Peru II (August 21st - August 25th)

Arriving to chilly Lima at 5 a.m., followed by coming across series of overpriced taxis and hostels, was not the best possible start of the day. Luckily, the fog and cold was soon gone, together with the first successes of the long-awaited "organizational day" - travellers' cheques were exchanged into Nuevo soles as well as American dollars (to be needed in Bolivia and mainly in Venezuela later on), the time-sensitive train and accommodation around Machu Picchu was booked and - most of all - the flight tickets back to Caracas, Venezuela were purchased for September 20th.

Lima, 5 a.m., in the bus to Miraflores district

El Fredovito in charge of city traffic

German tourist, whom the expeditioners helped out from trouble

Upcoming 4 days were spent in towns and villages situated along the west Peruvian coastline. The first stop was in Paracas (after skipping Chilca, famous for its mud baths, due to inconvenient bus connections). Paracas, small village surrounded by coastal dessert, is heavilly visited because of two main natural attractions - Islas Ballestas (aka "Poor-men Gallapagos", amazing island rock formations populated by hundreds of thousands (!) of birds of various species, and some water-based mammals, too, e.g. penguins, pelicans, sea lions and dolphins) and Reserva Nacional de Paracas (vast desert area with exceptional landscape phenomenas) - both providing the expeditioners with remarkable natural views.

Approaching Islas Ballestas, attractive tourist destination

Impressive, neverending chains of birds on the skies, trying to squeeze on already fully occupied islands

Sea lions, penguins and other mammals were easy to spot

Miguel Hudeiro thoroughly exploring beaches around Paracas

Tasty lunch in fishermen's village - ceviche (local equivalent of sushi) as a starter and roasted fresh fish

Proceeding further south, Huacachina village is the center of sand-surfing and sand dunes buggy tours. The adventurers did not spent much time and money on these group attractions and rather took benefit of very pleasant sunny weather and climbed up the highest sand dune in the area to enjoy unusual outlook on close-by town Ica - where the crew broadened their knowledge of Peruvian history in the regional museum.

Just climbed up - after almost an hour struggle with hot sand

Huacachina in the front, Ica in the back, sand dunes all around

Miguel Hudeiro and Don Madonarra chasing each other

Nazca is a world-famous center of influential Pre-Columbian (ca. before 1492) Nazca culture. Flights over the Nazca lines spread across 500 km2 of desert plains around the city are the main target for all tourists hitting Peru. However, after receiving rather reserved impressions of other fellow travellers, the expeditioners decided to make it a light version. One afternoon was eventually enough to observe at least three figures (lizard, tree and frog) visible from the outlook point outside town.

One of many Nazca lines figures (a tree)

Having still some spare time before boarding a night bus to Cuzco, the crew took a cab to admire nearby Cerro Blanco, the highest known sand dune in the world (height of 2.078 m).

Approaching Cerro Blanco, the world's highest sand dune

17-hour bus ride to Cuzco with reportedly one of the most reputable coach operators in Peru turned out to be truly dismal experience - outrageously overpriced, considerably delayed and poorly customer oriented Cruz del Sur is a company not to be recommended further on. The city of Cuzco made it up for them, though - once being the center of the Inca empire, Cuzco is nowadays rightly considered an archeological capital of the entire continent. Late afternoon and night sightseeing allowed the travelers to explore the most beautiful parts of the city, and get a decent sleep before setting off to Machu Picchu.

Plaza de Armas in Cuzco
(the main square in every Peruvian city holds this name)

Local women in traditional dresses posing with baby sheep

May the Maya be with you! :)

Natural highlights I

Main point of all the previous posts from the trip was to bring you closer to the adventures and atmosphere of the expedition. Goal of the sequel "Natural highlights" is to show you some of the beautiful natural sights the expeditioners managed to photograph.

First edition contains some of the best pictures from Venezuela and Colombia. Stay tuned for more coming soon.

May the Maya be with you! :)

Hot sand dunes (Venezuela)

Marvellous mountains (Venezuela)

Peaceful water fields (Venezuela)

Bumpy dirt roads (Venezuela)

Picturesque lakes (Venezuela)

Silent savannas (Venezuela)

Wild stony cliffs (Colombia)

Steaming jungle (Colombia)

Romantic beach sunsets (Colombia)

Exotic vegetation (Colombia)

Deserted virgin beaches (Colombia)

Unforgettable ocean atmosphere (Colombia)

Authentic village settlements (Colombia)

Lush valleys (Colombia)

Peru I (August 13th - August 20th)

Expeditioners entered Peru in La Balsa. Although it was one of the less travelled border crossings, they happened to encounter four other fellow travellers (2 Austrians and 2 Israelis) - they all together managed to conveniently bargain down a 2.5-hour bumpy taxi ride to close-by San Ignácio. From there, it was another 2 hours to Jaen, where they spent their first night in Peru.

(Over)loading the taxi at La Balsa border crossing

Going south to Jaen, passing by completely dry river basins
(there is a dry season (i.e. European winter) in Peru in August)

Young sellers waiting for long-distance buses in their village

Jaen, originally planned for a short stopover only, hosted the travelers in a very pleasant way and provided them with quite unexpected observations - such great level of resemblance to the core features of Indian way of life definitely went beyond the boundaries of negligible coincidence. Rickshaws everywhere, low prices, roof-less houses, numerous kid beggars, fresh lime soda stalls, river basin full of litter, extremely bustling street life, some unpaved roads, even the act of pouring out buckets of unidentified liquids straight onto the street... that all could not be overlooked in Jaen, but had been hardly possible to notice in other South American countries visited so far. All in all, it has been fairly enjoyable change in up-to-now routine of the trip.

