C & C globetrotting around the world…

Machu Picchu is as amazing as everyone says. We did not do the famous Inca Trail, but arrived on the site before sunrise anyway. It’s nice to see the site empty before the hoards of other people arrive. It was also very fascinating watching the mist glide over the ruins before the sun reappeared again. The Incas started building the “estate” around 1400, but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911, earning its name of “The Lost City of the Incas”. Over the years most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of what the structures originally looked like. The restoration work continues to this day. Since the site was never known to the Spanish during their conquest, it is highly significant as a relatively intact cultural site, only destroyed by earthquakes.

The city sits in a saddle between the two mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, with impressive views down two valleys and a nearly impassable mountain at its back. The hillsides leading to it have been terraced, not only to provide more farmland to grow crops, but to steepen the slopes which invaders would have to ascend. It is believed that it has land to grow food for about four times as many people as ever lived there. Because the Incas didn’t write and the Spanish never found Machu Picchu, not much known is about it. There are many different theories, but they agree on some things. Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its three primary structures are the Intihuatana (Hitching post of the Sun), the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows, all located in the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. The central buildings of Machu Picchu use the classical Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, called ashlar, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions in the central city are so perfect that it is said not even a blade of grass fits between the stones. Some Inca buildings were constructed using mortar, but by Inca standards this was quick, shoddy construction, and was not used in the building of important structures. Peru is a highly seismic land, and mortar-free construction was more earthquake-resistant than using mortar. The stones of the dry-stone walls built by the Incas can move slightly and resettle without the walls collapsing. How they moved and placed the enormous blocks of stones remains a mystery, although the general belief is that they used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes.

Machu Picchu is a really impressive sight and we spent about 5 hours walking around and discovering its many nooks and corners. As can be seen in the pictures, we loved all angles and took a ton of pictures. Each building is nothing special, but if you consider that the complex is built on top of a steep mountain at about 2,500m altitude, it is amazing. But to put it in perspective, Christoph kept on saying that the Romans built grand cities (such as Trier and Rome) that existed already 1,500 years earlier than the Incas…

We set off on the road to Machu Picchu. We did not do the Inca Trail, but instead took the bus and train through the Sacred Valley. We took a mini-bus (“collectivo”) from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo through beautiful landscape of rolling hills and higher mountains in the background. There were lots of fields for growing maize since the region is an important area for this crop. From Ollantaytambo we took the train to Aguas Calientes, the base village of Machu Picchu. The 43km train ride took 1.5 hours and was very expensive, but unless you do the Inca Trail, there is no other way of getting to Machu Picchu. The train had a glass roof so we were able to enjoy the nice scenery of the valley. The valley progressively narrows and the vegetation becomes increasingly lush. From the train we saw the beginning on the Inca Trail as well as an old Inca bridge.

After visiting Machu Picchu, we took the train back to Ollantaytambo and arrived there at night. The next day we explored this small town before heading back to Cuzco. Ollantaytambo dates from the late 15th century and has some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America. During the Inca Empire, Ollantaytambo was the royal estate of Emperor Pachacuti who conquered the region, built the town and a ceremonial center. The emperor rebuilt the town with sumptuous constructions and undertook extensive works of terracing and irrigation in the Urubamba Valley; the town provided lodging for the Inca nobility while the terraces were farmed by retainers of the emperor. During the Spanish conquest of Peru Ollantaytambo served as a temporary capital for Manco Inca, leader of the native resistance against the conquistadors. He fortified the town and its approaches in the direction of the former Inca capital of Cusco, which had fallen under Spanish domination. In 1536, on a plain near Ollantaytambo, Manco Inca defeated a Spanish expedition blocking their advance from a set of high terraces and flooding the plain. Despite his victory, however, Manco Inca did not consider his position tenable so the following year he withdrew to the heavily forested site of Vilcabamba.

