Modern and Ancient Marvels

This adventure was planned to incorporate one of the most amazing technological achievements of the 20^th century, the Panama Canal along with a visit to one of the best known cities of the ancient world, Machu Picchu in the high Andes of Peru.  Because both of these activities are popular and capacity controlled, we finalized the planning and tickets at least a full year in advance.  Given the complexity of dealing with Peru Rail and the associated agencies that grant access to Machu Picchu it pays to start early or to use a REPUTABLE agency.  Many tourists were finding out the hard way that the tickets sold to them by agencies were false and would not grant admission to the site.  Indeed, only tickets told by the Peruvian government are valid and you cannot purchase them in advance through any on-line means.  So, yes, there is a risk that you will manage all the way to Aquas Calientes, the small town where tickets are sold and busses taken for Machu Picchu only to find that all the tickets for the day are sold and your only choice is to stay and wait for the morrow or bail completely!  The problems we would eventually encounter might have started in Aquas Calientes but they were of a completely different type from the normal!

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Caribbean Crossing

Our journey commenced with an uneventful flight with Delta from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale.  You can easily count on NOT being the only cruise passenger in the airport in Lauderdale, so we had a bit of a wait for a cab big enough to carry us and our luggage, an embarrassing amount for two guys, but we were traveling for 14+ days and in environments ranging from tropical sea level to 12,000+ foot high mountains.  And the formal wear for formal nights on the cruise occupies one entire suitcase of its own!

Embarkation from the Fort Lauderdale pier was a bit rough, at least according to the cruise line who had apparently hoped for something more streamlined than what they managed to pull off.  Granted, there was a great deal of herding into sheet metal buildings, standing at first, then finally sitting, then more lines, and then finally boarding, but in my experience getting aboard and ashore are the two most trying components of the cruise process.  To my surprise, cabins were ready on boarding.  Typically there is a period of waiting in the public areas but instead we took naps to compensate for little sleep pre-cruise.

The first day we treated as a day at sea even though we were technically in port.  We stopped at Half Moon Key, an island near Cat Island leased, or owned, by Holland America on which they have built some facilities.  But the activities there didn’t interest us and we have been ashore there before anyhow, so we lounged about and then raised a glass to Cuba as we passed late in the evening.

Viva Columbia

The first port in which we had interest was Santa Marta, Columbia.  Santa Marta is one of a string of Caribbean resort cities in Columbia and as such has a reasonable beach and tourist vendors.  The city also boasts a colonial cathedral and a gold museum.  This was our first foray into Columbia so the stop was valuable for that if nothing else.  Honestly, it was hot and humid, and as seems true of so much of Latin America, the sewers don’t seem up to the task and the air was slightly redolent of feces.  This problem is exacerbated by the inability of most Latin American sewers to handle toilet paper, which is left, soiled, in open wastebaskets in every bathroom.  That coupled with tropical heat and humidity left me desperately hoping that a toilet would not be something I would want.  Despite these drawbacks, we did take a brief look at the cathedral and the city shops off the main tourist drags.  There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable which was unfortunate because I had heard that Columbia has some fantastic sights to see.  Granted, the coastal mountains were heavily green with a curious mix of trees and cacti, and from a distance the views were lovely.  Columbia isn’t the madhouse it was the in the 1980s and 90s (mostly due to our disastrous drug interdiction policies) and I wouldn’t rule out a visit to some of the other locations of interest (Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and/or Cartegena) but at least for now we can legimately claim to have landed in Columbia, further increasing out rather impressive count of Latin American nations visited.

Sad San Blas Islands

Our next stop was in the San Blas Islands of Panama.  In theory, these very small and low-lying islands are the home of tribes of indigenous peoples little changed by modern times and contact with the modern world.  OK, little changed except for satellite dishes on their huts and a great appreciated for the cash thrown overboard by tourists on cruise ships.  Once we anchored, out came the dugout canoes with children and adults who would demonstrate their diving prowess to recover cash thrown overboard from balconies.  Frankly, I found the spectacle disturbing and we chose to not take a boat out to the islands themselves, which reportedly had little to see aside from some folks who were dressed up for tourists in “native” costumes who would pose for photos for a small fee.  Thanks, but no.

Clever Costa Rica

Unfortunately for the rest of Latin America, Costa Rica is the odd man out in a number of ways.  Most importantly, they abolished the military some decades ago and have instead diverted the entire former military budget into education spending.  No military means that there cannot be military coups and takeovers, a common feature of life in most of Latin America.  Costa Rica doesn’t feel threatened by their neighbors and when disputes do arise, as has happened recently over some islands that are rumored to have oil, Costa Rica takes its case to the international governance bodies such as the World Court or the United Nations instead of launching offensives.  Costa Rica also has enjoyed universal health care since the 1950s and the result of excellent free education, health care, and no military is a uniquely joyous and comfortable society.  Costa Rica earns lots of foreign exchange through banana and other agricultural cultivation, and in fact, the port we docked at was built for Dole to export such commodities.  But despite being heavily agricultural, Costa Rica also has one of the most well preserved tropical eco-systems in the Western hemisphere, so it is also an excellent destination for eco-tourism and wildlife viewing ranging from inland rain forests to excellent tropical beaches.  The country simply feels and smells cleaner than Columbia and that shouldn’t surprise given the amount of peace that Costa Rica has enjoyed compared to the military induced chaos of so much of Latin America, especially Columbia.

