Machu Picchu: A Life-changing experience

I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while. I don’t think it needs any introduction. Like how the Eiffel Tour has become synonymous with Paris, the Great Wall of China with Beijing, the Great Barrier Reef with Australia and the Statue of Liberty with New York, Machu Picchu just immediately rings up the country Peru. In fact, when you ask about landmarks in Peru, I bet most people can only think of Machu Picchu.

One of the most famous landmarks in the world, let alone South America, Machu Picchu definitely lives up to its name as one of the top places on earth to visit. The grandeur and beauty is not something that I nor any other writer can even come close to capturing. Photos cannot do it justice. But I shall at least try to articulate the euphoria and the feelings I felt standing at over 2600 meters, looking down at the spectacular city of the Incas.

Getting to the Ancient Incan capital

We landed in Cusco on a beautiful Wednesday morning into a small airport. The flight from Lima was only about an hour, and they still managed to give us a snack and a drink on Peruvian Airlines. Apart from the fact that I couldn’t purchase my tickets online through their website as “my last name was too short (two letters…yes, I am Chinese and have only one last name…), it was fine and nice to avoid the gringo tax by flying airlines like Peruvian or StarPeru (the “gringo tax refers to higher fares for domestic flights on airlines like Taca and LAN for foreigners so they could offer a “Peruvian residents only” fare.)

We could feel the thinness of the air as soon as we landed, but we were only stopping over briefly so we could catch a colectivo, a shared taxi that you can take from the City Center to the Sacred Valley (towns like Urubamba and Ollantaytambo). From the airport, you will get quoted all sorts of fares. Only secure taxis can enter the airport, but don’t be fooled by the 30 – 35 soles price. We were advised by a local that it should only cost about 10 soles to get from the airport to Cusco’s city center (a 20-25 minute ride).

Anywho, after bargaining a bit, we found a taxi driver willing to take us for 10 soles to the Colectivo station. From there, we got into a mid-sized 4-seater Honda that averaged 15-20 soles a person. If you take one of the bigger vans, it’s like 10 – 15 soles a person, but you have to wait till they fill up the car.

The drive through Cusco to the Sacred Valley was beautiful, with sweeping hills and a gentle breeze. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to reach Ollantaytambo. We arrived at the Ollantaytambo train station, where we caught the PeruRail train to Aguas Calientes. At the station, you will find the walkway lined with small shops, all wanting to sell you coca leaves (2 soles for a big bag), snacks and water. There are also some restaurants, but overpriced for mediocre food. We paid around 10 soles for a sandwich and a juice drink.

Oh, a thing about the PeruRail train tickets: we were able to purchase them online and pay in person in Lima. I’m not sure how easy it is to purchase these tickets online outside of Peru, but if you have issues, go to a ticket agent anywhere in Lima for help. They only charge a few extra dollars for the booking fee. We took the Vistadome (2nd tier tickets) on the way there, and the cheaper Expedition train on the way back from Machu Picchu. But the trains were nice, clean, and on time. The seats were very comfy. There are also cheaper touristic trains that have only wooden benches, but we couldn’t purchase those tickets online. (Tickets were about $74 from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes).

The train from Ollantaytambo Station!

You get a lovely snack and a mate de coca tea, made from coca leaves that relieve altitude sickness symptoms.

I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful the landscape was. The nice thing about the trains is that there are big windows in the ceiling, so you can look pretty much all around you to appreciate the landscape. The total trip took about 1 hour 45 minutes to reach Aguas Calientes station.

Train ride through the Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes

We arrived in Aguas Calientes in the late afternoon. The station is behind a local art market with local wares (that you can buy in any other town for cheaper, honestly). We were met by a worker from our hostel who led us uphill to our lodging for the evening. I must say, the altitude definitely made it a difficult trek up to our hostel. You could feel your legs be heavy, your lungs be tighter trying to extract oxygen from the thinner air. Having our luggage in hand didn’t really help either.

