CHAPTER 2: Peru-Bolivia
South America 1979-80
25 November 1979
Chan Chan
25 November 1979
Huacas del Sol y de la Luna
30 November 1979
Chavín
30 November 1979
Yungay
30 November 1979
Llanganuco Lakes
2-5 December 1979
Lima
3 December 1979
Galera
7 December 1979
Nazca Lines
12-22 December 1979
Cusco
15 December 1979
Machu Picchu
24 December 1979
Sillustani
25 December 1979
Lake Titicaca
26 December 1979
Tiwanaku
27 December 1979
La Paz
2 January 1980
Sajama National Park
During the night someone stole our two shovels, a tarpaulin and all the washing that was hanging on lines between the tents, except my swimming-costume. (I was almost offended about that, but understand their point, in view of the garment's condition). The result was that we only lost one medium-sized towel. Some lost jeans, all their underwear etc.!
There is real (Sahara-like) desert for hundreds of km south of the border (never thought of an Andean country having desert - apparently all the fault of the cold Humboldt current from Antarctica which means almost no rain falls).
At Trujillo we saw Chan-Chan, a wealthy pre-Inca city made of adobe (!) and still partly standing after 7+ centuries (conquered by Incas). The worst thing that happened to it was when it rained heavily in 1925! Even the 1970 earthquakes did hardly any damage. Nearby are two pyramids (of the Sun and the Moon) which are the largest pre-Columbian edifices in S. America. Beautiful in their isolation.
Then off the main road along execrable but spectacular roads by the Rio Santa up into a national park. Camped at 3,860 m beside the second-highest mountain in the W. Hemisphere and climbed (on foot) up to the pass (at over 4,800 m) which leads into the Amazon basin. It is interesting that the range that forms the watershed between the Pacific and Atlantic can actually be seen from the Pacific on a clear day (they say), while it is thousands of km from the other coast.
Yesterday we came over more passes flanked by precipitous drops to visit ChavÍn, a temple built 2500 BC with amusing gargoyle-faces and dark passageways. Well worthwhile doing 3 hours each way from the main road.
The Indians are very poor hereabouts. Children even ran up and down between many hairpin bends to beg money and bread of us.
In the town today, F and I tried drinking chicha made by the original method. This was the drink the Incas had their women make by chewing maize. The fermented and sweetened juice is chicha! Not a v. interesting taste. Also risked hepatitis by eating in an Indian "restaurant" in the market. Much more interesting and picturesque than EO fare.
Lima, 5/12/79
We have now been here three nights and leave after lunch for Nazca (where there are all those big designs in the desert - we hope to see them from the air - joyflights cost c. $25), then on to Cusco. Looks as though we won't have trouble getting into Bolivia. We have just met our African driver coming the other way with a group. They passed through Bolivia in the middle of the trouble.
Have received a letter from you and one from MA.
Lima museums are interesting (gold, pre-Columbian civilizations etc.), also some of the colonial Spanish architecture (the city was founded in 1535 by Pizarro whose bones are in the cathedral - it was the admin. capital of the Spanish New World and seat of the Inquisition - we saw the tribunal and dungeons yesterday with representations of various tortures. Lima now has c. 3.5 M inhabitants and is rather grotty and dangerous).
On Monday some of us went by train to La Oroya on a line once owned by the Brits, across the Andes and passing through the highest railway station in the world on a standard-gauge railway (Galera, 4781 m). There was even a doctor-like figure in a white coat with a big bag of oxygen which he puffed in suffering passengers' faces. Came back to Lima in a group taxi (colectivo): 172 km for about $4 each.
Lan Chile now say there are no flights E.I.-Tahiti till 6/3/80, so we have requested Santiago-Fiji direct. Crazy.
Ate in the most luxurious restaurant in town last night (in our pub gear) for about $12/head. Food quite good. Service excellent.
Santiago, 9-1-80
Have received your letters of 2/12 and 17/12. We are actually running about 5 days behind schedule because of mechanical and other trouble. At Cusco we had to wait a few days for a new cylinder-head to be airfreighted from the U.K. The old one was cracked and the turbo motor our truck has is unknown here. It hasn't stoppped the beast from overheating, though, and the installation of a new bigger radiator hasn't helped either. It's just as well our driver was a mechanic before joining EO.
From Cusco (or Cuzco) we went up through the Inca heartland (the Altiplano, or high plateau, that stretches from Peru into Bolivia at around 4000 m), dotted with llamas, vicuñas and alpacas.
Near Puno on Lake Titicaca we saw pre-Inca burial towers with perfectly fitted masonry - obviously the Incas learned their art - and took a small motor boat out onto the lake to see how the Uru Indians live on their "floating islands" - actually reeds trampled down to form a platform. In one place my feet actually went through into the water and I nearly lost my clogs. Their boats, too, are made of reeds lashed together (aethetically delightful design that inspired Heyerdahl's Ra), their houses are made of reeds (v. pretty), they eat part of reeds etc. We tried this (quite good, like celery) and also took a turn in a reed-boat round an island (punting).
We actually spent Xmas in Peru, to the great chagrin of those of our number who wanted to celebrate in a big city, and esp. the poor Swiss girls who have never been away from home for Xmas before (one even rang Switzerland!) I can't remember the last time I was "at home" for Xmas but suppose it was in 1972 (or 1974?).
We crossed into Bolivia in a godforsaken pit of a place where everybody was welcome except the 2 Australians: wanted to send us back to Puno for a visa, even though we had checked in Bogotà and Lima with the Bolivian embassies that it wasn't necessary. J's fast-talking and wheedling (in Hispano-Italian) finally won the day, however, and they gave us temporary permits.
From there we proceeded to Tiahuanaco, a pre-Inca archaeological complex which is the pride of Bolivia. It was discovered (in ruins) by the Incas in the C12! Again, it is easy to see where the tradition of mortar-less, close-fitting masonry developed.
La Paz is an odd city built by the Spaniards in a hollow of the Altiplano to escape the cold winds. The vasy majority of inhabitants is Indian - v. picturesque - who live in the higher (!) suburbs on the hillside (well over 4000 m), while the well-to-do live down in the valley (just the opposite of most cities) where there is more air! F went on her usual artisanry buying spree - the last of the cheap buying-places.
Being late now, we didn't wait for New Year (again contested). Two Swiss fellows parted company with us in dissatisfaction with the way the tour was being run (and got no refund), to find their own way to Rio.
To make up time, we decided to take a new "international" route to Arica on the Chilean coast, across the Andes south of La Paz. The alternative was to return through Peru. (You no doubt know the story of Bolivia's lost land "corridor".) Said to be a good road and apparently was until a week before. With the onset of the rainy season, however, it became a morass of glue-like mud and dangerous fords. After getting the trailer stuck in the mud overnight in one spot, we found two heavy trucks next morning which had been bogged for 2-3 days coming in the other direction. After 3 hours of hard labour and some anxious moments, we managed to squeeze past them, only to find a flooded ford where trucks had been waiting for 3 nights. So we spent New Year's Eve under torrential rain at a river crossing in the middle of Nowhere, Bolivia.
The reaction of the would-be revellers can be imagined. By about midday next day (after a 36-hour delay) we were able to wade across, stirring up the loose sand on the bottom as recommended by the locals. Nevertheless, when the truck tried to cross it got stuck in the middle and seemed in danger of sinking and tipping over. Only a steel cable and the help of 2 other trucks on the bank saved us from disaster.