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Honeymoon in South America
  • Katerina Augsdörfer
  • Florian Augsdörfer
  • Katerina Augsdörfer
  • Florian Augsdörfer

Honeymoon in South America

Our 2,5 months travel through South America ✈️❤️ Read more
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  • Honeymoon in South America

    San Pedro de Atacama - day 4

    February 24, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    During the day it gets very hot here 🔥 so bicycle drivers are allowed to enter to the Valle de la Luna (moon valley) only from 9 - 11 in the morning. We left at 9 from our Airbnb for 18 km long journey till the end of the park. There was not much traffic so we could bicycle easily and enjoy the landscapes. Inside of the national park there are in total 4 activities to do. We decided to do the first 3 activities, cycle till the end and on the way back make stops. Each stops also requires some walking. First stop were old salt mines, the walk was around 20-30 minutes in total go and back. Second stop is the longest one. Mirador Achachnes consist of 4 viewpoints and the whole walk takes up to 1,5 hours. The views were breathtaking and it was definitely my favorite part of the park. Last stop was hike to the top of sand dune. Normally it is the first stop but as we did the stop in other direction we saw already dune from Achachnes viewpoint which was more impressive. Way back to San Pedro was a bit easier it’s partially down with just one small hill you need to cycle up. In total we cycled 36 km and hiked more then 10 km. We returned to San Pedro quite early around 2 in the afternoon but we were very exhausted and relaxed for the rest of the day.Read more

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    San Pedro de Atacama - day 5

    February 25, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    Waking up at 4 in the morning was really hard. Outside it was freezing cold 🥶. Shortly before 5 van picked up us and we drove for around 1,5 hour to Geothermal area El Tatio. One of the top 3 geothermal areas in the world. Geyser El Tatio is large area of 30km2 in the elevation of 4321m above sea level. We were walking around in special paths for around 1,5 hour. Temperature got below -10 degrees so we were really excited for sunrise and warm temperatures 😁. After we left the geothermal park we drove to the viewpoint for delicious breakfast. Only the portions were quite small so we were not completely full. On the way back to San Pedro our guide was explaining geological creation of this area. Showing us different fauna and flora and explaining some local curiosities. We arrived back to San Pedro around 12 o’clock and went straight for lunch. Rest of the day we were relaxing and preparing our next days. Tmr we will enter Bolivia and start our 3 days Jeep tour 🇧🇴Read more

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    Salar de Uyuni tour - day 1

    February 26, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    For next 3 days we booked the Jeep tour through the southwest part of Bolivia 🇧🇴. We were picked up around 7 in the morning by van which drove us to the border. Cars from Chile are not allowed to enter so we need to switch the car on border. As always the border controls in Chile took ages. Once in the Bolivian border our guide took care of the procedures and we got a delicious breakfast. We meet on border our driver / guide Mauro and departed by Jeep to the entrance of the national park Eduardo Avaroa. Shortly after the entrance we visited two amazing lagoons ~ Laguna Blanca & Laguna Verde. On the way to the Termal Pools Polques we passed the desert of Salavador Dali famous for its rock formations where Salvador Dali collected inspiration for his paintings. For the termal pools we had to pay entrance fee of 6 bs (less then 1€) the water was amazing and the views as well. We stayed almost two hours in this place as after termal pools we had delicious and healthy lunch. After lunch the most difficult part of the trip was coming. We were driving up to the geyser del Sol del Mañana which is in the elevation of almost 5200 meters. The geysers were smelling bad and I didn’t feel very good so I returned after while back to car and drunk a lot of water. Next and last stop was Laguna Colorado. Typical for its red color and large colonies of flamingos 🦩. It took us almost 1 hour by car to get there. We are driving off-road all the time so we are not moving very quickly. In Laguna Colorada we had longer stop around 1 hour to walk around and go up to the watchtower. The colors of the water were unreal and it looked even much better in reality. After the walk we only needed to drive to our accommodation for tonight. The drive took us 2,5 hours and we were really exhausted. We stopped on the way few times for some viewpoints or to see typical fauna and flora of this area. Finally we were going long road down from 4600 to 3800 meters and we could breathe better. We arrived around 6 in the evening to the village Villa Mar. The accommodation was nice, we got private room with shared bathroom drink tea and at 8:30 in the evening the dinner was served. The food was okay, the portions were quite small but to eat a lot so late would be also not that good for sleep. Our first day of the tour was amazing, we didn’t see any village or asphalt road and we felt like the only ones in the world. The Bolivian landscapes are incredible and we have never seen anything like that before 🤩🇧🇴.Read more