Bridge over in Aguas Calientes; not the most beautiful looking pueblo.

Anywho, we went and bought the bus tickets up to Machu Picchu entrance early, as it gets crowded in the morning. It only cost $19 USD roundtrip (bring exact change if you can!); the exchange rate to soles wasn’t as good, so it actually was better to pay in USD. The bus ticket window was right by the bridge by the train tracks, and is also the place you get on the bus.

After getting our errands done, we went and got dinner at a local restaurant and tried alpaca meat! It was actually pretty good; not too gamey and quite lean. Grilled with the ubiquitous peruvian ají, it was delicious! We tucked into bed early and set our alarms for a 4am wake up call.

The big day! Getting to Machu Picchu

It was definitely an early wakeup call, but totally worth every minute. We ate a quick breakfast at the hostel, stored our luggage and then headed out to queue up at the bus stop at 5am. There was already a long line of people waiting to ascend, and a row of buses already out. The first bus was set to leave at 5:30am, and I must say, they were pretty on time with that.

The bus line at 5 in the morning!

It takes about 30 minutes on the bus to get up to the entrance of Machu Picchu, and once we got up there, the sun was still rising. But you can see there is a huuuge line of people already waiting to get in. Hope you have your tickets in hand, because they do NOT sell tickets at the entrance.

The only way was to purchase tickets at the Cultural center in Cusco or in Lima. There is an online website for Machu Picchu tickets, but it was horrible; it wouldn’t accept credit cards, and even if you were in Peru, you reserve your tickets and then you get a code in which you have 6 hours to pay for at some bank. If you don’t pay at the right bank, you lose your reservation.

In general you don’t need to reserve your Machu Picchu entrance tickets too too early, but definitely so if you want to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain behind Machu Picchu. (do so at least a month or two in advance; there are only 400 tickets a day I believe). Inca or Salkantay trail tickets can only be purchased through a guided travel agency; you cannot trek by yourself.

The entrance to Machu Picchu

 

Once you get inside and if you have Wayna Picchu tickets like we did, you have about an hour to chill out and enjoy the city before you enter.

Misty Machu Picchu around 6am

The beautiful terraces of MP: structurally kept the city from sliding off the mountain and was also used for growing food. Amazing!

There are two times in which you can enter Wayna Picchu: from 7am – 8am, or 10am – 11am. We got the earlier 7am tickets, which I think is better as it is cooler in temperature and you don’t have to fight with the people coming down the mountain while you are ascending.

The entrance at Wayna Picchu. You have to show your ticket and sign in your name and time you entered

As you can see, the steps are steep and narrow. We were lucky that it only rained about 30 minutes as we were ascending. There are ropes and rocks at steeper parts of the climb, but not something to be taken lightly. The thin air and altitude doesn’t help, even though the whole of Machu Picchu is at a lower altitude than Cusco city.

We started climbing around 7:15am, and with breaks and photo stops, we got to the top around 8:15/8:30am. Right before you get to the top, there is this little cavern you have to literally crawl through; it was kinda fun. But definitely a deterrent of big gear and backpacks.

When you get up there, it is definitely misty and cloudy, and around 9:30am, it finally started to clear up and we could see Machu Picchu below! It was one of those moments where you could imagine Hiram Bingham, the American archaeologist who stumbled upon Machu Picchu, and how he felt the first time he saw Machu Picchu peeking from out of the forest.

We were euphoric at the sight of the city below. And as the clouds parted, we finally realized how high we had actually climbed: 2683 meters above sea level (nearly 8,900 feet).

Watching the clouds part to reveal Machu Picchu

After spending about an hour at the summit, we descended on a very steep road and got the hints of the 10am group climbing up. By then the sun was out and it was hot…another perk of ascending at 7am rather than 10am. It is not an easy descent for those with knee problems; slow and steady was the order of the day.

