Tej Turner

Travelblog SA#19: Paracas, Huacachina & Nazca – Peru

30th September-4th October 2018

After my week spent exploring ruins in the north I was forced to return to Lima to see a dentist because one of my fillings had fallen out. I initially tried to get it sorted in Huanchaco, but I didn’t do my research and ended up with a dodgy dentist who did a really bad job. The experience was almost a parody and there were several warning signs which should have sent me running. First, I was told to meet him at a dimly-lit street in Huacachina at night – that should have been the first giveaway. He greeted me by getting out of a car, and there was someone else inside of it whose face I never saw and who just sat there throughout the whole procedure – which was rather ominous. The ‘dentist’ escorted me into a house, where a family was currently eating dinner and through to a ‘clinic’ at the back, which was just some dingy room. The equipment looked passable, but a little old. He did wear gloves and apply all the correct cleaning agents, but he kept texting someone on his phone between drilling at my tooth, which wasn’t very hygienic. By the time I realised he was not fit for purpose it was already too late – he had drilled further into my tooth and I needed him to fill it so that the nerves were at least covered till I could get a proper job done. I suspect that the ‘filling’ was done with bad ceramic as it was coarse and he didn’t bother to shape it out properly. It fell out a couple of days later.

I was told by a friend to go to Lima where the dentists are more professional, and I was passing through there any way on my way to the south, so it just meant spending an extra night. The lady recommended to me was very meticulous and did a great job.

So, lesson learned. Always do some research if you need to get dental work done in Peru as some of the smaller, older clinics – especially in the more rural areas – can be a little sketchy.

The following morning I was back on the road again on a bus heading south, to one of the driest deserts in the world. Throughout the next few days, I would be passing through one of Peru’s busiest tourist trails and visiting places mostly frequented by those on a short holiday. I noticed the difference in the atmosphere immediately. There were not as many local restaurants, instead lots of pizzerias and steakhouses. Streets were lined with travel agencies selling tours at laughably inflated prices. The people were different too. The locals were pushier, and the tourists a different demographic. One thing I have noticed in South America is that whenever I go off the beaten track and do something a little adventurous most of my companions are German, French, and other backpackers from the mainland of the European continent. As a Brit, I am a minority. But, as soon as enter the tourist trail, I suddenly find myself swarmed with other Brits (as well as Americans and Aussies). I am not mentioning this in a judgemental way but rather as matter-of-fact, as I do find it interesting that people from different nationalities tend to be more drawn to different places and activities.

My first stop along my route through the desert was Paracas, a seaside town which is a launching point to the nearby Ballestas Islands, known for their birdlife. I was loaded up onto a boat with a dozen or so others and taken to the islands the next morning. As we approached, I was already seeing lots Peruvian boobies soaring through the sky. By the time we actually reached the island, there were so many species it was impossible to register them all. Cormorants, pelicans, Turkey vultures, snowy plovers, and many others, as well as sea lions.

But my attention was mostly drawn to the Humboldt penguins (video here).

It wasn’t just about the wildlife though. There were some interesting rock formations too, and we passed by a mysterious geoglyph whose origins remain unclear to historians.

When the tour was over, I packed my bags and left. There wasn’t really anything else in Paracas which interested me now that I had seen the islands. There were some other lighter attractions, but they were all quite expensive and none of them seemed worth the money nor the time. I felt like I had seen the best of this area and it was time to move on. I got onto a bus heading to Huacachina.

Huacachina is an oasis. I arrived around noon and took some time to wander. The oasis is quite pretty, even if it looks like it is being strangled by the collection of hotels, shops and restaurants competing for space around it.

I wanted to go on a ride in a sand buggy – which seems to be the main activity here – but most of the touts by the side of the water tried to sell me tours heavily-loaded with gringo tax, so I walked away and I climbed one of the nearby sand dunes to admire the view.

On my way down, I happened to get chatting to one of the dune-buggy drivers themselves, and he gave me an offer which was much more reasonable.

The ride through the dunes was thrilling if a little terrifying. The drivers purposefully accelerate across bumpy ridges and plunge down the slopes to make it exciting. They seem to know what they are doing and enjoy their job. I have a video here.

We were also taken sandboarding, of which I have another video.

And then, after another ride through the desert, we were taken to see the sunset.