We enjoyed a river cruise replete with herons and other waterbirds along with iguanas, sloths and monkeys all in their native habitat, going about their business healthily ignoring the tourists in the small boats or on the old banana plantation trains.

A visit to a banana plantation was included although since it was Sunday nothing was a foot in terms of work.  What I found most interesting and telling was that young bananas are bagged in big plastic bags to prevent insect damage or other cosmetic defects since it is well known that overly picky and probably ignorant American shoppers will not buy or eat a fruit that is less than cosmetically perfect, regardless of their being not adverse effect on taste.  Less than beautiful fruit is rejected and turned into processed banana products, especially baby foods.

As nice as Costa Rica is, there is still evident poverty and a squatter culture that is legally allowed and readily visible along the train tracks.  These folks, and most of the workers in the low pay level but physically demanding banana work are not Costa Ricans at all.  Instead, they are migrants and immigrants from neighboring Nicaragua which has none of the benefits of Costa Rican society (education, health care, no military) and instead is replete with the common ills of poverty, no education or health care, and a history of violent military conflicts well into the 1980s and 90s.  Young Costa Ricans use their educational options to become lawyers, doctors, and nurses, not field laborers, leaving a labor gap that those less fortunate are eager to fill.  In that way, Costa Rica is similar to the United States but unlike us, they have an enlightened immigration policy that recognizes the need for agricultural and other forms of labor.

Costa Rica is just the sort of place that I could imagine visiting again to learn more about it and to enjoy its charms for a longer stretch of time.  The day I had, as nice as it was, simply left me wanting more.

The Incredible Panama Canal

When we entered the Canal itself, it was a very foggy morning and it was hard to see a great deal.  However, as you don’t go very far very fast, the fog cleared enough for us to still see the Miraflores locks on the Caribbean side.  I was impressed by the locks ability to use the power of water to raise incredibly large “Pana-Max” ships, those built to utilize the absolute maximum capacity of the technology.  You don’t really notice motion but clearly motion there is.  The locomotive-like “mules” on each side would once have actually been mules and their purpose to is to hold a ship steady in the channel, not to tug or haul it.

The transit takes the better part of a full day, most of it spent in the massive Gatun Lake, the source for all the water used to make the locks work.  This water has to be replenished daily by rainfall or the canal would literally dry up!  Fortunately, Panama is very tropical and very wet, so that problem seems unlikely.  The tropical scenery through the lake is worthwhile itself.  The end of the trip takes you out of Pedro Miquel locks into the Pacific Ocean from which you may continue onwards or dock for Panama City.

Panama City

Panama City apparently boasts incredible nightlife, but we didn’t choose to partake.  Panama City also doesn’t have the best of reputations and we sort of didn’t want to risk it for a night out, which is something we don’t normally choose anyhow.  In the day light, it was completely rained out and the ship was docked in a very industrial holding area requiring the use of the lifeboats to get to a pier from which one could further proceed into town.  The pier was enough for us to lay claim to having landed on Panamanian soil.

On To Peru

We would now enjoy two days at sea on the way to Salaverry, the port for the city of Trujillo, Peru.  Once there, we embarked on tours of remains of the Moche culture, which significantly pre-dated the Incan civilization with which most people are far more familiar.  The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state. Rather, they were likely a group of autonomous polities that shared a common elite culture, as seen in the rich iconography and monumental architecture that survive today. They are particularly noted for their elaborately painted ceramics, gold work, monumental constructions (huacas) and irrigation systems.  Moche society was agriculturally based, with a significant level of investment in the construction of a network of irrigation canals for the diversion of river water to supply their crops. Their culture was sophisticated; and their artifacts express their lives, with detailed scenes of hunting, fishing, fighting, sacrifice, sexual encounters and elaborate ceremonies.

We also visited the historically later site known as Chan Chan.  The largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the Peruvian region of La Libertad, five km west of Trujillo.  Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a dense urban center of about 6 km².  Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor (the kingdom of the Chimú), a late intermediate period civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization. The vast adobe city of Chan Chan was built by the Chimu around AD 850 and lasted until its conquest by the Inca Empire in AD 1470. It was the imperial capital of the Chimor until it was conquered in the 15th century. It is estimated that around 30,000 people lived in the city of Chan Chan.

Chan Chan was added as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The city is severely threatened by storms from El Niño, which cause heavy rains and flooding on the Peruvian coast. It is in a fertile, well-watered section of the coastal plain where sugar cane is currently grown, a strange site since most of the visible area is highly desertified.  The city’s ruins are additionally threatened by earthquakes and looters. Present-day visitors to Chan Chan can enter the Tschudi Complex, believed to be one of the later citadels built in the city.

