Peru september 2005

Tips for traveling in Peru:

  • Don't just take the Lonely Planet. Hostals, restaurants and travel agencies that are mentioned in it can be crowded and sometimes raise their prices.
  • As you can read below, we used the bigger cities Cusco, Puno and Arequipa as base camps from where we could visit most Peruvian highlights.
  • 1 Euro = 4 soles, 1 USD = 3,2 soles, there are plenty of money dispensers in the bigger cities.
  • Traveling by bus is very cheap (about 3 soles per hour). Taxis are also cheap (usually 2 or 3 soles).
  • Peruvian taxi drivers and salesmen, especially those selling tourist stuff, have the tendency to lower their prices when you show your doubts. Sometimes walking away can be a good strategy as well.
  • Don't waste your time in Lima, it's always grey and misty and the city is known to be quite dangerous.
  • Be very cautious when you arrive at an airport. Cheaters are waiting for you while you are in doubt what to do and where to go. In Lima, make sure that you are picked up by your hostal or a call-taxi. In other cities just deny the crowds at the airport exit and pick a taxi yourself instead of letting a taxi driver pick you.
  • Dinner in a restaurant is easier and cheaper (around 10 soles) than cooking your own meals. Some restaurants even serve tasty meals for 3 soles. A glass of Coca Cola can be used to kill most unwanted bacteria.

 

