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Einisch um d Wäut
  • chantal mueller

Einisch um d Wäut

A 113-day adventure by chantal Read more
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  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Off to the Marquesas Island

    May 20, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    I dived with 48 eagle rays yesterday. What an amazing experience! I also drove to venus point, a beach with black sand. Edwege picked me up yesterday and it was just a, again, wonderful evening. The kindness and hospitality is incredible. And I thought I will have a quiet week here on Tahiti. That week was unforgettable!
    Now I have to get my things together, my room looks like something exploded before I get picked up to board the ship. The vessel is called Aranui 5. I've already seen it in the harbour, I am so excited about it! The cruise will bring us to remote island and it will be the opportunity for me to take myself out of the world for some time. So take care and you will hear from me again in 2 weeks!    Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Fakarava

    May 21, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    I am living a dream here. Yesterday I boarded the Aranui 5. I stay at a room in a bunk bed with 3 other person, there is a French couple from Grasse and a lady from Paris. Friendly people, I am sure we will have a good time together. I already made friends with the Pointer crew, they are in charge with all the selling and the money. They provide me with Bananas and Pineapple and I will invite those four men for a beer at one of the evening. I had lunch with Lynn and Mike, two guys from NZ and Roland, a Swiss. You meet people very easily, I am already known as the cheerful one. How can you not be cheerful on this wonderful boat, a mistery to me. It was biult in 2015, suceeding Aranui 3, a ship that had less passenger 140 instead of 250 today and was simpler. The new one has eleven desk, I am staying at the forth. Every day we have a reunion with lectures about the Marquases Island and informations for the day to come. I signed up for diving in Fakarava, an atoll we reached today. I am already very busy here, yesterday at 4pm I took some Tahitien class and an hour later we were trying to dance tahitien. I think I look like a brick next to Hui who dances so sensually and beautifully. We will do a spectacle in the end with the men doing the haka and we girls trying to impress men. The song is lovely and we dance a story about love and the beauty of the sea etc., actually trying to get a man to marry us. At 8pm we had diner, delicious, with a entrée, main dish and a dessert as it is the case for lunch. It is an exception on a cruise that there is food 'only' at a given time. I read a review before boarding where this fact was especially mentioned: The lady said to be careful to respect these hours otherwise you won't get food. She wrote that with all the activities and so 'little' food you could even loose weight on this cruise.
    Anyway the day ended with a movie of the Marquase Island which I didn't get to see entirely because I fell asleep. The sea was rough so I slept like a baby. Today waking up was at 5:30 to watch the passage of the ship into the atoll. It is the second widest passage in the world with 1.6km. We were six divers going off the ship at first and we had a wonderful dive with baby sharks, barracudas and hundreds of fishes. At the pier were people selling pearls from a farm nearby and I helped translating and hoped they would do a good sell. When I left they offered me a pearl as a thank you. So kind, I was so touched. Now we are heading off for 1.5 days on the sea before arriving on Nuku Hiva.
    As expected I am putting the avarage age a bit down. There are English speaking, some German and a lot of French on the ship. We aren't fully booked and there are 201 guests and a crew of 104, the ones working at the cargo part included.    Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    On the sea

