Over the Mountains and Through the Jungle...

Claes: Sunday morning. We enter the van and begin the six hour trip east to Bagua. About a half hour outside of Chiclayo we make our first stop, to look at ancient Inca Pyramids.

Jon: This image of the 'pyramid' doesn't really do it justice, since it is more or less 'melted' mud construction, now nearly a millennia old. The area is strewn with trash, and sitting rather ingloriously in the tough little town of Tucume, on the flatlands leading up to the Andes crossing. Still, if you stand quietly for a few seconds, and ignore the trash, the nearby traffic, and the incessant dust, you can imagine Incas walking these streets in one of the busiest and most important provinces of the pre-Pizarro Inca empire.

The trip over the Andes is breath taking. Along the twisting highway there are tiny adobe houses clinging to the hillsides, seemingly perched in mid-air, with thousand-foot drops steps away from the front door. The highway rises and rises, and rises some more - to the point where it seems like either the mountains continue to grow, or you are hallucinating.

Then, the cloud-whipped peaks cool off dramatically, with little spits of rain, and an occasional clap of thunder.

One small tragedy of this part of the trip was that my little Samsung digital camera (which I bought in Malaysia last year), with which I was capturing this spectacular view, was either lost or stolen shortly after arriving in Bagua. I got a lot of this imagery on my back-up flip camera, and on digital video, but that will have to wait until I can do some more editing.

Claes: Up in the Andes, I believe the highest peak was at about 2,500 meters. Just before reaching the peak we stop at a small restaurant for a quick meal. I was craving coffee. And since Peru grows coffee and some people we met claimed that the Peruvian coffee was THE BEST, I was typically disappointed to find that most restaurants only served freeze-dried instant coffee from a jar they put forward on the table.

Claes: It's a beautiful trip up and down the mountain. It's getting rather hot and humid. In the early evening, we finally reach Bagua. And all of a sudden our local producer Jacob shows up on a motorcycle just next to our van. He has made arrangements for us to stay at a local hotel. WiFi or any kind of Internet connection is no option. The rooms are simple, which is fine. But... I think it was when I saw the "electric" shower head in the bathroom that had some interesting green things coming out of it that I got a little concerned. The photo is from my hotel window (trust me, you don't want to see the interior)

Day 7

Claes: Saturday morning and we're meeting with Rocio Valdeavellano and Jose Ricapa from MOCICC, Movimiento Ciudando frente al Cambio Climatico a citizens' movement against climate change. Since we're leaving in the afternoon, they kindly offered to come see us at our hotel.

Claes: Mid-afternoon and we're heading back to the airport. This time to fly for about an hour to Chiclayo a near-coastal city further up north. Looking out the airplane window, it's a barren and dry landscape, with many water canals. Chiclayo is a fairly large city and as soon as we have out suitcaes, we are swiftly taken through the city streets by a very talkative guy - the first of mahy who is offering to take us places. We're checking in at our hotel, which seems to be run by very young folks all around. And the negotiations begin: We were hoping to get a collectivo taxi to Bagua. But before the evening is over, a cousin to a friend to a brother are involved. We end up with a big van, with plenty of room, but very nice.

Claes: In the evening in Chiclayo, we take a small taxi cab to La Fiesta - yes, the same restaurant as in Lima. Could be the fiesta, or that it's rather early in the evening, but the restaurant is empty. We get terrific service and great food. And as the photograph shows, we empty the plates.

Day 6

Claes: Friday. We had a chance to sleep in a little bit this morning. Since Father Marco Arana could not meet with us yesterday we have scheduled a meeting with him at a restaurant in Miraflores later today. Father Marco lives in Cajamarca and has been an human rights advocate there for many years, sometimes called El Diablo, because he has been very outspoken and vocal when it comes to human rights and the protests against foreing-owned investments in mining and petroleum in northern Peru.

Claes: In the afternoon we meet with Lucien Chauvin, who writes from Lima for Time Magazine and his partner Enrique who is one of the founders of MHOL. After a cpouple of quick interviews we head to perhaps the best restaurant of the trip: La Fiesta not far from our Lima producer Sharon Stevenson's home in Miraflores. The tastiest dish (that, unfortunately, I didn't order) was the slightly heated cheviche (on a banana leaf?) - it was just delicious!

Jon: The spectacular nature of this last warm Ceviche can't be underestimated. It has become a culinary high-point of the entire trip. First, the restaurant La Fiesta is the Lima version of a similar restaurant of the same name we are to visit in Chiclayo, in northern Peru the next evening (where Claes ordered the same dish, which was good, but not up to the standard of the one in Lima).