It was only later on, once I had returned to my hostel, I found out there was a controversy surrounding these trips not too long ago. Apparently, there was an incident where some tourists died and all the dune-buggy rides were halted for a while as the authorities performed an investigation. They have since introduced some regulations to make it safer, but it is something to bear in mind if you are considering taking one of these trips.

I had a good time in Huacachina but, just like Paracas, I found it a little soulless and once I had finished my tour I didn’t feel any need to stay. I moved on the next morning.

In Nazca, I finally found somewhere in this desert I didn’t mind the idea of kicking back and spending some time relaxing as well as sightseeing. Unlike Paracas and Huacachina, it had personality and seemed to have other industries outside of tourism. I wandered around the town that first day and went to the local market to buy some groceries. I was staying at Nanasqa, a new hostel on the outskirts, which had a lovely atmosphere and a great range of tours run by their son, Roy.

They also sort out trips to fly over the Nazca Lines (and unlike most of the other hotels in Nazca they do not rip you off, they give you a reasonable price without any bargaining) which was what I did the next morning.

It is an interesting experience. Not just seeing the lines themselves – of course, seeing one of the world’s greatest enigmas is memorable – but I have never been on a small aircraft before. It was tiny, with only four passenger seats, and it was a rocky journey as the pilot had to pivot to get the best angles for us to see the geoglyphs. I very rarely get motion sickness but even I was glad I had a small breakfast that morning. I have taken a series of videos which can be viewed on these links (The Monkey, The Hummingbird, The Condor and The Spider The Condor and The Spider, and The Tree, The Hands and The Lizard).

Later that afternoon, I and some of the other guests at Nanasqa were loaded up into a van and taken to see some of Nazca’s lesser-known sites.

First up was Chauchilla Cemetary, which is the only place in South America one can glimpse ancient mummies still within their original graves.

People of the Nazca civilisation were buried in the foetal position, facing towards the sunrise and surrounded by many of their possession. Some of the pottery found with them by the archaeologists even contained food. All of these factors suggest that the Nazca people believed in reincarnation. Curiously, most of them have very long dreadlocks. Historians surmise that the only time in their adult life they were permitted to cut their hair was if they got remarried after being widowed.

Much of this site was actually trashed by graverobbers, who took many of the artefacts and left the skeletons behind. Archaeologists have done their best to repair the damage but, even now, the future of this site’s preservation seems questionable as everything is exposed. Let’s hope they come up with a more long-term plan one day. I think this is one of those occasions where more tourism might actually help, as paying visitors give the Peruvian government more incentive to ensure its longevity.

Next, we were taken to Cahuachi which was the former capital of the Nazca civilisation. Excavations have revealed a series of chambers and pyramids, and it is believed that this place was mostly populated by intellectuals, artisans and priests during a time when the distinction between science and religion was blurred, and its people were the masterminds behind the geoglyphs and Nazca’s aqueduct system. Just like the Moche and Chimú peoples (whose relics I visited last week), the Nazca civilisation was at the mercy of the El Niño phenomenon, and it led to their demise.

Roy brought out a bottle of locally-made pisco for us to try and we took a little break to drink some before we moved on to our final attraction; Cantalloc.

Cantalloc is part of Nazca’s aqueduct system, which is the secret as to how they managed to exist in one of the driest deserts in the world. It very rarely rains here but once in a year water flows from the Andes through a series of rivers, and the Nazca people found an ingenious way to stem its flow so that they could use it to irrigate their land all year round. It has – unlike many over vestiges of their civilisation – withstood multiple earthquakes because they discovered a technique of using curved stones and still remains functional today which is very impressive.

To finish off my time in Nazca, I made a visit to the Astronomical Observatory, which had a slightly blurry but informative presentation about the geoglyphs and the many interesting theories as to why they were created. The resident astronomer was very enthusiastic and took us outside to show us some of the constellations. We also got to peer into his telescope when he showed us Mars, Saturn’s rings, and Titan.

For more photos and videos, click on the following links: Paracas, Huacachina and Nazca.

Travelblog SA#18: Chavin de Hauntar, Chan Chan & Huaca de la Luna – Peru

23rd-27th September 2018

It had only been a night since I returned from my trek in the Cordillera Blanca, and already I was on a bus again. This time on a day trip Chavin de Hauntar, home to one of several pre-Inca ruins I would be visiting during the following week.