    May 24, 2017, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    It is so cool here on board, I've met already wonderful people and time flies. We had a complete day on board while heading to the marquesas yesterday. I do mention once the beauty of the colors when waves splashes around the ship, the stunning sunsets and the stars in the night, i can't find any superlatives to describe it. The day wasn't boring at all: I started with a workout in the gym, had a delicious breakfast with Sabrina, a Swiss lawyer who spends three month in the south pacific, Manu, a French who is traveling for almost a year and my New Zealand friends Lynn and Mike. Then we had a lecture from Jörg, the German guide. I decided to stay with the German group since it's the smallest and I think they have the coolest guide. There are 60 French speaking, 80 English speaking and around 25 German speaking and some others. In the afternoon we had a show on how to wear a pareo as well as some coconut leave braiding. We have a pool on board and the ship is moving so much that it is like being in the sea. I spent quite a time in there, playing with the waves, so much fun! Nahau, the animator, joined at some point and asked for some swimming tips. Not easy to swim or show how to do it in a washing machine. Moana, another of the lovely crew and the official tatooer of the ship asked me to take part of the fashion show after the captain presented his crew. Haha. Me and presenting clothes. But then, who cares. So I did it with Lynn, it was so much fun. And since I have no reputation to loose anymore (ahh you're that trouble maker!) we had a Karaoke night ending with me dancing salsa with Nahau. Today we arrived at Huku Niva, our first destination in this magical place on our planet.
    The Marquesas are one of five archipelagos of French Polynesia with 6 island. Their names mean all another part of a house.
    There used to live 75'000 people in this archipelago before white people came along with diseases, alcool and the catholicism. The number went down to 2000 in the beginning of the 20th century. The catholic church forbid them to wear tattoos, speak their language, dress in their traditional clothes, actually live their culture. Horrendous. A French doctor then started to introduce vaccines and do a lot of prevention so the population grew again.    Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Nuku Hiva

    May 23, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We arrived at Nuku Hiva yesterday, the biggest of the six marquesas islands. We were all packed in 4wheels cars, we had to remember the number. The English could go off the ship an hour before, rumours say it's because some complained that they had their briefing in a room with no lights. Some people always find something to complai. about, even on a cruise like that. We drove to the cathedral, whicheas built in the seventies after taking out the old one. Only des marquis built it and there is a lot of marquisian culture in there mixed with the catholicity. After that we continued the drive on a narrow road, climbing up to 500m and stopped at a former village where 1000people lived. Very intersting, this marquases culture. It also started to rain heavily which was also a reason for some to complain. We as the ones I spend the most time with, don't and have a wonderful time together. Diner was at Yvonne's. First we watched how the ground grill was revealed, they did pork in there which we would had as one of the courses. The local food is delicious, my favorite is poisson cru, I will for certain 'cook' this once I am home. It's just mouthwatering good. As we were eating it started to rain for the third time, tropical warm showers, it was wonderful. We took the same 4wheel car back and got on the ship at around 5 o'clock. After dinner the crew played local music. It is such a happy and joyful music like the culture here. And of course, there was a lot of dancing, too.Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller
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    Ua Puo

    May 26, 2017, Südsee ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Was war das für ein Tag wieder. Wir begannen mit einer Wanderung zu einem Kreuz hoch mit einer tollen Aussicht auf die Bucht. Sabrina und ich liefen noch vis-à-vis den Hügel hoch, ich hätte gerne den Flughafen gsehen, welcher wegen seiner abschüssigen Piste berüchtigt ist. Der Weg war aber zu weit, sodass wir wieder zurück mussten, der nächste Programmpunkt stand an, die berühmten und auch besten Haka-Tänze. Beeindruckend. Wirklich. Da ist der Haka der All Blacks nur der Vorgeschmack. Danach gingen wir essen, wieder lokal und total lecker. Nachmittags kam uns Philippe abholen, ein Métropole, welcher seit 35 Jahren hier lebt und mit Manu im Zimmer war. Er nahm die Aranui als Taxi sozusagen. Er brachte uns zu seinem Haus; es gab Kokosnüsse und Bananen direkt vom Baum, herrlich. Danach fuhr er uns zu diesem Flughafen und brachte uns zurück zum Schiff. Das war toll. Abends war BBQ angesagt mit den ganzen Mitarbeiter. Ich have viel getanzt, geschäkert, gelacht bis die Tränen kamen und um 1Uhr morgens gabs noch ein Bad im Piscine, es war magique. Zum Schluss waren noch Manu, Barbara sowie Denis und mir mit ca. 15Crew- Mitglieder am Festen. Jetzt kennt mich definitiv jeder auf dem Schiff hier 😊.Read more

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  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Hiva Oa

