After 54 hours of taking the bus with a night in Lima we finally arrived in Cusco. Because we were very tired, we took the first cheap hostel that had a kitchen, hot water and WiFi.
It was actually a small culture shock being in the south since we were so used to negotiating at the market and not being treated too much different than the locals. It seems that here in the south people are more used to tourists so we had to pay extra prices for the collectivos and had to get used to people actually understanding what we are saying when we talk German. We went to the Inca museum, the chocolate museum, the big Jesus statue, took a free walking tour and went hiking in the mountains. At the hostel we met another German couple, Gitti and Peter, with whom we spend a few evenings, including on Paulas birthday and Christmas. For Paulas birthday the special food was Serano gammon. On Christmas we even had Sauerkraut. All in all we had a fantastic time in Cusco and it is a very beautiful city. Next we are going to Puno and from there without a stop to Copacabana in Bolivia, right next to Lake Titikaka.
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Since we couldn’t do the Inca trail, we started our trip to Machu Picchu with a three day hike called the Salkantay Trail. It leads through the mountains over a pass with an altitude of 4628m. The trek is mostly alongside a river and you go through a few small villages along the way. The inhabitants are already used to the hikers and there are shelters in which you can build up your tent. After you hike up the pass, the path just goes down and the weather changes from very cold to kind of tropical. Paula got a bad sunburn on her nose. The best thing was that there is a kilometer or so where a lot of wild strawberries grow. We had to stop eating them or otherwise we wouldn’t have reached the next village. Our destination was Santa Teresa a small city which has hotsprings. The problem? No street signs so after 3 days of hiking where two consisted of going down we gave up and decided to go directly to Machu Picchu. To go to machu Picchu we first had to go to Hidroelectrica (yes it’s a water power plant). Since our feet hurt a lot we just took a taxi. From there we had to walk 2,5 hours alongside train tracks to reach the small city Aguas Calientes. Which has hotsprings too … the catch? They are so dirty that they shouldn’t be used by tourist’s. Along the train tracks there are some small restaurants that offer food and drinks, since most of the people walk to Aguas Calientes instead of taking the very expensive train. Finally in Aguas Calientes we found a very cheap hostel, bought our tickets for Machu Picchu and had the most expensive bad food in Peru. It was probably pretty funny to look at us walking, since our legs hurt so much from the trek. We nearly couldn’t go up the stairs to the hostel. The next day we had our alarm clock set for 4:30 am to go up to Machu Picchu, but since it was raining we took our time. After hiking up the 1400m to the ruins we had breakfast and then went looking for a guide. The next tour was a Spanish speaking tour, and because after 2 months in Peru we are pretty confident in our language skills we joined them. It was very interesting and the guide spoke very good English so he could fill in the blanks of what we didn’t understand. In the morning the ruins were a very mystical sight with the clouds going through the old stones, and at nine o’clock the clouds cleared up and we could look at the whole city. Our entrance ticket to Machu Picchu Mountain was only valid between 9 and 10, so right after the tour we hiked up the mountain. We were about to give up a few times, since our legs hurt so much but the sight from the top was reward enough. We decided against going back to Cusco the same day, stayed in the hostel for one day more, walked down to Hidroelectrica and took collectivos back to Cusco. A big thank you to Paula’s mum, who gave the trip to us as a birthday/Christmas present. Without her, we wouldn’t have gone. And we are back in Yurimaguas. The five days in the Reserve were just amazing. We had to start the trip late, since Paula got sick and we had to wait for her to stop throwing up. At first we wanted to take the collective boat to Lagunas, where the jungle tours start, but then we had to take the speedboat, since the collective boat still needed to be fueled up. We later found out from other people in the reserve that in the end it was 36 hours late. The speedboat of course was late, too, but only one hour.
With us there was a Canadian named Neil on the boat, who we met the evening before and who wanted to do the same tour as we. We ended up sharing two guides and a boat. After a night in Lagunas we were picked up in the morning by one of our guides and since Peruvians always have a big breakfast we ate fish and rice at the market. After a visit to the police to register we were driven out into the reserve. There we had to register again and then out we went in the wooden canoe. Right at the beginning we saw some giant tarantula nets and a monkey in the trees. We stopped at a place called Trancas to eat lunch and take a break and then went on to Gloria, our place to sleep for the night. There we met a lot of people from Spain and France, who told us about their trip, which was pretty useful since we only understood half of what the guides told us. On the second day there was a lot more paddeling, but we took a long break at a place called Pantheon. On the way there we saw some river dolphins. It was too hot to paddle and on top of that Max got sick and threw up all the time, which had our guides worried. We were already used to being sick, since a lot of the food here doesn’t agree with us. He was healthy again by the next day. In the next hut, late in the evening, we took a night tour with the canoe, where we saw some frogs, birds and our guide caught two crocodiles which we could hold. We also saw a puma in the bushes, but only the eyes and parts of the fur. Max and Neil each caught a fish with the spear, that the guides ate for breakfast. On the third day we started with a trip into the forest, where we saw more monkeys, parrots, crabs, spiders and a land turtle. Also, lots of mosquitoes. For the night we paddled back to Pantheon, where we took another night trip. On the night trip we were warned that there would be a lot of fish jumping out of the water, and also into the boat. Paula caught a fish with her face, when it jumped out of the water, hit her in the face and landed in the boat. Spears are for beginners. On the forth day we took another hike in the forest to a small lake. On the way we tried our first cacao fruit and there was a Liana swing where we could swing like Tarzan. Including the sounds. For the night we went back to Gloria. Since the waterlevel went down quite a bit, and we had to paddle upstream, the way back was quite hard for the two guides and Neil. On the last day, we got stuck quite a lot on logs in the river and the guides had to shovel a lot of water from the boat, that always got in through a small leak. And for the first time in 25 years, the one guide fell out of the boat, when his paddle got stuck on plants in the water. Back in Lagunas we drank a cold beer and on the next day at four o’clock in the morning we took the speedboat back to Yurimaguas. It was an amazing trip, mostly thanks to our guides, Juan and Joel who always discovered animals we would never have seen, and taught us a lot, despite the language barrier. Tomorrow we are leaving for Cusco, which is in the south of Peru and a two day busride away. We arrived yesterday in Yurimaguas after one week in Chachapoyas. Since we were both sick when we arrived, we just took it slow for a few days and relaxed. The hostel was awesome and we went out a few times in the evening with a group of people we met there. We cooked a lot while we were there and had two movie nights in our room, with popcorn and a white bed sheet for our projector. Apart from that we walked around the city a little bit and went to the nearby canon de sonche, which is a Canyon with a great view.