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    Salar de Uyuni tour - day 2

    February 27, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    We woke up shortly after 7. The room was smelling bad and I got terrible headache and sore throat which was most probably caused by altitude. Luckily the breakfast was delicious ~ we got pancakes, bread, juice, ham & cheese and most importantly tea with coca leaves which helps against altitude issues. Around 9 in the morning we departed from our accommodation and drove to nearby canyon to see different rock formations ~ World Cup, Camel, Anaconda Viewpoint. We stopped also on the way by 2 lagoons to see more wildlife. It was quite exhausting to stop every 10 minutes for pictures so we were very happy when we got to Rocky canyon to do 1 hour long walk to the lake and to see the Alpaka colonies. In the afternoon we arrived to the small town Julaca where they were selling Bolivian unique beers 🍻 they had beer with coca leaves, cactus, quinoa, honey or salt. We decided to try all of them (we were 6 people in the Jeep ~ couple from Luxemburg and girls from Sweden and Finnland). It was really fun, we stopped by quinoa fields, saw huge cactuses and were listening local folklore music. It was fun only until Jean found out that his bag is missing, where passport and car keys were (he left it in the beer place). We had to turn back and lost almost 1 hour 😅 also we were running out of petrol 🤣. We were really lucky and the bag was found and we could also purchase some petrol 😁. We arrived shortly before sunset to our salt hotel right at the beginning of salt flats. It was really cool, everything was made out of salt block and even on floor was salt. We had dinner, talked a lot and went to bed quite early as we had to wake up at 5 to watch sunrise.Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America

    Salar de Uyuni - day 3

    February 28, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 7 °C

    We woke up 5 in the morning and in 20 minutes we were already ready for departure. The salt flats of Uyuni were very close so we didn’t have to drive that far. Also shortly after 5:30 we got to see first sunlights and we stopped for the sunrise in the part of the salt flats where the water was still standing after heavy rains last weeks. This rain creates in salt flats famous mirror effect which can be only seen few times a year (mainly during January and February). The sky was on fire and due to the reflection it looked absolutely magical 🔥❤️. We took lot of photos and then drove to the cactus island Incahuasi. There is a small hiking trail around the island but you have to pay the entrance fee of 30 Bs. per person. We didn’t see the reason why this should be so special so we decided not to do it and have instead breakfast below the cactus island. The Uyuni is the biggest salt flat in the world with total size of 12 thousand km2. The salt reaches 2 meters in total so there in plenty of salt to extract. Additionally below salt layer there are other very expensive minerals such as uranium, lithium ect. After breakfast we drove for long time through the salt flat and then stopped for pictures. In the past there was a first salt hotel built directly in the middle of Salar. This hotel is due to contamination not working as a hotel anymore but serve as a museum / restaurant for tourists and shelter for people who gets stuck in the salt flats due to bad weather or health conditions. 2010 Rallye Dakar was passing here so now there is even a Dakar monument. We arrived to Uyuni salty, happy and tired. It was amazing tour and we had a lot of fun with our group and tour guide. Uyuni town is not a very special place so we will take the overnight bus to our next stop of the trip town Sucre. To kill the afternoon and rest we bought a day pass for a hotel and had dinner with our new friends.Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America

