{"id":53406,"date":"2021-02-26T18:06:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T15:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gurkangenc.com\/?p=53406"},"modified":"2021-02-26T18:08:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T15:08:08","slug":"a-dissapointing-issue-in-peru-which-posses-so-much-wealthyness-many-natural-wonders-and-history-garbage-disposal-in-the-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gurkangenc.com\/en\/2021\/02\/a-dissapointing-issue-in-peru-which-posses-so-much-wealthyness-many-natural-wonders-and-history-garbage-disposal-in-the-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"A dissapointing issue in Peru which posses so much wealthyness, many natural wonders and history: Garbage disposal in the nature."},"content":{"rendered":"

Arriving in Arequipa the altitude was just above 3000 m. I\u2019m descending to the ocean, on halfway I feel sick. Am I poisoned from the food I ate? Then, I started to vomit and after a few minutes I have a headache. Since I left the town my arm started to ache again. Dude, what the hell is happening? For a while I lay down inside an empty bus stop at the roadside which I came upon.\u00a0 Starting to feel better, I decided to continue. Before starting to ride again I looked back shortly.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m riding to the west that is to the ocean shore. There is a small town, and it will be better if find somewhere to stay, not camp since I don\u2019t feel so well. While descending, it got cloudy at 2000 meters altitude. On top of it, it started to rain or better said raining cats and dogs. There is almost no visibility. As I arrived 1500 m altitude, I started to see rocks rolled down on the road. Not small rocks, one can kill you if you got hit. What the hell? I get closer to the mountain side, because all the rocks seem to hit the road at the middle to the open side. After a while there are so many rocks on the road which makes it impossible to cross for cars.<\/p>\n

Either you clean the stones or a grader.\u00a0 The soil is not that soft to let the stone to roll down, very curious. I continue to descend. 1000 m \u2013 800 m. Then I come upon a truck line. Is the road closed? People are looking at me, and I\u2019m at them. At the same time, I see the town in front of me. The international Pan American road is also just in front of me. The left side goes to Chile and the right side to the capital Lima. A motorbike passes me. The latitude is 600 m and I look at the motorcyclist. What the hell? People scattered on the road start to run after the motorcyclist. Fuck. What if those people recognize me? I was riding next to the trucks and stayed more hidden, therefore people didn\u2019t recognize me. The motorcyclist also didn\u2019t understand what was happening at first but then speeded up. During that short time I realized that I couldn\u2019t arrive in the city in a short time and have to turn to right towards Lima in shortest time possible. People had blocked the roads and didn\u2019t allow anyone to pass. Too late to stop, a couple of people recognized me, then as the other saw me I stood up on the bike to ride fast as I could! As the whole group of people had recognized me, I already had turned to the right on the junction toward Lima riding as fast as could.\u00a0 In seconds, as I look back, I saw that people were running towards me. The road was going to continue to descend from 600 m to 100 m, I hope there aren\u2019t any people waiting ahead. I hear people shouting behind me, but I speeded that they couldn\u2019t reach me anymore. Down I speeded to 80 km\/h, before the slope ended, I saw that the road was blocked stones and wood. I knew from the news that Venezuelans had departed towards Chilean border but had never thought that I\u2019ll come across with the crowd in such a way. I don\u2019t thing that they were running after me for pleasure. Down at the end of the slope the road started to climb again. Once more I came up to trucks parked on the roadside. It started to rain again. Dude, what the hell? Today, everything had piled on top of each other. I ask to one of the drivers: \u201cWhat is happening?\u201d. The Venezuelans had blocked the Peruvian side of the Pan American road, and more people were approaching. Peruvian government was saying that they couldn\u2019t accept so many immigrants. Also, Chile closed its borders to Venezuelans. Most Venezuelans who stuck at the border go deep into the Atacama Desert and try to cross into Chile from those points illegaly. Desperate people were walking for days in the desert for trying to enter Chile. Chilean government remained solid regarded this issue to avoid the immigrants enter the country. They started to control their border with drones trying to avoid Venezuelans to enter the country illegally. But it seems impossible. You can see those people from Colombia till Chile on the Pan American road.<\/p>\n

After starting to ride on the Pan American road, I could observe under which conditions those people were moving. I gave water and food to some of them, but the situation was far beyond me. Every Venezuelan asked for help I saw on the road. Water, food, money how I can help to everyone?\u00a0 There is 200 km desert to pass, if I give some water than I\u2019ll get dehydrated, if I give food then I won\u2019t be able to eat anything. I have a tight budget and my capacity to carry stuff on the bike is low.\u00a0 At those moments, my memories in Africa come in my mind. If you share your water you die, if you share your food you die, if you share your medication you die. You have to battle for your life. I thought this was over after Africa, but it seems not. At a hot day I was resting under the shadow at a facility, Venezuelans also came to the facility. They asked for food and water but were not given. Among them were two children about 15 years old. It seemed that they were on the road for a long time and were very hungry. But what can the owner of the facility do? It is not an issue of 3-5 people, if you help one, you have also help to the hundreds of others coming. Those people are trying to run a business, they are not a relief organization. Those children were looking exhausted. I opened my GPS device and checked the nearest city. 220 km away, seem I can arrive the next day. I bought meal for both families and some dessert for children with the cash money I had.\u00a0 The owner had to take these people to the back of the facility, so that the others won\u2019t stream in. After paying all, I continued because I ran out of cash. My farther had always said: \u201cAlways keep some extra cash in your pocket and if you spend replace it in shortest time.\u201d So, I left the facility towards the nearest city. On the rest of the Pan American road, I had to ignore the crowd. On the evening when hundreds of people run towards me, there were buildings under construction and 3-4 finished buildings on the right side. I put up my tent in one of these unfinished buildings. I shared my location on the Whatsapp South America group and on my webpage. Also, informed Turkish Lima Embassy what had happened and sent the coordinates of the place. Just in case! I\u2019ll stay and sleep here for this night. At least people will know where I\u2019m if they don\u2019t hear from me. The next day, both the people in the Whatsapp group and the employees of the embassy followed me from the webpage. On that day, the Pan American road was empty for a long time. Only me was riding on the road as if I closed this international road for myself.<\/p>\n

