Warning - Dangerous People Ahead

A few days before I left for Chile I decided to look at the government of Canada’s website for travel advisories for Peru. While it’s changed now, at the time the first thing you are met with is a bright red AVOID ALL TRAVEL warning. I pause on this and wonder to myself if anyone else on the trip had the forethought to really investigate Peru. Canada says it’s unsafe. What the hell are we doing? With airline tickets and other commitments in place I skimmed the details of the warning and closed my laptop. Sitting around in Arica a few days before our departure the boys remind me of how the Peruvians just don’t care much for the Chileans. Rumour has it the Peruvian children are programmed early to hold Chileans in low regard. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t really know.

In our first stop in Peru, the town of Arequipa, we had all collected on the outskirts to figure out the location of our hotel. A city bus loaded with passenger’s creeps past us and I notice one passenger giving us “The Finger”. I conclude it’s either his dislike for Chile or maybe motorcyclist in general. Either way it made me laugh. Every town we went to followed a similar greeting. People would watch us intently. Children would run after us in with great big smiles and laughter and almost always there was at least one person with something for sale .

As we move further into Peru the faces change and I stand out now more than ever. The Canadian flags on my jacket and helmet weren’t necessary for people to know that I wasn’t from anywhere near where I was. Family’s run little roadside markets where they sell little souvenirs to survive. Outside of Ollantaytambo we’d stopped at a lookout for a photo. Within seconds we are approached by people with their offerings. A little girl selling woven bracelets focuses in on me and tells me “dos soles...dos soles...” She’s seven or eight, dressed in dirty clothes and looks timid and afraid. I pick one and pay her and she’s scurries off to safety. I place the bracelet in my pocket and climb back on the Transalp. The team rolls away and I’m almost immediately in tears thinking of this little girl and what her life is like. “She should be in school or at least washed...” I say to myself in my helmet. While here we worry about making sure kids have Gameboy, Xbox, a cool cell phone and the nicest pair of shoes, in Peru they’re just trying to make it to tomorrow. I wonder what she’s doing today.

There was never a time in Peru where any of us felt threatened or in jeopardy other than the naked guy running around with big rocks over his head in Ilo. People were hospitable and kind everywhere we went. I’m not saying ignore travel advisories. With some common sense and awareness you can make yourself safe and experience some great things. I’d go again.