Wow, only 2 weeks travel left? Crazy how time flies. But hey, there is at least one more highlight to come: Machu Picchu. I have booked a one week trip to do this in a small group. But until this I still have around a week. So I decided to follow the standard touristic route to Lake Titicaca. On the Peruvian side that means Puno. I have decided against going to the Bolivian side, which is meant to be nicer. But I need to be in Cusco in a week, and when I do Bolivia I'd rather do it all (the salt flats in the South look amazing). Arequipa to Puno is only a 6 hour bus, so I take a day bus. It is a beautiful drive, I somehow hadn't known that the lake is actually a mountain lake at 3800m altitude. Once arrived at the hostel I tried to arrange a tour to the lake for the next day. I didn't want to do the standard tour, but couldn't find an agency that offered a less standard/touristy version (and was open). So I booked the standard 2 nights homestay from my hostel. I had met 2 people who were just back and loved it. The next morning I got picked up by bus, brought to the harbour and within no time I was sitting in a boat to the first island. My first impression of the group was not very positive. Not many young people and mostly Spanish speaking. But hey, my first impression was wrong before. Once I heard that we can go to the roof of the boat, this was my place. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was shining and after the hail last night I was just glad to have the sun back.
The first destination was the floating islands of Uros. They looked great! The whole islands are built from reet and bound together. Unfortunately I realised soon that the whole thing is nap. If it wouldn't be for the tourists, no one would live there anymore. Which isn't really a surprise! You can't grow anything there. The only source for food is fishing, well for fish and for tourists. It felt nearly like harassment how they tried to sell their stuff, including a boat ride in their "Mercedes Benz". I wouldn't be surprised if they change to normal clothes and drive back to the mainland once the tourists are gone in the evening. Well, I made the best of it (meaning taking beautiful pictures) and was glad when we moved on to the next island. It was a 3 hour boat drive and after half of it I had to move inside, because even with all my clothes on it became too cold.
On the island Armantani we got put together in small groups to meet our "mamas" for the stay. I got lucky and was together with a french guy and girl about my age. First they struggled a bit with the English, but soon warmed up and we had a good time together. We got brought to our place to stay and met the whole family. The two little girls soon found me with my tablet, looking through my pictures. They got excited and soon took over the swiping. I realised quickly that the had no interest in mountains, but loved the animal pictures. After having lunch with the family we made our way to the square, to meet the group for a walk up the hill. We had a weird thing that we were actually 2 groups, so my two French friends were with another guide. My group, well not even half of them joined the walk. After 5 minutes I got so frustrated as they were unbelievably slow (slower than me!) and I just walked ahead. Halfway up the hill I met the other group again and joined them for the rest. It was a beautiful path up to an old temple. We were meant to see the sunset there, but the clouds mainly prevented it. The place was very beautiful, but we got quite cold soon and made our way back to our family. After dinner we were meant to go to a party with traditional dance, but there was again a big thunderstorm with very strong rain and hail, so leaving the house seemed like a bad idea. In the end we stayed in and slept early. The next morning our mama woke us early, made breakfast and brought us back to the boat. The we had to do around 40 group pictures with everyone's camera. Finally we were on the way to the last island: Taquile (great joke of our guide:Taquile, not tequila). There we had to walk again a bit uphill to a market. It was supposed to be a great place to learn about the fabrics and cloth making process, but in my opinion it was just again a touristy place to sell stuff. I didn't really learn anything. Luckily the island is beautiful and I enjoyed the little walk. At lunch I decide to be brave and ordered fish! Trout from the lake. Luckily this place is 3 hours away from Puno, where they put all their sewers in the lake. The boat ride back was again mainly in beautiful sunshine and this time as well with some good conversations.
Unfortunately back at Puno the weather turned bad again. My plan was to make it next to Puerto Maldonado, to see a little bit of the Peruvian jungle. Unfortunately I found out that there is no direct way from Puno there. So I decided to go the next evening to Cusco, where Eef still was for 2-3 days. The evening I was very happy to see Ying-Chu again. The third time this trip we were at the same place without coordinating it. We had a nice cheap dinner and some happy hour drinks at a music bar. Somehow the Peruvians don't understand the 'hour principle' of happy hour, but hey, 2 for 1 drinks all night, who would complain?
