A Series of Tiring Events + Machu Picchu

So Cusco has been celebrating its anniversary with a massive festival, as I was most unfortunate to find out earlier in the week.  Not only does this mean that I couldn’t meet my friends, but it also proved to be almost impossible to get an interview anytime earlier in the week.  Constantino, the head of ECOAN (a local NGO working to promote conservation among native groups), pointed out in the one interview I could arrange that so many people in Cusco look to find excuses to take a few days off of work (especially among the environmental and native group organizations).  As most of them are salaried workers, it becomes very easy to fall into the trap of working the bare minimum needed.

Fortunately, though, even though I couldn’t get an interview for a few days, I decided to fulfill a life-long dream and visit Machu Picchu.  This proved to be an amazing decision – since I was going on the big day of the festival (Inti Raymi), there were no trains running from Cusco.  The ruins were almost empty, which, everyone has assured me, is a very, very rare experience.  Then to make it even better, I woke up at 4:30 AM, so I could hike up to the ruins before any of the buses and be one of the first visitors in the site (which seems not great, but one hike only allows a couple hundred visitors on it, has amazing views, and thus fills very fast).  Anyway, I can’t tell you how exciting hiking up a mountain in the dark can be, especially if you know what is waiting at the top.  Watching the sun rise over the ruins, being way up in the mountains is a truly unforgettable experience.  It was amazing.  Then, I got to be the first one up WaynuPicchu, the mountain guarding the site, and on which other ruins (somehow) were built.  The views are amazing.  The entire area is laid out before your eyes, and you can truly appreciate the magnitude and the solitude of the Incas’ mountain sanctuary.  It was unbelievable.  Adding to the craziness, I had a guide that came with me the way (not an easy feat. I had started with some Michigan alums, but had continued when they tired of the many, many, many steps.  I’m in better shape than I thought! Woo!).  he was a very untraditional guide; his name was Simon, and he was a dog.

Not just any dog, either. A tiny dog.  The kind you want to punt because its bark is so annoying.  Somehow, this little guy (I have some pictures) climbed these unbelievably steep stairs.  And made it back down.  After admiring the amazing views, I hiked down to the Great Cave and the Temple of the Moon.  These are very cool sites, but they don’t tell you in the brochures that they’re not just at the bottom of WaynuPicchu, they’re at the bottom of the entire mountain.  So by the end of the day, I had hiked up and down and up and down Machu Picchu so many times, I could barely stand.  But, it was completely worth it.  You could spend days and days in that area – it’s magical.  Not to mention the Sacred Valley, whose virtues I’ve already commented on, but which again amazed me with its beauty on the ride back from Machu Picchu.  This truly is one of the most beautiful parts of the world.  My only wish is that everyone at home could have been there to share it with me (I instead shared both train rides and a hostel with some friendly Frenchmen. not quite the same, though).

But that’s not the Series of Tiring Events, if you could believe it.  That was today, when I got to pack in all of the interviews that I had missed while I was at Machu Picchu (and everyone else was partying).  In total, five interviews today, which is more than I can recommend for anyone.  By the end, I was tired, late (every interview is so interesting that it runs long), hungry, and not making any sense at all.  But I am now fairly knowledgeable about Manu National Park, my main focus in Peru.  Throughout the day, I talked to the Director of the Park itself, a former administrator, an NGO working with the local communities, the indigenous community that lives in the Park itself, and one of the best tourist companies in the Park (which is currently suing the Park and an American Oil Company).  All in all, a long, tiring learning experience.

One of the most striking things I now know is the amazing diversity of Manu National Park.  For one, it’s the most biodiverse protected area on the Planet.  On the other hand, every single person who is involved has a different view of what is going on inside the Park, and what should be going on inside the Park.  I think this is one of the common threads that I am going to find everywhere I go.  Communication is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in Park Management – especially when you have such different organizations (Parks, native groups, research NGOs, oil companies), and the truly successful Parks are going to be the ones that have an effective and organized system of cooperation and communication.

I want to keep this post short, but I will leave you with one more thought about my project. I know I’ve promised to give some more specific findings concerning Peru and its Parks, and I will!  I promise.  But, not yet.

