Peru, which doesn’t often draw featured coverage in The New York Times, is front and center today, with a travel feature about surfing: “Riding the Waves of Peru,” ranked No. 7 on the most e-mailed list.
The author says that even though Peru has “monster swells on par with those that hit Hawaii’s lengendary northern shores,” Peru isn’t yet known among tourists “as a surfing destination,” “except perhaps by a small band of jet-setting surfers for whom no wave is beyond reach.” But Peruvians know what a treasure they have along the coast. The author describes surfing as having swept the nation “in a pop cultural frenzy.”
The article continues: “And now, as Peru rides a tourism wave propelled by a strong economy and favorable exchange rates for bargain-minded Americans, it is poised to become the new ‘it’ spot on the international surfing circuit. After all, Peru has 1,500 miles of rugged coastline dotted with countless breakers, from pristine beaches tucked around Lima to unexplored pockets up north where some waves are said to last more than a mile.”
While I haven’t been to Máncora, a beach resort up north that the author describes as a queen of the surfing circuit, I have seen a lot of the surfers and beaches in Lima. The commitment of the surfers is impressive; every morning in the beaches along the Miraflores district you can see dozens of surfers paddling out or riding in, and they are a mix of all ages and both sexes. I especially like to see that guys with grey hair (my daughters like to point out each of my incoming grey strands) are still putting on wet suits.
The temptation in travel articles is to add puffery — why would you write about a place if only to tell people that they shouldn’t visit? I think the writer in this case should have warned readers that the sun is about to disappear in Lima. After a glorious four months of sunshine in Lima, when every day was an invitation to swim or surf, winter is moving in and soon the sun will disappear — for about seven months. Some people may not mind surfing in the garúa, that grey mist that cloaks the city throughout the winter (which would be the summer vacation months for U.S. travelers), but it’s at least worth a traveler’s advisory. Of course, people can still travel along the coast north or south far enough to where the sun manages to break through.
If I were an editor for the travel section, I also would have taken out that reference to “pristine beaches tucked around Lima,” even though the author does later note that on some days you run across polluted breaks around the capital. The beaches are rocky and the water — well, I wouldn’t drink it. And lastly, I would have asked about that reference to “favorable exchange rates.” It’s true that many “budget-minded Americans” will find that the dollar goes further here than it does back in New York City, but it’s also true that the dollar doesn’t go as far here as it did a year ago (now we’re getting 2.8 soles per dollar, down from about 3.5 a year ago).
But nitpicking aside, Peru does have wonderful beaches (we had our last retreat at one, about an hour and a half south of Lima) and an article like this one can only add appeal to a country that is on a roll. Each year, the country moves further away from the dark times of the Shining Path, and the number of international visitors grows. In 2002, Peru had 997,628 visitors; in 2004, 1,276,639; in 2007, 1,812,000.
The Inca Trail, a several-day hike to Machu Picchu, is sold out for the 2008 summer season, with the next available openings in September; the government limits to 500 the number of hikers permitted on the trail each day.
And now Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, is listed among the top 10 in contest to select the New Seven Wonders of Nature (Machu Picchu, of course, is one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World). Peru has five sites in the top 77: Colca Canyon (10), Lomas de Lachay National Park (16), Lake Titicaca (18), Machu Picchu Ecological Reserve (26) and Alpamayo Mountain Peak(76). Peru also has a claim on the fourth-place contender, the Amazon River.
After the voting ends on Dec. 31, a panel of experts will decide on a short list of 21 candidates. Voting will continue until 2010, when the winners will be announced. To vote, go to the Wonders of Nature site.
A contest like this may be gimmicky, but the implications for tourism, and tourism dollars, are pretty serious. Machu Picchu has become a must-see destination for some tourists in part because it is one of the Seven Modern Wonders.