The surrounding valleys are covered by extensive agricultural terraces, which allowed the Incas to take advantage of the different ecological zones created by variations in altitude. The Incas built several storehouses out of fieldstones on the hills surrounding the village Ollantaytambo. Their location at high altitudes, where there is more wind and lower temperatures, defended their contents against decay. It is believed that they were used to store the production of the agricultural terraces built around the site. Grain would be poured in the windows on the uphill side of each building, then emptied out through the downhill side window. We explored the grid-like streets and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere of the place. Then we hiked up behind the village to the hill of Tunupa to get a beautiful view of the valley. According to local myth, a representation of the messenger of Viracocha (‘The Creator of Civilization’) named Wiracochan or Tunupa can be seen facing the ancient Inca ruins of Ollantaytambo in the rock face of Cerro Pinkuylluna. Viracocha was one of the most important deities in the Inca pantheon and seen as the creator of all things. Viracocha created the universe, sun, moon and stars, time (by commanding the sun to move over the sky) and civilization itself. Inca ruins built on top of the face are also considered to represent a crown on his head. Then it was time to return to Cuzco and finish our visit to Peru.

On June 24th, right on Quebec’s national holiday, we went to the Inti Raimy festivities in Cuzco. “Inti Raimy”, the Festival of the Sun, was a religious festival of the Incas in honour of one of their most important gods – Inti. There were many local forms of worship, but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti—the sun god—and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama. The Incas considered their King, the Sapa Inca, to be the “child of the sun.” The festival of Inti Raimy is believed to have been created to celebrate the new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere. The last Inti Raymi with the Inca Emperor’s presence was carried out in 1535, but since 1944 a celebration takes place every year on June 24th to re-enact this great tradition.

We watched the ceremony at the “Qorinkancha” site. Besides dances, we saw the High Priests and the Inca make offerings to “Pachamama” (Mother Earth). It was really nice and interesting to see. Then we watched the procession on the street and saw the “Virgins of the Sun”, soldiers, the High Priests, the Inca king and his wife as well as hundreds of musicians. What was interesting is that the entire time they played only one song, over and over again. As they were walking along, it was more of a semi-jog to the beat of the song. Although the Inca Empire has been destroyed, the culture seems to live on in people’s hearts.

Cuzco is South America’s oldest continuously inhabited city. It was once the administrative, political and military capital of the Inca Empire (13th century-1532), the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The area is also the archeological capital of the Americas and also has beautifully preserved colonial architecture. The city is so steeped in history, tradition and myth that it’s hard to tell where fact ends and fantasy begins. Legends tell that in the 12^th century the first Inca, Manco Capac, was charged by the ancestral sun god Inti to find the “qosq’o” (the navel of the earth). When he finally discovered such a place, he founded the city.

The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century. The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken. The Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as “The Four Regions or The Four United Provinces”. Quechua is still the language used by many inhabitants of the region. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including, besides Peru, large parts of modern Ecuador, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and central Chile, and southern Colombia into a state comparable to the historical empires of Eurasia. The term Inka means ruler, or lord, in Quechua, and was used to refer to the ruling class or the ruling family in the empire. The Spanish adopted the term (transliterated as Inca in Spanish) as an ethnic term referring to all subjects of the empire rather than simply the ruling class. As such the name Imperio inca (Inca Empire) referred to the nation that they encountered, and subsequently conquered. The Inca built on ruins of buildings built by the Killke culture. The first Spaniards arrived in the city on 15 November 1533 and Francisco Pizarro renamed it the “Very noble and great city of Cuzco”. The Spanish destroyed many Inca buildings, temples and palaces. They used the remaining walls as bases for the construction of a new city. The many buildings constructed after the Hispanic invasion therefore have a mixture of Spanish influence with Inca indigenous architecture.

We arrived in Cusco by overnight bus and checked into our hostel: Hostal Royal Frankenstein! It’s run by a German guy from the Franken region and is decorated according to its name. Although overnight buses in Peru are pretty comfy, they are not like sleeping in a bed. After a short nap we went out to explore the city. There were lots of people dressed up in beautiful and colourful costumes. It was an important festival and it was wonderful to see. These people have definitely not forgotten their roots! In the evening we went to Plaza de Armas where there was a parade of people in costumes. Christoph took soooo many pictures because all of them were nice and interesting. Colonial arcades surround the Plaza de Armas, which used to be the heart of the ancient Inca capital. For example, the cathedral sits on the site of Inca Viracocha’s palace and was erected using blocks from another nearby Inca site. After walking around a bit, we bought some gloves and socks (made of alpaca wool) because it’s cold in the evenings and it’s supposed to get even colder in Bolivia.