    May 25, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    It is already the 27th of May while writing this and I am messing up the days in my head so I don't really remember exactly what we have done this day. What I know is that I almost had some tummy muscle ache so much I was laughing. I spent the day with Denis and Manu. Those two are such fun and kind, it is a pleasure to get to know them. We visited Hiva Oa. It is the island where Gaugin and Brel spent their last years on. The villages they lived in we visited on 26th. On 25th we visited the biggest Tiki of the Marquases. Unfortunately since they haven't written down their customs, stories and tradition so the 120 years under strict catholic rules almost all the history of those people is gone. There is only interpretation left. So actually 'white archeologists' are teaching the marquesas their cultures which is bizarre and seems wrong. In the afternoon we went to another small village and walked around, picking ripe mangos from the street and eating them straight away, they are so delicious. We have a lot of rain due to El Nino/ El Nina (depends who you aks) which was very bad. So the harvesting was bad since the fruits are rotting. Climate change also affect the people here.Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Fatu Hiva

    May 27, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Again, it made schwupps and the day is over. Fatu Hiva is one if the most remote island with only a couple of hundred people living there. Today was the 10miles walk from one village to the other going up until 600m and down again the sealevel. I didn't feel well at all having a cold and no voice. It was the same thing I had on christmas when I was on nightshifts. At least I could stay quiet this time. Manu was very happy, telling everyone that his holiday finally started with me shutting up 😊.
    So of course my head didn't want me to cancel the walk so I started and felt worse. After half an hour I was ok and could enjoy it a lot. We had some heavy rain with brown streams coming down the road and being completely soaked. It wasn't cold at all, just very very wet. On the top and in the middle of the walk some of the crew prepared a picnic, it was a bit like being at Subway or it was how I imagine it since I haven't been there yet. After some delicious sandwich, cake, fruit and coffee we continued the walk down to the little village, which lays dans la bay des virgines, one of the most beautiful bays in the world. The one who didn't walk came to this bay with the Aranui and we met them again in the village. Two girls were selling shells and some jewelry. I bought some shells and sat down with them and started to chat. Noella is 10 and Suzanne 11, both living on the island, having 3 respectively 4 brothers and sisters. They asked me all kind of questions, for example how kids were made. So I explained some and told them that they can say no. I think that's very important because it seems that no one was explaining them anything. They wanted me to stay there and wait for the next Aranui to pick me up again. They were very surprised about me not being married yet. Noella told me I should just be a bit patient. So funny, a ten year old telling you that. They were great, as all kids are, I wish I could have stayed longer.    Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Ua Huku

    May 28, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    The last island of the Marquesas we visited was the driest. Theoretically. We had lot's of rain again, warm rain, I didn't mind. Some did. So at least they have something to complain about and everyone was happy 😌
    We were picked up by trucks, we were in the car with Patrice, a rasta man, we were singing along to some Reggae music, well, not me since still without voice. They all take such good care of me. Like yesterday Tino, one of the marquesas guide gave me a glass of whisky with honey and lemon juice for my voice to come back. The crew is fantastic, my favorites are the marines. They work so much, always friendly. I think they are the heart of this ship, they are the ones that make this ship so special. I can recommend it to everyone even the younger ones. You are quite an exotic thing being young on this ship. And if you speak French and you are a bit open you make wonderful and unforgettable meetings. I am very happy I landed here.
    Each island has it speciality of art, here it was the bone carving. So we visited a market again, I played hide and seek with a girl, that was much fun. It was the French mothersday so we got a lot of flowers, we all smelled very good. Tino gave me a flower necklace and one of the marines the flower crown. In polynesian tradition offering a flower corwn to a woman was marrying her. We had a polynesian evening with dances and life music and some haka again. There is one of the marines being in the famous haka group traveling all around the world. He looks so different dressed normally and in his costume with all the tattoos and the black coloring in the face. As said before, it is very raw and masculine, on the other side you have women dancing 'la dance du oiseau' which is so grazile and feminine. It is so clearly set, men being the worriers and woman being the carer. No women would ever dance the haka. At the same time they do not mind at all if there is transvestism. I think this is amazing, letting be the other how she/he wants to be.    Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Last day in the marquesas