We stopped at Laguna Querococha along the way, where there just so happened to be a shamanic ceremony going on. People were gathered at the edge of the lake with their arms raised to the sky, while men, sat at the back, played drums. I was curious as to what the occasion was but I also didn’t want to disturb them so I climbed back onto the bus.

The road to Chavin climbed through a landscape of ice-capped mountains, more lakes, tunnels, and we even passed a large statue of Jesus before we arrived at the site around midday.

Chavin was certainly an enigma. I had mixed feelings about the way the tours there operated though. Still yet to gain fluency in Spanish, a tour in English wasn’t an option so I had to make do. There were several other non-Spanish speakers on the tour and, shortly in, some of them walked away to explore the ruins by themselves, which led to an altercation between them and our guide who wished for us to all stay together. I could see both sides of the argument: our guide was responsible for us, and it can be annoying hunting everyone down when people stray too far, and yet if I didn’t know any Spanish I would have found it frustrating being forced to listen to lengthy speeches which made no sense to me.

Luckily I was able to understand about 50% of what she was saying, and I made a Brazilian friend who filled me in on the rest.

Dating from between 1200-5000 BC, Chavin was once the nucleus of a culture which flourished in the Andes for hundreds of years. It was a home to priests, shamans, and rulers, and a place of pilgrimage for farmers and other common people who would flock there for celebrations throughout the year.

The central plaza, thought to have been the main gathering point during festivals, has astronomical correlations relating to constellations in the sky and the rising of the sun at certain times of the year. We were also permitted to wander around the labyrinth of chambers beneath the main temple, which are thought to have been where more exclusive ceremonies were held and where initiates – who had just imbibed San Pedro or Ayahuasca – were sent for religious experiences.

My favourite moment was seeing the Lanzón, a huge stone pillar covered with engravings of a smiling god. It is the most sacred object within the whole complex and still rests today in the very same place down in the tunnels where people can only reach it after queuing and walking in single file. Above it, there is a small opening where archaeologists believe pilgrims dripped blood and libations as offerings. We were not allowed to take photos, but there is a reconstruction of it in the museum.

I am still a bit confused as to why Huaraz is not learning from all the other significant attractions in Peru and offers tours in English. Several buses make the trawl there every day and, on each one, around 25% of the tourists within are people who would be better with English rendition, so the numbers are there to make it both obvious and viable, but for some reason no one from the tourism industry there have figured out the math yet. Until then – and despite this – I still think Chavin is a must-see for those passing through the area.

After finally having a day to rest, I caught an overnight bus to the coast. The city of Trujillo, which was once the epicentre of two consecutive civilisations.

I stayed in a village on the outskirts called Huanchaco. It was once a tiny hamlet populated primarily by fishermen until the gringos and surfers moved in. Now it is also a suburb of Trujillo which still retains a distinctly different energy to the centre and is a pleasant place to stay while exploring the area.

Chan Chan was the first site I visited. Fragments of this ancient city can be found across a vast area and it is thought to be the biggest pre-Colombian city in all of the Americas, but much of it has been either eroded or buried beneath the sand due to the harsh desert winds. The site people walk around when they come to visit ‘Chan Chan’ is the Tschudi complex which has been partially excavated and restored.

There isn’t much information in neither the site itself nor the nearby museum, and the guides are hired on an individual commision basis, making them expensive if you are on a budget and travelling alone, so I had to make do with wandering around and seeing what I could discern for myself until I could find information elsewhere.

It is very clear that the Chimú people who dwelled here were heavily invested in the sea from the nautical theme. The whole place is covered in friezes of waves, fish, and birds, and there is also a reoccurring net-like design dividing the rooms at the back of the ceremonial courtyard.

The ticket for Chan Chan also allows entry to two other smaller sites around Trujillo. Huanca Esmerelda is not much to write home about but Huanca Arco Iris is covered with yet more very interesting friezes of rainbows (believed to be a symbol of fertility) and other strange creatures.

For me though, the highlight of this area was Huaca de la Luna, which I went to visit on my final day. It is actually older than Chan Chan, and a relic of the Moche people.

