Downtime in Huaraz

Although much of my time here in this spectacular region of Peru has been spent trekking, I have still managed a fair number of rest days. Reasons range from resting and planning for the next trek, to good coffee joints with great libraries, or to watching how Peruvians throw down a good old Peruvian strike (though we avoided rioting and looting here this time around, our strikes back home are still mellow in comparison). The reading available here is awesome, with two of the gringo coffee places strewn with popular magazines focusing on everything from mountain sports to European politics. They also offer good cups of joe and just plain mean (in our american way of using bad words to signify things in a very good, cool way) espressos. I have enjoyed the switch from terrible fiction novels, having read a few Pullitzer Prize winners, studied up on some mountaineering skills, and assessed political opinions on our current and hopeful leaders. I even tried a crosswords in one of those "smarter" magazines, Harper's magazine (side note: Harper's has a brilliant article in their June 2007 edition entitled "Undoing Bush," very relevant with the upcoming election. Try to find it if you can; it will be worth your time). I don't know why. I could get 10 words on a peak performance day in our Cal Poly campus paper while waiting for class. On the Monday edition that is. Wednesday's puzzles just depressed me and Friday's proved that there are way smarter people living in the world. So what compelled me to try Harper's puzzle remains a mystery. After reading the rules to the puzzle:

Each Down answer must be altered before being entered, in a manner that must be
determined by the solver. The new words produced include two proper names. Clue
answers include seven proper names. Answers at 38A and 32D are uncommon, the
latter being British slang. The answer at 37A is a variant spelling. As always,
mental repunctuation of a clue is the key to its solution.

I cooly lay aside the magazing and picked up "Rugor: the Dragon in Love", my eight-year-old reading level book that helps me with my Spanish. After a few minutes, the throbbing in my head dwindled away.

Unfortunately, not all my time spent in the city of Huaraz has been relaxing or enjoyable. In fact, some has been downright stressful. For my last trek, I rented a helmet, ice axe, and crampons in order to safely cross a glaciated pass. Because of the strike I mentioned, most businesses were closed, so I ended up renting from a company I wouldn't usually deal with. I was, however, only renting equipment, not relying on them for any service in the mountains, and the equipment I could inspect before paying for it. How could they rip me off?

Before paying, I asked if it would be possible to receive money back if I happened to come back before the amount of days I would be paying for. "Yeah, yeah, no problem my friend, that is possible." I should have taken a deep breath right then, and perhaps smelled that foul odor that usually lingers around portable toilets and bull pens. I wasn't planning on coming back early though, just wanted to check. So I paid S/ 230 = US$77 for 7 days rental. Not really that cheap, but you can't really put a price on safety.

You all know the trek didn't work out so well, and I came back early. I returned the equipment and asked for my money for the three days I would not be using the equipment. Blank stare.

"What money?" My overly friendly, full-of-promises friend asked.

"The money you owe me for the three days I didn't use the equipment, that you promised to return to me if I came back early. There is your equipment, here in good order on the fourth day, so I would like the S/ 100 you owe me (acutally it was S/102...but who will argue about a few soles? I'll tell you momentarily...) for the remaining three days," I replied.

Basically the answer was no, you can't have your money. I reminded them that they had said I could, and were therefore breaking our arrangement (besides, why wouldn't I just pay for a day then anyway if I couldn't have my money back if I returned early?). Knowing I was right, they then said that I was asking for a lot of money. Darn right! That is why I want it back, other than the simple principle that you owe it to me. I was told I would have to wait and talk to the owner, who would be back in 7 to 8 days from climbing Alpamayo. I unhappily explained that not only was that a ridiculous request, but that I needed to leave their country within that time period because my visa was expiring, and things would need to be resolved earlier. It was simple enough: return my money that you promised to give me, and I will leave you alone.

Then began this ridiculous game. It was too much they said. They don't earn that much. They don't have that much money. Would I take half? 70%? Could I come back tomorrow? They would have the money then. I played that game for four days, and got pretty fed up with it, especially when it became clear they had no intention of ever finding the full amount. Not only could I not believe their audacity to ask me for a discount, but even worse was their continued lying about not having money. Not only did they have the money on the simple principle that I had had the money, that I had turned it over to them in a very real from of S/230 worth of bank notes, but furthermore, groups were coming in and paying for trips that cost way more than S/100. On the last night of our encounters, I tracked down my friend renting equipment for a multiday climbing trip (read: lots of money), and then his partner coming back with a food list to buy at the market (read: also lots of money). I explained that to them. How can you have enough money to rent equipment and buy food, but not enough to return my comparitively small amount of money? That I had given to them anyway! No good answer for this.

Four days of this nightmare I endured, including waiting on the last day for an hour when my friend failed to show for our prearranged meeting in which he would have my money, for sure, without a doubt, the full amount, amen. That is when I tracked him down renting equipment, probably also hiding, in a nearby gear shop. After heated discussions, he finally gave me S/ 29 and a map valued at S/ 70 (which he tried to tell me was worth S/ 120, but I already had purchased the map, so I happened to know the value). And those 29 soles I had to argue up from 20, then 25, then 27, and finally 29 (remember that bit about arguing over 2 soles?), with his mother, father, and another business partner asking me to accept a lower fee, that it was just a lunch value that I could pay for, etc. I told them I waited four days, ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner, payed for a hotel room, and couldn't do anything else but come argue with them everyday, unable to make any plans of my own, and if they would like that bill as well, I would be happy to give it to them, as long as we were still on friendly enough terms to be buying each other lunches.

Pulling teeth would be an apt expression for that experience, and I wasn't even the only one with problems that night. Another group who had just come back from a trip wanted a refund for something, and this poor Spanish guy, while witnessing all this drama, was set to go on a climb the next day. He had requested a guide with specific qualifications, was told he would get one, but when he verified the qualifications with the local agency, they told him his guide was not registered. So he was trying to get a qualified guide for his trip on the following day. There should be a plethora of complaints registered against the company in the next week or two.

I guess I can laugh about it now, but meeting with them was not enjoyable, especially when told bald faced lies by people whose word means a little less than nothing. However, I should note here that I love the family who runs my hostel; they have been absolutely amazing and made my stay in Huaraz even that much more enjoyable. People like this can be found throughout Peru as well, but, unfortunately, so can the others. So watch yourselves closely if you are ever down here, because despite being a seasoned traveler, you might still find yourself on the losing end of a bad deal.