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UPDATE (Jan 10th, 2009): PICTURES FROM MY TRIP TO PERU

 

I am not sure whether I will have enough Internet access to keep my peruvian diary updated from now on, but the plan is to go to Paracas National Reserve on January 11th, spend the last 3 days chilling in Lima on my last $20 (next time I travel, I´ll try to plan my finances better) and fly back to the states at 1 am on January 15th. What a trip

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Day 1. Lima Dec 26th, 2008

So we got in late last night (got to our hostel around 3 am). My first impression of Lima was that it is a lot like a spanish-speaking version of Sevastopol (Ukraine), but now, at the end of my first day here, I can see what makes Lima unique. The cute little houses that come in all colors of the rainbow, the crazy cab drivers that make every ride a near-death experience, and, most of all, the people – I haven`t been able to accurately describe my impression of them, but it is definitely a positive one.

In Lima we are staying at a place called the Miraflores House, which belongs to the guy named Francis. Francis lives on the 2nd floor (the hostel is on the 1st), and does everything to make you feel at home – he spent a couple of hours today just explaining the bus system in Lima, what’s there to see, to do, to eat, which areas to avoid, etc. He also seems to know (and be known by) everyone you could possibly need during your stay in Peru:

- You want to exchange money? Ask for Carlos at the Pizza Hut around the corner.

- If you get hungry in Chinatown, try to find Sonia – her food is the best.

- Nasca lines? Let me call my friend there…

If you ever go to Lima, I definitely recommend this guy`s hostel. The bedrooms smell a bit funny (in a pot-like way – not sure why, because I didn´t see anyone smoking in the house), and there are occasional issues with cold water, but thats a common problem in Lima, so I don´t hold it against him. Plus, theres nothing more refreshing than a cold shower. Anyway, Francis is amazingly helpful and speaks very good English – which isnt something you often find in Peru.

If you want to go to South America, the first thing you need to learn is numbers in Spanish (unless you want to use combinations of your fingers/toes every time you want to buy something). The Frommers guidebook has the numbers, as well as a few random expressions. Last night I managed to put together “What time is it?” and “I want to eat” to ask the hostel`s watchman what time they serve breakfast.

Recommendations of the day: Madre Natura is a very nice organic/vegetarian store/restaurant in Miraflores (Av. Commandante Espinar). Also, even if you don´t drink alcohol, try Pisco – I actually almost liked it (that was the first time I could take more than a sip of alcohol at a time).

Day 2. Lima Dec 27th, 2008

Last night we went out to a night club with some Brazilians we met at the hostel. I am generally not into nightclubs and such, but I guess you have to go to at least one in order to get a full Lima experience. The music was good (although I didn´t really know how to dance to it), and the atmosphere again reminded me of Sevastopol.

Today I got to sleep in a little (which was much needed after coming home at 3 am), and then we had quite an adventurous bus ride. The bus (collectivo) system here is probably what reminds me of Sevastopol the most. The most popular means of transportation here are mini-vans that go all over town for 50-75 cents. Once the collectivo reaches a bus stop, the guy who collects the money yells out the general direction of where the collectivo is headed – even though it is usually written on the mini-van itself.

Our trip involved changing collectivos at a place that neither of us could pronounce properly, so when I say it was an adventure, I mean it. Much to my surprise, we somehow made it to the Pachacamac area of Lima (about an hour away from Lima Centro), only to find ourselves in the sketchiest part of Lima I´ve been to so far, and the Pachacamas ruirns were nowhere to be seen. That was one of those (many) moments when I really wished I could speak Spanish… In the end we found this motortaxi (somewhat similar to indian rickshaws, I guess) that agreed to take us to the ruins for 10 soles. Sidenote: in Lima, 10 soles can take you from Miraflores to Lima Centro (a 3 hour walk). So this was a complete rip-off – we got to the ruins in under 10 minutes. Moral of the story: always devide the original price the cab driver asks for by at least 2.

Overall, the ruins were worth the trip. We ended up joing a Peruvian-German couple there (Jeromchen, guess what – the guy was from Duesseldorf!) and an American couple that we met at the Miraflores House. I also got to see a lama for the first time, which is the second cutest animal I know – right after Saathi , and a Peruvian hairless dog. At first I thught the poor thing was burned and/or sick, but apparently that`s just how they are – bold except for the cute little mohawk on their head and a fluffy tip of their tail.

