Thursday 28 November 2013

Meet Hermogenes, the host of 620 couch surfers in 547 days.

Hermogenes, 34, surrounded by his two boys Ricardo and Sebastián, and by their friend Alysa.

I arrived in Cusco, Peru around 7 pm, after a 22-hour bus ride.
Exhausted, I didn’t bother to barter the price for the taxi ride. I paid the ten soles requested by the taxi driver, even though my couch surfing host had told me beforehand to pay a maximum of six soles (“For six soles”, the driver told me, “I can drive you to the Plaza de Armas. But then you’ll have to walk ten blocks. It’s up to you.”).
I arrived at the given address, surprised to have the door opened to me by two very young-looking boys. The eldest, who appeared to be about eight years old, interrogated me in Spanish.
-Who are you looking for?
-Hum, Hermogenes?
-OK yes this is the place, please come in. Sorry about the mess, we just moved in a few days ago.

The place wasn’t messy, but it was small. I scanned the single room: one double bed, one bunk bed, one table, two chairs, and a two-feet wide gas stove (although it also contained an oven, the latter was out-of-use because a rat had found refuge there once, and had unfortunately been cooked while the oven was heating up, the eight-year old had confided. So there’s lots of bacteria in there now, he concluded).
Hermogenes's home: a single room with two beds, a table, a gas oven, and a
 non-functional refrigerator
Sebastián was eight years old, and Ricardo was three. Both were clearly used to travelers crashing at their place for a night or two.
“Here is your mattress”, said Sebastián while taking out a thin blue camping mat. “Sorry there are stains on it.  It’s because lots of other people slept on it. My Dad should be coming home soon from work. If you’re thirsty, we have water already boiled”.
Wow, I thought. I can’t wait to meet the man who raised these unusually well-behaved children.

Hermogenes arrived around 8:30 pm. While cooking some dinner, he explained to me their living situation.
“We actually just moved into this place three days ago. We used to live down the street, in a much bigger place. Then, I could host many couch surfers at a time. Three, four, even five.  Here, I can only take one or two”.
I was apparently standing face to the male version of Mother Theresa.
“You see”, he continued, “The rent at the other place was $200 per month. Here, it’s only $50. This way, I can send Sebastián to private school.”.
The cost of sending him to private school is 250 soles ($92) per month. But this expense lags far behind the expenditures for food, at 900 soles ($330) per month.
Sebastián, 8, and Ricardo, 3, enjoy some chocolate-covered peanuts-
rarily figuring on the grovery shopping list

And yet, despite this modest way of living, Hermogenes hosted 620 couch surfers over the last year-and-a-half.
Founded in 2004, the website Couchsurfing provides a platform for its members to either “surf” on couches in the city they are traveling to, or to receive “surfers” in their home for a few nights.  In 2012, the website counted 3.6 million members. One year later, this number had reached 6 million, connecting members in 100 000 different cities worldwide.  A system of references (positive, negative, or neutral) allows members to gauge the reliability of the surfer they will potentially host, or of the host whose couch they may surf on.
With 146 positive references on Hermogenes’s account (not all surfers left references), I had nothing to fear as a single woman surfing at a man’s house.
The only obligation a Couchsurfing host is bound by upon acceptance of a surfer is to provide him or her with a couch to surf on.  Nonetheless, Hermogenes always outdoes this criteria, offering a key to his guests for them to have unlimited access to the house, as well as sharing breakfast, and even sometimes dinner with them.

The motivating force behind his active participation in Couchsurfing is based on the desire to learn about and to build a connection with other people, says Hermogenes: “I do it for the friendships.  For the sake of sharing. I learn many things thanks to my guests: which types of people are most appreciative of what you give them, which ones need more commodities, etc.”.
One of the many plazas in the city of Cusco, where Hermogenes lives.

Hermogenes currently works in the administrative branch of a tourism agency; but this was not always the case, he tells me:  “The kids’mother and I used to own a hotel in the historic center. We both spent over $22 000 to buy and renovate it. I was quite invested in it. I spent sleepless nights driving to the airport at night to attract potential clients to our hotel. When the mother and I separated, I left her the hotel so that she would have a source of revenue. We got back together a year later. I was expecting to resume managing the hotel with her, but she had sold it without telling me. I had to start again at zero. ”.  His facial expression was devoid of any trace of rancor. It only revealed a sense of knowledge that had been gained the hard way.

Hermogenes blows on a small fire in a ceramic bowl, in
preparation for a ceremony of the reading of coca leaves.
Proud of his Inca roots, Hermogenes considers himself a mystic.
Despite this unfortunate experience, Hermogenes still hopes to build another hotel in the future, near the new international airport in Cusco that will be built in the coming years.  