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Descending to Ocean side may think that there are no climbs, and you can easily ride along the coast. But not in Peru. The coast has many sharp up and downs, but the coastal road is nice and has a broad shoulder till Lima.\u00a0 There are fertile agricultural lands where the rivers running down the Andes meet the Ocean. Coming close to these river exits the road goes about 4-5 km inland, climbs and then returns to the coast.<\/p>\n

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It is possible to see small towns in those regions. However, on the fields at every river exit different agricultural products are grown. In one olive tries, in another vegetables, fruit trees etc. Peruvian cuisine is rich in variety. It is stated that the best cuisin in whole South America is the Peruvian cuisin. Though I didn\u2019t travel through the whole country, I must admit that the food was good. The best sea food, best local food is found in Peru.<\/p>\n

While riding along the ocean side, one of the most striking features is the level of ocean pollution. I\u2019m not talking about the color or the foam on the sea water. It is possible to see garbage piles all along on the shore and on the water.\u00a0 Besides this, most of the road between Palpa and Ica towns is level and goes through the desert. Peru, in general, is an insensitive country about environmental pollution.The new generation is not aware of this either. I noticed that they were not aware of this issue in the presentation I gave in a high school in Lima.<\/p>\n

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After what I have witnessed on the road between Palpa and Ica, Peru ended at the top of the pollution list among the countries I have visited so far. What I saw and experienced was like a filmstrip. The distance between those two cities is 100 km.\u00a0 The region I rode was 500 m above the ocean level and did not change much in altitude. That is, there were almost no slopes or climbs, a level land. 90 km of the road passes through the desert. The day I was riding on this road a wind from ocean side, that is from the west side, was blowing at a speed of 35 km\/h. I was riding from south to north having side wind. I\u2019m not exaggerating, I came upon flying garbage of all type, nylon bags, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, sanitary pads, diapers, cloth parts, etc along this 90 km. Dude, as if I passed through a portal, to another dimension. Because of the sand particles in the air I had already covered my face. A cardboard box is flying towards me from the left, if it hits it may injure me. I slow down to let it pass by.\u00a0 Another box, I go faster so it does not hit me. Nylon bags stick to my body. Aha, one of these bags squeezed into tire, between the frame and the hub. I got of the bike and tried to remove the nylon bag, meanwhile a cardboard box hit on my back. A diaper was hanging on the side of the rear pannier. Dried poop in front of my eyes. Dude, what a polluted place, how come? How that much garbage could come from the ocean side? Are they depositing their garbage on the desert? Well, this continued uninterruptedly for 90 km. I have never seen, did not ever dream about, such a thing before,<\/p>\n

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The population of Peru is 33 million and there is a recycle plant in Lima, the only one in the whole country. This pant recycles only basic materials. The whole garbage of the country is buried in deserts or empty places. Well, I got very surprised when I heard this.\u00a0 Then, I saw this with my own eyes, they burry the garbage in empty areas far enough away that the smell is not carried to the settlements by wind. In some place the garbage is burned but mostly buried. I met Hilal and Felix in Lima who hosted me. Hilal is Turk. While she was traveling the world, she met Felix and then they got married. They started to live in Peru. Their memories and stories are as nice as their personalities. He works for construction industry and aside of this environmental pollution he share some other interesting information: Peruvian people don\u2019t want that recycled materials to be used on building constructions. Even though the lower construction expenses, they don\u2019t want recycled materials gained from second hand or garbage waste in their houses. Hilal also encountered similar things a couple of times and says Peruvians don\u2019t lean towards the recycling issue.\u00a0 As in all capitals, also there are nice neighborhoods in Lima. Miraflores region is one of these. I find the hostel Zig Zag through Atilla a traveler I met in Lima. This region is clean and tidy. This makes me surprised since I know the previous history of the city center. I go to one of the most famous high schools of the country to hold a presentation. They welcome me such that as if I\u2019m a famous pop star of their period.\u00a0 I hold my speech in the sports hall to the whole school students.<\/p>\n

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Many of them haven\u2019t traveled in their own country yet. Of course, they love their country and give me suggestions to visit to me. At one part of the conversation:<\/p>\n