On the way down did we finally realize all the beautiful sites that we had passed, all covered by the clouds and mist in the morning. Back through the entrance to Machu Picchu, we finally could appreciate the magnitude of our accomplishment…we had climbed a huuuge mountain, Wayna Picchu! What a feat!

Machu Picchu peeking through the trees; Back on ground you can appreciate how tall Wayna Picchu is

We rested a bit and then went out of the entrance of Machu Picchu to use restrooms and get snacks. (The restrooms are actually outside of the entrance, down one level to your right by the luggage storage and cafe. It is 1 sol to use the nice, clean restrooms.)

Outside, we negotiated the price for a tour guide. Usually a spanish-speaking tour guide should only cost 20 soles per person, and there are plenty of them around. They usually want to wait until you get a group of 7 tourists, which was kind of bad for us as we needed to catch the train back to Cusco. So we forked over an extra 10 soles so he could start the tour.

I’m not even going to try to describe the grandeur and beauty of the city; definitely do a guided tour or at least bring a guidebook so you know what you’re looking at. But in short, it was so amazing to hear the history and the feat that was accomplished by the Incan engineers. Mind you the entire city is built on the cliff of a MOUNTAIN. Just lugging the rocks up there was a feat.

Classic MP view with Wayna Picchu mountain in the background

  

The city where people lived. The Temple of the Sun is the round building in the middle

Entering the city!

An Incan compass that was accurate! The guide was testing it to the iPhone’s compass

Temple of the Condor and the tight-fitting Incan rocks

It definitely was a moment where you can remember watching documentaries about Machu Picchu on TV or seeing a postcard; and then all of a sudden you are standing there, in front of one of the world’s most incredible monuments. If a year ago someone had told me that I would be visiting Machu Picchu, I wouldn’t have believed them. But now, here we were, standing in the Incan city. Definitely a life-changing moment.

We had to depart and get back to the bus line, which was long by the time we were there. We got in line around 1pm and didn’t catch a bus until 1:30pm. We had just enough time to pack up, grab an empanada and hop back on the PeruRail train to Ollantaytambo. We caught a collectivo back to Cusco and finally got to our hostel.

*Note: Ollantaytambo is a charming little town, but the roads are narrow and there is always traffic. Plan ahead if you are in a hurry! We were stuck in traffic for at least 30-40 minutes.

Back in Cusco for Good Friday during Holy Week

Cusco is a charming city with so much history and culture. I wish we would have had more time to explore, but we were lucky enough to be there during Holy Week. There were processions at the start of the week (Monday), but we weren’t able to attend. Nonetheless there was Good Friday Mass followed by a huge procession at the Plaza de Armas held by the community of the Basilica de La Merced.

A church at Plaza de Armas

Good Friday Procession: the coffin held an effigy of Christ’s body

The Cathedral at Plaza de Armas

Statue of the Virgen Mary

We also got to visit Sacsayhuamán (sounds like “Sexy Woman”, hehe), another Incan ruin within the city of Cusco. The site was supposed to be built in the shape of a puma, a sacred creature of the Earth worshipped by the Incans. This fortress was later the site of a huge battle between the Incans and the Spanish conquistadors.

This was supposed to be one of the teeth of the puma sticking out (you’d have to see it aerially to see the shape.)

Across the fortress are natural rock formations that hide some more good stuff

City of Cusco below, beyond the little hill we will find…

Alpacas and…

Rock slides! So fun going down! Can you imagine the ancient Incans sliding down these rock slides?

Touring the Sacred Valley: Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Urubamba and Chinchero

The next day, we took a guided tour to visit the Sacred Valley. We first went to the markets and llama/alpaca/vicuña farm in Pisac.

They were hungry!