    Sucre - day 1

    March 1, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We arrived around 5:30 to Sucre. The bus ride was terrible ~ screaming kid, not space for our legs, temperatures like in sauna, bad smell 😅. We took taxi to our hotel which looked closed. It was still dark outside and I had no clue what we gonna do. Luckily the receptionist saw us through the camera and opened the door for us. Our room was ready so we could check in immediately. It felt like winning a lottery 🤣. We went to bed and slept a bit before going to breakfast to nearby cafe. Flo needed to check the work so after breakfast he went back to hotel and I went to nearby salon to do pedicure, it was only 7€ and it was very necessary after traveling for so long 🙊. Our hotel is called Kultur Berlin and it’s hotel, restaurant, travel agency & night club in once. It’s really big complex and it’s really nice made (view from our room in second photo). For lunch we went to the Mercado Central which is a big food market. In the top floor you will find all the restaurants. Flo wasn’t very amused and didn’t want to eat there really but at the end I persuaded him to have a full local experience 🤣 we ate Mondongo (local speciality with corn, pork meat, potatoes and spicy red sauce) and chorizo with salad, rice and potatoes. The portions were huge and on the way out of the market we got fresh juice from one of the 40 ladies 🤣. They have a weird system there was a part of the market only with meat, then only fruits, only spices. It would be better if they would mix it up instead of screaming at the customers and trying to persuade them I have the best store 🤣. We needed to buy bus ticket for La Paz so we went to the bus terminal again (in the morning all the ticket shop were still closed and you can’t really buy it online). Bolivia is Cash country ~ you always need cash and it’s almost impossible to pay sth by card. We went to nearly 10 ATMs but didn’t get any cash either you needed local card, visa, cash wasn’t available or the ATM wasn’t working 🤣. On top of it we could buy the ticket either not only because we didn’t have cash with us but also because they sell tickets only for the current day 😅😅. Flo got really frustrated that we have to go on Friday again there 🤣🤣🤣. The bus terminal is bit far away so we decided to take local minibus. Flo could hardly stand there (his head was touching the top of the bus) and he never wants to take bus again 🤣🙊 but let’s be honest where in the world can you ride a bus for 0,2 € 😂. Later in the afternoon after finally getting some cash we went to Casa de la Libertad (House of Liberty) which is located in the main square of Sucre Plaza 25 de Mayo. This house was built originally by Jesuits as their private chapel. Later on the oldest university of South America was founded here and the students of law school were defending their thesis here. In 1825 the Independence of Alto Peru (today’s Bolivia) was signed here and this place served as congress for many years. We got guided tour in English here so we could understand better the history of Bolivia and importance of this place in their history. The building is beautiful and it’s a must see in Sucre. Afterwards we just walked a bit more around tried their local chocolate and had dinner in our hotel.Read more

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    Sucre - day 2

    March 2, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    After the breakfast we went to the main square to take Dinobus to Parque Cretácico de Calc Orck’o. Only 5 km outside of Sucre were found more then 12.000 footprints of 4 different groups of dinosaurs 🦕 which is the biggest concentration of dinosaurs footprints worldwide. Next to the dinosaurs footprints Dino park and museum were created. You can see different species of dinosaurs in their real sizes, see bones and footprints and on top of it twice a day tourists can go to see the footprints on the rocks with the guide. It was really cool and unique experience. Additionally they offer virtual reality video which shows closer the life of dinosaurs nearby Sucre and transformation of the area until today. We arrived around 2 back to the town and went for lunch. Many restaurants offer lunch menu with starter, main dish and dessert. Unfortunately the food not good at all and we left disappointed and hungry. One of the main tourists attractions of Sucre is the church Inglesia de San Felipe Neri. It is open only in the afternoon as to the church belongs also the school for kids. It is possible to visit church and the climb to the roof of the church and school to get the best views of the city. After break in very nice coffee place we continued sightseeing and went to the church of San Francisco and park Simon Bolivar where you can climb a mini Eiffel tower. We ended up our evening in Japanese restaurant and relaxing before we take another night bus tomorrow.Read more

