Sacred Valley

The four days on the Inca Trail were followed by a relaxing, “touri” like one day excursion to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We first stopped at the site of Sacsayhuaman in the outskirts of Cuzco, where we could see some impressive Inca walls with massive rocks weighting up to 130 tons.
The next stop was at the museum of the llama, where you could of course also buy all sorts of things made of llama and alpaca wool.
Unfortunately the weather was not great that day and so our visit to the Inca fortres of Pisac was cut rather short. We had lunch in Pisac and also some free time to explore the local market and spend our money on presents and other stuff!
The next stop was at a traditional chicha bar, where we tasted the typical chicha (corn beer).
The last stop in the afternoon was in Ollantaytambo (which was also the starting point of our Inca trek a few days earlier), where we climbed the enormous Inca terraces constructed on the side of a steep mountain.

Inca Trail / Machu Picchu

The four day hike on the Inca Trail was certainly one of the highlights of my tour so far and I really enjoyed every minute of it even though it was quite tough at times….
We started with a relatively easy and more or less flat 4 ½ hour 12 km walk on day one and made camp at Wayllabamba on about 3300 meters.
The second day began quite early and was probably the most challenging one, as it was mainly uphill to reach the highest pass on the trail, the “Dead Woman’s Pass” on 4200 meters. We were rewarded with spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and valleys and after a short break we started the descent to our next campsite on 3600 meters.
The third day started with another uphill part to the second highest pass on 3950 meters; the next 6 km where then downhill again through lush, tropical forest like sceneries. After the third pass on 3600 meters it was then all downhill to our last campsite a Winay Wayna, this part was all stairs (3000 steps) and quite challenging for your knees and legs too…
In Winay Wayna we welcomed the opportunity to have a hot shower and a nice cold beer!
On the last morning we got up at 4am to begin the final section of the trail to the famous Sun Gate and then down into Machu Picchu. We had been really lucky with the weather on our first three days of the hike (no rain whatsoever, even though we are in the rainy season right now… wenn Engel reisen, dann lacht der Himmel kann ich da nur sagen); only our last day was not that great and so we did not really see anything from the Sun Gate, as the whole valley in front of us was covered by fog. So we continued our hike down towards the entrance of Machu Picchu and only then the sky suddenly cleared and the ancient Inca town of Machu Picchu majestically rose from the clouds…
What an inspiring view, I was standing there almost in tears……..
After a guided tour around the site we then had the rest of the day to explore this mystical Inca city ourselves and after a visit to the Inca bridge I went down to Aguas Calientes and soaked in the nearby hot springs, what a nice treat after four days of hiking. After a four hour train journey we finally got back to Cuzco in the late evening and enjoyed the comfort of having a nice and warm hotel bed waiting for us again.

I earlier said that this trail was probably the highlight of my trip so far; well this all would not have been possible without the great Tucan group and the team of guides and porters accompanying us. It was simply amazing to see how our porters would carry our belongings, the tents, cooking utensils, food etc; each one having to carry 25 kg on his back. It seemed so easy for them and they were always smiling….. and then not to forget about the food, simply delicious! I had no idea how they did it, but everyday they were surprising us with yet another culinary delight!

The Inca Trail was truly an amazing experience for me and I can highly recommend it to all of you!



Getting ready

On the Inca Trail

Arriving in Machu Picchu in the morning of the fourth day

Arequipa and Colca Canyon

After an overnight bus ride we arrived in the beautiful colonial town of Arequipa, which has about 1 million inhabitants. The city is located at the foot of the snow capped volcano El Misti and the town is also called the white city, as most of its buildings are built with sillar, a pearly whit volcanic material. Besides the central plaza dominated by the large cathedral the most famous sight of Arequipa surely is the Santa Catalina Convent. It is a complete miniature walled colonial town of over 2 hectares in the middle of the city; over 450 nuns used to live in total seclusion in this convent. Nowadays only a few nuns are still living there and most of the area has been opened to visitors.