 

Here are the ruins right outside of Pisac. These holes in the mountain are tombs

More beautiful ruins and terraces at the ruins in Ollantaytambo

After lunch in the pueblo of Urubamba (where at least 3 of us got food poisoning eating chicken at a local menú restaurant), we finally visited the artisan market at Chinchero where they showed us how they spun and dyed yarn from alpaca wool.

Using roots and seeds, they can produce all sorts of beautiful colors…even natural lipstick!

Gorgeous products

Look at all this dyed wool!

Our last night in Cusco, we went all out with dinner. We had a parilla (grill) of anticuchos and chorizos (organ meats like heart and kidney + delicious sausages).

And we had to try the local delicacy: cuy or guinea pig, fried whole and served over french fries! It actually tasted pretty good, but there was very little meat on the bone actually. It tasted a little bit like the pheasants you get in Chinese restaurants.

So that was our trip. The next day (after a night of food poisoning, sweats, and frequent bathroom visits), we took a taxi back to the airport in Cusco and flew back to Lima.

The end of an incredible trip and journey; it is one that I will never forget. I didn’t feel though that I had enough time at Machu Picchu, and would like to visit again in the future. I really hope I get that chance, and hope all of you will get a chance to visit if you already haven’t done so. It is definitely one of those unforgettable life experiences that really changes your perspective on life and makes you appreciate the ingenuity of humankind. 🙂

Carnival!

It’s bucket list check-off time! We’ve all read about it, we’ve all seen photos…in fact, I think the word is almost synonymous with the city of Rio de Janeiro, but this year, I had the thrill of attending Carnival 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

My tourist visa was up again in March, and I needed to cross the Peruvian border to renew it. In late January, I was debating between Argentina (Mendoza for some good wine) or Easter Island/Patagonia via Chile. Then my friends asked if I wanted to join them on their trip to Carnival.

The thought had never even crossed my mind…if you had asked me if I would ever in my entire life think I would have the opportunity to go to Carnival, I would’ve thought that me getting struck by lightning 5 times in a row would’ve been more probable. The only thing was, I was holding out for World Cup, which has always been at the top of my bucket list, but even more so since it’s in Brazil this year.

But peer pressure and just the fact that it is CAR-NI-VAL pushed me over the edge and I forked over the USD $600+ for a round trip ticket from Lima to Rio.

Getting to Rio and our beachfront apartment!

We had about a 5 hour flight from Lima to Sao Paolo, then a one hour flight to Rio. Arriving in the airport in Rio wasn’t hard; signs are marked, and we were able to pull Brazilian reales (~2.4 reales to 1 USD) out of the ATMs, although some ATMs didn’t accept our VISA cards.

We took a taxi from within the airport since we arrived close to midnight for a flat rate of ~70 reales (Carnival season, of course more expensive). We had rented an AirBnB flat about two minutes from the Copacabana beach and ~10 minute walk to Ipanema since we had 6 people in our group. I tell you, one of the best things you can EVER do if you are visiting Rio is to fork out a few extra dollars for a beach front apartment or hotel. It’s as simple as just walking out of your room and down to the beach; no buses, no transfers, no taxis. If you’re looking to spend time at the beach, this is THE way to go.

Apparently Paradise comes with full service

Ah…the beach, the beach. Need I say much about it? Well, as a Californian, I have spent plenty a time on the beach, but always had to lug towels and chairs and umbrellas and food/drinks. Not so in Brazil, my friends. For relatively cheap prices, you can get all of the amenities and luxury items you want and didn’t even know you wanted right on the beach: a chair + umbrella = 5 reales. A caipirinha, those delicious lime-based cocktails you’ve all heard about? 5 – 10 reales (depending on which beach; it’s more expensive on Ipanema). Forgot your towel? Get one for 10-15 reales. A hat? Any color you want, 15 reales. A tattoo? 30 – 70, depending on size (and oh, they’re not permanent, of course, so go ahead and get that dragon across your chest).