One thing I didn`t have time to write about yesterday was our visit to Museo de la Nacion (sp?). It wasn`t particularly spectacular – éxcept for the photography exposition on the 6th floor. It was mostly Peruvian history of the 80 – early 90, the Shining Path, all sorts of terrorist attacks and massacres, student movements, etc. The photos were extremely graphic, I saw a few people with tears in their eyes. But you couldn´t look away, it was that powerful. In one of the rooms they had huge portraits of people who were kidnapped/murdered/tortured at that time, and a voice recording of their relative`s testimony corresponding to each person. They were all playing at once, and you had to stand right next to the portrait to be able to hear what the person was saying. It was all in Spanish, of course, so I had to read the signs to understand what happened, but the voices were just unbelievably realistic, it felt as if the room was full of people each telling their own story. I took a picture of one the portraits, a young Peruvian guy; the testimony was given by the victim`s mother, who was crying the whole time she was speaking…

On a brighter note, we went to the park in Miraflores that Frommer refers to as “Lovers park” – and now I can see why. There is a huge statue of a couple making out, and combined with beautiful view of the ocean and palmtrees against Lima`s nighttime sky, it creates a pretty romantic atmosphere. Everywhere you look, you see couples, couples, couples – if this was in the states, somebody would get sued on a daily basis (making out can get pretty explicit in Peru – I`ve never seen some of this stuff done in public anywhere else). I wish Jerome was with me But I guess we`ll just have to make this up once we are both back in the states

Day 3. Cusco Dec 28th, 2008

Got to Cusco this morning. The hostel isn`t that great, especially compared to the one we stayed at in Lima, but its also a bit cheaper – only $7/night, that includes breakfast. Prices generally seem much lower here than those in Lima – makes sense, I guess. There are a lot more indian (I don`t know whether you can use the term native american with respect to Peru? I guess you can) people here, many are dressed in traditional clothes (Arpit and I have been taking lots of pictures, I`ll post them on this page when I am back in the states), you see women carrying their babies in colorful backpack-like blanckets on their backs all over the place. I plan on sleeping for most of today (except for maybe visiting the Temple of the Sun), and tomorrow morning we are going to Machu Pichu.

Day 4. Aguas Calientes Dec 29th, 2008

Last night we bumped into Brazilians we met back in Lima. Its a small country

We took a walk around Cusco, which looks even nicer at night than it does during the day, and went to a restaurant overlooking one of the main Plazas. Somehow we had the impression that papa rellena (stuffed potato) was supposed to be vegetarian, so we ordered it. It was delicious, except that there were a few pieces, which I initially took for mushrooms, that turned out to be beef. Oops

I talked to one of the guys working at our hostel´s reception – he comes from a family of eight, and his first language is Quechua – which apparently is wide-spoken not only in Peru, but throughout the whole Andean region. The Highlands of Peru are an amazing combination of pre-Colombian and spanish influences, much more so than Lima, from what I could see.

Today we took an early morning train to Aguas Calientes – a village not far from Machu Picchu. I was planning to go to Machu Picchu both today and tomorrow, but the tickets are pretty costly – $20 entrance (thats the price with the student discount) + $14 bus service from Aguas Calientes, and I figured that paying all of that twice was out of my budget. so I spent most of today walking around Aguas Calientes, and ended up having a great time. It is probably my favorite place out of the three I visited so far. All of the locals seem to be of Andean Indian descent (what could be more appropriate for the Inca city nearby?), but there also are plenty of tourists from all over the world. The two main streets are filled with cute little restaurants and souvenir shops, there´s live music in the evening, the main plaza is a hangout for tourists and locals alike, and has an internet cafe with one of the best chocolate cakes I´ve ever had. Another thing is that in Cusco (and also in Lima, to some extent) I´ve seen a lot of beggars and homeless-looking people, whereas in Aguas Calientes locals seem to be doing well and generally pretty happy. Why wouldn´t they be, I´d love to live here too

Day 5. Machu Picchu/Aguas Calientes Dec 30th, 2008

Day 6. Sacred Valley/Cusco Dec 31st, 2008

I met a bunch of Russians at breakfast in Aguas Calientes this morning. I always like meeting Russians abroad, makes me feel at home Unfortunately we couldn´t talk too long because they were leaving for Machu Picchu and we had to catch an early train to Ollanta.

