Hiking the Andean mountains while avoiding the violent unrests (Peru)

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(Day 225 on the road) After my stint in the Amazon, I headed to the coast for a while, to the small - but not very pretty - surfer town of Huanchaco (and the awesome nearby pre-Inka ruins of Chan Chan). I ended up staying a few days longer than I had planned, as the road to my next destination - Huaraz, high up in the Andes - was blocked by protesters. So I was stuck for a while waiting for the road to be cleared.

I did manage to find a nice room with a view of the sea (plus a nearby hostel with morning yoga classes and a great vegetarian restaurant), but unfortunately my room also overlooked the road running between my hotel and the ocean. Now, the thing about city streets in Peru is this: 80 percent of the cars in tourist areas are taxis - few official ones, but mostly private cars acting as taxis. And they roam the streets endlessly looking for passengers. Their tactic for attracting passengers is to staccato-honk their horn two or three times at every single pedestrian they come across. The result is constant honking, literally all the time. And it never works - my take is: 0.5 percent success rate for the driver, 99.5 percent annoyance rate for everyone else. It is extremely infuriating when you are walking down the street (as literally every passing car honks at you), but even worse if you live near a road. It's hard to imagine unless you've experienced it yourself (which I don't really want anyone to).

In Huaraz, my next stop, there were big signs announcing a hefty fine of 230 soles (about €60 - a lot of money in poor Peru) for honking. But of course the police did not enforce it, so the signs had no effect whatsoever. Oh, and did I mention the car alarms that go off literally every five minutes? Some of these are the result of the sensors being far too sensitive, so even a passing car can set them off. Mostly, though, it is the drivers themselves who seem incapable of pressing the unlock button on their remote control before opening the door or starting the engine. Honestly, how hard can it be? A Frenchman I met later was absolutely furious about these constant car alarms, and he put it in words I would rather not repeat in this blog.

Having a delicious Menu del Dia one day at the vegetarian restaurant, I met a Dutch woman in Huanchaco who had fled the high petrol prices in the Netherlands and settled here. While Huanchaco is certainly OK for a few days (or longer if you are a keen surfer), it is certainly not a place I would want to live permanently. For one thing, the town is very noisy - even by Peruvian standards. Apart from the horn honking, the worst are probably the restaurants and shops that blast their loud music into the street all day and late into the morning. And if you get tired of it, well, tough luck. There are no laws to protect the common man from the excesses of the few.

Plus, the city isn't pretty either. The Peruvian tourists tend to just drop their rubbish wherever they go. The result is one of the most littered and ugly beaches I have seen in a long time. Interestingly, no one seems to care. Thus the tourists just spend their days lounging on the beach amidst all the rubbish. Sadly, this disregard is a recurring theme here in Latin America, not just Peru. Finished with your water bottle? Throw it out the car window. If you have ever seen the side of an average street here in South America, you will know what I am talking about. Contrasting this with all the talk about respecting Pachamama here, Pachamama there everywhere - it all seems pretty hypocritical.

Come to think of it, most of the cities here in Peru aren't really that nice. There are notable exceptions such as beautiful Cusco, parts of Lima and I think Arequipa (I haven't been there yet but I've heard good things). But unlike Colombia, for example, the cities I have seen here in Peru are mostly pretty ugly affairs, with - safe for a normally pretty Plaza de Armas - heavy traffic, noise, and pollution.

In Huanchaco, I also managed to leave my passport in my trousers when I gave it to the laundry. It came back as expected - all wrinkled and in generally bad shape. Worst of all, my entry stamp for Peru is now unreadable. I am curious to see what will happen at the border control when I leave the country.

But there is nothing to be done at the moment. The next morning, I met two travellers who had just arrived on the night bus from Huaraz, so I figured the road was open again. I moved on to nearby Trujillo for one night, where I visited the amazing Huaca de la Luna temple. And the next morning I was on the bus for the 8 hour journey to Huaraz.

The journey took ten and half hours, nowhere near the eight hours the bus company had the trip scheduled for. Which again made me wonder why the bus companies can never ever give roughly accurate travel times. They run this route two or three times every day, so they know that eight hours is simply impossible. If they know it will take ten to eleven hours, why do they tell you eight hours? Beats me.

But worse than the journey time was the noise on the bus: The bus’s entertainment system was playing shitty films at an unbelievable volume, which nobody was watching. Instead, the passengers preferred to watch their own movies on their mobile phones instead. Not with headphones, of course, as any considerate person would do. No, on their speakers. So you had the public film playing on the bus, plus about four people watching films at full volume on their phones. Even my normally good noise cancelling headphones were powerless. All in all, a pretty awful bus ride. Note to self: Avoid bus company Linea in the future - go with Movil Tours or Cruz del Sur, who don't play films in their buses.

Finally arriving in Huaraz, I managed to find a very nice and mostly quiet guesthouse (apart from the dogs barking at night), but with earplugs it was all good. The place was very comfortable - with nice staff, fast internet, piping hot showers (pure luxury in the category of hotels I stay in!), nice breakfast and a good location about 15 minutes out of the busy and noisy city centre. I must have spent ten days in this hotel in total, using it as a base for some lovely day trips and excursions.

