Hey everyone!
Sorry for not writing for the last few weeks - so much going on I never got to it. I am even really behind with the pictures although a good excuse would be the extremely slow computers in Peru and Bolivia... You wouldn't believe how huge the difference is between those countries and Chile! I arrived in Santiago 2 days ago and now feel almost like back in Europe / of course except the prices which are about a fourth or less of the ones I'm used to in Germany. But lets start with some update on my trip...
I was in Mancora for 3 days and found it really hard to leave again. I mean - white beach, perfect weather, nice people... Including a pirate night which "forced me" to buy earings extra to go with the outfit. There's some really beautiful and cheap jewelry made around here, hard not to buy out the entire shops!
Well, I took a bus to Lima from there and was lucky to meet up again with the dancing group from the school where I was teaching who had their final competition the same day I happened to be there! Unfortunately, they didn't win any prize but for me they were the champions!
After getting very little sleep I took a train to Huancayo - well, it was THE TRAIN. Beautiful view and about 8 hours of ride in a train that goes to the highest trainstop of the world - 4380m. To be honest, one train in Tibet goes even higher than that but doesn't have a station :-) Huancayo is a nice city to be in but not really a MUST. However, getting to know the trian crew made this place lots of fun. The return journey 2 days later was also nice but it went in the middle of the night so almost nothing to see outside.
What then? Went to Huacachina (if you ever go to Peru, this is a must), a little village around a lagoon in the middle of sand dunes... Sounds interesting? This place was a paradise! Swimming pools in almost all hostels, sandboarding down the dunes, buggie rides and watching the sunset after climbing up a dune thinking you will never make it all the way up and then having this great view of the surrounding that totally rewards you. I'll be getting the pictures soon, then you can decide on your own :-)
The next destination was Arequipa (named after its founder Harry Keeper ;-) which was probably the most beautiful Peruavian city - many cathedrals, much more green and a great hostel. Thinking it would be better to organise an own trip, me and Ronnie went to the bus station just to find out that due to national holiday we won't get a bus till 5 pm - making the Colca Canyon experience rather short. Still I got to see a condor and the canyon looked amazing... Yet having bought a ticket from Arequipa to Cuzco made this a rather stressful experience since nothing went on time or as we've been informed... But then again, one should not be sursprised by this in Peru...
Next destination - Cuzco. WOW. I spent a day in this town to see some ruins surrounding it, including the Saxsaywaman also known as Sexy woman because of the pronunciation, and the centre of Cuzco which shows signs of beeing the most important Inka city in the past. And the next morning ... INKA TRAIL!!! What an experience! Spent 4 days hiking on old inka roads (they really loved steps and caminos as steep as possible), slept in tents and got to see many amazing ruins on the way all building up to the most amazing one - Machu Picchu. It's hard to describe any place that mystical so wait for the pictures... One more party night in Cuzco after this trip and I headed to Bolivia.
The most obvious differences between Bolivia and Peru is basically that Bolivia is even poorer, cheaper and that you will not be given totally "gringo" (foreigners) prices. I only got to spend 4 days there though, taking an overnight bus to Uyuni and then going on a 3 day desert tour that would finish in Chile. Beautiful but honestly, the drivers there like to get drunk although they drive next day and if one from the people on the bus hadn't reacted quickly, we would drive off a road on a steep side of the mountain... Our jeep driver managed to first drive backwards into a wall, then have microsleep 3 times while driving and since he didn't tie our backpacks on the roof proparly, one backpack fell down and we were just really lucky that one of us noticed... But nevermind that, sleeping in a hotel completely made out of salt (walls, table, bed, etc.), seeing flamingos and at other places everywhere you'd look just blindingly white salt desert was an unforgettable experience.
After the first busrides when 10 hours seemed like a long time, I can now proudly write I can do 22 hours on a bus to Santiago plus no showers for 3 days and still feel almost fit... And so I just managed to update my blog up till today, pictures will follow hopefully soon...