The sites were reasonably interesting, but unfortunately for us, our language skills just don’t encompass archeology and the guides were short on English language skills in their own right.  However, the sheer size and age of the sites cannot fail to be impressive.

Lima

The city of Lima just can’t earn high marks as even the most popular tourist areas are considered unsafe, and that is in the day light.  Peru has some serious poverty and unrest and this is focused in Lima.  Fortunately for us, our only plan in Lima was to transit to the airport hotel where we would spend one night but would also leave our luggage since we wouldn’t need it in Cuzco and additionally because Latin American airlines heavily frown on what they consider excess baggage, which ours clearly would have been.

The Lima airport has been recently rebuilt and yet it is still crowded and potentially chaotic given the amount of passengers it serves.  With both LAN Peru and TACA running hub operations from here, there are lots of flights to just about everywhere in Latin America making it a great choice for transit passengers since fares to Lima are generally much lower than to Santiago, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, or Rio de Janiero, the other reasonable hubs in South America.  But going to the airport is a family affair in Peru and I counted one passenger with no less than 11 family members to see her off, including infants in strollers.  The crush is so severe because of this, that only ticketed passengers can enter even the ticketing area.  I think this must be a phenomenon where many passengers are new to travel.

The flight up to Cuzco was short, bumpy, but short and landing in an Andean valley is something one won’t quickly forget as the mountains come up quickly!

Cuzco

Cuzco is a popular tourist spot, with some 2 million visitors yearly and it is noticeably more spruced up than most any other city in Peru, especially more so than Lima.  The Plaza da Armas, the main square with the cathedral is especially popular and attractive despite the crush of tourists and services designed for them.  We had the luxury of staying at the Hotel Monestario which is housed in a former monastery and I have to say that the monks had it pretty nice!  The hotel is easily one of the nicest I have ever had the privilege of staying in and at $450 a night it really should have been.  Raffles in Singapore probably beats it, but the atmosphere is completely different so it just doesn’t compare.  We were most attracted to the oxygen enriched rooms since there is precious little air at 12,000 feet, but even with this enrichment Tim still found breathing difficult, which in retrospect was our first clue.

Machu Picchu

The route to Machu Picchu doesn’t really start in Cuzco, but it is the most accessible place to stay before starting to the city itself.  The train leaves from a station nearby to Cuzco, no more than 10 scary miles away and the trains vary in luxury from the classic Hiram Bingham experience that rivals the Orient Express of old, down through the Vistadome, which we took, to even more local trains.  Your goal by train is Aquas Calientes, a journey of some 3-4 hours through switchbacking tracks in the high Andes Mountains.  This is where you buy your ticket to enter Machu Picchu, not available in advance by the way, and with capacity control you take your chances.  If your luck is out, there are lots of places to stay in town, along with lots of restaurants and a giant souvenir market to boot.

In Aquas Calientes you board a bus for an unforgettable ride up a very switchbacked road to the entrance to Machu Picchu itself.

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 7,970 ft above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 50 miles northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas”, it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World.

The Incas started building the “estate” around AD 1400, but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of what the structures originally looked like. By 1976, thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored and the restoration work continues to this day.

Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its three primary structures are the Intihuatana (Hitching post of the Sun), the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu.

Highly detailed information about Machu Picchu is available from many sources more scholarly than mine but I can say that the site is as beautiful as the pictures lead you to believe and the achievement of the builders in stone with no mortar and only primitive tools is truly astounding.

Return to Home

The flights back to Lima and finally Atlanta were completely uneventful except for the fact that Tim continued to feel short of breath even once we were home and clearly no longer at altitude.  Because of this continued problem, during my routine visit he asked my Nurse Practitioner to listen to his chest, which he did and at once sent him for X-rays which revealed an 85% pnemothorax (aka collapsed lung).  We were then off to the Emergency Room where a chest tube was placed, suction applied, plus admission for 4 days to reinflate the lung which it appeared to do and so home we went.  But Tim continued to be short of breath so we went back to the ER on my birthday to find out that the lung was collapsed again.  Now we repeated the previousl processes but we were allowed to go home with the chest tube so we could celebrate Christmas with instructions to return for surgery on December 28.  During surgery two large “blebs,” weak areas of the lung, plus one smaller area were removed and entire chest cavity was heavily abraded to cause inflammation and adhesion.  Now 6 more days were required in the hospital since a new pneumothorax formed on day 3.

Fortunately for us, he has passed his two week follow-up and has been declared probably cured and free to return to normal life.  We have been lucky to never have health complications associated with our travels in the past and this experience won’t stop us from continuing to explore.  The blebs were probably pre-existing and the altitude simply aggravated an existing situation, but with them removed Tim is free to travel to most elevations once again and only time will tell where we end up next!