Anyway, a lot of people have asked me if this is my thesis, and unfortunately, it’s not, nor has it ever been, mainly because I didn’t think it had anything to do with philosophy (my major).  But the more I talk to people, the more perspectives I get, it has becomes a very philosophical problem. As Rob Williams (head of Frankfurt Zoological Society, an NGO working in Peru and elsewhere), it comes down to a philosophical question of who has a right to own the Park?  Even more pertinent is the question of what a National Park actually is, what it should be, and how our perceptions of the answers to the questions affect every aspect of management.  I had initially thought of this as a purely political comparison, but the more I think about it, the deeper an issue it becomes.  Ever since the Yellowstone Act in the 1860s, the idea of a National Park has been a seeming contradiction, and I think a philosophical consideration of what a National Park is, rather than what it does, will shed some light on what the future of America’s greatest export (the National Park idea) will be.

PS – that quote about America’s greatest export being National Parks is not mine.  It’s from a former Park Service Director (George Hartzog, I believe).

Sam

Playing Where’s Waldo? in Cusco, Pisac and the Incas

As far as cities go, Cusco is amazing – the diversity of culture is unbelievable.  Right now, the festival of Cusco (which somehow incorporates the Christian holiday Corpus Cristi AND Inti Raymi, an Incan holiday) is going on.  Every day I have been in Cusco, there has been a parade – and not just any parade, ones that last all day and feature innumerable groups of students or children dressed in a completely unique style and dancing a completely unique dance to completely unique music.  I honestly would be surprised if there was a child left in Cusco who had not participated in the festivities.  Cusco has also taught me an important lesson in logistics that I hope will stick with me the rest of the trip.

Let me explain.  My first day in Lima, I shared a cab with a nice American couple.  Much to my surprise, on Saturday, I was sitting and watching the festival when I ran into the same couple (don’t ask how you can run while sitting.  It’s a mystery).  We ended up getting lunch together, where I found out that they were both from Chicago, went to UofC, and she had rowed while in college!  Small world.  I had to run (this time standing) to an interview, but we both thought it a good idea to meet again later that night for dinner or drinks.  In my infinite wisdom, I said let’s meet at the Plaza d’Armas (the town square) – it’s the perfect location, easy to get too… I thought I was being pretty smart.

And if it were any other week, I would have been right.  But little did I know that on this specific Saturday, the Plaza was hosting a massive concert and fireworks show.  Needless to say, I didn’t find them amidst the 10,000 Cusco enthusiasts filling the Plaza.  It was a nice fireworks show, though.

Yesterday, I went hiking in the Incan ruin at Pisac in the Sacred Valley.  This Valley is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places in the world.  Hiking up to the ruins, which conveniently (for the Incas, but not me) are located high on the side of a mountain ridge, took me up and away from the hustle and bustle that pervades all of the towns in the area.  Once you’re away from the hawkers and taxis, you finally realize just why this valley was sacred for the Incas.  You also realize just how high you are (almost 12,000 feet).  I consider myself in good shape, but I struggled.  A lot.

The hike humbled me.  And it made me realize how arrogant we sometime are towards nature, how much we take it for granted.  Being forced to stop every couple hundred meters made me realize how powerful nature is and just how much respect it deserves.  I don’t understand how someone could hike that and still believe they’re superior to nature.  It gives me hope that National Parks can be a force in changing this cultural perception that we somehow have a right to own nature, that it is something to be conquered.  Hopefully (but also doubtfully) everyone that visits Pisac and places like it comes away with a new-found respect for the natural world.  There is something to be said for being inspired by nature.

Another humbling part of the hike was seeing the Incan ruins themselves.  When you’re high on the cliff, you can see the full extent of the Inca’s handiwork.  Somehow, they managed to build these immaculate structures of perfectly carved stone in places completely inaccessible to almost anyone or anything.  What’s more, their terraces show just how much they shaped the natural world around them – transforming the land to their use.  The massive scale of these projects belies the Inca’s mastery of the environment around them.  But the antiquity that overwhelms you on the mountain (an antiquity born deep in the solitude of these mountains sanctuaries) shows you just how tenuous our hold over nature is.

One last thought, possibly the most important.  It’s another analogy.  Writing this post, and remembering my time at Pisac, I remembered one of my favorite science fiction stories – “Dark They Were, And Golden Eyed” by Ray Bradbury.  I won’t ruin it, but I highly recommend it to everyone.

Sam

Day 1 – Lima: Rebellions, Taxis, and Shoes

Hello again, everyone!