Left, Copacabana with Pao de Azucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) in the background; Middle, walking around Copacabana; Right, chillaxing on Ipanema beach

Notice the design on the ground. It’s different in Ipanema. I bought a lovely tunic with the design.

 

What do you need to buy? You can pretty much get whatever you want or need, even when you are sitting down at dinner on the beach.

 

 

One thing I loved about the differences between the two beaches was that Copacabana was calmer, quieter, but Ipanema was more hip, with more younger folks and stronger waves. It was definitely also more expensive in Ipanema; a caipirinha could easily cost 10 reales on the beach versus 5-8 in Copacabana.

Food, oh the food!

Of course, there are other things to do in Rio. Besides eating delicious food (we found the best sushi restaurant called Azumi in Copacabana…you can take the Metro station there to I believe Largo do Machado station and then walk a few blocks. Most authentic sushi I’ve had in S America, which rivaled that of SF restaurants. They also serve LYCHEE CAIPIRINHAS…yum!)

Besides the caipirinhas, there is also fresh coconut juice (chilled cold for your enjoyment), delicious fruit juices and good coffee. We also ate a lot of grilled meat and fish on the beach…Anthony Bourdain was right: food tastes better with sand between your toes. 😉

Oh, and let’s not forget the chocolate brigadeiros, a very simple yet tasty chocolate explosion in your mouth of flour, sugar and chocolate (best with a cup of coffee or an espresso). And of course, the pao de queijo, or cheese bread that is ubiquitous around Rio. So. Yum! The first pao de queijo I’ve ever had was actually in Seattle when my Brazilian colleague brought a bunch to our lab outing. That smell is just intoxicating, and having a nice fluffy ball of cheese bread is sure to make you ready to relax and chill on the beach.

 

Among others, breakfast is simple in Brazil: there was a delicious Acai smoothie, which you can add granola or bananas into (great and healthy breakfast food). I can see why the Brazilians are generally so fit by eating things like that for breakfast. There was also an interesting tapioca pancake, which is folded like an omelette usually over fruit and doused with syrup or honey.

Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain

Of course, you can’t miss going to see Christ the Redeemer (we got used to calling the statue “Big Jesus” at one point) and Sugarloaf Mountain.

You can simply catch a tourist bus for about 50 reales (picks up right off the beach in Copacabana or at the Largo do Machado Metro station). When we got on the bus, there was a ton of traffic as people just walk everywhere in the streets in costume, so it took more than an hour to get there when it normally takes about 30-45 minutes. But of course, a very spectacular view. Unfortunately for us, as soon as we got up there, the fog set in and Big Jesus all but disappeared, and there was very little view of the city below.

 

We also went to Sugarloaf Mountain at night. You take two gondolas, each with stops and restaurants/vistas at each stop. We went at night for a spectacular night view. We took a bus to Urca, the neighborhood where Pao de Azucar is around 7-7:30pm. Last gondola goes up at 8pm I believe. The buses stopped right by our flat, about two blocks north from the beach in Copacabana. Just cost 2.50 reales for one trip! They also have a guy actually taking your money, so you don’t have to worry about exact change (really enjoyed that part).

What we’ve all been waiting for: Sambadrome

Ok, so obviously you need to purchase your tickets in advance, and for us foreigners, unfortunately the easiest way is to pay an actual agency via online website to do it. There are cheaper tickets for Brazilian residents and nationals, but obviously we couldn’t get those tickets. So we forked over the $185 USD and used rio-carnival.net to get our tickets.

The one nice thing is that you don’t have to worry so much about your tickets. Fraud is apparently a huge problem, so through these agencies, you either have to go to their ticket office and actually present your ID to pick up the tickets before Sambadrome, or you can have a courier deliver it to your domicile for an additional fee.

Our tickets also cost more because we chose to go on a Monday. The best days are the Sunday and Monday of the first weekend, as the best schools play Carnival during those dates. If you go on the Friday or Saturday or after Monday, the prices drop pretty dramatically.