Ollanta (Ollantaytambo) is what you would imagine a typical South American village to be. The nature was absolutly stunning – Sacred Valley (of which Ollantaytambo is a part of) is surrounded by gorgeous green mountains, with cloud-like bits of white fog on top of each one. So we spent some time exploring the Inca ruins in the area, and then headed for Urubamba, a slightly bigger village/town. One thing I noticed is that the further you go into the Highlands and away from the cities, the higher the percentage of native americans in the population. I am pretty sure the only remotely europan looking people we saw in Ollanta and Urubamba were tourists from abroad. also, many more people dress traditionally, and do so on a daily basis (unlike some you see in Cusco, who dress in pretty local outfits to have you take a picture with them for a tip).

From Urubamba Arpit went off to some other archeological site, and I was too tired from hopping around Machu Picchu the day before, so I took the bus back to Cusco. It was an interesting ride through all sorts of little villages scattered around the Sacred Valley. I was pretty (although not entirely) sure that Cusco was the last stop, but at the end still had to put together all the Spanish I learned in the last week to ask the señorita sitting next to me to tell me when we get close to Plaza San Francisco. Peruvians are extremely helpful and friendly, especially when you get lost.

Day 7. Cusco Jan 1st, 2009

I have been pretty whiny today. It started raining last night, I woke up this morning, thinking I was getting a cold, and it was still raining. Arpit and I took a bus to the nearby ruins of Tambomachay. Some guys kept staring at me on the bus, and got off at Tambomachay (a.k.a. middle of nowhere) as well, which made me feel pretty uncomfortable. Anyway, instead of taking a 1.5 hour hike in the rain to another Inca site with Arpit, I took the bus back to Cusco.

Things improved as the day went on – first, I met a girl from Canada, who has been travelling all over South America for the past 4 months, including some pretty dangerous places, like the Ecuador-Colombian border and certain parts of Bolivia (added to my to-do list: see Che Guevara´s grave!) And she was travelling all by herself. She gave me some tips for what to do in Arequipa, which is where me and Arpit will be splitting up in 5 days.

Then it stopped raining, and I took yet another nice walk around Cusco. Plaza San Francisco, as usual, was full of Peruvian families and young couples – Peruvians are sooooooo affectionate, cute as it is, it makes me feel lonely…

Day 8. Cusco Jan 2nd, 2009

The weather was great in the morning, so I went to Saqsaywaman (also known as “sexy woman”), which is another Inca site right outside of Cusco. Had a rather unpleasant surprise when I got back to Cusco – I tried getting cash from an ATM, and it said my card number was invalid (?) Then my card also got denied at a restaurant it worked at before, so I thought there was something wrong with it. And thats my only means of getting money in Peru :-O Fortunately, the Canadian girl I met at the hostel suggested another ATM and it worked there, so all is well

In the evening I went to a performance at the Qosco Center of nmative Art, which was music and dances typical for the Cusco region. It was nice, and not as touristy as you would imagine – most of the audience was Peruvian. Met a German couple there; they´ve been to Russia and Ukraine a few times – in the 80ies, early 90ies, and recently. It was interesting to hear what changes they saw every time they visited.

 

 

 

Day 10. Puno, lake Titicaca, and Isla Taquile Jan 4th, 2009

I remember when I was a kid, my brother once told me there was a lake called Titicaca. I couldnt believe anyone could come up with a name like that, so he had to show it to me on the map.  And today, years later, I finally got to visit it

Its rainy season here in the Highlands, but this morning was as beautiful as it gets – warm, sunny, hardly any wind. We got to the port area early in the morning, and hopped on a boat for, as we were told by the guy wh collected our money, a day tour of lake Titicaca. The boat took off, and the guide started giving some basic facts about the lake – world´s largest navigable body of water (the place really is waaaay above the sea level – the air is noticably thin), etc… By the time he got to our program, we were already half an hour away from the shore. And thats when we found out the boat we were on was going on an overnight tour, which would make us late for the bus to Arequipa we are supposed to take tomorrow. After explaining the situation to the guide, we were dropped off at one of the nearby Uros Floating Islands (made by the Uros Indians from totora reeds).

I posted some pictures of the place – it is pretty hard to describe, but is definitely worth seeing. There we met a couple from Holland, who turned out to be in the same situation as us. A few minutes later, another boat showed up – this time, one going for a full day tour only.

It took us about 3 hours to get to one of the main natural islands – Taquile, but both the views and the weather were beautiful, so I didnt mind.