If you have been following the news lately, you have most likely heard about the clashes between the indigenous people and the police in Northern Peru.  Before you ask, I’m not going there, so you don’t have to worry about me.  But what a wonderful (and very sad) introduction to my project.  The conflict centers around land title claims in the Amazon.  This land has been relatively spare byd the destruction of abuse that seems to follow industries (especially oil and gas), but this could change very quickly.  Regardless, this conflict is servign as a great backdrop for my stop here in Peru.

Today, first thing on the first morning of my trip, I had a meeting with Gabriel Quijandria, the Peruvian representative for the Nature Conservancy.  For those of you that don’t know, the Nature Conservancy is one of the largest environmental NGOs on the planet – they work all over the world, and a large part of their work is strengthening and helping create National Parks and other protected areas.

Before I could meet Gabriel and learn about all of the wonderful things the Nature Conservancy (TNC) was doing, I had to get there.  Lima is a maze of streets that seems impossible to navigate, especially considering the unending stream of traffic in all directions.  After a 30 minute ride to go what turned out to be only 15 blocks, my taxi driver yelled at me.  For three minutes.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, this isn’t the best way to start a trip that is supposed to “through friendship, leave the world a better place”.  But I can explain.  My vast experience with Lima (and guide books) has taught me to set a fare in advance.  Especially because 90% of the taxis lack meters or any official marking.  Anyway, having done so, I expect to pay our agreed fare of cinco sol.  Much to my surprise, my driver repeatedly asked for more.  When I handed a five sol coin (and only a five sol coin), he went off into a very fast and very angry tirade.  My broken spanish skills picked up “if I came to your country” and “you are a criminal” before he sped off in a huff.  Proud of myself for standing up to a 60 year old man, but still somewhat shellshocked by the verbal beating, I’d received, I went to my meeting knowing that this was going to be a very interesting trip…

The meeting went well, and I will include my thoughts from it in a later post.  Afterward, I wanted to go for a walk.  It turned out to be a very long walk.  I spent the rest of the morning and the entire afternoon (a total of 6 hours) exploring Lima by foot.  When I finally stopped, on top of the cliffs in Miraflores, I had an epiphany about shoes.  After five hours, my feet were tired.  This being the first time I’ve worn my shoes (ever), I was amazed.  You don’t know how important good shoes are until you’ve run 3 miles away from your house only to be forced to walk home because of fist sized blisters on the bottoms of your feet.

Regardless, I realized that buying shoes is a lot like environmental protection.  Now, please.  Forgive the comparison.  My friends claim I am horrible at them, but I think they’re as crazy as a bicyclist in Lima (ha, see?).  So, onward.  Some people don’t buy shoes.  They ignore that there’s anything dangerous that could hurt their feet.  This is a bad idea.  Ignorance is bliss until you step on one of the many nails, glass shards, or other debris that litters Lima’s streets.  These people can ignore all they want that they don’t need shoes, but it’s obvious to everyone that their feet are bloodied and broken.  Too many people today ignore the fact that the environment needs immediate protection.  They stand there as forests are cut down, biodiversity dwindles, and climate change devastates people around the world.

Now, some people buy boots. As far as shoes go, you can’t get more protection than boots.  Unfortunately, everyone knows that boots have to be broken in, and that just sucks.  Basically, you are banking on your feet being strong enough to fight the pain long enough to break the boots in.  Yes, once you do, they’re lovely, but until then, it’s agony for your feet.  Today, a lot of people are saying “Develop! Develop! Develop…then the environment”.  They are praying that nature can survive this ‘breaking in’ – an idea that a precursor to an environmental ethic is a rich, developed nation.

Some people buy crocs.  These people should be ignored at all costs.

And some people buy expensive therapeutic shoes that claim to fix your foot problems.  They are supposed to work- they claim to work.  But many times, they’re a fraud.  They’re a fancy name put on a shoe to make someone think that positive steps are being taken to fix things, even if no such steps exist.  Today, too many people create “paper parks” (not my term) which look wonderful on paper, but don’t actually do anything.  Some don’t even have a staff.

There are so many shoes out there that I have no idea what combination of the above works the best (bare right foot, booted left foot? fuzzy croc boots? sandals?).  To be honest, I don’t think anyone knows.  And similarly, I don’t think anyone knows what’s the best way to conserve nature.  Granted, like feet, no two pieces of nature are identical, so there is going to be variation in the approaches and solutions for each country.  Over the next three months, I hope I can at least figure out the right size.  Thanks for listening.

Sam