Second, it seems that every time we discuss the great (and sometimes not so great) food we had, we always find ourselves referring back to that spectacular Ceviche, with two langostinos perched atop. It was simply fabulous, perhaps one of the finest 'marisco' (sea food) dishes I've ever had.

Finally, one of the silly side-stories of our trip: we had planned to take photos of all the fine dishes we ate, for our scrap book, and potentially for stories to produce. And seemingly every time another great dish was set in front of us, we tucked in and devoured the food before realizing that we had neglected to take a photo. In consolation, we have a couple of pictures of decimated dishes, after their demise at the hands of two gluttons!

Day 5

Claes: Thursday morning. And we have a full schedule. First stop is Father Marco Arana - a former catholic priest who has been very active as a human rights advocate in his home town of Cajamarca. And who is now planning to run for President of Peru. On the way there, Sr. Figueroa pointed out "Mi Causa" a restaurant that only serves the delicious and traditional potato dish!

It turned out that Father Arana was not home, though he promised to meet with us the following day.

Jon: This meant we actually had time for coffee. Sr. Figueroa took us to a lovely sidewalk cafe, which we visited virtually every remaining day we had in Lima. It could have been in Paris, Milan or Berlin - great coffee, pastries, soup and sandwiches.

Dr. Richard Smith

Claes: At 11 a.m. we met with Dr. Richard Smith, Executive Director of Instituto del Bien Común. He's a North American anthropologist who has lived and worked with indigenous people in Peru for the past thirty years. An excellent interview on various topics, but focusing on the events in Bagua earlier this year.

Jon: Smith and his work are impressive. He has spent decades tracking and cataloguing the realities of dozens of local communities along the Marañon and other regions of Peru. This has lead to a massive collection of maps that he and his team have compiled. Smith speaks from a firm knowledge of what he is doing, although he also has a warm and witty sense of humor. His insights into the operations of the government and other organizations in the area were a great introduction to what had happened in Bagua last June. I was quite impressed.

Claes: In the afternoon we arrived at MHOL - Moviemiento Homosexual de Lima to meet with Christian and Marie for a story for "This Way Out."

Jon: Claes was kind enough to humor me on this story, coming along to record the audio of the two interviews here. The amazing thing about MHOL was not just that it was the primary advocate for gay rights in the area but that it had been in operation for nearly three decades. My contact, Crissthian Olivera, was genial and smart. His knowledge of the LGBT political scene was significant. But it was president Mary Vargas whose tales of abuse and the heroic work of gay leaders that really moved me. She was both tough as nails and engaging in her recounting of the reality of LGBT life in Lima.

Claes: Decided to try one of the local restaurants for dinner. Passed by a couple of the big, touristy places in Miraflores and ended up at a small Inca restaurant with excellent food (now, was this the second or third Lomo Saltado?)

Jon: It is also clear that the food in Lima is quickly becoming one of our stories. In simple terms: the variety and sophistication of food at least in Miraflores - if not the rest of the city - was a wonderful surprise.

Day 4

Hugo picked us up at 9, heading for the airport. Turned out that the flight back to Lima was delayed by 1.5 hrs. So we spent the time with coffee and making phone calls to the people we were scheduled to meet in Lima in the afternoon. Eventually the airplane arrived and again we had a spectacular flight.
Sr. Figueroa picked us up at the airport in Lima, and somehow we were just a few minutes late for our appointment with Deputy Environmental Minister Eduard Durand, who is in charge of the government's special climate change agency. Turned out that Sr. Durand was busy and asked us to return at 6 p.m. which gave us a little bit of time to pass by Hotel Senorial to dump our suitcases and freshen up a bit.
A little before 4 p.m. we entered OSINFOR (Organismo de Supervision de los Recursos Forestales y de Fauna Silvestre), the new Peruvian agency in charge of the rain forest, and the bold program to prevent deforestation. Its predecessor - no names - was dissolved, partly due to all the corruption.
Environmental minister Antonio Brack has put forward a plan to stop deforestation in just ten years. A bold plan, but OSINFOR's boss Dr. Richard Bustamante couldn't really explain how it would be done. Especially since there are only some 60 rain forest police...
In the evening, we decided to get a taste of the pollo de brasa of Lima. An upscale version of KFC. And of course a trip to the favorite grocery store, Vivenda, for some treats.