    May 29, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Only 5000 people visit this archipelago every year, the Aranui 5- guests being a big part of it since coming twelve times with around 200 tourists. Before human settlement there were only around 400 plants and only little animals, no mammals, a few birds and many insects. Mango, Banana and all those fruites came with humans around 200 years ago as well animals as rats, goats, horses and chicken. There are so many chicken here. They do not chase them because they eat the centripete, who can be 15cm long with a big clamps in the front and a thing I do not want to meet here. So chicken can fly again and they make a lot of noises, no matter the hour.
    The marquesas is very green and vegetables and fruits grow very easily. It is still not rentable to do a lot of it since it is so far away from everything here and the pay for the picker for example is high since it's kind of Fench here. The Aranui changed it's itinerary and is the only boat that goes directly from here to the society islands like Borabora. They do not have fresh goods there and the quality from Tahiti is not comparable to the one here. A new market for the people in the Marquesas opened with selling fresh fruits and vegetables to those islands. So the rich and beautiful can eat fresh mango, too.    Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Rangiroa

    June 1, 2017, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    The second island in the Tuamutou we could again go for a dive. We went at 7:30 to the dive centre and were shortly after in the water. Again with some current, lot's of animals we enjoyed an hour under the water. Being back i speculated that it was enough time for a second one - and there was! So again me in my element and there were two dolphins coming and playing with us under the water. That was amazing! Very puncutal at 12.30 sharp we arrived back at the centre for me to take the last boat to the Aranui. How I will miss this boat and the people on it. I never thought that it would be such an awesome experience with all the aonderful friends I made.Read more

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    #borabora

    June 1, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    The last island we visited before heading back to Tahiti was Borabora. A big blue lagoon, a beautiful spot on earth. If you happen to go there, skip Bora and go rather to Moapiti. As beautiful and a lot cheaper. I booked a shark and ray boat tour together with Manu and Barbara. First we stopped at a coral garden where we could snorkel, then there was some feeding of rays. I don't really like those kind of things so I talked more with some local tour guides. Then came the highlight with the boat driver finding a manta ray. We could swim with this amazing animal for more then 30min. Magic. We had lunch on a Motu, a small island owned by a hotel and rented by the Aranui for the day. We had a delicious meal there on the beach as you expect it in the catalogue. We stayed the afternoon on the island, snorkeling, swimming and chatting, taking the last boat to the Aranui with the crew and having some Ukulele-concert accompaning us. The sunset was stunning and so the last day on the Aranui was over very quicklyRead more

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    Back in Papeete

    June 3, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We left the ship after long goodbye hugs and lot's of bises in a bit melancholic mood. What a journey that was, what wonderful people I met. Unforgettable. I had a coffee with Manu in a bar with Wifi, reconnected myself back to the world and checked in my hostel. In the afternoon we remet Denis, the French Chansonnier and it was again like on the ship, us laughing like lunatics and just having a good time together. Saturday I went diving with the sharks again. This time I knew what to expect which made it even better. A female tiger shark was passing a couple of times very close to me. Julien, one of the divemaster was filming the whole thing and promised to send it to me. I was supposed to meet my two fellows at PK18, a nice beach 18km outside of Papeete. Luckily one of my divebuddies offered me a ride. He is working for a couple of Pharmacies and is quite frustrated about how the Polynesian are working, their lack of seeing further then today. The only thing that kept him here was the diving. Hmm, not for everyone the life here I guess. The afternoon was again wonderful. There were no buses anymore to get us back in town. We did hitchhiking. This is forbidden in French Polynesia, as our driver told us. He was so nice and brought us right to the bar where we would meet Lynn and Mike from New Zealand for diner.Read more

