Lima

Lima, city of millions of taxis, can show you many faces in a very small area. This town has everything from rich quarters with business centers to poor slums where tourists dare not to venture out. Most visitors stay in the part called Miraflores which is fairly safe and has a feeling of any other bigger city. We decided to stay in Miraflores House, which turned out to be a very comfortable and safe hostel with a funny talkative owner, Francis.

As we have found out many times on our trip, the world is really small. We ended up meeting a Swedish couple we met at our tour of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We celebrated our get together with a couple of games of bowling and some litres of Cristal beer. Well, we ain't bowlers, so the Swedes won, however, Jenni didn't mind as she was content with the Finnish hockey team beating Sweden in this years world champs.

There are plenty of museums in Lima which can satisfy a variety of tastes, however, we decided we had had enough of the Inca ceramics and history and not being big art lovers either, we skipped the museum scene. Instead, we got on a local green bus 73A which took us almost directly to the main square (Plaza Mayor). The same day we were there, the euro-latinamerican summit about global warming was in town, so the streets were buzzing with cops and barricades to prevent cars from entering the center. We managed to sneak a peak at a Lima Cathedral where the supposed remains of Francisco Pizzaro are found. After that we headed to the San Franciscan monastery and its catacombs to explore the local Spanish influence. We continued our tour to the San Martin square with a statue of Saint Martin on his horse and then took a crowded green bus back to Miraflores. It is interesting that already a few streets over from Plaza Mayor there are poorer areas of the town where it is not recommended for tourists to venture out. Very weird contrast.

The next day we wanted to get out of Lima, so booked a tour with Mira Bus agency to the ruins of Pachacamac. The Pachacamac culture was in this area way before Incas, however, the Incas then took over the Pachacamac keep once their reign began. Well, it really wasn't all that exciting. Except a few walls from mud bricks, there is really not much else to see than rubble and sand along with a nearby fallen-apart village. The tour ended at the Temple of the Sun which was one of the only ruins that had a few intact walls. I'd say that unless one is really interested in architecture, skipping this attraction is really not a sin.

On our final day we visited the Park of Love (Pargue del Amor) and took a look at the surfer dudes catching some waves under the smoggy cloudy sky. To be a bit positive about Lima, I'd have to give it props for the cuisine here. We managed to eat very well and if one goes off the beaten track, the prices are very very cheap, starting at one euro per full meal with soup and drink. One can eat anything imaginable from normal chicken to chicken hearts or stomachs.:) Next stop Argentina.

Peru Uncovered

In Peru we decided to make an exception from our do-it-yourself traveling, so we booked a 9-day tour with Gap Adventures. After seven months it was indeed nice to let someone else arrange transportations and make decisions on which restaurant to eat and which sights to see. Also, it had been a loooooong time since we have slept in such good beds.

Apart from the coastal line, the wonders of Peru are situated high up in the Andean mountains. Our group of 12 first landed in Juliaca, after which a bus took us to Puno, a town by the shores of Lake Titicaca at 3800 meters above sea level. There were no planned activities for the first day, as most people usually suffer from altitude sickness. We were just recommended to spend the first day resting and drinking coca tea. It was a strange feeling indeed, as if being drunk, exhausted and hungover at the same time. Generally speaking, it´s impossible to predict how the body responds to altitude and a good physical condition doesn´t mean anything over here. In our case, I only had mild symptoms and got over it pretty quickly, but Libor was completely out of it. After dinner he fainted on the restaurant floor and once we got back to the hotel he started being sick. However, after some rest and several cups of coca tea, the bearded man was smiling again.

From Puno we did a full-day tour to Lake Titicaca and its Islands. First we stopped at Taquile island, where we stopped at a handicraft market and had lunch. The weather was gorgeous and our group still dizzy, but it was very beautiful and interesting. Textiles are probably the number one souvenir people buy from Peru and the ladies over here sure know what they are doing.

After Taquile we sailed to Uros Islands, which actually float close to Puno harbour. The islands are made from straw-like Totora plant, which are tied together to form small floating reeds. What a fascinating place, one felt like a little bird in a nest! Originally the idea of the islands was that they were easy to defend and move in case of attacks. Nowadays the islands are still inhabited and are visited by every tourist group in the region.

From Puno we took a bus to Cusco, which was the main city in the Incan times. The bus journey through the mountains was amazing, let me tell you that there is no lack of breathtaking scenery in this country! In Cusco we visited many historical sites both in and outside of the city, such as the Sacred Valley and Qorikancha Temple. We also visited the village of Caca Ccullo, where the local women sell handicrafts while the men are working as Gap Adventures porters on the Inca Trail. Strange detail: As we were listening to the techniques the women use in their handicrafts, the village lamas decided to have some kind of a sex orgy in the middle of the town square. Soon everyone had turned around and were snapping pictures of lama porn.

Then became THE day, the promised highlight, Machu Picchu. The day earlier we had taken the train to a dirty little town called Aguas Calientes so we could reach Machu Picchu in the early hours. The entrance to Machu Picchu is a half-an-hour busride and one heart attack away from town, as the mountain is reached through a relatively narrow and steep road. But it sure was unbelievable. The Spanish conquistadores never found the place, which is why it is so well preserved. But even without the ruins it is a wonderful place and one could spend quite a few hours wondering in the area. Libor also climbed a steep mountain called Waynapicchu, which is reached through narrow stone steps. Since my knees were already shaking of fear even before I had taken the first step towards that direction, I took it as a sign of going for breakfast instead.