I also met an interesting Croatian-German couple and we spent a few days together exploring the highlands. We had also planned to do the famous four-day Santa Cruz Trek together, but it was not to be. At 5pm, the night before our 5am departure the next morning, the travel agency informed us that the road to the trailhead had been blocked by protesters and that we would have to postpone our trek. It wasn't a big deal for me as I wasn't in a hurry, but the two had decided to leave Peru because of the protests and were worried that the road to Lima might be blocked as well. So they left in a hurry the next day, but luckily they made it to Lima without any problems.

In fact, they were one of many travellers I have met recently who had decided to leave Peru for good and travel elsewhere. It's a shame for the country - in Huaraz we spoke to a café owner who was closing her café (for two months initially) for the first time in 22 years because of the protest. She and her staff were literally in tears when we met them on their last open afternoon; we were their last customers. Even during the Covid pandemic they had managed to keep the café open, but were forced to close down now.

Before the German guy and his girlfriend left for Lima, we had a very interesting conversation about the differences between Germany and Peru. He was convinced that the political situation and economic outlook in Germany was just as bad or worse than in Peru. We spent an interesting hour discussing this on our hike to Laguna Radian, but unfortunately he was very set in his beliefs (or was I too set in mine?).

This in turn made me reflect on the general state of Peru as I see it as a foreigner. To be clear, Peru is a very beautiful country with some incredibly friendly people. But it also has tons of unresolved problems: Rampant corruption (at all levels of society), a political system in shambles (~20 presidents in the last 10 years, many of them in prison for corruption), a health system in very bad shape (Peru had the highest per capita rate of Covid-deaths worldwide), personal safety is always an issue (muggings are sadly very common), an education system that barely functions (the level of basic knowledge of the people I met is mostly appalling), the amount of poverty is heart-breaking (talk about corruption), little respect for the environment (witness the tons of garbage on every street here in Peru), urban planning seems mostly non-existent (cities are absolutely dominated by cars), and of course it is an incredibly noisy country (music always way too loud everywhere, horrible traffic, car horns, car alarms, barking dogs etc).

As I said, it is without a doubt a very beautiful country, and I am the first to admit that Germany certainly has a lot of its own problems to deal with. But to think that the corruption, the quality of the schools, the health system etc. are the same or worse in Germany compared to Peru, as this guy thinks? Not really, in my opinion. Anyway, he was convinced and had firm plans to leave Germany for Peru to find a better life. To each his own, I would say (no irony intended).

But back to Huaraz and my upcoming Santa Cruz trek. I had a rest day, and the next morning the road was open again, so we set off for the four day hike. And it was beautiful! We were six trekkers (two guys from the UK, one Canadian, two Germans and myself), our guide Alejandro, his wife as cook, one donkey man and four donkeys. Apart from some rain and fog on the second day, we were very lucky with the weather. It was also less cold than I had feared, given that one of the campsites is at 4.200 metres (and the highest pass on the trek - Punta Union - is at 4.750 metres).

Back in civilisation, I settled in the small and fairly quiet town of Caraz. The highlights here were day trips to the stunning Laguna Paron (almost too pretty with its smaragd-coloured waters) and the dramatic Canon del Pato, a single-lane dirt road through a narrow canyon with 35 unlit tunnels and sky-high walls on either side. The first bus I took through the canyon was quite adventurous already, but on the way back I managed to hitch a ride on a massive 40-tonne truck carrying bananas from Ecuador. Because the tunnels were so narrow and low, he often drove at walking speed and still scratched the ceiling of the tunnel from time to time. In one particularly low tunnel, he had to get out of the cab to let some air out of the tyres. It was quite an interesting experience.

And after almost two weeks of walking and enjoying the fresh mountain air, I felt ready to move on. The next leg of my journey will take me through southern Peru, the heartland of the country's current protests and violence, which have already claimed almost 50 lives. While the land borders to Bolivia (my next country) have been closed for almost three weeks now, the Panamericana road should be mostly clear from what I hear. So, I hope for the best that everything will work out somehow. If not, I am flexible enough to change my plans and route. I do have one fixed date though: My good old friend Suzanne from our joint university days in Hong Kong is coming to visit me in Bolivia in mid-March. Thus, we will meet in La Paz in about a month’ time. Awesome! Or rather: Trez bien!



My route in Peru (so far): Tumbes – Mancora – Lima – Cusco – Ollantaytambo – Machu Picchu – Aguas Calientes – Urubamba – Cusco – Lima - Iquitos - Amazon - Huanchaco - Trujillo - Huaraz - Caraz - Huaraz.

Next stop: Paracas (Peru).

To view my photos, have a look at pictures.beiske.com .

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Comments

[Katrin K]

Wow
Hi Ben, wow - what a trip. You are definitely having a great time overseas. I am enjoying your reports 😊. Enjoy life 😘

[D MJ Binkley]

Andean mountain hiking
You've rediscovered the serenity of hiking the mountains. I'm glad you've avoided the issues in Peru. Hopefully, that won't last long. The trash always breaks my heart. Laguna Paron is amazing Thanks for sharing the photos.