We went on two tours, one to Kuelap, and one to Gocta Falls. Kuelap is an centuries old stone fortress on top of a mountain, and has an impressive size. It is apparently called the “Machu Pichu of the north”. Since we are not going to Machu Pichu, we at least saw the northern equivalent. The guide could tell us a lot about the history and the different parts of it. The Gocta Falls were very impressive, but the best thing was the path, through a jungle forest. We decided not to swim in the waterfall basin, since we were still a little bit sick and wanted to be well when we arrived in the Amazon forest. Yesterday, on Max birthday, we took a bus for 10 hours to go to Yurimaguas. On the bus we had birthday-pancaces and Max blew out a lighter. In the hostel we decided not to go to Iquitos, since it is apparently like Lima in the jungle. We are going to take a tour from here to the Reservation National Pacaya-Samiria. Here it is 34 °C and the hostel is right at the waterfront. We just arrived in Chachapoyas after a few days in Huanchaco/Trujillo and a few days in Chiclayo. In Trujillo we spent two days looking at ruins and had some relaxation time at the beach. Of course we saw ChanChan and the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna. We ate cerviche for the first time, which is raw fish with lemon sauce. And for the first time in what feels like forever, we had real coffee in a small café called chocolate café. Since they mostly serve instant coffee in Peru, it was a real treat. Also, they serve the best chocolate cake we ever had. On the beach, Paula got a sunburn. But it was sunny☺. We met a lot of awesome people at the hostel, with whom we went out eating burgers every evening and doing all the other touristy stuff. In Chiclayo we had for the first time a hotel where there were no other people. We went to the big market and saw the sipan ruins. They just look like two big mountains, since nobody took care of them. But the museum was nice and had a lot of information. On the 8 hour drive from Lima to Huaraz we had the best bus trip ever. The busses here are so nice, and very comfortable. If we bought a first class ticket we would have the same seats like in a first class flight.
On the first day we took a short hike to a viewpoint from which we could see all of Huaraz and some snowy mountains. The same day we met Marina from Greece and Nora from Germany, who also wanted to do the Santa Cruz hike without a tour. We planned together for one day and bought food and other stuff and then started at 5 o’clock to take two collectivos to Vaqueria, where the trek started. Collectivos are small, old busses with images of saints on them. People apparently have to pray a lot when they get on them. The trek was amazing, even though it always started raining in the afternoon, so by the time we set up the tents we were soaked. But in the morning we could always dry our stuff. Max and Nora went swimming in a glacier lake at 4420 meters, while there was ice swimming on it. On the last two days of hiking Max hurt his knee so that we just had some slow last days. We went to Chavin de Huantar and one of the glaciers at 5000m. On the bus to Chavin Paula sadly lost her Panda hat. RIP. Next we are going to go to Trujillo, a city further north known for ruins and surfing. We just spend one week in Lima, the enormously big city. But first things first. When we got to Miami, our last stop before Lima, the flight was overbooked and they were looking for people who were willing to stay behind. Since we are in no hurry, we volunteered. In the end, there was enough space for all the passengers and we got upgraded to first class.
Arriving in our hostel we got our space in the 8person room. On the first day we joined a free walking tour of downtown Lima where we could see some historical buildings and have a first touch with Peruvian culture. But we were also told that Lima is very western in comparison with the rest of the country, so this should be a good place to get used to Peru slowly. During the week we went downtown with a lot of different groups and people we met at the hostel to see the botanic garden, the catacombs and the fountain park. It is amazing how many different nationalities there are here at the hostel, from all over the world. Max is taking a Spanish class right now to be able to have a basic conversation here, since most Peruvians don’t speak English. Our next stop is going to be Huaraz, from where we will do the Santa Cruz trek and perhaps some other treks in the mountains. We have to first stay in the city for a few days to get used to the height, since Huaraz is at 3000m and the highest point of the Santa Cruz treck is at 4700m. From Huaraz we are going up north and then to Iquitos. |
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Oktober 2016
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