Although not as stand-out photographic as Chan Chan, Huaca de la Luna is a much more engaging experience to visit. The museum has a wealth of engaging information and visits come with a free tour. Huaca de la Luna is a living archaeological site which is still being excavated to this day, and it is interesting to see the process of all of its layers being discovered as you are guided through the different levels.

For a site which is so old, they do actually know quite a lot about what occurred there. Human sacrifice was practised by the Moche. They existed within a harsh, desert environment and only managed to sustain themselves through fishing and the ingenuity of creating a system of canals to channel water from the Andes, allowing them to irrigate the land for farming, but they were constantly at the mercy of the El Niño phenomenon which occurred around once every twenty years and brought catastrophic disruption to their way of life. It was during these times they most felt the need to appease their gods, and the Moche held festivals where men from high-ranking families would duel each other to decide who would be sacrificed. During the tour, you enter via the back entrance and one of the first things you see are the chambers where these unfortunate – and yet also, to the Moche mentality, honoured – young boys would be taken to imbibe San Pedro and other narcotics before being escorted to the rocks where they would be mutilated. All in vain. El Niño ended up being the downfall of the Moche people, just as it would for their future Chimú descendants who rose shortly after them.

All of the friezes at Huaca de la Luna are original (whereas much of Chan Chan is actually a reconstructed fibreglass representation) and it is interesting to see how the anamorphic features of their principal deity evolved over the years. With each generation, a new level of this temple was constructed, and the interior walls to all the previous levels were repainted, meaning archaeologists can go back in time by peeling back the layers.

It is not till the very end of the tour that you see Huaca de la Luna’s most visually impressive feature; the outer wall, which is pyramid-shaped and covered in even more friezes, some of which have stunning detail. You can only begin to imagine what they would have looked like in their heyday.

Another thing which adds to the allure of this place is the presence of its twin, Huaca del Sol, which is only a stone’s throw away and can be seen from peering over Huaca de la Luna’s walls. It is actually bigger and remains buried beneath the sand, yet to be unearthed. Who knows what they may find there one day.

For more photos from Chavin check out the latter half of my Huaraz album. Photos of Chan Chan and Huaca de la Luna can be found here.

Travelblog SA#17: Hiking the Cordillera Blanca (Santa Cruz Trek) – Peru

20th-22nd September 2018

I didn’t sleep too well the night before leaving. Partly because I knew I had to get up early, and I think I was also excited and a little nervous too. I have done high-altitude treks before (such as Langtang Valley in Nepal and, more recently, the Quilotoa Loop) but during those, there were lodges to stay at.

This was my first time going it alone, carrying everything I needed to survive upon my own back. Still, Santa Cruz is supposed to be quite safe as far as altitude treks go, and it is also quite popular, so I knew I was likely to meet people along the way…

Day 1

By 4am, I gave up on sleep. It was only an hour till I needed to leave anyway, so I showered, checked my backpack one last time to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything behind, and headed for the bus station.

I first had to catch a colectivo to Yungay, and then I transferred onto a minibus. The road to Vaquería – where the trek began – was rocky and narrow. It twisted through the Andes like spaghetti and took over three hours just to reach a distance no more than 40 kilometres away as the crow would fly. The views were incredible but unfortunately, we only made one stop during the whole journey, when a group of climbers departed, destined for something much more adventurous than myself. I took a photo of this view of Orkoncocha and Chinan Cocha Lagunas.

Once the bus pulled up into Vaquería, me and the other gringos got off and began hiking. A German guy called Simon seemed to have a similar pace to myself so the two of us walked together.

Most of that first day was a steady upward climb. We passed through a village and then into a valley. We reached Paria (the campsite most people stay the first night) at around 2pm and decided that, as there was plenty of daylight left, we would go further to give ourselves a head start for the next day.

The trail became steeper. The last hour was gruelling, but eventually we reached a campsite. An unofficial one recommended by previous hikers on the app Maps.me. A Spanish couple was already there, and later on, we were joined by a pair of Canadians.

I was feeling dizzy, so the first thing I did was make myself a big cup of cocoa tea with ginger. It made me feel better, but the altitude was affecting me. I discovered – after speaking to the others – that everyone else who had hiked this far up the mountain the first day had been in this area much longer than me, and some of them had even done other hikes. Two days ago, I had been in Lima (which is at sea level). I had jumped to over four thousand meters.