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    Einisch um Tahiti

    June 4, 2017 in French Polynesia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Hütt hani nomau e letschte Touchgang gha mit ganz vile Schiudchröttli u Fische, super gsi. Woni mis Züg usem Boot gno ha, hettmi dr Lionel gfragt, öbi nomau wetti cho. Ha gseit, dasi miner 10 Touchgäng gmacht heigi. Är hett de gmeint, är offerieri mir dä faus i Zyt u Luscht heig. Was fürne Frag! So cool, hani nomau chönne abtouche. När hani mitem Jörg abgmacht gha fürne Inslerundfahrt. Mir hei abr kener Nummere ustuuscht gha odr so, är hett gmeint, är chami eifach is Intercontinental. Am Afang ke Jörg, derfür bini e Milke übere Wäg gloffe u är hett mi mitgno zum Lynn a Pool, mir e Liegestuhl organisiert u de hani dänkt, dr Namitsch chani auso so ou verbringe. I bi de nachere Haubstung nomau dürs Hotel gspaziert u ha de dr Jörg gfunge. Mir si de no vo de beide Nöiseeländer zum z'Mittag iglade worde u de simer los, einisch um Tahiti ume. Wunderschöns gsi, dr Jörg hettmr ganz viu erklärt. Mir si de no fein ga ässe u leider hani när schlapp gmacht u de hettermi am Siebni ume heibracht. Zwe Stung speter bini scho im Näscht gläge. Mis Schlafmanagement hie isch auso miserabu 😊Read more

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  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Easter Island

    June 6, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Unfortunately I didn't realize back in Switzerland that I was landing here otherwise I would have spent a couple of days on this Island Well, it will be for another time then.
    Yesterday was again a perfect day having breakfast with Luc, the host and some of the other guests. I headed to town for lunch with Manu and Denis. Oh how I will miss those guys! Manu left us in the afternoon for Huahine, where he meet Sabrina again. Denis and me went to the pointe de Venus. We had the most stunning sunset so far, with the sky changing colors all the time, just wonderful. We had diner at the hostel and Denis brought me to the airport. Saying goodbye is so bittersweet all the time. At least I met Barbara again at the airport, she will spend a week here before heading back to Switzerland. I am off to Santiago de Chile, where I spent the might before heading to Arequipa, where Marcos will pick me up from the airport. I met him 11years ago while volunteering in Romania. He taught us some Salsa in Brašov at -15 degrees. He always said: Do not forget the 1, 2, 3, 4. So we will soon find out about that!Read more

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    Lima

    June 7, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    I arrived earlier in Santiago de Chile due to a strike in Papeete (very French) which was very handy because I would get four instead three hours of sleep and this at the Hilton. I like when I book things back in Switzerland months ago, then forget about it and landing in a luxury hotel with a king size bed. Lovely surprise. So I had a short night waking up at 3:30am to take the flight to Lima at 6am. I decided to go to the city during my 10 hour gap which was very nice. I stayed mostly at the waterfront enjoying the beautiful weather and trying to realize that I am in Peru now.Read more

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    Arequipa and Wiedersehen Nr. 11

    June 8, 2017 in Peru ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    The flight to Arequipa was quick and waiting at the airport was Marcos! How nice to see him again after all these years! He is not working as a vet anymore but has a hotel in the centre of this second largest city of Peru. It is closed due to renovations but I can stay in one of the older room as the only guest. Very cool. We decided to see each other at lunch again today. It seemed I had a very good sleep since the renovation noise didn't wake me up until 11am. I had my first Pisco Sour and fish ceviche at the Plaza de Armas for breakfast where I met his wife and his son. He is married to Luba, a woman from Ukraine. She lives in Peru now for four years, speaks plenty of languages since being a translater. Their son Andres is 2.5 years old and lovely. In the afternoon I booked a couple of treks: I will visit the Colca Canyon, walk the Salkantay-Trail and finally climb up Misti, a volcano at 5800m altitude, the one on the picture. Yippee !Read more

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    Colca Canyon

    June 10, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    2:30h was the alarm clock, I didn't sleep that well since a bit nervous about all the things I want to do here in Peru. The Minibus picked me up in front of the hotel half an hour later and we stopped for some more people, also 5 guys probably coming directly from their night out, stinking very badly. We were on the road for 3h, I was greatful that the drunk did manage not to throw up and took another route than we. We arrived at a little village where we had breakfast before heading to the Condor Watching. That was impressive. They are very big and cruising above the canyon, beautiful, very gracful for such a bug bird. After another half an hour drive on one side of this deep canyon we arrived at our starting point. Cesar, our guide, waited for us, telling us about how to behave when there was an earthquake (squatting and backpack on your head), when crossing a mule (be always on the mountain side) and to leave all negative thoughts at km0. The walk was scenic, going only down for the first 6km We crossed a river and went up again for our lunchplace, where we had a delicious meal. After a short nap in company of a very persistent chicken we continued untill the lodges where we will sleep. The views were breathtaking, what a wonderful place on earth. When we arrived I had a quick bath in the swimming pool and a nap before diner.Read more