And the sections do matter as well. We chose sector 9 grandstands, which is where most of the local Brazilians sit. We also had the foresight to buy transfer tickets, as getting in and out of the stadium so late at night is not much fun without an organized transport. The actual Sambadrome stadium was about a 30 minute bus ride outside of Copacabana. It is definitely not safe outside the stadium, so paying an extra $45 USD for the transfer to and from our flat was really nice (actually the pickup point was just at a hotel close to our flat).

Our tickets (in green) and the transfer tickets

It was quite organized; each ticket had several stubs that would be taken off at each checkpoint at the stadium. When you exited, they scan your badge again to know that you have left.

 

Anyways though, basically the entire week you have parties in the street. We saw people dressed up in all sorts of costumes roaming the streets. It wasn’t restricted to the Sambadrome stadium; it was pretty much a big party everywhere you went. We even saw people go into cell phone offices in costume, going about their day. We wondered if they showed up at the office in costume. There were a lot of men, both gay and straight, dressed in drag. No one seemed really to care.

Parades would just pass by the street at all hours of the day and night, bands playing. People could join the party and dance in the street. It was pretty amazing to see, and nice that we had a balcony on our flat off Sa Ferreira, which was a busy street and gave us a great view of all the parties below.

A band that came around 4pm every day through Sa Ferreira; view from our balcony

We had to join in the fun and dress up too for Carnival.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you the experience, and these photos definitely do not do it justice. It is the grandeur of it all that really amazes you. 6 schools play a night, starting at 9:oopm, and each school takes about 100 minutes to complete the traverse through the stadium. There are grandstands that face each other, and it was just packed to the brim with people. Imagine that the stadium can hold around 70,000 people a night, and that Carnival lasted more than a week…it was just amazing.

Fireworks would announce the arrival of every school, which had a specific theme and a song that played over and over again. I could’ve done without the repetition. And of course, if you are hungry or thirsty, there are concession stands and foodies who sell you anything from hot dogs to beer to cotton candy.

  

The entire spectacle of it all is just pure creativity and imagination brought to life. We made it through 5 out of 6 schools, and left the stadium around 4:30am. It was truly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had so far, and definitely worth going.

Brazil in general treated us very well: good food, nice friendly people, fun parties, incredible parade. I often wonder what Rio is like outside of Carnival and World Cup, but I am not ever going to complain about having the chance to visit Rio during Carnival. OBRIGADA!!!

Addendum: For information on how to get your tourist visa to Brazil from the embassy in Lima, see my previous post here: http://wp.me/p3MtTW-3K

IRBs, Reagents and all that fun stuff

So I’m in my last month (literally!) here in Peru, and before I get to the fun posts, I figure I’d recap all the goodness of IRB, reagent importation and bureaucracy dealings for my colleagues. After 10 months of learning the ropes, I am much wiser and kinda wishing I had this information before I arrived. But as they say here, “Así es” (So it is…)

IRB: The first hurdle

I’ve been dealing with IACUC rather than the IRB through undergrad and grad school, so IRB dealings were a new thing for me. I’m not going to spend your time and mine about the writing of the IRB in detail as I gather that you are much more of an expert than I am. But I will say that the age-old saying “The early bird catches the worm” applies, but with a new twist. I’d like to amend that with “The early bird will catch the worm if jumps through all the right hoops and starts about a year early.” Because it’s not just the IRB for your US institution that you have to get past. You have to get past the IRB for each and every institute that your study may involve.

Oh yes, that means home country IRBs plus your international site IRB(s). If you work with a University that is running the samples but the samples are collected at a local hospital, you’ve already doubled your international IRB load. And of course, every IRB is different. At the University of San Marcos, I had some guidelines, but no real format. I was lucky enough to have an old IRB from a colleague as a guide. So tip #1: Ask your colleagues at the site you will work at for a previously approved copy of their IRB application.  But I guarantee, that doesn’t always guarantee approval.

