Travel Blog: Day 27

Ok let's see...what has happened since my last post? In Puno I made a boat tour to the famous floating islands of the Uros. They were really interesting to see but I must say the Lonely Planet was right about the commercialization of the islands. When we left the women sang something in their native language for us (Aymara) before switching to "Vamos a la playa" and in the end the all waved and said in unison "Hasta la vista baby!"

After that we went to the island of Taquile where we hiked a little and learned some stuff about the local culture.

The next day I went to Copacabana - a small village on the Bolivian coast of Lake Titicaca. I spent most of the day reading before I had some Mexican food for dinner. This stuff must have been really bad because it made me sick for the next 4-5 days. That is why I wanted to get the hell out of that place and went directly to La Paz the next day...missing to visit the famous Isla del Sol.

At first I really didn't like La Paz too much but that was partly contributed to the lousy weather and me being sick. When both these conditions got better I actually came to like La Paz. It is really hectic and there is lots of traffic (and thus lots of exhaust fumes) but the setting between the two mountain ranges is spectacular.

Then I met some other travellers that I got along with really well and we decided to spend two days in a small village called Sorata to relax for a few days. We stayed at an eco-lodge called "Altai Oasis". It was a wonderful place with lots of green grass, colorful flowers and an army of animals: 4 dogs - including 2 puppies, geese, chicken, ducks and ducklings, two llamas, kitten, two cows, a sheep, a goat and probably some more that I didn't see.

On our first night we tried to cook some pasta....in a a kind of camping kitchen where you had to make a fire to cook upon. It was great fun even if the result really was not that great :-)

The next day Oliver (England) and I hiked to the cave of San Pedro. It was an easy but amazing walk with ever changing views of the surrounding mountains. The cave was quite impressive, too, but the pictures didn't turn out very well.

After going back to La Paz we went to have dinner at one of the fanciest restaurants in La Paz because it was Joanna's (US) birthday. We had a fabulous meal for less than 10 Euro each.

Tonight I will take the night bus to Uyuni to see the the famous salt flats. Upon my return to La Paz I only have one more thing to do before I fly to Rio de Janeiro: Cycling down the "World's most dangerous road" also known as the "Death Road". This sounds way worse than it actually is because nowadays there is hardly any traffic on the road and the cyclists have it basically to themselves. The amazing thing is that on the 65 km the road descends almost 3000 meters and thus includes several vegetation zones from the altiplano to the rainforest.

Pseudophilosophischer Gedanke des Tages #7

Der Weg mag ja manchmal das Ziel sein - der Rueckweg hingegen ist es selten.

Travel Blog: Day 17

The first thing I did after writing the last post was buying a new camera. Got myself a Canon again and so far I am totally happy with it. After relaxing a couple days I started my trip to Machu Picchu. Since I didn't have enough time for one of the four day treks I chose the "easy way", meaning that I would go to Aguas Calientes (the town close to Machu Picchu) by bus and train and would visit the site the next day and return afterwards.

People who want to climb up Waynapicchu need to get up early, because only 400 people are allowed to go up there each day. So I got up at 3:30 and started my hike up to the entrance of Machu Picchu around 3:50. It was still absolutely dark then but by the time I reached the entrance at around 5:10 it was getting light. I was among the first 40 people in line so I got my ticket for Waynapicchu.

Machu Picchu really is a mystical place that somehow radiates a peaceful aura. After the 2 hours tour I had some time to relax before I hiked up Waynapicchu at around 10. It was quite an exhausting way up and I wouldn't recommend it if you are not fit and healthy, but the view from up there is amazing.

I also found two hidden treasures in Machu Picchu - 2 Geocaches ;-)

When I came back to Cusco I checked in at a different hostel because the other one was a little too quiet. I ended up at Loki which some people claim to be among the top 10 hostels in the world. It is a really fun place and I finally got the chance to party a little :-)

So now I am in Puno at the Lake Titicaca and I need to make some plans for the next days. This town is located at an altitude of about 3800 m/12500 feet so I have to take it easy. The air is pretty thin up here.