The next day I booked my bus in the evening to Cusco, walked around the city while the sun was still shining with some people from the hostel, and then, well, got awfully bored. I ended up again on the hostel couch for the third time. And again met the guy who seems to be sitting there every time. When even that guy got up and took a bus somewhere, I freaked out and booked an afternoon tour to the tombes of Sillustani. What I had forgotten: the weather forecast. In the bus on the way there I got a reminder: it started to rain like hell. And unfortunately didn't stop anymore. They guide offered to do a quick tour through the hills and do the explanation on the way back in the bus. No one denied that offer. Some of us had at least a rain jacket, some few got a plastic rain poncho from the guide, some had just lost. So our little group went out in the rain, did a quick tour of the sight and basically every part that wasn't covered in plastic got completely soaked. For me that was my shoes and my jeans. Back at the bus I was wishing for dry clothes or at least full on heating. Unfortunately the bus driver claimed he had no heating, sure.
Well, if you thought that is enough bad times in Puno, the world didn't think it was. Arriving at the bus station in the evening, the company tells me that there is a strike and no bus or car can get to Cusco tonight. To my annoyance every bus company told the same story, with a maybe you can go tomorrow, probably only in the evening. Another night and day or more in Puno? Hell no! Me and another girl with the same opinion quickly boarded a bus to Arequipa, once more making the mistake of judging based on google maps. In theory it is a triangle. In practice you already drive 6 hours to Arequipa (same than to Cusco) and then it is another 12 hour drive. Worst part: we arrived at 3:30 in the morning in Arequipa and had to wait 6 hours for the next bus. That was hell. Once in the bus to Cusco I was ok again. It was a good bus and a beautiful drive. The only annoying thing was that I arrived around 12 hours later than planned in Cusco and couldn't organise the trip to rainbow mountain the next day together with Eef. Arriving at 10pm at the hostel, there was no way I would be ready to get picked up the day after at 3am.
So for me the next day was getting back to normal, letting go off my bad Puno mood, resting from a full 24 hours on buses and in terminals. I did a bit of walking in Cusco, including a free waking tour, where I have met a girl from my hometown, first time in my life! And I have to say, I like Cusco. It is quite touristic, but it is beautiful, the ups and downs in the city makes it interesting. I enjoyed just walking and discovering. And then in the evening Eef came back and we were ready for her last night in Peru. We met some people back from Huacachina, crashed a Couchsurfing meeting, went to a club with Peruvian live music with traditional instruments, danced a lot, went to every place that would offer free drinks and had a nice end of the evening in a club with face painting :-) what a night. When we came back to the hostel at 3:30 we met the people leaving for rainbow mountain, making Eef realise she is up for 24 hours (and had been partying after a very demanding hiking day).
My next two days in Cusco were quite relaxed. The city is in between hills, so every walk includes going up and down and often a good amount of stairs. I walked up the hill to some old Inca temple, which was not really much to see, but we were amazed by the beautiful views - as well back down on Cusco as into the lonely nature on the other side. By accident we made it to the white Jesus statue that looks down on Cusco. The nice thing about Cusco: I kept on running into people I had met before. Then the day had finally come and my big Machu Picchu trip started. I moved from the hostel to a hotel, where I shared a room with only one more girl! We had a short introduction for the next week's trip and I met the whole group. We were 7 people, six girls and one guy. And then the shock: we will do day one all together, then everyone else will do the Inca trail and I get a private tour on the Lares trek! First I was a bit annoyed about it, especially because the group was really nice and I immediately got along very well with my roommate. But then I realised that this could be quite cool and finally a bit off the beaten path. So here we go. Day one goes to Ollantaytambo, a city in the sacred valley. On the way there we passed a wool making community, where they showed us how the wool is prepared from the alpaca to the sweater. It was a really good explanation, but unfortunately I had heard nearly all of it before. I realised that I have already spent some time in Peru! I had planned to buy all my souvenirs there, as the place was supported by the agency as a good place. Unfortunately the stuff was 10 times the price of the market in Cusco and even worse: I didn't like any of it! Just not my style.
