Machu Picchu

The train leaves early. To navigate the hills around Cuzco, the train moves back and forth, switching tracks as it climbs. It then heads out into the Andes, moving alongside a river. Besides the ludicrous price they try to charge for such staples as Pringles, the train is pleasant if a bit crowded.
Machu Picchu is, well, fine, pretty spectacular. In some ways, the most impressive thing, as A. pointed out, is simply that anyone would decide to build it. The town below, Aguas Calientes, is very nice, and has a river and hot springs. Why anyone would decide to build a huge rock construction up a giant mountain nearby seems frankly obstinate.

Lima-Cuzco

March 13: I woke up in time to watch the flight descend through the clouds. As soon as the plane was below the clouds you could see the Andes on either side. I've flown more rickety planes, and into some bad airports, but for sheer immediacy of the sight of the ground, Cuzco is hard to beat. It occurred to me later that since the Inca considered Cuzco the navel of the world, I have now seen at least 4 places that make that claim in all seriousness (plus NYC, which I have often called the center of the world).


I had to skip Lima. I arrived too late to make it worthwhile to head into town, and had to content myself with a (very good) ham and cheese sandwich that A. brought me at the airport. Despite taking pills, the altitude in Cuzco is intense. Trying to sort through a lack of sleep, travel fatigue, and the altitude played hell with my quasi-scientific desire to isolate variables.

After breakfast (eggs, bacon, mate, alfajores) and a resolution to nap for a couple of hours, we woke up at 5 pm and started wandering around. San Blas, the more artistic neighborhood, which is unfortunately up a large hill, was pretty great. The city is an almost mirror-image of an American small city; the further up the hill, the less valuable the real estate.

We wandered around after dinner. It was nice.

The Unknown Enemy

The Maoist guerrillas appear to be re-arming and recruiting. While this is obviously a problem, and should remind us that the major lesson of the American Revolution is how exceptional the idea that a military revolt would cede power to civilian authority gracefully is, there is a broader question: just what are they thinking that they will be fighting for? I can understand being nervous about the Nepali military rebuilding without a clear plan for amnesty for the Maoists, or without the integration of the Maoists into the military, but what else could the guerrillas possibly want at this point? Their former commander is the head of state, their political wing has a plurality in the CA, and the constitution is still being drafted. So why rattle sabers now?

Just don't be verbose...

The Indian ambassador to Nepal recently said that Nepal could learn a lot from India's constitution.
While he is right, I can't help but feel as if his focus is in the wrong place. While Nepal has a lot to learn from India's experience after 1947, no one questions that the constitution should address questions of equality. What it needs to learn from the Indian example is quite different. For one, the Indian constitution is intimidatingly long, which limits the ability of legal scholars, let alone laymen, to even understand it. Second, it took a long time and a lot of effort on behalf of the courts for the rule of law to take hold in India. Finally, things are not perfect in India, and the limits of what can be accomplished through the constitution itself need to be well understood within Nepal.

The Prism

I think I've telegraphed this problem enough, but obviously, there is a level of analysis that may just be impossible from the outside of Nepal. Here's a story that illustrates this nicely. Basically, the police raided some alleged paramilitary officer's home, and arrested two people after finding weapons. Generally, keeping the peace in Nepal means there can't be lots of people roaming around with weapons. But these are political enemies of the current administration, and the current administration still has a large paramilitary force under arms. Furthermore, it is not clear, at least from the outside, whom the police are taking orders from. Finally, how actions like this are being perceived has not been reported on, at least not outside of Nepal.

Broken Social Scene

Without being around Kathmandu, I can't speak to how effective or consistent it has been, but the new government has made a conscious effort to crack down on nightlife within the city. It's been mentioned on blogs and in the news. While it's hard not to comment on the marginal benefits of pursuing this as opposed to other policies, that is in some ways the least interesting part of it.

To a certain degree, the nightlife of Kathmandu, and of Thamel in particular, is completely removed from the life of the country. Without even getting into the fact that ~80% of the country is still agrarian, within the city itself, many of the popular bars are disproportionately patronized by non-Nepalis. Obviously, tourists are more likely to be going out than people who have, say, work the next day, but even beyond that, much of the nightlife is kept in business through the money spent there by visitors. Historically, an awful lot of bad behaviour by these tourists has been tolerated in exchange for the economic benefits. Drug dealing is basically tolerated within Thamel, and while I saw police officers hassle protesters and local street kids, I can't remember them ever dealing with tourists or expats, even when they were practically begging for some form of state intervention.

I can understand why the Maoists in particular are unhappy about this. While their rhetoric often seems quaint, I can sympathize with the perception of all of this as an affront to national pride. On the other hand, even beyond the simple fact that many people's livelihoods are being affected, it seems very strange to inaugurate a new era of democratic rule with major restrictions on people's social lives. Nepal has significant problems with drug and alcohol abuse, and memories of the crown prince's massacre of the royal family are still part of the Nepali public discourse, but it seems hard to create substantive public health argument for these crackdowns.

A brief history

Despite my inability to follow through on promises to fill in pieces of this blog, I think I'm going to start posting again, at least periodically. Basically, the purpose will be to continue to track what's going on in Nepal, at least in some form. When I got back, it was hard to continue thinking about a culture that is so different and a country that is both complicated on its face and particularly complicated right now, while not being immersed in it. After a few months, I think it may be interesting to try to see what the country looks like from the outside. So I'll be periodically offering some bits of news and my attempts at analysis. Enjoy.