Some things I experienced so far on my travels:

• Local drinks: I've tasted some of the local beers and most of them are quite drinkable. Pisco is a popular liquor made of grapes which is also the main ingredient of a cocktail called "Pisco Sour". Both pure and in a cocktail it tastes pretty good...but I have been told by a Peruvian that the cocktail is for women only (most tourists don't know or don't care).
  Coca tea or "mate de coca" is also really popular and is said to have a number of positive effects like reducing the symptoms of altitude sickness, providing energy and suppressing hunger and thirst. You can either buy tea bags or just throw some real coca leaves into hot water.
  Only "decocained" tea is allowed to be exported to the USA.
• Local cousine: I've already written some time ago that I tried some of the local dishes. In the meantime I had the chance to try some alpaca meat but not any guinea pig so far (Meerschweinchen). The later is rather expensive.
• Moon and stars: The moon down here is "the wrong way around", meaning that the waning moon has the shadow on the left side and not on the right side like in the norhtern hemisphere. Also especially in Colca Canyon I was able to see a fantastic starry sky because there was no "light contamination" for miles around.
• Traffic: I still haven't figured out the traffic here. The streets are full of taxis (an in Lima minibusses) and they pass each other all the time within the city. I also don't know who has the right of way but it always seems to work out somehow. As a pedastrian you have to be extremely careful as vehicles do not care about pedestrians at all.

As always: click on the picture to get to the gallery.

Travel Blog: Day 11

Hey there, just arrived in Cusco. But first things first. I left Lima on a nightbus to Arequipa where I spent several days. The bus was amazingly comfortable...if you paid extra for the VIP seats. Considering that I would be on the bus for 15 hours I didn't mind paying a little extra. It was kind of like flying first class (or how I imagine flying first class would be like). They served dinner and breakfast, handed out pillows and blankets and you could recline the seats almost to a horizontal position.

When I arrived in Arequipa I started speaking to a girl that I overheard talk German on her cell phone. She told me she would work some time for an organization that helps the poor children around Arequipa. I kind of sticked with her and the other volunteers for the day and watched them help some of the children with their homework (as you can see in some of the pictures). I would have loved to help more but my Spanish still needs improving.

The next two days I walked around Arequipa and visited the beautiful Monasterio Santa Catalina. I also got to see "Juanita", an Inca girl that was sacrificed by the Incas about 500 years ago in order to appease the mountain god.

After that I went on a 3 day trip to the Colca Canyon where we did some serious hiking through breathtaking landscapes. We even saw several condors. So after seeing the smallest bird in the Monasterio the day before (a humming bird) I got to see the largest one just the day after.

I have not yet any picutures to show you of the canyon because my camera broke the day before the trip. I will try to get a new one today.

Enjoy the pictures!

Travel Blog: Day 6

Just a short one today...since I need to get some breakfast now. I started a "A Picture a Day" gallery (another good idea I just stole from somebody else).
Here is the link.

I am still trying to figure out whether it's time to shave or not - what do you think?

Travel Blog: Day 4

So this is the fourth day of my trip. I arrived safely in Lima in the late afternoon of Oct 3rd. The 12 hour flight really wasn't funny and Iberia really did not impress me. I got picked up at the airport by a cab that brought me to my hostel. The cab driver spoke pretty good English and so we talked about football (or"soccer"for my American readers), Peru, beer and the local cuisine. At the hostel I met some other nice travellers and had the chance to try the local beer as well as pisco - the local licor.

On the next day I started exploring the vicinity. The district the hostel is located at is called Miraflores and it seems to be where all the tourists and rich people live. Everythings is really clean and has a strong American or western influence. I strolled along the coast up to the LarcoMall which is build directly into the cliffs and helped myself to plenty of local food at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I was brave and tried some of the local dishes. Most of them were actually pretty good...but neither do I know the names of the dishes nor do I know their ingredients.

Later on I visited the pre-inca pyramid of Huaca Pucclana. Quite impressive to see a site like this in the middle of a city. I also made contact with some naked dogs. Apparently the only peruvian dog race is the "Peruvian Hairless Dog". Interestingly many of the "normal"dogs in Miraflores wear clothes...

Yesterday I did some more cultural stuff: visting the museum "Raffael Larco Herrera" , the cathedral and the Monasterio de San Francisco. At the latter I got a private tour as I was the only participant of the English tour. I saw thousands and thousands of bones in the catacombs of the monastery. Sadly you weren't allowed to take pictures. The bones you see in the pictures were in the cathdral. At night I went with two fellow travelers from Israel to the district of Barranco, which is famous for its bohemian and romantic athmosphere. We ended up in a club that had some really good live jazz music.

What else is there to tell? Lima is colder than I thought. Considering some of my future travel destinations I might not have packed enough warm clothes.

Today I am just taking it slowly and I will hop on a 15 hours bus to Arequipa in the afternoon.

Enjoy the pictures....click on the one in this post and you will be directed to the gallery.

Travel Blog: Day 1

The day of departure has finally arrived. I am writing these lines at the Madrid airport while waiting for my connecting flight to Lima.
I have made reservations for a hostel in Lima for three nights and have arranged to be picked up at the airport. I do not have any more plans right now. Just want to get over the jetlag and explore the city. I will keep you updated about where I am going after that.