Jaen, the city of rickshaws
(eventually applies for other Peruvians cities, too)

In the evening of the other "transport day" (6 hours to Chiclayo, 3 more further on), the crew reached Trujillo. Not having any more Nuevo soles (Peruvian currency), they set off for the night city walk to withdraw the cash. Although they did not manage to get even half of the required sum (annoying withdrawal limits being in place in every country/bank so far), they ended up the day well, with decent portion of roasted chicken and Inca Kola, yellow, tutti-frutti-flavoured counterpart of Coca Cola.

Trying out a street snack (mashed corn with chicken, wrapped in corn leaves) at the bus station in Chicklayo

Delicious dinner - roasted chicken, chips, avocado salad and Inca Kola

Roasted guinea pig is a local specialty - thus they feed them really well:)

Visiting nearby archeological sites of the Chimún and Mocha culture - Huaca del Sol, Chan Chan and three others - as well as 3-hour trip to neighbouring fishermen's village and Peruvian surfing capital of Huanchaco, made the expeditioners busy for the entire day, before taking a night bus to Huaraz.

One of many rickshaw rides of the day, while exploring pre-Columbian culture sites around Trujillo

In Chan Chan, the biggest ancient sand complex in the world

Huaraz, located right between 6.000 m high peaks of Cordillera Blanca (Andes mountain range), became travelers' base camp for the upcoming 5 days. The first one was dedicated to the city itself, and a half-day aclimatization trip to Cañon del Pato and its surroundings, close to the mountain village of Caraz.

Outskirts of Huaraz

Local woman just bought two fresh chicken on Huaraz market

Following four days were spent on wonderful Santa Cruz treking circuit - a group of 3 Czechs, 2 Polish, 1 Swiss, 2 locals (guide, cook) and 3 donkeys all enjoyed breathtaking cloudless views of snowy Andean peaks, unbelievably cyan lagoons and rich animal life. The highest point (Punta Union pass, 4.750 m) was not easy to climb up, but everyone eventually managed and got rewarded by unmatched natural sceneries. Three chilly nights in tents, friendly company and delicious on-the-spot prepared dishes were other highlights of the trek.

On Santa Cruz trek

Sleeping in stylish tents, right under nearby 6km mountain peaks

Reached the top - the Punta Union pass (4.750 m)

Different natural views on the way down

El Fredovito chilling at the waterfalls

May the Maya be with you! :)

Ecuador II (August 8th - August 12th)

Chugchillán was perfect for walks into the nature. Morning walk showed not only beautiful green hills covered by fields but also hard work that created them. Afternoon walk was a little bit longer than expected and turned already paid accommodation to a mere luggage locker. The adventurers underestimated Latino-American perception of time and believed the locals who claimed that walking through a valley back to Chugchillán will take only two hours. After four hours of walking on barely visible paths the darkness came and imprisoned them without any equipment in the mountains. Attempts to continue and light the way by cameras proved to be too dangerous. The night and cold had to be outlasted at the spot.

Majority of women from the mountains still dress traditionally

Literally chilling-out overnight in the mountains

View of the valley near Chugchillán

Don Madonarra on a walk home after unexpected night in the Andes

Luckily, nothing bad happened during 10 hours of waiting for sunrise and the travelers could enjoy relaxing day in their next destination, Baños. Except the thermal baths, for which is this town famous, the adventurers experienced adrenaline excitement during fast and furious drive to the mountain pass in their buggies. Full of energy again, they set off further south.

Enjoying thermal baths next to a waterfall in Baños

Driving buggies around Baños

The excited buggy drivers

Next two days were spent mostly in a bus with overnight stop in Macas and Loja and a short afternoon visit of Gualaquiza, a small town, which outskirts reminded them of African villages. Unfortunately, in none of these places a satisfactory tour to indigenous villages in the Amazon (which they intended to visit) was found and they carried on.

Dwelling near Gualaquiza

The last stop before crossing border to Peru was Vilcabamba, which was described in 3-year old Lonely Planet as a peaceful and almost forgotten village. Nevertheless, "Lonely Planet effect" (as expeditionists internally call a transformation of an unknown sight to a touristic spot thanks to praise in this guidebook) turned it in the meantime into a hub for American travelers and fortune seekers. English was spoken at every corner, prices were adjusted to U.S. purchase power and mountains were full of pompous ranches under construction. Nevertheless, a pleasant day was spent here, mainly thanks to a horse ride in the nearby mountains.

A horse being prepared for Miguel Hudeiro

El Fredovito on a horse ride around Vilcabamba

It is important to mention that American influence is by far not an exception in Ecuador. Local official currency is U.S. dollar and statistics of tourism show that U.S. citizens are the most numerous group of visitors here. Consequently, restaurants with English menus full of junk food and ambiente with American pop music are not difficult to find, in contrast to previously visited countries. One theory that adventurers came up with is that Ecuador kind of looks like American east coast countryside, but still keeps its wilderness and sense of remoteness. This could explain why they find it such an attractive place for vacations and retirements.

Local donkeys always look cute and funny

May the Maya be with you! :)