While in Cuzco, we watched some Euro 2012 soccer games at the hostel when Germany played and chatted with lots of different people. We also explored the city and went to the Inca site of Qorikancha. Qorikancha (from the Quechua words Quri Kancha meaning “Golden Temple”), originally named Inti Kancha (“Temple of the Sun”) or Inti Wasi (“Sun House”), was the most important temple in the Inca Empire, dedicated primarily to Inti, the Sun God. It was one of the most revered temples of the capital city of Cusco. The walls and floors were once covered in sheets of solid gold, and its adjacent courtyard was filled with golden statues. Spanish reports tell of its opulence that was “fabulous beyond belief”. When the Spanish required the Inca to raise a ransom in gold for the life of the leader Atahualpa, most of the gold was collected from Qorikancha. The Spanish colonists built the Church of Santo Domingo on the site, demolishing the temple and using its foundations for the cathedral. Construction took most of a century. This is one of numerous sites where the Spanish incorporated Inca stonework into the structure of a colonial building. Major earthquakes severely damaged the church, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly-interlocking blocks of stone, still stand due to their sophisticated stone masonry. It was nice and interesting to see. From there we visited the Santa Catalina Monastery. It used to be the “House of the Virgins of the Sun” (Acllahuasi, aka “House of the Chosen Women”), but now houses Catholic nuns.

Leading to the plaza we walked on Loreto street with the oldest Inca wall in Cuzco. From there we crossed the plaza and went up Triunfo street towards the San Blas neighbourhood until we reached “Hatun Rumiyoc”, a 12-sided Inca stone. Returning to the Plaza de Armas, we passed by the Cathedral which is flanked by Jesus Maria and El Triunfo churches, as well as the Compania de Jesus church which is also flanked by 2 churches. This makes 6 churches in total on Plaza de Armas! For dinner, we celebrated Luxembourg Day by having Pisco Sour since we weren’t at home to have a party in honour of the Grand Duchy. For dinner we had quinoa soup and “rocoto relleno”, a small spicy bell pepper filled with ground meat and topped with melted cheese. Stimmung! Party!

In Cuzco you can really feel the Inca culture is still alive through the language and customs of the people. This was not destroyed by the Spanish.

We got picked up by a tourist mini-bus at 3:30am to head to the Colca Canyon, about 4 hours North of Arequipa. In the mini-bus we received a blanket and were very happy about it. Shortly after we realized why: it got so freezing cold, that the one blanket was not enough. We were wearing 3 t-shirts, 2 sweater and hats, but were still cold. The road was winding through the bleak altiplano (high Andean plateau) over the highest point at 4,800m, before dropping down to the town Chivay. After paying 70 soles ($30) per person to enter the Canyon del Colca region we stopped for breakfast in Chivay. During breakfast we were shivering the whole time, but after the warm coca tea, it felt much better. We then drove on the South bank of the canyon and saw some of the most extensive pre-Inca terracing in Peru. We then arrived at Cruz del Condor, the look-out where the Andean condors can be seen. These huge birds nest here under the rocky outcrop and can be seen in the morning gliding on thermal air currents. We were lucky and saw about 8 of these magnificent creatures elegantly gliding. With their nearly 3m wingspan, black feathers and a bit of white on the wings, they are impressive. From there we continued to Cabanaconde, the base for trekking in the Colca Canyon.

