around the world

Local Knowledge

grahncalminder — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:59:05 +0000

A while ago, me and two friend’s, from Cusco went ought walking to “Cristi Blanco”, a white Jesus statue on a hill/mountain outside Cusco. We started 5 a.m in the morning, to go and see the sunrise over Cusco and to avoid paying entrance. To arrive there before the guards come. We was not the only one doing so. Moor locals was there, to walk in the aria and some used the mountain slope and steps for running/training. But, I was the only “gringo” there. Locals commenting about me in Quechua, the language spoken here before the Spanish colonization.

We walked around the Inca ruins, walking thru caves with a torch. Seeing the place, how a “Cuscanian” (person from Cusco) sees it. Before the tourists come and take over the place.

Then we decided to continue to other ruins further away, a one hour walk. Quite soon, the only people we met was locals, living on the hills outside Cusco. We was now the only ones from the city.

I would never walked there alone. Not because of a risk from being robbed. Rather, I wouldn’t know were to go, what to find and see, how do I get back and were is it ok to walk. Having knowledge about the aria.

We got to the ruins, but they was blocked of, with blue tape, telling us to not enter. So we went in, or rather crossed the blocked of aria. We found a few caves, some of them looked dangerous, but one of them looked fine so we entered. There was a snakes cut-ought in the cave, done by the Incas. The snakes heads was gone and I was told that it was the spanish who destroyed it. Looking at how intact the snakes body was, after many, many years. Someone has to have used a lot of force to destroy the snakes head.

After that we continued to the top of the hill/mountain that was located next to and is a part of the Inca ruins. Having a short rest and beautiful view before walking back.

We walked a different way when going back to Cusco, stopping at a monkey statue. The body of the monkey are still intact, but the head is missing…

I had a really good morning, seeing things I would never have seen if i walked alone, or with an other tourist. The value of local knowledge.

Filed under: Peru, Photos, South America, Travel, Uncategorized Tagged: Cusco, knowledge, Latin America, local, local knowledge, South America, turist, turists

Unplanned Activity

grahncalminder — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:27:22 +0000

I was walking to the bus station, that are located next to the stadium here in Cusco. My plan was to go to Pisac for the sunday market and the ruins there.

I saw a lot of polices around the stadium and someone tried to sell me a ticket. So, I got curious, what is going on? I walked over to the stadiums entrance to ask? It’s football, Cusco – Arequipa are playing today.

It’s kind of a derby, it still not really close, but Arequipa is the next big city from Cusco.

I talked a bit with the men who was checking the ticket’s at the entrance. They wanted to convince me to go to the game, so I could go in to see the stadium. It looked good and, I actually wanted to go to a football game in south america, so I decided to watch the game. There was still awhile until the game was starting, so first lunch. I walked out, talked a bit moor to the men at the entrance. Where do I by the ticket?

I could go for a lunch and, then come back, but it wasn’t necessary to by a ticket…

So I went for lunch, then returned and walk in to the stadium. I saw other that tried to come in without a ticket and two persons trying to go in with one ticket. But they was turned down and had to by ticket’s…

I’t wasn’t a lot of money that I saved, to me the important thing was: For once, I didn’t have to pay extra for something because I’m a gringo/tourist.

More tourists arrived later. But at that point, I was the only one that was a gringo, making a it a different experience.

The game ended 1-1. There was a self-score by Cusco, many missed chances and a red card for one Arequipa player. It should have ended with a better result for Cusco, who deserved to win.

There was some fights in and outside of the arena close to the end of the game. But it started to rain just when the game was finished. I think it helped cooling down some emotions… making the fights smaller.

I had a good time at the game, talking to the locals and seeing the game with them.

A good change of planes… and Pisac is still there…

Filed under: English, Peru, Photos, South America, Travel Tagged: activity, Arequipa, Cusco, football, Latin America, Peru, pictures, rain, South America, turist, turists, unplanned, unplanned activity

Will Asia Rise?

grahncalminder — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:55:21 +0000

In the video you can see Hans Rosling predicting when it’s going to happen.

My view of India, from my 9 month as an volunteer in Tamil Nadu, is partly contradicting to the one seen in the presentation above. I’m glad to get an more positive picture of India presented to me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see India in an negative way. Most of my time was in a rural aria giving another perspective or/and point of view. I think it is very interesting that Kerala (state in India) has longer life expectancy then Washington DC.

Looking at the development of the world today, the question is rather, when will Asia rise?