Many hugs to everyone and just in case although it is a little too early: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Sorry for not writing for the last few weeks - so much going on I never got to it. I am even really behind with the pictures although a good excuse would be the extremely slow computers in Peru and Bolivia... You wouldn't believe how huge the difference is between those countries and Chile! I arrived in Santiago 2 days ago and now feel almost like back in Europe / of course except the prices which are about a fourth or less of the ones I'm used to in Germany. But lets start with some update on my trip...
I was in Mancora for 3 days and found it really hard to leave again. I mean - white beach, perfect weather, nice people... Including a pirate night which "forced me" to buy earings extra to go with the outfit. There's some really beautiful and cheap jewelry made around here, hard not to buy out the entire shops!
Well, I took a bus to Lima from there and was lucky to meet up again with the dancing group from the school where I was teaching who had their final competition the same day I happened to be there! Unfortunately, they didn't win any prize but for me they were the champions!
After getting very little sleep I took a train to Huancayo - well, it was THE TRAIN. Beautiful view and about 8 hours of ride in a train that goes to the highest trainstop of the world - 4380m. To be honest, one train in Tibet goes even higher than that but doesn't have a station :-) Huancayo is a nice city to be in but not really a MUST. However, getting to know the trian crew made this place lots of fun. The return journey 2 days later was also nice but it went in the middle of the night so almost nothing to see outside.
What then? Went to Huacachina (if you ever go to Peru, this is a must), a little village around a lagoon in the middle of sand dunes... Sounds interesting? This place was a paradise! Swimming pools in almost all hostels, sandboarding down the dunes, buggie rides and watching the sunset after climbing up a dune thinking you will never make it all the way up and then having this great view of the surrounding that totally rewards you. I'll be getting the pictures soon, then you can decide on your own :-)
The next destination was Arequipa (named after its founder Harry Keeper ;-) which was probably the most beautiful Peruavian city - many cathedrals, much more green and a great hostel. Thinking it would be better to organise an own trip, me and Ronnie went to the bus station just to find out that due to national holiday we won't get a bus till 5 pm - making the Colca Canyon experience rather short. Still I got to see a condor and the canyon looked amazing... Yet having bought a ticket from Arequipa to Cuzco made this a rather stressful experience since nothing went on time or as we've been informed... But then again, one should not be sursprised by this in Peru...
Next destination - Cuzco. WOW. I spent a day in this town to see some ruins surrounding it, including the Saxsaywaman also known as Sexy woman because of the pronunciation, and the centre of Cuzco which shows signs of beeing the most important Inka city in the past. And the next morning ... INKA TRAIL!!! What an experience! Spent 4 days hiking on old inka roads (they really loved steps and caminos as steep as possible), slept in tents and got to see many amazing ruins on the way all building up to the most amazing one - Machu Picchu. It's hard to describe any place that mystical so wait for the pictures... One more party night in Cuzco after this trip and I headed to Bolivia.
The most obvious differences between Bolivia and Peru is basically that Bolivia is even poorer, cheaper and that you will not be given totally "gringo" (foreigners) prices. I only got to spend 4 days there though, taking an overnight bus to Uyuni and then going on a 3 day desert tour that would finish in Chile. Beautiful but honestly, the drivers there like to get drunk although they drive next day and if one from the people on the bus hadn't reacted quickly, we would drive off a road on a steep side of the mountain... Our jeep driver managed to first drive backwards into a wall, then have microsleep 3 times while driving and since he didn't tie our backpacks on the roof proparly, one backpack fell down and we were just really lucky that one of us noticed... But nevermind that, sleeping in a hotel completely made out of salt (walls, table, bed, etc.), seeing flamingos and at other places everywhere you'd look just blindingly white salt desert was an unforgettable experience.
After the first busrides when 10 hours seemed like a long time, I can now proudly write I can do 22 hours on a bus to Santiago plus no showers for 3 days and still feel almost fit... And so I just managed to update my blog up till today, pictures will follow hopefully soon...
Many hugs to everyone and just in case although it is a little too early: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
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