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    Sucre - day 3

    March 3, 2023 in Bolivia

    After breakfast and check out we left to the bus terminal to buy our bus tickets for tonight to La Paz. For 22€ per person we got premium suit tickets and were really excited for the bus ride. Just 5 km outside of Sucre is La Glorieta castle. It was quite nice but the castle is from inside not in a good shape. We climbed the castle tower and watched the training of local army which has a base directly across the castle. From castle there is a bus Nr. 4 driving back to the center. We got out of the bus by the General Cemetery of Sucre. It was really impressive place (we didn’t take any pictures but I added some pictures I found in google 😁😉). We had really great lunch in center and then relaxed in our hotel. Later on we left again and climb the hill behind our hotel. There is a viewpoint of Recoleta. The way there was really nice and the view was amazing. On the top there is a cafe and restaurant to sit down and also small market. We ended our day with pizza in our hotel before leaving to the bus terminal again. The seats are great so let’s hope for the most comfortable 10 hours in the bus.Read more

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    La Paz - day 1

    March 4, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    After bumpy ride we arrived at 6 in the morning to chaotic La Paz. We prebooked early check in and could immediately get to the room to sleep a bit and have breakfast. On Sundays most of the shops and markets are closed so we decided to walk around, check different tour agencies (for day trips from La Paz, Amazonas tours and border crossing to Peru) and buy some souvenirs. The situation in Peru improved a lot but unfortunately the most common border crossing place ~ lake Titicaca is still very dangerous area. All the people suggested we either fly or go by bus over Chile 😅. Before deciding what we gonna do we explored the city. Went to the main square Plaza Murillo, saw Basilica San Francisco, bought some things in famous witch market (Calle de las Brujas) and walked around Jaen street with street art museum and colour houses. We were quite tired and with every step we felt the altitude ~ the downtown is located in elevation of 3600 m and upper town El Alto in 4100m. The best thing to do in La Paz is to observe the town from the cable car. Each line cost 3bs and if you transfer to next line it’s only 2bs, we paid in total 14bs (2€) per person for our 3 hours long cable car adventure 😁🤣. Later in our accommodation we made some calculations and found out following things: Option 1) Amazon tour for 5 days would cost us around 500€ per person with transportation from and to La Paz plus we would still need to buy flights to Lima (around 250€ per person) to get home 😅, option 2) fly next Wednesday to Cusco for 400€ per person and then spent week there and fly to Lima (national flights are very cheap even last minute), option 3) avoid expensive flight and dangerous border crossings and go by bus to Arica, northernmost city of Chile right next to Peru. From Arica it is safe to cross the border and continue by bus to Arequipa. In the next days you will find out what we will do 😁😉. In the evening our friends we meet in Uyuni arrived to La Paz and we went together for dinner.Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America
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    La Paz - day 2

    March 5, 2023 in Bolivia

    In the morning we went together with the girls to the tour agency to book the bike tour for Monday. After that we split and left by taxi to the Valle de la Luna (moon valley) which is located only 8km outside of the city. The entrance fee is 15bs / 2€ per person and there are two circuits to choose from ~ 15 minutes long and 45 minutes long. We took the longer route and observed the beautiful landscapes and big colorful mountains in the background. In the past moon valley was outside of city but La Paz is getting bigger and bigger now the city is surrounding by the park. It was anyway really cool thing to do and enjoyed it. We had a nice lunch afterwards and took taxi back to the hotel. In the afternoon we planned to go together with girls to the wrestling show as Flo was really excited about girls wrestling 🤼‍♀️🤣. That were probably the weirdest 2 hours of my life. All the participants were dressed up in different costumes. Right at the beginning of the show the first participant came with the costume full of blood and was eating rare meat. Suddenly he took it out of his mouth and threw it to the tribune. Meat landed even very close to me 😅. The whole show was not my cup of tea. We didn’t understand a word although I speak Spanish 🤣 they make a big promotion that it’s a Cholitas Wrestling ~ Bolivian ladies wrestling in their traditional costumes but at the end we saw one man dressed like woman and one real cholita. The rest were weird guys in weird costumes 😅😅 well perfect honeymoon activity chosen by my dear husband 🤣❤️. After the show we took the cable car back to our hotel and could watch the most incredible sunset over the city with thousands of lights.Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America