Again, you´ll just have to enjoy the pictures – my poor writing skills wouldnt do this fascinating community justice. During lunch, our guide was entertaining us by explaining the significance of the local dress:

¨Red hat means married man. Red and white means single man. Stripes means divorced… Haha, no, stripes means political leader. Here on Taquile single man cannot be political leader, only married man. Because here people believe single man doesnt have any experience on the island…

Fair enough. He went on to talk about the backpacks for coca leaves that local men make themselves and trade with each other as a greeting. LKocal women wear pretty layered skirts and black shawls with brightly colored pompons – smaller ones for married women, large ones for single gals (I guess that means pompons are supposed to attract potential spouses?..)

 

 

 

(I know the pictures are tiny, but full size versions will soon be available on my picasa webpage)

It started raining shortly after we started our journey back to Puno, but the rain didnt last long. And then we got to see a beautiful, bright, full semi-circle rainbow spread over the lake. Best thing I saw since Machu Picchu

Day 12. Arequipa Jan 6th, 2009

Arequipa is beautiful. If Lima was Moscow, Arequipa would be St Petersburgh.

My hostel is very nice too, but I´ll write more about that later. Right now I am waiting for my lunch at a small restaurant, on a balcony overlooking the main square. For such a location, their prices are way too low. The square is surrounded by beautiful white buildings, all in the same colonial style, and a bunch of huge palm trees arranged symmetrically around the fountain in the center.

 

 

Today I went to the Museum of the Catholic University of Santa Maria, which is mostly famous for Juanita – an Inca mummy (actually, a frozen body) of a 12-14 year old girl that was found near the top of the Ampato volcano in 1995. While Juanita herself isnt part of the exhibition right now, they had a ton of other interesting stuff – including a less famous (and not as well preserved, but still fascinating) Sarita, another Inca mummy.

I think I will end up staying in Arequipa for a few extra days

Update: I just accidentally ate a chilli pepper. I thought I was going to die when I ate that thing. Basically, what happened was I decided to start cooking since I will be most likely spending two extra days here. So I went to the supermarket (which was a real Peruvian experience – the country just seems so much more real and less touristy now that I did grocery shopping in it :-)), found a few interesting things, including those I have never seen before, and also what I thought was a smaller version of regular red peppers. Uhmmmm not at all.

Day 15. Colca Valley Jan 9th, 2009

I have been meeting Russians everywhere for the past couple of days. In the Monastery of Santa Catalina, in the hot springs in Colca Valley, in the restaurant where I had lunch… We are still a minority as far as tourists go, but a noticable one

I did the regular 2 day/1 night Colca trip, and that was a great time. First, on the bus I set next to a girl (who actually turned out to be in her early 30ies – she just looked much younger), who turned out to be from Russia too!

I will just give a quick summary of the trip here: on the first day, after getting to Chivay (main town of the valley), we went to baños thermales (hot springs), which are powered by a handful of active volcanoes in the area. The water was in fact pretty hot (its like swimming in a huuuuuge bath tub), but then it started raining. Mmmm, cold drops falling on you feel nice when you are swimming in hot water Then we went to a Folklore show with good food, local dances, and live music. The only part I wasn´t completely happy about was that the guide was hitting on me the whole time – touching my hands all the time, asking me whether I wanted a massage in the pool, whether I wanted to go out in Arequipa the next night, saying I should come back to Peru, etc. To that last part I said sure, I´d love to come back with my boyfriend, which surprisingly didnt cool the guy down (“Where is the boyfriend in Arequipa? Oh, in Germany, that is soooooo far away…”) But other than that, it was still a good time.

Today morning we woke up at 5 am to make sure we dont miss the most important part of the trip – watching the giant condors fly over the Colca Canion. The watching point is called Cruz del Condor (condor cross?), it is filled with people every morning, hoping to see one of these. Much to my surprise, a few condors did show up – one flew by very close to us. It really is an impressive sight – the birds wings easily measure 2-3 meters in length.

I met quite a few people here who have been travelling for months, and are not going back to their home countries any time soon. Apparently, what many people do is work for awhile, build a good credit history so that their limit is high and interest rates are low, then quit their job, sell their stuff, and travel around the world (which can be as cheap as you want it to be – the last meal that I just made cost me a little over a dollar and was worth every penny, hehe) until their credit cards are maxed out. Then they go back, work to pay off the debt, and start over. There is something about it, isnt there? Although there also seems to be something artificial about this way of life.  I would prefer to move from country to country every few years instead of hopping on buses/trains/planes every few days without getting to know any one place in depth.