Our second stop on the way was the Inca ruin Pisac. It was a nice short visit with great views and a good tour with our tour guide Jesus on the Inca terraces. Arriving in Ollantaytambo, we checked in to our hotel, enjoyed a bit the sun, and went to the second Inca ruin. It was a place built into the mountain, luckily we only visited the one side, opposite we saw the warehouse which was built high up in the mountain, so the wind dries the harvest. I wouldn't have wanted to carry all the harvest up there! The dinner in the evening was for me the last group activity. The next morning my guide Rumy arrived and it was time to say goodbye to the group. While they climbed 4 days on the Inca trail, I started my way to the Lares trek. It was a beautiful drive to the starting points, I was really happy. Beautiful mountain scenery and finally not people everywhere.
Arriving at the starting point I realised how big my 'group' is. So there was me, my guide Rumy, a cook, a waiter, 2 guys who set up the tent and help with everything else and 5 mules. Oh my god, this is a bit crazy! Anyways, here we go. It was a nice hike along the river. Lunch was at some people's house on the way, who rent out their kitchen for our lunch. As usual, the food was really good and way too much for me. Any meal would be from now on me and Rumy together. After lunch we hiked another couple hours and after around 4-5 hours in total we made it to the camping site. My guide was happy with me (he got a bit scared when I introduced myself with the words 'I'm a very slow walker') and we had made it up to around 4000 meters. Seems like I'm finally getting used to hiking in altitude!
The camping site was quite fancier than I expected: a stone hut where usually groups eat in and real toilets and I think even showers. As it just started to rain very heavy when the mules arrived, we decided to put up the tents inside the stone hut - we were the only ones there anyways. And it didn't stop raining anymore. Plus suddenly the whole sky was lighting up. No lightnings like I know them, but the whole clouds in the skies light up. Later we got some pictures of Cusco, which saw as well a great thunderstorm and you could see more than 10 lightnings at one time. The night was freezing cold, and the rain and thunder so heavy I nearly didn't sleep. I was very happy though that our tents were inside the hut!
Getting up at 6 am, the first thing we did is go outside and look at the weather. There was no rain, but you could see the clouds just ready to get us soaked. Plus the pass which we had to go over at 4900m was covered in fresh snow. That in combination with me already having a cough and with the combination of a cold, bad sleep and altitude one of my eyes had turned red and was very watery. The advice of my crew was to turn around and I followed it. The plan was to go back to the starting point and stay the night at some natural hot pools. As for me just walking back sounded a bit boring, I asked if we could at least do a little peak or exciting detour. Luckily Rumy knew that there are some lagoons close by and the waiter knew the way. So while the others went straight down and prepared the lunch on the way to the hot springs, the three of us started our tour to the lagoons. Despite my cold I made it up to 4600m and was treated with amazing lagoons. Not one, but at least three big ones and a couple of small ones. I enjoyed the reflections in the water, the beautiful mountain views and snowy peaks and deep green lagoons. We walked around them and made hundreds of pictures, as Rumy had not been there yet as well. We rounded up the experience with a little Inca ritual, by burning and offering coca leaves, thanking the gods for this beautiful place and making a wish.
On the way down we just made it to the lunch tent in time before the heavy rain started again. We quickly decide to take down the seperation and have lunch together with everyone. The crew was quite excited as our cook had used the spare time in the morning to fish successfully. Unfortunately my chicken was already prepared and as usual way too much, so I only tried a little bit of the fish. We waited a bit for the rain to stop and were lucky again. When we decided to finally start walking again it had nearly completely stopped raining. It was another hour or two to get to the hot springs, making it a nice 6-7 hours hike for the day. At the hot springs we could put our tents right next to the pools. So we had some time to relax and go to the town of Lares to buy a bottle of pisco. After dinner we finally made it to the hot pools, with a nice bottle of hot tea with pisco with us. It was a nice evening, the pools were amazing and we ended the evening with some good music and a great view over the pools from our tents. The next morning we did a short hike up to the view point down on the hot pools, the town of Lares and the valley we hiked the day before. We also visited some caves up in the mountain, which the Incas had used as graves.