    Day trip to Death Road

    March 6, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    One of the most popular day trips from La Paz is a mountain bike tour to Death Road // Camino de la Muerte. This road got this name due to the large number of people who died on this road, approx. 200-300 per year. This road is important connection between La Paz and Amazon Region of Bolivia. The road was officially closed for cars in 2006 after new route was built. Why was this road so dangerous? As death road we refer a 31km long unpaved road between villages Chuspipata and Yolosa. The road is completely unpaved and in most of the sections only 1 car can pass. On the way there are several rivers one needs to cross and waterfalls. We are in the mountains so the weather is very unpredictable. Due tu strong rainfalls the landslides are also very common. Fog is very typical for the area so many drivers lost theirs lives as they could see the narrow road properly. Since 2006 the road is used only by people living in this remote area and by tour agencies. We book the trip with Barracuda travel agency and the trip with better bikes cost us around 430bs (60€) per person ~ quite pricey for Bolivia but we read some bad stories about cheap agencies not giving good bikes and not taking care of safety that much. We got picked up around 7:15 already a drove first a bit outside of La Paz for breakfast. After that we went by van slowly up to 4700m to the starting and highest point of this tour. First 21km downhill were on normal asphalt road and we used this time to get used to bikes and check our breaks. I was the slowest one, my breaks were making noise and I was bit scared. Flo was the first one clearly enjoying the experience and driving very fast. We get every 10-20 minutes small break and guides were always asking us how we feel and if everything is okay. Behind us was a driver with the van so we didn’t need to carry anything plus there was a possibility to get to the van in case you didn’t feel comfortable ect. Shortly before the end of asphalt road was a tunnel. Bicycle driver are not allowed to enter and has to bike around of rocky path. It was quite steep and Flo felt down quite badly 😢. Luckily nothing serious but he got bruises all over his body and hurt quite badly his elbow. After that we all got scared to bike on actual death road but the path was never that crazy as by that tunnel. Also our guides always stopped and told us if there was some more difficult part coming and what we should do. The scenery was amazing but we were 100% focused on the road so we could only observe it on each stop. Few weeks ago it was raining heavily and there was a big landslide. As it was not raining for few days we crossed the landslide by waking and our guides were carrying all our bikes one by one. It was definitely not the safest but we survived. After 31km we finished our death road bike tour in Yolosa by the pool followed by delicious lunch / dinner at 4 o’clock. The drive back was really long… Yolosa is located only 102 km from La Paz but due to the bad roads and few mountain passes it took us 3,5 hours to get back. It was amazing lifetime experience but do it once was definitely enough 😁🚵🏻‍♀️Read more

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    Day trip to Laguna Charquini

    March 7, 2023 in Bolivia

    I was still pretty tired after the bike tour but the day trip to Laguna Charquini was already paid so I had to wake up 6:50 for the tour 😅 Flo decided not to go as he had some pain after the bike accident yesterday so it was just me and our 2 new friends 😊. We drove quite a long time till the start of the hike but we had 3 stops on the way to see the beautiful landscapes, majestic Huyana Potosi mountain (6088m), lake Titicaca and cementery Milluni. The hike was quite easy, it took us only 1 hour up and around 40 minutes down. The issue was the high altitude, wo drove up to 4500 and hiked till 5029m above see level. We had to make a lot of breaks for drinking and breathing but we made it to the top to the Emerald lagoon and glacier. There were just a few tourists which was amazing, the hikes in Patagonia were much more busier. Overall after seeing so many glaciers and lagoons I could also skip this day trip. If you don’t go to Patagonia it’s definitely great activity outside of La Paz which doesn’t cost that much and it’s not that demanding. We returned quite early back to La Paz and chilled the rest of the day. We went with Flo to the great coffee place and had dinner with the girls one last time.Read more

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    Never ending bus ride to Chile 🇨🇱

