coldhearted scientist وداد

Everyone knows not to be in Lima in winter, because of the weather. I would add to this that if you are traveling (as opposed to renting your own apartment), not to be in Miraflores in the month of July because it is inundated with “backpackers” and other people you left Europe and the United States to take a break from.

Everyone also knows not to go to Cusco during the month of July for the same reason. I regret to add to this list the entire department of Ancash. The tourism mentality is not a great deal better than that of a cruise boat, even if the actual tourists appear to be more hip than that. And there is this very colonial, even apartheid-esque atmosphere – there are natives and tourists, each in their role.

At other times of the year it is possible to travel without dealing with so many tourists, but in July the only thing to do in my opinion is have a connection to rent a house from a non-fancy local. This is what I could have done and should have.

I will next report from the interior of La Libertad, God willing. It is fiestas patrias and one never knows if it will be possible to find a place to stay. I have telephoned some places and they say they are dealing on a first come first serve basis.

I have the feeling there may be some hard traveling coming up but I do not think it can be harder than dealing with the inundation of adventure tourists with a cruise ship mentality I have in Ancash. I do not like these colonial situations at all, at all.

Axé.