Second thing was to start as early as you can, ideally several months before you arrive in country. Of course, most of us don’t have the luxury to do that, but it’s good to at least find out what your new in-country IRB is like. Tip #2: Start early…REALLY early. And ASK about the ENTIRE PROCESS from start to finish.

I nagged and nagged my institutions almost 3 months before I arrived, mainly because I had never done an IRB application. Some people will reply; likely you will not get any real responses until you land and have been at your institute, but that doesn’t mean you can’t at least get a background idea. Also, ask about what types of documents are needed, when the IRB meetings are, how many copies, what type of paper, what signatures, etc. There will be things you haven’t even imagined you will need, and every institute is different. Tip #3: Ask questions and be persistent. Keep at it, and as soon as you arrive, start asking questions again and call/set up meetings, anything to get the answers you need. It’s better that you annoy someone rather than have to wait for months and months (which unfortunately is a common occurrence for IRB approvals in any foreign country.

And at least for Peru and other countries that have a language other than English, remember to find a translator early if you’re not proficient. Even if you are proficient, a lot of people have turned to colleagues or professional translators for the technical lingo. Me, I turned to my colleagues, and even my private Spanish tutors to help me with my spanish. And oftentimes, your home institution will want a back-translation (especially consent forms). Tip #4: Take into account language requirements and whether translations are necessary.  At UW, they did sometimes ask to see both the Spanish and English version of your application.

And finally, the sage advice of the day: Tip #5: If you get approval at your international site, it may make things go smoother for your home institute IRB and vice-versa. But also be aware that you CAN submit applications to multiple institutes simultaneously, and they may ask for different changes.

Reagents for those of us who are lab rats

Once you’ve gotten your IRB approval, be aware that you may also have to get import permission for many types of reagents. This requires that you have an approved protocol, and again, each institute is different. For example, at the NGO that I work at, I needed approval from the Peruvian NIH and FDA to import my reagents. The NGO IRB approved my study within two weeks, but the NIH and FDA approvals took about 7-8 months to approve…! Without it, you have to pay a 30% tax for customs import, and it takes several weeks for the reagents to pass customs. That would have meant that my reagents would have been thawing out even if I paid the $900 customs tax, rendering about $3000 of reagents useless.

At least in Peru, you can ask NAMRU-6 to ship certain things via DPO/APO Military mail, which can by-pass some duty requirements, but that still doesn’t mean that you get your reagents any fast. Also, there are weight and liquid limits for using military mail, and also restrictions on what can be sent. So not always a viable option, but it is cheaper than sending via Fedex (I think I sent a bunch of PCR plates for $20 via NAMRU.) Tip #6: Check the import requirements for reagents early, and send in applications to any additional institutes as soon as possible.

Now the other option is to try to hand carry some of your stuff in your suitcase before you arrive. Not a problem if you are carrying plastic tubes or gloves; in fact, I highly recommend that you do that. Tip #7: Carry your plastics and dry materials in your suitcase.

If and after you get approval, you may also decide to carry your other reagents in your suitcase. For that, you will often need a letter of explanation from your home institute/program coordinator, and I would recommend carrying the MSDS sheets. But remember, they do scan all luggage from international flights into Peru, so if you get stopped for carrying a bunch of syringes, make sure you have a good explanation and the proper documentation.

Final thoughts

Unfortunately, you just have to be patient. I believe every fellow past and present has faced IRB obstacles. Having a second project that doesn’t require IRB approval was my saving grace; while I waited 8 months for my other approvals to come in, I was working on setting up the neurosyphilis diagnostic lab, which was only a courtesy service to the community that was not research. Or you can take up surfing lessons, but I gather most of us would rather have something to do.

Keep at it, be patient and persistent, and with a little bit of luck, it IS possible to get through the bureaucracy to your final destination. Buena suerte! Good luck!