Around noon the bus picked us up and drove us back to Ollantaytambo. I was surprised to see that the bus brought another female alone traveler to the start of the track. I would have had the flexibility to delay my trip by 2-3 days and join her, which would have been way more efficient and probably as well a bit more entertaining. I wonder if she managed to actually finish the track over the snowy pass and through the rain (which had just started again).
Back in Ollantaytambo we boarded the luxurious tourist train to Aguas Calientes, also called Machu Picchu town. There I enjoyed the luxury of a private room, a hot shower, a hair dryer and Internet :-) The town is very touristy, but in a beautiful setting. I walked around a bit and did some souvenir shopping and had dinner with Rumy. I went to bed early, because the next day started again at 6 am to make it up to Machu Picchu early. There again, we boarded the tourist bus and comfortably made it up the hill. There were some clouds already, but it was still dry. So when we arrived I immediately took the standard touristy pictures in front of the ruins. We then did a little walk to the Inca bridge, which was a beautiful trail, which is even more impressive when you consider how the Incas built these walls in the steep mountain. Coming back it already started to rain again and the clouds had nearly hidden all of the ruins. So we sat in a hut there and did the history lesson around the Incas and the discovery of Machu Picchu. We tried to wait until it stops again, but had to give up at one point. And ran right into the test of our group! It was nice to see them all again, even though they were completely soaked :-)
We finished the tour of the ruins separately and to be honest I didn't use a lot of my free time there afterwards. It just didn't stop raining, there were so many people, I had the feeling I've already seen all of it, the view just got worse and I couldn't go up the two mountains as you would have needed to buy a ticket upfront, and for me it would have meant a complete new ticket as you can't buy it separate from the general admission (which I already had). And there is no toilet inside! Once I was out, I decided I had enough and took the bus back down to the town. I walked a bit around there and then went to the lunch spot, where so far only the Inca trail guide Jesus was waiting. The others were still enjoying their free time up on Machu Picchu. The lunch then was really nice, it was great to see the group again, share my stories and hear about theirs. And because it was one of the girls birthday we even had cake and some pisco sours. The way back was for me the same as before, a train to Ollantaytambo and then a gorgeous bus ride back to Cusco. It had amazing views, someone had bought some beers and Jesus put on some music. It became a fun ride with a lot of singing. Back in Cusco we checked back in to the hotel from the first night, me and Marina sharing a room again. After another nice shower we were ready for the celebration dinner. It became an epic night, with a good dinner, some more birthday cake and a lot of dancing until the middle of the night. A worthy farewell with this fun group, that I unfortunately only spent a short time with!
The next day was an easy one, some people directly left Cusco, the others arranged their further trip or checked in to a hostel somewhere in town. Me and Marina also booked the rainbow mountain tour for the next day. My cold wasn't really gone yet, but everyone was so impressed about the tour that I just had to do it. We met up a couple more times with everyone still left in the city, had lunch together and an early dinner. Then it was time to go to bed, as we got picked up the next morning at 3 am!
Here we are, on our way to rainbow mountain. Most people who have been to Peru more than two years ago, will not have heard about this. What I've heard is that this has two main reasons. First, before the effects of global warming, you could only see the beautiful colours of the mountain for a brief period of the year. And secondly you could only get there by doing a challenging 4-5 days trip via Ausangate. But now it is next to Machu Picchu THE main attraction from Cusco. Which means after 3 or 4 hours of driving, you arrive with about 20 other mini buses at the starting point of the hike. There the craziness begins: the masses of people first go to the point where you can rent a horse to do the easy version up the mountain. And as everyone, no matter how fit or unfit goes there, around one third already decides to rent a horse from here. The others start the hike, which is beautiful, but admittedly not the easiest. More than 1000m up to an altitude slightly above 5000m with some steep bits in between can be a challenge. For me, I started off ok, having been used to the altitude already for a bit. But quite quickly my cold started to show its impact. A constant coughing accompanied me up the mountain. But my biggest annoyance though: the horses, or better said, the horse handlers. First they came from the back and with a very annoying 'permisso' tried to get me out of the way. Then the first ones had made it up and came running down trying to get one of the hikers to rent a horse for the rest of the way. And they were often successful, I think in the end more then half of the people had taken a horse. I just got more and more annoyed, as a horse was just no option for me and at one point I even saved me saying the 100th 'no gracias'.