Filed under: English, India, Politics, Society, Thoughts, Video Tagged: Asia, Gapminder.org, Hans Rosling, India, information, preconceptions

Mind the Gap

grahncalminder — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:00:36 +0000

Gapminder.org is a really interesting project and website. Giving you access to statistics in an understandable way. Actually, Hans Rosling’s presentations are both fun and interesting to listen to. Giving you an opportunity to rethink your own preconceptions about the world. How fact based are your world view? Watch this video and see for your self.

Outdated information, guessing or just accepting other people ides and mindsets with out questioning are the core for creating preconceptions. The world are changing fairly fast right now and it’s not going to slow down, so please stay up to date.

Filed under: English, Environment, Links, NGO's, Politics, Society, Thoughts, Video Tagged: Gapminder.org, Hans Rosling, link, preconceptions, statistics

San Blas Festival

grahncalminder — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:24:16 +0000

Definitely a different a take on a church festival then I’m use to from Europe. A mix of culture from pre colonization and different take on catholic christianity then in Europe.

People gather in front of the church to watch dans performance, fireworks, eat food, drink beer then dance to live music. An interesting mix of happenings. In a festival in Europe or US, the prices on food and beer would go up, not here. The food and beer are cheep, and the beer bottles are gigantic, holding 1,1 liter. A lot of beer would mean that there would bee fights in a festival in Europe. But here there are a calm and pleasant atmosphere.

People from all ages attend the festival, from 6 month to 80 years. The fireworks are put on big wooden stand and then fired in sequence, serenely spectacular. After that the live music and dance starts… the festival is celebrated during three days and nights…

Filed under: English, Peru, Photos, Religion, Society, South America, Travel Tagged: beer, Cusco, dance, festival, fireworks, food, Peru, pictures, San Blas, San Blas Festival, South America

Cusco is Empty

grahncalminder — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:22:17 +0000

Because of the rain, landslides and closing of Machu Picchu. The amount of tourists are low. Not like that there are no tourist here. But there could be a lot more. In my hostel, I’m the only guest and in the hostel, on the other side of the road, there are two guests. It is a lot less compared what Cusco can handle. It should be mentioned that it is normal that Machu Picchu usually is closed during February for renovation/restoration. But, the rain has still scared away a lot of tourists. There are now less tourists then there usually are during February. No one know when Machu Picchu will reopen again. Cusco was a lot less effected then the arias that got destroyed and devastated. Now, when writing this text, the sun is shining and I can here the birds singing. A bit different then the picture in media.

It feels a bitt sad to go in to a restaurant, finding that it’s empty or almost empty. That experience can definitely have an negative impact on the time a tourist stay here.

So until Machu Picchu reopen, it will be quiet in cusco… leaving both the tourists and the people who work in the tourist industry in an frustrating situation… trapped in between…

Filed under: Environment, Peru, Society, South America, Thoughts, Travel Tagged: Cusco, disaster, flooding, information, Machu Picchu, Peru, rain, South America, turist, turists

Where is the grass greener?

grahncalminder — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:30:36 +0000

I was soon going abroad, leaving Sweden and europe for a bit more then five month. Knowing that i will leave Sweden made me appreciate it, and kind of miss it even if I still was there. Taking in what i could see, knowing that the snow and the -10 to -20 celsius would be long gone. A thought got to me, when will I see a proper snowy winter agin? I just don’t know. A month earlier, I had to much of home and Sweden, and couldn’t wait to leave. It’s kind of, you miss what you cant have.

So now when I’m in Peru, I miss India. Guessing it is because I know India, what to do and don’t. It’s easy to travel with English. If some one in India know’s only ten english words, they will proudly use them. Here it’s the opposite, even if some one knows a bit of english, they will still try spanish. What worked in Asia will not work here. Making me realize that I have, Have, HAVE to LEARN spanish. To connect to Latin America, make Latin America a part of me. The same way that India will always be a part of me.

But until then: “The grass will be greener on the other side”

Filed under: English, India, Peru, South America, Thoughts Tagged: greener on the other side, home, India, Latin America, South America

Rain, Landslides and Flooding around Cusco

grahncalminder — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:14:12 +0000

The last days massive raining in and around Cusco has done grate damage. Landslides have destroyed homes, fields, roads, railway tracks, bridges a.s.o. Many peoples has lost everything, the only thing they own is the clothes they were. The aria has been declared a disaster zone.

