Sun, Incan Ruins and Guinea Pig

Sorry! Long time no update, but I did not have a chance to spend time in front of a computer. The lovely couple from Denmark (Camilla and Soren) kept me busy with great hikes around Cusco and afterwards I was in the jungle for 8 days and only came back to Cusco today.

Ok, lets go back to 19th August...

Camilla, Soren and I went to a day trip to amazing Incan ruins in Tipon. I was highly impressed by the water system they had in place at that time. But see for yourself...

Some signs were a bit confusing though  ;-)

Nevertheless, the real highlight of the trip was our dinner afterwards: Cuy al horno (roasted guinea pig). Even though this is already the second time I had it (first time in Ecuador some years ago - Patty you might remember :-) I do not think I can ever get hooked on it. Firstly it is weird to have a whole little pig on your plate, secondly the taste is only ok-ish (according to my taste buds at least) and lastly there is not really much meat on it.

Here is a little photo story of a cute little guinea pig called "Freddy" (sorry, no happy end though...).

Yammy...  ;-)

Happy in Cusco!!

I am a very happy Monika today as James told me that he will join me for some time while I am traveling in South America! I am really excited and cant wait to see him! :-)

Moreover, I very much like Cusco. The flight from Arequipa to Cusco already was a real treat with amazing views over the Andes.

Even though Cusco is quite touristy around the main square "Plaza de Armas" it is authentic and fun as soon as you go out of the center. After having a real experience yesterday in Arequipa when I decided to have Ceviche (raw fish marinated with lime) in a local restaurant for less than EUR 1 (that is what all guide books warn you NOT to do), I was again brave enough to eat in the local market. Nevertheless, I did not go for their "special" meals that includes "cabeza".

Some more impressions:

Finally, here is one for Angie and for my friends at Juniper (I think it really is high time we set up an office in Cusco in order to avoid things like this in the future. Let me know if you need a Marketing Manager here... ;-)

Tomorrow I am going to meet up with a lovely Danish couple that I have met on the Colca trip in order to get some nice roasted guinea pig outside of town  :-)

Going to bed soon as I had to get up at 3:30am today and really can do with some proper sleep. I hope the guys in "my" dorm dont snore as much as the ones in Arequipa...

Adios Arequipa!

Last day in Arequipa. Tomorrow I am on my way to Cusco...

One highlight really was the visit at "Museo Santuarious de Altura" where they show "Juanita" - a well-preserved mummy that was sacrificed and it is believed to have died about 500 years ago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_Juanita).

Some impressions to say goodbye!

Plaza de Armas:

Monestario de Santa Catalina:

San Camilo Market:

Street life:

 

Happy Birthday Arequipa!

Great coincident as this weekend Arequipa celebrated its 470th anniversary - and I was part of it  :-)

Even though I was really tired after the Colca Canyon tour I forced myself to go to town to meet the guys from the tour for a meal and another Pisco Sour. We even managed to stay awake until midnight to see the firework, which actually was not half as exciting as everybody told us. Nevertheless, it was nice to see my fellow co-trekkers once more.

Btw, don't be surprised if you see lots of people walking around with a big bottle of Sprite or Inka Cola. They actually mix it with Pisco and fill it back in the bottle so that it is not so obvious... 

On Sunday the whole city got mad, all streets were packed and the never-ending parade started at 10am and had still not stopped by the time I got tired of it at around 7pm. Puh, South-Americans really know how to party!

Survived my first trek!

Some might call me mad as I have done my first 3-days trek only one day after arriving in Arequipa, but somehow it worked out surprisingly fine. After a pick-up at 3am on Thursday morning and a bumpy 6-hours ride we arrived at Colca Canyon. Even though it is with 4160m the 2nd deepest canyon in the world (double as deep as Grand Canyon) it is not well known.

The first day we walked 1200m down into the canyon, which does not sound too bad. But doing this around midday at about 33 degrees celsius is actually quite exhausting. In order to forget the pain in my legs I treated myself with a nice Alpaca meal and my first Pisco Sour in the evening - yummy!

The second day was quite relaxed. We just walked for about 3 hours from the little village where we have stayed for the night to our next accommodation - a lush oasis in the middle of the canyon. Wow! What an amazing feeling to swim in a pool surrounded by palms and colorful canyon walls.

I could have easily stayed there for some more days... But unfortunately we had to get up at 5am on our third day in order to walk up the canyon again. I have to say that I am sort of proud of me as I managed to do the 1200m in 2,5 hours even though it is said that you need about 3 hours  :-)

 
On our way back to Arequipa we stopped at a hot spring spa, which was wonderful and sooo relaxing. Just what I needed...!

The last stop was at 4,910m at the "Mirador de los Andes" with a breathtaking view to the vulcanos. What a wonderful end of an amazing tour!

I really was very lucky with the people on this tour as all of them were extremely nice and we had some good fun together. If any of you reads this blog - Thanks a lot for a great time together and I hope I will see you again one day!  :-)