December 29-30, 2010: After another amazing breakfast and lunch in Lima, we caught the 4 pm bus to Chachapoyas, the capital district of the Amazonas region, which is another region outside of the Lima provincial area. We had to be prepared for a 23-hour bus ride, so we went shopping at the Metro, the Peruvian version of Wal-Mart.
I learned that, even though the exchange rate at the time was 2.80 Peruvian soles to 1 U.S. dollar, many things were still very cheap. I was upset when I saw the same exact sleeping bag I bought in Wal-Mart for US$30 for only about 8 soles in Metro. We stocked up on food for the long trip and also took a tour around the area/neighborhood, split up into “cuadras”, or specific blocks. We stood in Cuadra 2 Torre Junin.
We got onto the Movil Tours tour bus to Chachapoyas. The bus ride felt so long, I must have fell asleep at least five times and still didn’t arrive yet. Actually, it’s because it wasn’t the 23 hours we expected. It actually ended up lasting a few hours longer. However, it was worth it. I saw so much of Peru on the way. We traveled 1,183 kilometers, or in U.S. terms 735 miles, which is the same distance from New York to Chicago, or from Miami to Dominican Republic.
On the way through the outer parts of the city, I especially got to see a lot of the poorer areas, and this made me wonder. Why is it that we have to travel through all of the poorer, more desolate areas? Maybe these poorer areas just happen to be geographically in the same direction, but what if the President of Peru’s house was in that direction, do you think we would cut through his property? I highly doubt it. It made me think about how people who live in these areas have historically had their communities intervened and interrupted by foreigners and/or people of higher power. The Aztecs felt this when the Spanish built Mexico City on top of their ancient metropolis Teotihuacan. The Native Americans experienced this when the British invaded their lands. When I lived in the Bronx ghettos as a kid, I lived right across the street from the Yankee Stadium that is highly visited by fans from all over the world and of all socioeconomic classes, but I have never been to a game. So, even though it was in my geographic region, it wasn’t a part of my community. Till this day I have never attended a single game there, but I could hear the #4 train swoosh by every 15 minutes, preventing me from my sleep. But now that I am in Boston in a better socioeconomic condition and with all of the opportunities and resources offered to me by the privilege of college, I can choose to avoid the fire trucks that, similar to the #4 Bronx train, siren their way out of the fire station adjacent to our campus by choosing a dorm where that noise is not so pressing. However, to those without the choice, like those who belong to the poorer Peruvian communities to which I refer, the choice to preserve their community is limited.I thought about suburbs, and questioned whether I ever saw in the suburbs one of these big buses I was riding in–nope, couldn’t think of an example. It’s similar with dumps. Why are dumps built in towns that are poorer? I saw a lot of accumulated trash heaps and dumps in those areas and agricultural sites around which we drove that had houses stuck together with clay. What does this say about the poorer people’s voice and right to privacy if a huge bus can cut right through their neighborhoods? Did they allow this? If not, were they ever even communicated about it?
Once we finally entered into the Amazonas region, I really began to see nothing but preciousness as we headed into the rainforest. The power of it’s silence from inside the bus spoke novels to me . It told me how something so natural, so real in essence, can be so hidden. How have I never been exposed to this natural beauty that provides the water to the rivers to the water-bottling factories that make the water I drink everyday? How do I truly make sense of the human relationship with this Amazonian unknown, when technology is very different, then what I understand? Take a ride with me below.
For more videos on the bus ride, visit my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/123vinnier