The landslides has blocked walking track’s, road’s and railway track in the aria. About 2000 Tourist has been trapped in and around Machu Picchu. With the only transportation out, is helicopter. In Cusco you can hear the sound from them fly over the city. The weather has made it hard to evacuate people. The last two days has still been better, with less rain in Cusco. It is actually surprisingly little impact on Cusco itself. Here, The life here goes on. Without the information about whats happening around Cusco, I would never think the rain would have that big in-pact in the aria.

“An estimated 10,000 people have been affected by the rain and 2,000 homes have been ruined in and around Machu Picchu, authorities said.” *

“Peru’s Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Martin Perez said Wednesday that the elderly, children and pregnant women have priority for evacuation. He denied reports of preferential treatment for foreigners, saying 103 of 475 tourists evacuated Tuesday were Peruvian.” *

From over here, it’s hard to tell how big this is in the media in Europe and USA. But one thing is for sure, with out the tourists, the reporting would have been a lot less and maybe the help.

It is in a way odd, to be so close, at the same time as the effect on my everyday life in Cusco is minimal. It is a reminder, life is unfair. The landscape that to me is beautiful, at the same time, it is promising more rain. While I can go to a restaurant, or look for a spanish school. Less then 20 km from here, someone are in the middle of the disaster.

*http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/27/peru.machu.picchu.floods/?hpt=Sbin

Filed under: English, Peru, Photos, Politics, Society, South America, Travel Tagged: Cusco, disaster, flooding, landslides, Machu Picchu, Peru, rain

Flying

grahncalminder — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:19:45 +0000

I was up, packing the last night before flying to Lima, Peru. Even if I could have been ready earlier, I would find something more to do, look at and pack. So I didn’t get that many hours of sleep before leaving four the train. Once on the train, every thing was fine until it broke down, and stopped for an hour. My stress level was rising. When the train started to move again, I was predicting to be at the airport 80 min before take of, if the rest of the journey was going as planed. In the end, the plane was delayed 30 min. Then, landing in Madrid to change plane, to fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Waiting about 4 hours before the plane was scheduled to leave. Getting the information that the flight was delayed because of bad weather. Come back in an hour for more information. Four hours later, around four in the morning, we could enter the plane. Second night without sleep. Twelve hours later, I arrived in Guayaquil. Waiting there for six hours before my last plane to Lima. When I was boarding I was informed that they need to go true my checkin luggage. About 30 min before take of I had to watch them go true my bag. When I got there I could see that some one had gone true my bag before. The bag wasn’t closed the way I did it. The security cheek went fine in I could go onboard the plane.

Forty-two hors later I was in Lima, Hurray!! Staying there for two nights, then a twenty hour bus journey to Cusco, 3300 meters up in the andean mountains, where I am now.

Posted in Ecuador, English, Peru, South America, Travel Tagged: Flying, South America, stress

Shantaram

grahncalminder — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:02:03 +0000

I recently listend to the book Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Now I want to go back to India. Hearing the stories from places I have been to, seen and experienced my self makes it interesting and connecting. Colaba, Leopold, Elephant Island and Gateway of India is all places I have been to. The book is thoughtful and written with love. Four everyone going to India, it’s a must to read, but I recommend it to anyone. So I’m on my way to Peru and Ecuador, now wanting to go back to India. It doesn’t take away that I want to go to South America, but a bit to many of my thoughts are about India.

“Shantaram is a novel influenced by real events in the life of the author, Australian Gregory David Roberts. In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to nineteen years’ imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions, and shops, which he had committed to feed aheroin addiction after his marriage ended and he lost his daughter. In July 1980, he escaped from Victoria’s Pentridge Prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia’s most wanted men for the next ten years.” *1

“Which are the facts in the book and what is the fictional part?

A general rule of the thumb is that the events in the book are real; but they have been shuffled in the narrative and the characters are fictional. Praebakar and Karla are also fictional characters.” *4

“Somewhere in the book you say that Indians are ruled by the heart. Is that not a disadvantage in today’s world?

Nobody who has done business in any country with an Indian would doubt the shrewdness of Indians but what Indian people bring to the world is something special and unique, which is the capacity for a loving interaction. Brief as an exchange may be — could be a smile between a cart-puller and a businessman on a busy street — it is always significant. It is also, for instance, reflected in the Indian response to Pakistan, which has a measure of heart despite all the provocation.” *4

*1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantaram_(novel)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_David_Roberts

http://www.laurahird.com/newreview/gregorydavidroberts.html

*4 http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050417/spectrum/book5.htm

Posted in English, India, Links, Society Tagged: book, Gregory David Roberts, India, Mumbai, Shantaram