The Colca Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world at 3,191m. Only the nearby Canyon del Cotahuasi is 163m deeper. From Mirador San Miguel you can look down the canyon and across to the other side. We saw the villages we had to hike to later and it’s a beautiful view. So we set off on the trek, going from 3,287m down to the river at 2,100m. It was really hard on the knees and the trail was pretty rocky and sandy, so we had to concentrate at every step and couldn’t enjoy the view as much as we would have liked to. Down at the bridge over the Colca river we took a mini-break before climbing 100m to the village of San Juan de Chucho. There the hike was much nicer as we walked through the woods and saw cool irrigation canals. After the village of San Juan, there were no signs onwards, but finally we found the way. The hike up to the village of Cosnirhu at 2,450m was a very difficult one and we were happy when we finally reached it. There we took a much-needed break where a family had set up a shop. The lady was nice and her 5-year-old son Andressito was funny and running around. We had lots of water and caught our breath. From Cosnirhu to the village of Malata the hike was pleasant, as it was straight and following the canyon. Then it was time to hike down to the river again, which was painful on the knees. On the other side of the river the “oasis” of San Galle was awaiting us at 2,100m. Seeing it kept us going, but we were tired. At the oasis we were greeted by an old man who offered us a hut at his “resort” El Eden for 30 soles. We were so tired, that we didn’t even continue to see what else was on offer. This oasis is not actually a village, only a couple of hostel resorts. People used to grow lots of fruits here and our old guy still does. Because of a micro-climate, lots of apricots, avocados, bananas and papayas grow here. Christoph went for a swim in the hot spring pool (there are hot springs close by) and then we both took a HOT shower. We were totally surprised that the water was so hot given that it was heated with solar power. We then chatted with the old man while he was cooking us dinner and then with other travellers over dinner. Although it wasn’t really cold, we dressed up before going to sleep and wore our hats since the hut was pretty breezy. After having hiked an altitude difference of 1,887m in one day (1,537m down, 350m up), we fell asleep right away.

The next day we slept in and had breakfast with the old man. Our muscles were so sore, we couldn’t imagine hiking up the 1,187m to Cabanaconde. We were joking of taking the “Aerocondor” or the “Donkey cab”. Actually, Cecilia seriously considered taking a donkey up, but then her ego didn’t let her. We climbed the nearly vertical 1,200m from 11am to 3:30pm, which was a horrible time to be in the hot sun, but we were equipped with thin long sleeves, hats and lots of water. We couldn’t have left any earlier considering our sore muscles. The hike was really demanding and the trail was again rocky and sandy. We met a couple on the way that had no hats and water – crazy! We gave them a bit of our water, but we didn’t have much to spare. Seeing them gave us some energy and we finally made it. Close to the top we saw some condors, but were not quick enough to get a good shot. Arrived at the top, we could see the village of Cabanaconde and finally arrived there soon afterwards. We checked in at Hostal Pachamama (“Mother Earth” in the Quechua language). We each had a hot shower and took a nap. Later we went to the bar where we chilled and chatted, having Colca Sour and dinner. The place had a great atmosphere and really tasty pizza. After that we had such a good sleep! The following day we woke up at 6am and had a good breakfast before taking a local bus to Chivay and onwards to Arequipa. On the way we saw vicunas, the national animal of Peru, grazing. They are closely related to llamas and alpacas, but a bit smaller.

Overall the Colca Canyon trek is nice, but definitely too strenuous to be enjoyable in 2 days. Our suggestion would be to do the trek in 3 days instead of 2 (stopping at San Juan de Chucho the first day), giving the knees a break. It was funny because the entire time on the trek we kept on comparing it to the one in the Tiger Leaping Gorge in China.

We arrived by overnight bus in Arequipa. With a population of nearly one million people, Arequipa is Peru’s second-largest city 1,000 km South of Lima. Built in the 16th century, the city has many colonial-era Spanish buildings built of “sillar”, a pearly white volcanic rock, from which it gets the nickname La Ciudad Blanca (“The White City”). There are many speculations where the name comes from, but it is clear that it is derived from the Quechua language of the Inca. The Incas referred to the area of Arequipa as the “land or place behind the volcanoes”, or other location behind the mountains, or “ariq qipao”. The city lies at the foot of the El Misti volcano. El Misti is currently inactive, but has had strong eruptions in the past. Arequipa has more than 80 volcanoes nearby, most of which can be found in the Valley of the Volcanoes. Because it was built on a very earthquake prone area, the city was completely destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions during the 17th century. “Sillar” appears to be the prime structural solution to the constant earthquakes.