Another dream of his is to one day become the mayor of Chinchero, his home town. “I think I have good chances. I am the only person from my town who has attended a private university.”. 
Ultimately, Hermogenes’s aspirations reach beyond this: “The truth is, I would eventually like to participate in the National Congress of Peru. But all of this is down the road. I have two boys to look after for the next few years.”.


Hermogenes is one of the most inspiring people I have come across in my lifetime.  Through living and interacting with him for the eleven days I was surfing at his place, I gradually gained the belief that anything is possible; and that serious downfalls happen even to the best of us – but with the right attitude, they will always be overcome. 



Saturday 9 November 2013

Huacachina: tourists love the oasis, but are unaware of the water scarcity problem in the area

From the top of a sand dune, a view of Huacachina, with the city of Ica in the background

"Does that come with asparagus?", inquires Steven, an English tourist who is spending the day in Huacachina, hoping to catch a sand buggy ride through the majestic dunes of Ica.
He is contemplating ordering the arroz chaufa, one of the few traditional Peruvian dishes available in the restaurant Desert Nights. Most gringos (the South American term for Western tourists) tend to order burgers and fries, or beer and chicken wings.

A buggy carries tourists to the top of a dune for some sand surfing



















Here is the irony: according to The Guardian, a study conducted in 2010 revealed that industrial production of asparagus in Peru's Ica valley, a large portion of which is sent overseas to the English market, is depleting the area's water resources so fast that smaller farmers are finding wells running dry. 
Steven was unaware of this.

In 2012, the National Water Authority (ANA) confirmed that water shortages in the Ica region have caused major agricultural firms to move to Northern Peru.
Yet, in the midst of this dryland glows the lake of Huacachina, the only oasis in South America. 
"Huacahina was discovered in the 1900s by the Italian Angela de Peroti. She found out that the water there had medicinal properties, like curing rheumatisms and skin diseases.", says Pablo, a tour guide in Huacachina. "There was a time where there were seven lakes in the Ica region. Out of those seven, Huacachina is the only one left.", he says.


Peru water shortages causing Ica agro firms to move north
Farmers collecting water from a well (courtesy of The Guardian)
Today, hotel owners advise against swimming in the lake, due to water contamination.  Moreover, the oasis is no longer natural, having seen its level gradually decrease over the years. "Every day, tap water is pumped into the lake from that well that you see, over there." says Pablo.   
It is said that in 2008, the water level diminished by five metres in two months

Despite the two or three scattered signs asking visitors to "respect the environment", the majority of them (especially the gringos) seem to be gleefully unaware of the ecological footprint their stay in Huacachina induces.
 After having sand surfed for a few hours, tourists go have a shower in one of the eleven hostels surrounding the oasis. They brush their teeth and wash their clothes anytime they wish.

They could not appreciate this unlimited access to water without knowing that 5 km away, in the city of Ica, restrictions abound. "In certain districts, residents only have access to water four hours a day. Two in the morning, and two at night.", says Eduardo, a tourist agency owner who lives in Ica
Does this imbalance not infuriate the residents of Ica?
Some gringos at Desert Nights, where the ´menu del dia´ consists of burgers
and fries
"They are used to it. For some, these restrictions have been in place for ten years", he shrugs. 
Christopher, an English traveler, was astounded to find out about this issue. "It´s not right... but I guess they´re still making money off of us. And I don´t think our presence here affects the restrictions in Ica. They would probably still be there". After a moment´s reflection, he adds:  "But yeah, there should be more information around about this problem.". 

Matheo, who works at the hostel Desert Nights, did not wholeheartedly embrace this suggestion. "Most people here come for a day or two. 80% are gringos, and very few speak Spanish. We cannot force restrictions upon these vacationers. There is a sign on the bathroom door that says that water is a scarce resource here in the Huacachina desert.", he says. 

Despite ecological concerns, there is a consensus among the Peruvian workers in Huacachina that tourism is extremely beneficial to the region. "If there were no tourists, many people in Ica would be unemployed", says Richard, a tour guide from Ica. "The average salary for Peruvians is 700 soles a month (250$). Here, we earn between 1500 and 2000 soles.", he explains.

I definitely had mixed feelings about staying in Huacachina. The empty sand dunes early in the morning and around sunset time are what kept me there for three days (OK, the sand surfing was pretty amazing too!).  I found out about the water scarcity issue on my last day. It´s something to be aware of... 
From top left: Richard, Pablo, Eduardo and Marcos. All four work as tour guides in Huacachina.