In the morning of september 1st we took the bus and train to Schiphol Amsterdam airport. At eleven KLM flight 741 took off for a 14 hours flight towards Bonaire and final destination Lima, Peru. In Lima we were welcomed by Toon Meeuwsen, a Dutchman who runs a hostal and a travel agency. When we arrived at his hostal, Toon served us our first cup of coca tea. For the next morning, Toon had booked a flight to Cusco for us. We flew with Tans Peru, famous for it's frequent crashes (check Accident Database). At first we passed Cusco and flew further to Puerto Maldonado in the Peruvian jungle. After a short stop (Is this Cusco??) we took off back to Cusco. Thanks to wrong information in our lonely planet, we payed 10 soles instead of the usual 2 soles for our taxi to the city center. In Cusco we stayed in hostal Santa Maria, close to the Plaza the Armas (photo).
In the afternoon, we already walked around a bit in Cusco. At a nice market we bought our first Peruvian woollen cap. Because of the altitude (3200 m), we were not very fit yet. After a good night's sleep, we were much better and ready to visit the Inca ruins of Chinchero (3700 m). We traveled together with the peruvians with the very cheap local bus (1 hour drive, 1,5 soles).
The next day, we took the bus to Pisac. We first had a look at the market (photo). After that we visited the Inca ruins of Pisac. This is the second most beautiful Inca-site after Machu Picchu. The bus back to Cusco was very crowded and I lost my good old Swiss army knive to a pickpocket. The next day we visited the ruins of Sacsayhuaman near Cusco. That afternoon we visited some museums that were included in our 'tourist billet'. We also booked our train trip to Machu Picchu for the next day.
Very early in the next morning we took the train to Aguas Calientes, a village with a hot spring near the ruins of Machu Picchu. The next morning we took the first bus (5:30 am) to Machu Picchu (photo). Although were were not alone, the site was still quite empty and we had plenty of time to explore the beatiful ancient city. We also climbed the steep Huaynu Picchu (photo background) for a magnificent view over Machu Picchu and surroundings. In the afternoon we walked back to Aguas Calientes and took the train to Ollantaytambo. The next day we visited the Inca ruins of Ollantaytambo. After lunch, we took the bus back to Cusco.
The next morning it was time to move on after an whole week of visiting Inca ruins around Cusco. We took the bus to Puno, at the Titicaca lake. The bus trip took us gradually to our altitude record of 4335 m. The next day we went on a two days boat trip on the itikaka lake. On the first day we visited two of the floating islands of Uros (photo). The Uros people really create everything out of reed; islands, houses, boats and even food. After our visit we traveled further on to the (non-floating) island of Amantani. We were welcomed by the local families who would be our hosts for the night. We climbed the highest point of the island and after the descend and dinner we had to dance with our local family. The next day we went to Taquile island. We walked across the island and enjoyed the view over the Titikaka lake and the nice caracteristic clothes of the locals. Their hats revealed wether they were single or married. After a nice lunch with trout from the lake we took our boat back to Puno.
The next morning we travelled to Copacabana, on the shores of the Bolivian part of the Titikaka lake. The crossing of the boarder was an adventure on its own. Copacabana is a very nice pilgrimage village. There's a beautiful church with a Maria statue inside that is said to change colors every now and then. That afternoon we spent some time looking around and shopping (everything is even cheaper than in Peru). The next morning we took the boat to the island of the Sun. After a very nice walk upon the highest ridge of the island (photo) we spent the night in a brand new hostel. The hostal wasn't even finished yet and the strong cold wind blew right through it. It was even snowing a bit that night. Luckily we had already bought us already some nice and warm Alpaca woollen caps. The next day we travelled back to Copacabana and further back to Puno.
After another night in Puno, we took a bus to Arequipa. The seven hours bus trip was beautiful as we drove through a spectacular snow covered moutainious area. After arrival in the nice and friendly city Arequipa, we took a taxi to the hostal La Reyna. From the roof of this hostal we had a magnificent view over Arequipa and the mighty El Misti volcano (photo).
The next morning we visited the giant monastry Santa Catalina (photo), which was situated next to our hostal. We spent three hours in this impressive monastry with red-brown and light blue painted walls. In the afternoon we booked a three days tour to the Colca canyon for the next days. Then we visited the museum where the famous Juanita is exposed. Juanita was sacrificed by the Inca's on Peru's highest vulcano, the Ampato (6380 m). She is beautifully conservated by frost. After an eruption of a nearby vulcano the black ashes fell on the Ampato and caused Juanita's snowcover to melt. She fell into the crater, but was found a few hours later by scientists. That night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset from the roof of our hostal. We met a Dutch couple who had coincidently booked the same trip at the same office as we did.
The four of us were picked up at the hostal by a Peruvian guide the next morning. We picked up two English girls and left for our three days trip to the Colca canyon. First, we had to drive six hours to Cabanaconde. Here we started to hike down into the 1000 m deep valley. After crossing the river over a scary rotten bridge (the new bridge was already in construction), we soon reached the guides parents' house where we would spent the night. We had fresh trout from the river for dinner. The next day started with pancakes. After this nice breakfast we started a three hours hike trough the valley to the 'oasis'. This was a very relaxed place with many palm trees, flowers and swimming pools.
The next morning we were waked at 2:30 by our guide. After breakfast we climbed 1000 m up back to Cabanconde. The moon provided enough light and we did not need our head lights. After a second breakfast in Cabanaconde, we took the bus to 'El cruz del condor'. At this site, condors are flighing around every morning from 7 till 9. The condors came really close and were really spectacular (photo). After this highlight we took the bus to Chivay were we had a bath in a pool with nice hot water from a hot spring. After this bath we slept all the way back to Arequipa.
The next day I started climbing the El Misti Volcano (5825 m). This would by far be the highest place I've ever been. While Hanneke stayed in Arequipa and went shopping and relaxing, I was picked up by a guide. On the first day we climbed about 1000 meter to the base camp at 4600 m. While climbing we met the 86 years old El Misti guide who is honorary mentioned in the lonely planet. After arriving at basecamp we set up the tent that I shared a tent with an Austrian guy. The view was spectacular, especially during sunset. We could see the many lights of Arequipa deep down below us. After a freezing and windy night without any sleep we were 'waked' at 2 o'clock the next morning. After some bread and of course a cup of coca tea we started climbing. Just after sunset we arrived at the El Misti's summit (photo). Again, the views were incredibly beautiful. The decend went very fast as we could slide over a snowfield all the way back to the base camp. After a break we walked further down to the bus that took us back to Arequipa.
The next day we took a local bus and visited a village called Yura. We walked from the new to the old village through a green river valley in the desert. From the old village we took a bus back to Arequipa. The next day we spend some more time in Arequipa and at 5 pm we took a bus to Nazca. The trip took about 12 hours and we arrived in Nazca at 5 am. A peruvian trying to sell us a flight trip above the famous Nazca lines helped us finding the hostal that we had chosen from our guidebook. After some more sleep, we were fit enough again to go and explore the city. We found some travel agencies and booked a trip to the Chauchilla cemetry (photo) for the same afternoon and to the Nazca lines for the next morning. First we went to a museum about the Nazca lines and the different cultures that had inhabited the area. We had lunch in the nice garden that was part of the museum. That afternoon we went to the meeting point for our trip to the Chauchilla cemetrie. There we met our private taxi driver and tour guide Leo, who first took us to a pottery and a place where they separated gold from rocks. Then he took us Chauchilla, where a sand storm was going on. Leo stayed in his taxi while we rushed from grave to grave. The skeletons were al looking eastwards, worshipping the holy sun for eternity. Quite impressive, although the graves were looted before archeologist found them. When we got back in the taxi the sand was everywhere in our clothes, hair and ears.
The next morning we had our second tour to the Maria Reiche museum and a tower from which to Nazca figures can be seen. This time we had our private taxi driver and a tour guide. First we went to the museum that is located in Maria Reiches old house and research centre. Maria spent a big part of her live studying the Nazca lines and trying to figure out what their purpose was. She concluded that they had to be some sort of giant astronomical calender. Others still believe that aliens used them as air strips. After a tour through the museum we went to the tower. From there we could see the 'Hands' and the 'Tree'. Several other features and some endless straight Nazca lines (photo) could also be seen from the tower. After returning to Nazca, we took a bus to Ica. Two wounded people were sitting next to us. When we passed two crashed and totally destroyed buses, they told us that they were in one of those busses when they collided that night.
In Ica we found a hostel and had dinner in a fast food chicken restaurant. No good choiche we would find out later. The next day we walked to a famous museum with a lot of nice mummies, clothes and pottery made by different ancient cultures. I already started to feel a little bit sick. After lunch we took a taxi to the nearby oasis (photo). This is a nice tourist resort between the highest dunes of Latin America. That afternoon I really got sick. While I was threwing up several times and trying to get some sleep in between, Hanneke made a desert crossing trip with fast buggies.
The next morning we had the best breakfast of our stay in Peru. In the garden of our hostal, accompanied by two parrots (photo), we had bread, marmelade, banana juice, eggs, tea and mixed fruits. As I managed to keep everything inside, we decided to climb the highest dune next to the oasis. After the descend on the other side and an ice cream at a terrace, we took a taxi back to Ica. There we took a bus to Pisac. The next day we visited the Islas Ballestras. There we spotted pelicans, dolphins, penguins, sea lions and a lot of birds. In the afternoon we visited the Paracas peninsula. Next day we took a bus back to Lima and went back to Toon's hostal. We spent our last day sightseeing and souvenir shopping in Lima. The next day we left Peru with an extra bag full of souvenirs and a lot of great memories.

 

 

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