We walked around the streets and arrived at Plaza de Armas. Here we finally saw why the city is called “The White City”. All the buildings surrounding the beautiful plaza are made of this white stone. The Cathedral is imposing and has the mountains in the backdrop, a wonderful sight. The arcades on 3 sides of the plaza also made for beautiful pictures. From there we visited Iglesia de la Compania which is just around the corner. It was nice and we were able to enter for free. Since today was our 350^th day since we left Montreal, we had a fancy 3-course dinner at “Nina Yaku”. There was a special with a set menu for $15 per person, so we decided to spulrge. We got a Pisco Sour cocktail, then took a quinoa soup and an avocado salad as appetizers, then alpaca steak with grilled veggies and mashed potatoes. With that we got a glass of red wine, a chocolate cake and a creme caramel. Everything was delicious and we had a great evening.

From Arequipa we went to the Colca Canyon and returned for half a day. We had planned on visiting the Santa Catalina Monastery, Peru’s most important religious monument, but they were closing early. We had asked the first time around and they had confirmed the opening hours. When we returned to visit it, the schedule had changed and we would have only had 30 minutes to visit it instead of the usual 2 hours it takes. For $15 per person, we thought that was not worth it. Although it’s supposed to be really nice, we passed. Arequipa is definitely a pretty city in comparison to many other Peruvian cities.

From Huacachina we headed further South towards Nazca. On the way, it was mainly desert, but we came across a few oases where rivers were. There were vineyards and plantations of corn, potatoes and oranges. The town of Nazca was the home of the archeological Nazca culture that flourished from 100 to 800 CE beside the dry southern coast of Peru. Nazca is most famous for the geoglyphs (most commonly known as the Nazca Lines) just outside town. Most lines and geoglyphs are visible from air only, but we were too cheap and chicken to take one of the tiny air planes. Instead, we went to the “Mirador”, a metallic tower from where 2 figurines can be seen: “the hands” and “the tree”.

Scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD. The lines are shallow designs made in the ground by removing the reddish pebbles and uncovering the whitish/grayish ground beneath. Most of the lines are formed by a shallow trench with a depth of between 10cm and 15cm. Due to the dry, windless, and stable climate of the plateau and its isolation, for the most part the lines have been preserved. Extremely rare changes in weather may temporarily alter the general designs. Hundreds are simple lines or geometric shapes; more than seventy are zoomorphic designs of animals such as birds, fish, llamas, jaguar, monkey, or human figures. Other designs include phytomorphic shapes such as trees and flowers. The largest figures are over 200 metres across. Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but in general they ascribe religious significance to them. Other interpretations include the fact that the geometric figures could indicate the flow of water or be connected to rituals to summon water. The spiders, birds, and plants could be fertility symbols. Other possible explanations include irrigation schemes or giant astronomical calendars.

The next day, we walked all over town looking for a place with DirecTV that would transmit the Germany – Denmark game, but to no avail. To our pleasant surprise, we were able to watch the game at our hostel, together with a German-French couple. Afterwards we went together to the Chauchilla Cemetery to see some mummies. The cemetery was discovered in the 1920s, but had not been used since the 9th century AD. The cemetery includes many important burials over a period of 600 to 700 years. The start of the interments was in about 200 AD and it’s an important source of archaeology to Nazca culture. The cemetery has been extensively plundered. In 1997, the majority of the scattered bones and plundered pottery were restored to the tombs. The bodies are so remarkably preserved mainly due to the dry climate in the Peruvian Desert but the funeral rites were also a contributing factor. The bodies were clothed in embroidered cotton and then painted with a resin and kept in purposely built tombs made from mud bricks. The resin is thought to have kept out insects and slowed bacteria trying to feed on the bodies.

Afterwards we took an overnight bus ride from Nazca to Arequipa with Cruz del Sur again.