From Arequipa we drove to the Colca Canyon, said to be the deepest in the world (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). To get to Chivay where we stayed for the night, we had to pass the highest point of our journey so far, 4900 meters above sea level. It was pretty windy and cold up there and quite a few of us could feel the extreme altitude and the lack of oxygen….The next morning we went for a hike along the rim of the canyon and also spotted some condors from the lookout point “Cruz del Condor”. After a lunch stop in Cabanaconde we headed back to Arequipa, from where we would fly to Cuzco the next morning



Arequipa and Santa Catalina Convent

Colca Canyon

Nazca Lines

Our next stop was in Nazca, a town famous for the strange parallel lines and geometrical figures etched into the dessert floor. The images are best seen from above and so we took a flight over the lines and below you can see the pictures of a spaceman, a monkey and a giant hand.
The designs are thought to have been made by three different groups of people - the Paracas people 900-200 BC, the Nazcas 200 BC-600 AD and the Huari settlers from Ayacucho at about 630 AD.
In the afternoon we visited the Chauchilla cemetery where we saw ancient mummies with their skin and hair still intact. The dry and humidity free climate helped to perfectly preserve the mummies, tapestries and clothes; unfortunately many of the graves were ransacked by grave robbers who were looking for valuables such as pottery, skulls etc. to sell on the black market. Nowadays the area is protected by the Peruvian government and the graves are covered with roofs to protect the graves against the wind and sun.


Nazca Lines

Chauchilla Cemetery

Ballestas Islands and Huacachina Oasis

Hello there, it's almost been a week since my last blog entry and in the meantime we have left Lima and are on the way to the South of Peru. I had my camera repaired back in Lima and it is working again, although not quite as good as before, but it's certainly better than having no camera, I guess.....
Our Tucan group is very nice and with only ten people also not too big; we have four people from Australia, three from England, two from Germany and one person from Switzerland (that would be me..) and our Finish guide is completing this quite international mix!


Our first stop was the Ballestas Islands, where more than 150 species of birds and thousands of see lions are living. There are also some amazing rock formations and the mysterious Candelabra (a figure etched on the side of a mountain) to be seen. Many people believe that the Candelabra is linked to the Nacza lines, whereas Erich von Daeniken is actually thinking that this is some kind of drawing/message from Aliens.....
In the afternoon we headed to the Huacachina oasis, where we took a tour to the enormous sand dunes and did try sand boarding. This was really great fun!



Huacachina oasis and sand boarding

Ballestas Islands

Lima

Touring Peru

Here an overview of my itinerary and the highlights of our trip through Peru (starting on Saturday, December 01)


Itinerary

Day 1 to 4
Arrive Lima - Pisco - Ballestas Islands - Huacachina Oasis - Nazca - Option Chauchilla Cemetery & Nazca Lines flight

Day 5 to 7
Arequipa - Chivay - Colca Canyon - Cruz del Condor - Arequipa

Day 8 to 13
Cuzco - Sacsayhuaman - Sacred Valley - Pisaq - Ollantaytambo - Inca Trail - Aguas Calientes - Machu Picchu - Cuzco

Day 14 to 16
Puerto Maldonado - Amazon Jungle - Cuzco

Day 17 to 19
Puno - Lake Titicaca - Uros, Amantaní & Taquile Islands - Puno

Day 20 to 21
La Paz (Bolivia)

Good bye Ecuador and welcome to Peru

After almost three months in Ecuador, it was finally time to say good bye on Monday, November 26.

Together with Andrew, a guy from the UK whom I met in Vilcabamba, I was boarding the bus in Loja that would take us to Piura, in the North of Peru.
After one night in Piura I continued straight to Lima (15 hours in the bus...), where I will join another Tucan Travel tour group this Saturday.
At the moment I am trying to have my camera fixed and I am confident, that I will soon have some more pictures to share with you!
Oh, bye the way, I really like Lima and unlike what most people had predicted to me, the weather is even sunny and not dull and foggy all day. Lucky me….