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    Colca Canyon II

    June 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We were all so tired that we were sleeping around nine. I shared the room with Merel, a 19year old girl from the Netherland, traveling on her own in South America, speaking Dutch, English, Spanish and German since she left Europe after a season as a ski instructor in Austria. A very bright and lovely girl. Then there was Anna from Germany, also alone on the way, 22years, ergotherapeut and taking some time off between jobs. She doesn't know when she will go back home. I think this is very brave I don't know if I could travel not knowing when going home since already looking forward doing that in a month and seeing my people again, going to the Gurtenfestival and also starting to work.
    We had the meeting this morning at 4:55h. Cesar alsways had funny meeting times. We started the 6km hike 1200m up to 3400m. Still dark, the moon was giving enough light to walk without a torch. It was beautiful. I enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately some had problems, like Aurelien, suffering of altitude sickness. I was scared he would faint so I walked the last bit with him carrying his backpack. Luckily he got up there and after some break he looked and felt much better. We had breakfast in a nice little restaurant nad headed to the hot springs. That was a nice treat. Lunch was a bit frustrating since we stopped at a restaurant which wad overpriced and the staff very rude and unfriendly. At least the food was good and the company as well. After a short stop where we could quickly take pictures of Llamas and Alpacas we headed back to Arequipa. I took a shower, unpacked and repacked my backpacks and I am now sitting in the bus to Cusco for Trail number 2.    Read more

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    Getting ready!

    June 12, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We arrived Cuzco in the early morning, I took a cab with Kai to town and checked into my hostel. They were really nice letting me have breakfast today since I will miss it tomorrow. Later on I went to the company I booked the trail with, bought some Coca leaves against the symptoms of altitude sickness and found a solution for my blister. They do not have Compeed or other blister bands here and I ran out of mine. That would be a big business up here I think with all those trails you can do and I am for sure not the only one getting blisters all the time no matter how worn the shoes are.
    There is a lot going on in Cuzco in June, there is a parade with people in traditional costums and dancing to live music, all so colorful. Otherwise I visited the market and strolled around the city, I am already looking forward spending some more time here after my 5 days hike to Macchu Picchu. We had a meeting at 5pm, so I met Adriana and Earl, brothers and sisters from the US and my walking buddies for the next days! So looking forward to that!    Read more

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    Louie, Louie, Louie

    June 13, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    What a day! I was picked up at 5:15, Adrianna and Earl were already in the bus as well as Mariana and Sofía, a Mexican and a Columbian girl. We were driving for 2 hours, had breakfast in a little village and then the road got very narrow, crossing other buses was, hmm, let's say, adventurous. The same as the music choice. The last song before getting out of the car was Louie, Louie, Louie from Modern Talking being in our head all day. As a group we will decide the titles of the days for my blog. Today, no doubt, it is this 'wonderful' song
    We could already see Mt. Salkantay, 6700m. Beautiful. At our starting point we gave our big backpack to the horses/mules, what a luxury and we started to walk with only the daypack to a lagoon on the foot of Mt. Ulantay. Oh already for that the whole trip was worth it. It was breathtaking! This mountains are so massiv. Wow. We walked the same trail back down and had lunch. We ascended up to 4400m, where our camp was. Nina suffered from altitude sickness. It is quite impressive and a bit scary. She was out of breath, hyperventilating, feeling nauseous and we still had a hundred meters of ascent to do. We took our time and she made it. I was very impressed by her. It is not a thing you want to have and it gets you out of the blue. After diner we went outside, it was freezing cold but the surrounding with those mountains and the stars, just splendid.    Read more