The bus from Lima to Ica only took 4 and a half hours through mainly desert landscape. From Ica, we took a taxi to Huacachina, 5 minutes away. Huacachina, a small village, is built around a small natural blue-green laguna in the desert and is often called the “oasis of America”. The oasis actually features on the back of the 50 Nuevo Sol note. Legend holds that the lagoon was created when a beautiful native princess was apprehended at her bath by a young hunter. She fled, leaving the pool of water she had been bathing in to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her as she ran, became the surrounding sand dunes. In the last few years it has become an attraction for tourists drawn by sandboarding and taking dune buggy rides on the sand dunes that stretch several hundred meters high. We were told that the sandbuggy tours started about 10 years ago when a French tourist made the suggestion. Since then, the buggies have been hand made and reach a speed of 90km/h. In total, there are about 50 of them in Huacachina.

After checking in at our hostel (Desert Nights) we had a late lunch next door. Then it was time for our two hour sand dune tour. We took a sand buggy that drove us around. It really felt like being in a rollercoaster and Cecilia loved it, but Christoph was clinging on tight. We stopped at a point where we got a beautiful view of the surrounding dunes, counting some of the highest in the world, and got to try sandboarding. Some people strapped their feet to the board, but we sat down and used it like a sled, controlling the speed and direction with our hands. This was a practice run, as afterwards we went to bigger dunes. The board is a lot harder to control on sand than snow, so here the guide told us to lie down on our stomach. He sent us straight down head-first and we could brake with our feet, if we wanted. It was a bit scary, but exhilarating too. Luckily we had our bafanas, otherwise we would have swallowed a lot of sand. At the bottom, the guide picked us up and we drove again with the sand buggy to the next huge dune where we repeated the sandboarding experiment. Sanboarding is a quick sport, reaching up to 70km/h, depending on the board, weight of the person and if you don’t brake. It was great. At the end, we watched the sun set over the dunes before it got pretty chilly. On the tour we met some people, so we had dinner and spent the evening together, which was lots of fun.

The next day we went on another tour after watching the soccer game. The region around Ica, close to the town of Pisco, is known for wineries and bodegas. Here they make sweet red wine and pisco, so we went to 2 of these to sample some wine and pisco. The first one we visited was “El Catador”, a family-owned winery and bodega since 1856. We got a tour of the place and saw how they make everything, but unfortunately it’s not wine season now so everything was empty. Pisco, the typical hard liquor of Peru is also made of grapes. He showed us the basin where the grapes get smashed before the juice is separated from the grape skins. Then the juice is let to ferment for 3 days before it’s filled into pisco jars made of terracotta. These are lined up and let to ferment for about 1 year before being distilled. It is then filled into a huge plastic barril and left for 2 years. Only then can it be filled into bottles. We tried some red wine, which tasted more like port than wine, but not really good. We also tried pisco with honey, pure pisco and pisco cream. Then we went to the other winery and bodega, called Lazo, dating from 1809. Here we were not shown around, but got to taste many different kinds. The guy was very funny and his products were good. We had 2 kinds of wine and 2 kinds of pisco. We also tried 2 pisco creams, which were delicious.

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in a valley on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Actually, it is the second-largest city built in the desert, after Cairo, Egypt. With a population approaching 9 million, Lima is the fifth largest city in Latin America, behind Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area. Like Trujillo, Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1535, as la Ciudad de los Reyes, or “the City of Kings”.

We arrived to Lima in the evening from Huaraz. The scenery was pretty nice before we reached the Panamericana, from where it gets flat and boring. We spent a few nice days with Nicolas, an old room mate of Christoph’s from Amsterdam, so it was nice to see him after such a long time. We also met his girlfriend Ana, who is really sweet. He lives in Miraflores, a touristy, richer and safe neighbourhood of Lima. On our first evening we went to the boardwalk which also has sort of a shopping mall in the cliff called Lacromar. We had dinner together at Pardo’s Chicken, a restaurant that reminded us a lot of “Poulet St-Hubert”. We had the typical roasted chicken, but also tried the “anticuchos” – beef hearts. It was good and it was fun to chat with them.