Arriving on top it was fully worth the struggle! I had seen a bit of it for a while hiking up, but it was nothing in comparison with the view up there. Beautiful! There are still a lot of people in my pictures, but not too bad as some had already started the descent. With full exposure to the wind it was freezing! So I took a couple of pictures with Marina, who had waited up there for me, and then started the descent. The way down was nice, but we both got to the point of being annoyed and just done with it. So we were happy when we made it back to the van and could just wait in the sun for the last ones to come back down.
Arriving back at the hostel around 7, my cold and the exercise of the day got to me and I went straight to bed. The next day I decided to stay a bit longer in Cusco and fly directly from there to Lima. My other option would have been to go back to Paracas to enjoy a last time the beach and do some kite surfing. But it would have meant a 15 hours bus ride to Paracas and then later another 6 hours to Lima. So for a day or two, I didn't think it was worth it and I'd rather take it easy.
So I had one more lazy day in Cusco, trying to get my cold under control with the fresh juices from the market (a bucket of roughly 700 ml fresh pressed mixed fruit juice for one euro, just amazing!). The next day the group of three Irish guys and an Australian couple I had met in Colca Canyon arrived in Cusco and I spent 2 more relaxing days with them. Again playing card games, walking around the city, and doing some last souvenir shopping. One evening we went to the planetarium, which was really nice, but fell a bit short as due to clouds the practical part was cancelled. However, I learned now that the Incas had their own names for the constellations, including obviously a Lama. My last night in Cusco was cooking burgers with the group in our hostel, rounded up with some card games. Very relaxing and fun.
The next morning I took a flight to Lima, which was a bit chaotic but got me there. I had the afternoon and the next day in Lima, which I mainly spent with meeting people I had met on my trip, actually only people I met in Huacachina! I had a great time with all of them and also bought some very last souvenirs. I am still impressed that I managed to get everything into my backpack without having to wear my hiking boots on the plane. I was taking all my warm clothes in my hand luggage though to be prepared for my arrival in cold Europe. My backpack increased from originally 16 to 18 kg, but I managed to bring everything back home.
This is it, 4 weeks of Canada and 6 weeks of Peru. I am looking forward to go home for Christmas, but am also very excited to travel again soon hopefully.
Canada was amazing, seeing Dan and Jess at home and to get to know their lovely country and people. And to do my first steps as a solo traveler in the east of the country. I am not doing justice here to the experience, as it seems like this has been a completely different holiday some while ago.
The memory of Peru is still fresh in my mind and I am still astonished about how amazing this trip was. When I left I was a bit afraid about how I would like traveling alone. I know about myself that I love the company of people. I love to share experiences. My energy level is majorly influenced by people around (or not around) me. And I still do. One goal for me on this trip was to get myself out there anyways: start things even though I'm alone. Enjoy things even when I'm alone. Try new things. And put myself out there and make the effort to meet people.
What I got out of this is so unbelievable much. I met amazing people! Very different people that I usually meet, inspiring people. Even though their life choices will not be my choices, they still give me a new perspective. People that surprised me after my first impression. People that are very similar to me and traveling with them was just easy and fun. People who were there for me during the not so good times. So the places I had the best time coincide mainly with the places I spent time with the people I connected with most: Huaraz & the Santa Cruz trek, Huacachina, Arequipa & Colca Canyon and Cusco & rainbow mountain. I've met some more amazing people on the way, some of them I just spent a couple of hours with, some more. There were times where I was alone and OK with it. There were also times where I didn't like it, but that is OK as well, because it was never long!
I loved Peru as a country. I admit parts of it are very touristy, but there are also some hidden gems and with some basic Spanish you can manage there very well. The locals I met were super friendly and helpful. You can do Peru on western standards (including western prices) or you can often safely do the cheap local version. I did a bit of both, usually using some common sense and paying for safety when I was traveling on my own and often enjoying local food and markets and staying in dorms most of the time. I wouldn't change much if I had to do it all again, because even the bad times always led back to good times!