We ate supper together. They laughed when they saw my sleeping bag (which only had a comfort temperature of 4-8 degrees) and saying I wouldn’t survive the night, but the cold wasn’t a problem. I happen to know that an inflatable mattress – when inserted into a sleeping bag rather than placed beneath it – adds a few degrees of warmth.

No. The cold was the least of my worries that night…

As soon as I got into my tent, I had a splitting headache. I couldn’t sleep because my brain was all fuzzy. I realised I had altitude sickness. Which surprised me as I have broken the rules for acclimatisation much more dramatically in the past and always got away with it. I had a temperature too. I actually panicked for a while, because I took out my thermometer and it gave me a reading which was off the scale, but then I realised it must be broken. Otherwise, I would already be dead.

I took a paracetamol, but it didn’t seem to help. Later, I remembered that the Spanish couple had altitude sickness pills, so I woke them up. That made me feel a little better, but it was the early hours of the morning by then, and I realised I had passed almost the entire night without sleep.

Day 2

By dawn, my headache had gone and I no longer felt short of breath. I had begun to acclimatise. I ate a breakfast of porridge and began to get ready. It rained during the night, so I had to pack away my tent still wet.

Simon and I carried on up the mountain. It was a steep two-hour slog up to Punta Union Pass – the highest point of the entire trail, at 4750 meters. We passed many lagunas on the way.

When we finally reached the top, we took a break and admired the view from both sides. I believed, back then, that most of the hard work was over.

The views were spectacular that day. Towering white summits surrounded us as we made our way down the valley. We saw the iconic Artesonraju, the peak said to be the one used on Paramount Picture’s logo.

We reached Taullipampa campsite at around lunchtime. It was very windy, so putting up our tents was a frustrating process, but they needed to dry.

Being able to leave our things at Taullipampa that afternoon was a blessing, as it meant we could make the side-trek to Laguna Arhuaycocha with a much lighter load. This part of the Santa Cruz circuit turned out to be both a highlight and one of its most difficult challenges…

Skirting around the side of a mountain, we passed through into a grassy plateau. Beyond the trees, in the distance, I saw a steep incline ahead and I began to feel weary. I realised we were going to have to climb it.

The altitude was giving me a hard time again and I kept having waves of dizziness and having to catch my breath. I told Simon to go on ahead. I would catch up. I considered giving up a few times, but I wasn’t going to have come all this way to just turn back.

It was worth it in the end. I reached the official mirador and looked for Simon, to see him waving at me from up a steep ridge he had climbed to appreciate the view from a higher angle. I wasn’t well enough to join him so I rested for a while and watched the lake. Every now and then, I kept hearing loud noises as chunks of ice from the glacier fell into the water. It sounded like thunder.

Simon stayed there a little longer than I did. I decended, hoping the lower airs would clear my head. We reunited by a stream in the plateau and refilled our bottles using my filter before heading back to camp.

After another cup of cocoa and ginger tea, I was feeling much better. I made a dinner of quinoa, sweet potato and peanuts in a spicy sauce, and ate it all. I climbed into my tent and slept very well that night.

Day 3

I had to pack away my tent wet again in the morning. And I couldn’t be bothered to make porridge or tea, so I ate a breakfast of bread and cheese. Simon and I carried on making our way down the valley. Cashapampa – the village at the end of the trek – was just over twenty kilometres away but it was all downhill, so it was possible I would be drinking beer back in Huaraz that evening.

I passed through many different landscapes that day. Deserts. Moors. Forests. Dried up lakes filled with reeds. Even the remains of old villages which had been abandoned. The icy peaks of the Cordillera were replaced by waterfalls cascading down the steep ridges of the valley.

At some point, Simon and I parted ways. He wanted to camp by the river and relax for a day before returning to civilisation, whereas I decided to keep on going. Cashapampa was only a couple of hours away, and the weather had cleared. I wanted to see the rest of this valley while the sun was still shining and it was at its most picturesque.

I reached Cashapampa in the afternoon and bumped into a tour group who had just finished too and were having a celebratory drink outside a hostel. They had space on their minibus heading back to Huaraz and offered me a ride.

For more photos from the Cordillera Blanca, click here.