On our first day there, we went all around Miraflores to buy Christoph a new pair of pants, as his regular pants tore in 2 places during the Huaraz trek. After 11 months on the road, it’s not surprising. Afterwards, together with Nicolas we went to the “Deutscher Klub” to watch the Euro 2012 soccer game of Germany against Portugal. It was great to have some German food and beer and cheer on the team. They didn’t play very well, but they won anyway, so that was good. In the evening we headed to Centro Historico, Lima’s old colonial centre. From Plaza San Martin we walked along the pedestrian street of Merced to Plaza de Armas. There were a lot of people in the pedestrian area, as it’s the only one in Lima. The Plaza de Armas is very nice, surrounded by beautiful colonial buildings. As most of these plazas in South America, it has the Palacio del Gobierno, the Cathedral and the Archbishop’s palace. Then we took a taxi to Parque del Circuito Magico del Agua. This is a park with a dozen water fountains of different shapes and colours.

The next day, we took a taxi to Callao, Lima’s port city, from where the tour left to Isla Palomino. We hopped on the yacht that took us around a few islands. During the 4 hours, the yacht was rocking in the waves so much due to many currents meeting, that most people got sea sick. We saw huge jelly fish (at least a meter long) and lots of pelicans and other birds. The highlight of the trip was seeing the 4,000 sea lions on Isla Palomino. They stay there because they have plenty of fish to eat and the water temperature is good. Christoph got into a wetsuit and jumped into the water. He swam with these huge mammals and enjoyed it immensely. It’s unbelievable how curious and friendly they are, so they come very close. We also saw some Humboldt penguins, which are smaller than the regular ones, but still as cute. We got back to shore and made a quick visit to “Castillo de Real Felipe”, a historical fortress where the Spanish fleet tried to reconquer independent Peru. We had lunch in Callao: ceviche and grilled chicken. The ceviche was very good and we were happy to finally try this delicacy. We then came back by combi bus to Lima and walked around Parque Kennedy where there were lots of people and painters. We spent a relaxed evening at the house with Nicolas and Ana while watching a movie and having pizza.

On our last day in Lima, we walked to Parque del Amor and the Cliff Promenade (Malecon), where we took some pictures. Afterwards it was time to watch the soccer game Germany-Netherlands, so we went to a sports bar. There we met up with Andrew and Theresa, whom we had met in Otavalo and Banos. It was fun because there were other Germans as well and the atmosphere was great. We also met a German with his Peruvian wife who invited us all to a restaurant in Lacromar for a Pisco Sour. They were super nice and we love Pisco Sour, so we went. We had a nice view and a good chat with them before returning to Nicolas’ place. For dinner we went with Nicolas and Ana to a Peruvian restaurant and we got to try some great local dishes. We stayed a bit longer in Lima than necessary since there is not much to see and do here, but it was nice to stay with Nicolas. We also took care of some administrative things and cooked some food. Thanks Nicolas for the nice days.

The bus ride from Tujillo to Huaraz took about 9 hours. It was a “Cruz del Sur” bus with semi-cama (half-reclining seats) and it was a comfortable overnight bus ride. We woke up to sunshine and high grasslands, which was a nice change from the arid landscape on the coast. After checking into our hostel, we spent the day acclimatizing to the altitude here and preparing for our trek the next day. Huaraz lies in the Cordillera Blanca of the Andes at an altitude of 3,100m.

The next day we went for a day trek to Laguna 69 in the Huascaran National Park. The park’s 3,000 km² contain 663 glaciers and nearly 300 lakes. We woke up very early and got on the mini-bus to the Huscaran National Park. The ride was bumpy and long, but we eventually got there, passing a pretty turquoise lake on the way. We hiked from 3,900, to 4,600m, where Laguna 69 is found. The hike was very exhausting as the air gets incredibly thin at this altitude. The way there and back took about 6 hours in total, with minimal breaks. Actually only Christoph made it to the top; Cecilia had to stop a bit lower because of stomach issues. The view all around was beautiful with many glaciers, waterfalls and snowy peaks around us. At the top Christoph was rewarded with the view of Laguna 69, but it would have been even nicer had the sun shone and the turquoise colour would have been revealed. Unfortunately on the way down it started to hail and rain, but it was a great hike nevertheless. On the way back to town, we drove by Huascaran mountain, the highest peak of Peru at 6,768m above sea level. The mountain was named after Huáscar, a 16th century Inca chieftain. It was a pretty sight with the later afternoon sun shining on it.