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| Welcome to the touristic capital of Lake Titicaca |
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| I was lucky with the weather, the beautiful colours of the dresses just shine, floating island of Uros, Lake Titicaca |
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| Little girl on the floating islands of Uros, Lake Titicaca |
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| Rare picture on Uros: no boats, no people, Lake Titicaca |
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| Our host family on the second island: Armantani, Lake Titicaca |
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| Found this beauty on the hike up the hill, Armantani, Lake Titicaca |
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| Typical stone wall like on the cover of the lonely planet :) Armantani. Lake Titicaca |
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| Too cloudy to see the sunset, but still beautiful with the last ray of lights, Armantani, Lake Titicaca |
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| Somehow when people in Peru notice you take a picture of them, they often don't smile (look for example at the picture with our family above). So I sneaked this one of our host mom and the french girl where they both have a lovely smile. Armantani, Lake Titicaca |
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| One of the 40 pictures our guides took with 20 different cameras so that everyone had their farewell group picture, Armantani, Lake Titicaca |
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| On the way to our third island, lovely chat with the ladies, Lake Titicaca |
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| Beautiful landscape on our third island: Taquile, Lake Titicaca |
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| Again cute kids on the islands, Taquile, Lake Titicaca |
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| Beautiful reflection on the lake, view for our lunch spot, Taquile, Lake Titicaca |
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| Made it to Cusco, former capital of the Inca empire |
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| Temporary art display on the main square of Cusco |
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| Beautiful landscape around Templo de la Luna, Cusco |
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| Jesus statue on the hill above Cusco |
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| View from the Jesus statue down on Plaza del Armes, Cusco |
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| First stop on the group tour around Machu Picchu:wool cooperation, somewhere between Cusco and Ollantaytambo |
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| Here it starts: wool from the Alpaca or Lama (which this one is) |
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| Second stop of the group tour: the Inca terraces of Pisac |
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| Beautiful view on the sacred valley, Pisac |
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| The Machu Picchu tour group, Pisac |
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| First night of the Lares trek we put the tents inside the hut on the camping site to have a bit of shelter of the thunderstorm, Lares trek |
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| First view on the beautiful green lagoons, Lares trek detour |
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| Small lagoon with beautiful snowcapped mountains around, Lares trek detour |
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| View from above the second lagoon, Lares trek detour |
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| So many beautiful views on the lagoon, Lares trek detour |
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| On the way back we came across this mean looking Lama, Lares trek detour |
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| The hot pools we stayed for our second night of camping, close to Lares town |
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| Little hike on day three up on the hill next to the hot pools, close to Lares town |
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| Climbing up the Inca cave grave, close to Lares town |
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| Despite being a touristy village and still many buildings are only half finished, beautiful scenery of Machu Picchu town, Aguas Calientes |
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| THE picture everyone travelling to Peru needs to have: Machu Picchu |
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| OK, I didn't hike up there, but still: Made It! |
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| For people scared of heights it may have been good that it was so cloudy on the way to the Inca bridge, Machu Picchu |
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| It just wouldn't stop raining! Everyone wearing rain ponchos, Machu Picchu |
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| The new touristy highlight: starting point & horse rental at the bottom of rainbow mountain (Vinicunca) |
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| Finally made it to the top, roughly 5100m, Vinicunca/rainbow mountain |
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| Treated with this beautiful view, Vinicunca/rainbow mountain |
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| Met back Marina on top of the mountain, most people are already on the way down again, Vinicunca/rainbouw mountain |
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| Well deserved rest after the hike, in the background you can see the snowy top of Ausangate |
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| Beautiful full moon and cooking with the Colca Canyon crew at my last night in Cusco |
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| My
last two days in Lima I got lazy and didn't take any pictures - except
for with the people I met again: Kristina, the Canadian girl
from Huaccachina |
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| The second Huaccachina revival in Lima: Emma & Lauren, the dutch/belgian crew from Huaccachina |
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