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    HOT! showers

    June 14, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    The night was cold but I slept very well. Fortunately Nina felt a bit better after a rough night and with some delicious breakfast in our tummies we started the ascent up to 4600m. The way up there was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. Already the night before when those big mountains stood there with the stars shining we all felt so little and unimportant, it was the same feeling walking up today. The majesty of those mountains and the view are indescribable. We didn't stay that long up there because of the altitude sickness. We hiked down to 4200m where again a yummie lunch was waiting for us. It is impressive the things they cook up there. We continued all the way down (my knees are now twice the seize they normally are). The vegetation was changing drastically from rock brown green to all green rainforest just after a curve. We arrived at the campsite at around four, an hour earlier then planned. So we all decided to take a hot shower for 10 Soles each. I was the first, with the nice lady showing me how to use the shower. There was a handle for the hot and the cold. She tested the hot one and it worked. So I started my shower, thought, wow, this is hot, put shampoo in my hair and then it got even hotter. The cold handle didn't work. So I turned off the hot and turned it on again so it was a bit cooler in the beginning and could finish my shower without burning my skin. I got back to the others telling them how hot it was. Earl was next, being surprised on how hot it was. He used the splashing technic to not to burn himself. Next Marianne, same problem, slightly different technic. When it was Ninas turn, Coco, our guide, overheard our sharing experiences with the extremely hot shower and went into action. So Nina was under the burning shower and the lady came in after Coco explained the issue. Nina had to cover herself with a way too small towel. The lady couldn't fix the cold water handle so Coco tried, no success. Others came and tried, Nina, now freezing and still kind of uncovered, what a picture! At the end there were about six people, a baby included, in the shower and somehow someone fixed the handle and Nina could finish the memorable shower under well deserved decent warm water. We had such a laugh about it over a beer. After diner we called it an early night. What a wonderful day that was.Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Don't touch my zippers! / Mr. Bear

    June 15, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Oh dear, we will have tummy muscle ache because of laughing, we had such a funny day. We got up at 5:30am to leave the overnight camp at 6:30 after again a delicious breakfast. We had a 18km walk ahead and wanted to avoid the sun as much as possible. The trail followed a river going up and down. The up was kind of unexpected, we knew that we had another 800m of altitude to get down. Our guide, Coco, was more running the trek so we five tried to stick together. We had short breaks at a couple of villages with many laughs and arrived at the lunch place at noon. We were a couple of groups, the biggest counting 18 people. After that we went to the campside and packed our things for the hot springs. They were at the edge of the mountains, big pools and beautiful view. We had three hours soaking in the water, plenty of time to observe other people from the different groups. Mr. Bear, for example, is a hairy man with impressive beard and was walking like a rooster from one pool to the other. Some tried to do a cheerleader piramide, so we were quite entertained. We headed back and had the last diner prepared by our cook. After that the party was starting with some music. We already had some good laughs during the day and it didn't stop. We
    laughed until we cried, it was hilarious, we giggled the whe evening. Again, I am so happy to be able to spend my time traveling with such wonderful people    Read more

  • chantal muellerEinisch um d Wäutchantal mueller

    Day four: Only 30min to go

    June 16, 2017 in Peru ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    We would skip doing a 6 hours walk and do zip lining instead. Our cooks had a rough party night and an even rougher morning so our breakfast was not what we had the days before. Well, not tragic, we felt more sorry for them.
    I had never done the zip lining before and me and heights are having a twisted relationship since the Kettenkarussell in Vienna. It was better then expected, it was actually much fun. The scariest thing was the hanging bridge in the end. Sofía, afraid of heights did very well and Mariana was the superwoman, being attached in the back at the zip and flying down the line on her tummy. We had again an adventurous bus ride to Hydroelectrica where we had lunch. We had a 'short' walk from there to Agua Calientes. It was along the traintracks and longer then we all thought, Coco giving us more random time frames which we were already used to. I enjoyed this walk in particular because we could walk next to each other and get to know each other better. We had all booked different hotel so we met again for a beer before diner and had again a good time together. We got a bright green T-Shirt where it was written on that we successfully walked the trail. My reaction being a bit tipsy after a beer on empty stomach was that I would never wear that. Coco asked us to take it with us to Machu Picchu the next day for a picture so of course I will do that.    Read more

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