Day 3

Woke up early. Had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel - we were the only guests and treated as royalty.
Hugo and Kate picked us up at 9 and we went to the nearby town of Yungay (that suffered badly in the 1970 earthquake and mudslide). We had an appointment with Miluska Ordonez and Alcide Vilela from NGO ITDG - Soluciones Practicas. We had just started the interview when we could hear police sirens, a marching band, fireworks and people chearing -- another independence day celebration passing by on the main street.
Miluska and Alcide took us along up to Hashao, a small farming village that they are helping when it comes to e.g. water management. We met with a couple of farmers and enjoyed the tremendous views of Huascaran, Peru's highest peak.
Both Copa and Hashao are in the Cordillera Blanca, where you will also find the glaciers. Across the valley is Cordillera Negra, and as the name implies - no glaciers. We convinced Hugo to take us across to visit another village, where we met with Don Alejandro who could tell us about the hardship with less and more erratic rainfall, frost and new pests. He also showed us his "cuy farm" - just like most people in this valley he was keeping guinea pigs that is known as a delicious treat. Some folks say it tastes like duck!
But our late lunch just had to be trout!
In the evening Jon wanted to do some work at the hotel, and I went along with Hugo and Kate back to Huaraz to finish the interview with Kate for the profile on the life of an anthropologist. As darkness fell, Hugo drove me back to Carhuaz, and while his English is about as bad as my Spanish, we had an hour of intense language course on the way back.

Day 2

Early morning wake-up. Taxi to the airport to catch the LC Busre flight to Anta, a small airport in the Cordillera Blanca. The airplane, a twin-engine propeller plan, seating about twenty people. As we arrived we could see North American anthropologist Kate Dunbar and our faithful driver Hugo waiting. A dear reunion.
Hugo took us to the hotel in nearby Carhuaz, where we could dump our luggage. We stopped at the city square in Carhuaz to have a taste of what we were told was the region's best ice cream. Hundreds of people, dressed in beautiful folklore dresses were gathered in the square - partly to pick up a monthly government check. Great footage. But one of the women got really upset with Jon's video camera, and thought it'd be suitable with a small token for the trouble. When he didn't immediately reached for his wallet, she slapped his arm several times. Could have turned ugly!
After finishing our ice cream cups, he headed up the mountain side to Copa Grande, a small farming village that sits at the foot of the beautiful, but rapidly retreating Copa glacier.
Marco was away for the day, he plays in the local band and had a gig playing as a nearby village were celebrating their independence day. We met with Marcelino Cruz, the former president of Copa to talk about the changes in farming and climate. Marcelino is only 34, but in his lifetime he has seen the glacier retreat about two kilometers up the mountain, he told us.
Walked down the dirt road toward the small market, as we were witnesses to a tremendous thunderstorm. Thunder claps echoed between the mountain peaks. Beautiful and some astonishing sounds!
Caught in the rain we returned to the room Kate rents in the Cruz' home to do additional interviews.
Before dusk, Hugo drove us to Huaraz, where we first visited Kate's apartment, and then had a great meal in a restaurant at Plaza de Periodista (yep, the Journalists' Plaza).

Day 1

We arrived shortly after midnight. Sr. Rafael took us on a nightly ride through Lima, passed by several Las Vegas-looking casinos and late-night hang-outs. Checked in at our Hotel Senorial in the heart of Miraflores.
After a few hours sleep, we met with our local producer Sharon Stevenson. The plan was to do some b-roll video - but the haze (or fog?) didn't really allow it. Spent an hour or so on the beach walk, along with paragliders and off-work Limanites.

Leaving Anta

This little snippet of video is only modest quality, taken with my little Webby cam, but it shows the ability to get little clips online pretty quickly.

This was shot at the Anta airport, in north central coastal Peru, as we were getting ready to fly back to Lima. The flight was considerably delayed, which wreaked havoc with out tight schedule. However, when we arrived in Lima, it turned out that the government minister we were to meet was unprepared to meet us - despite earlier communication to the contrary. He kindly agreed to meet later in the day, which gave us a couple of hours to catch our breath and get more work done that day.

This little snippet is just before all that pressure, as we were leaving our Cordillero adventures.

WiFi!!!!

Claes: Four days in Bagua, with no WiFi. Amazing adventures, doing fine and will update blog as soon as we are back in Lima.

Where Have all the Glaciers Gone?

Jon: It's hard to summarize the overall meaning of the trip to Peru with Claes. Certainly, environmental change in that amazing country, was our key story. But we also covered civic violence over resource exploitation, and the booming cuisine scene in Lima. Over the course of two weeks, we recorded 30 interviews, 24 hours of audio, 16 hours of video, and close to 700 photos. For me, the trip was as much a luxury escape from Los Angeles, school, and the weekly drill of my life. The circumstances weren't luxurious, but getting away was. For Claes, this trip shows how he earns his bread and butter. There were so many stories that we followed, but I am only posting this one video as an overview of what we accomplished.