all of this was that I could speak Spanish—this helped tremendously when explaining the problems to the various people at the hostel.  These employees all speak English, but they appreciate it and (I believe) understand your problems better when you talk in Spanish. 

By the end of the day, I was feeling about 80%--well enough to move on from Cusco and start the tour.  The following morning, Friday, I boarded a bus at 6:30 a.m. to go meet my friends.  I opted out of every physical activity I could (this has been a useful strategy my whole life), so I ended up just sitting in different cars, vans, and cabs for the entire day.  This was a good thing, as I was trying to conserve my strength for Machu Picchu on Sunday.  The last part of the day involved taking a cab (or, rather, a car that I was told was a cab) from one small town to another town where my friends and their tour would meet me.  This was hands-down the scariest car ride of my life, as I sat in the front seat while the driver essentially drove on a 1.25 lane road on the side of a mountain.  No guardrails, speed limit signs, or safety precautions were anywhere in sight. 

Peruvian countryside

After what felt like three hair-raising hours in the car (but what was most likely 45 minutes), I arrived at the hostel.  The group hadn’t gotten there yet, and I had no way to contact my friends to tell them I was arriving.  When Joel, our guide, appeared, he told me to stay hidden so we could play a joke on Haley, Katie, and Steph.  He went out and told them that I had not actually made it, and then I popped out from behind the car.  We were all happy to be reunited and had lots of stories about our (short) time apart. 

We spent the night in this small town and had a delicious dinner (stuffed avocado, everyone should try it), we headed out the next morning to zipline.  The photos will do a better job here than me to show what exactly we did. 

Getting ready to zipline! We went from where I am standing to the other side of the river over the course of five zips.  

Zipping across!  I prefer to zip in the curled-up ball position so I can go as fast as possible.  Also, during a past zipline experience, I stopped in the middle; now when I do this activity, I like to have as little surface area as possible.

Then we hiked three hours along a railroad to Aguas Calientes—this walk was fine because it was mostly flat.  Any sort of uphill walking was still pretty difficult for me.  I was feeling better for the most part but still waking up with pretty strong headaches.  We arrived at our hostel and had our first shower in two days.  Steph and I ventured out to see the town (verdict: tourist trap), and then we went to bed early in preparation for Machu Picchu the following day.

Be a Part of B.A. – Buenos Aires – Big Apple!

In the past month, I have taken some time to do some tourist exploration of Buenos Aires.  In visits organized by my classes and on my own, I visited an important site to the Perons, Teatro Colon, and La Casa Rosada.  Here are my impressions, some historical background on these visits, and even pictures!

CGT: For my Cultural Questions in Argentina Class, we went to visit the Confederación General del Trabajo de la República Argentina, General Confederation of Labor of the Argentine Republic, which is the largest union (sindicato in Spanish) in Argentina.  You could maybe compare it to the AFL-CIO in the United States.  Founded in the 1930s, today the CGT is part museum part working space.  Historically, however, this building and organization played a key role. 

Photograph of Evita and Juan Peron together at La Casa Rosada.

Everyone in the United States knows about Juan and Evita Perón, but we don’t really have a good grasp of how Perón came to power.  He began as the Argentine-equivalent of the Secretary of Labor in the mid 1940s, and introduced important worker reforms such as maternity leave, annual vacation, and an eight-hour workday.  He also introduced the annual complimentary salary (sueldo annual complementario), which is when workers in Argentina get an extra half salary in June and December.  All these reforms, which today we think of as fairly standard, were revolutionary when Perón introduced them.  When Perón is asked to resign and is exiled in October 1945, the workers of the CGT organized a huge protest in Plaza de Mayo for October 17.  Perón was allowed back into Argentina on this day, and Plaza de Mayo was filled of workers, all of whom, to the horror of the elites of Buenos Aires, took off their shoes to celebrate Perón.  It was at this protest that Evita became publically known, and subsequently almost universally adored, to porteños (people who live in Buenos Aires). 

When Perón becomes president in 1946, the CGT becomes even more important as the headquarters of one of his most important constituencies.  All of this was the background information we had when we arrived at the CGT.  We were led through parts of the building by an older gentleman who had personally met Evita (and began to tear up at her mere mention).  Evita’s office was at the CGT, so we saw some of her personal items and got to read many newspaper articles about her and her activities.  It was very interesting to hear the almost reverence of our tour guide for Evita contrasted with some of the more troubling aspects of her life—she is ferociously against the middle class, might have embezzled money from her charity to help the poor, among other questionable actions.  The visit ended with our guide telling us we are the “revolutionaries of the future” who are responsible for continuing the legacy of the Perons.

Teatro Colon: For my Spanish conversation class, we get to take field trips to practice listening and experiencing important cultural activities in Buenos Aires.  In October, we took a tour of the Teatro Colon, a huge opera theater in the heart of the city.  The venue got a facelift for Buenos Aires bicentennial in 2010, so it was even more beautiful for our visit. 

In the main theater area at Teatro Colon

As our guide explained, many people went to the opera to socialize and be seen—seeing the actual show was a secondary motive.  The operas were not generally in Spanish, so unless you spoke German or Italian, you were going to watch the show and watch other people.  The theater features busts of famous musicians and world-class stained glass ceilings.  The most interesting part of the visit was the explanation of the different seating sections in the main theater.  There is the main part with nice cushioned seats that you would expect in any opera theater.  Then, going up the sides, are the boxes (I couldn’t help thinking of Phantom of the Opera), with one reserved for the President and Vice President.  Next was more seating sections, then a standing area just for men and just for women.  I was unsure why they were divided, as the next section up was standing for both men and women.  As you can expect, the price for seats goes down the further up in the sections you go. 

Stained glass ceiling in the main portion of Teatro Colon.

The last section was not as obvious, but as our guide explained, for the high-society widows, missing an opera was a big social sin.  However, if a woman was in mourning for her husband, she was not supposed to be seen celebrating.  The elites of Buenos Aires figured out a loophole to this problem—the women could go to the opera and sit in the basement, looking out of vents to see (could they really see?) the production. 

La Casa Rosada: The pink house, Argentina’s seat of government, offers free tours every Saturday and Sunday (you hear that, White House!?).  As touring the most important government building is something I will most likely never have the opportunity to do in the United States, I decided to go with a group of friends.  The gate to the building was just open, we walked through a metal detector and we were in! 

Our guide explaining the White Room at La Casa Rosada, one of the most important rooms in the building.  

The structure itself, a fusion of two preexisting buildings, is beautiful and adorned with items from all of the presidents of Argentina.  Though maybe originally attended for the President to work and live, today the offices are in La Casa Rosada, but the President lives in a house further away.  Our tour, in English and Spanish, took us through the house to see various exhibits and important rooms.  We saw the room where all the press conferences happen, which has been decorated with images of important women in Argentine history, all part of an important initiative of Argentina’s first female and current President, Cristina Kirchner.  Additionally, we got to go in Cristina’s actual office; I would like to point out that her desk is just a messy as mine!

I am very glad I went later on in the semester and not during the first weeks of my time here.  After living in Buenos Aires for almost four months and taking classes about New Argentine cinema, Cultural Questions in Argentine History, and Latin America in International Politics, I had enough background to know whom the important people and events were. 

With friends in front of Casa Rosada.