    March 8, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    5 in the morning we started our next bus journey to Chile. Our destination was city Arica, the northernmost point of Chile just 8 km away from Peru. The city is known for desert landscapes, beaches, and never ending summer. We went to Arica mainly due to the border to Peru but decided to chill few days by the pool and beach before going home next week already 🥲. We booked a really nice hotel with 3 pools right on the beach and we are looking forward just to do nothing 😆. The landscapes from the bus were amazing. Unfortunately I collapsed in the immigration building in Chile due to high altitude and had to sit on a wheel chair for a while. I am fine now but super exhausted and also looking forward for some rest 😉

    FUN FACT: when I collapsed the locals were spraying alcohol on my hands and asked me to breath it deeply. Then I felt awake again 😂    Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America

    Relax in Arica

    March 9, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After some long days it was so good to have finally time to chill by the pool and do nothing. It was surprising that nobody was using the pool and we had it all for ourselves. In the evening we went by bus to the city center for dinner and to see the town. It’s a small town with cute center. There are lot of shops and bars and market with cheap stuff. Arica is probably not the nicest beach town in the world but we are really happy that we ended up here and can relax a bit.Read more

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    We made it to Peru 🇵🇪

    March 10, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    After many obstacles und uncertainty we finally crossed the border to Peru. Initially we planned to spend more time in Peru but due to the conflicts we were unsure if it’s a good idea. Our flight back home is leaving from Lima so we had to get to Peru at least to change flights. At the moment situation improved a lot and the only risk zone is the area around the lake Titicaca on the border with Bolivia. We are heading first to Arequipa before going to our last stop of this amazing trip Cusco.Read more

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    Arequipa - day 1

    March 11, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    After noisy night (we booked the accommodation in the middle of the party area) we went to explore the city. The weather wasn’t the best but it was at least not raining. We booked the free walking tour with Juan which was great. We were walking around the city for 2,5 hours and visited the most important and beautiful places of Arequipa. Juan explained us a lot about the history of the city, inka times and Spanish colonization. Arequipa is called white city for two reasons ~ firstly, the old town was rebuilt many time in the history due the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The city was after Spanish colonization rebuilt with beautiful white stones which became the characteristic of the city. Secondly, in the city center we’re mainly Spanish immigrants living which were white compared to the locals. One of the cool places to visit is Mundo Alpaka small museum and shop dedicated to the production of Alpaka products. We visited also old prison which is used now as a souvenir shop center for tourists. Very impressive is also complex Claustros de la compañía. Incredible decorated two patios serve nowadays as shops, bars and restaurants. Our tour ended in main square of Arequipa Plaza de Armas. Juan showed us cool bar with the nice views and we tried Chicha local bear shot. We were quite hungry after the walking tour and walked to the local food market Mercado San Camilo. Flo ordered local speciality Potato Pie and Rocoton (bell pepper filled with vegetables and alpaca meat) I ordered Ceviche 😋🤤. The rest of the day we relaxed, drunk coffee, bought some souvenirs and went to bed early before departing for day trip tomorrow.Read more

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    Colca Canyon day trip

    March 12, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Colca canyon is one of the top tourists destinations in Peru. Colca canyon is 121km long and more then 4000 m deep which makes it the deepest canyon in the world. Tours usually starts in Arequipa and there are several options to choose from Colca day trip, Colca 2 days trip, Colca 2 days trek and Colca 3 days trek. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time left so it was either day trip or nothing. We were quite hesitant at the beginning to book the trip for 2 reasons ~ day trip pick up is 3 in the morning and the weather forecast didn’t look good for the next days either. After very short night we sleep a bit in the bus. Our guide woke us up around 6 because we arrived in volcano viewpoint and the view was great. It was super cold, we were in almost 5000 high meters again 😅 after short break we drove to our breakfast spot, town Chivay. The breakfast here are super simple ~ bread, butter, marmalade, quinoa juice and tea. From the town Chivay starting point of the Colca valley we drove towards Colca Canyon and stopped on the way in 2 different viewpoints before arriving to the highlight of the day Condor Viewport. Our guide was explaining us the history of this place, agriculture, ethnic groups and the cultivation of Andean condors. Unfortunately this time of the year is not the best season to observe the condors and we got to see just one from far away. The views were anyway spectacular and the whole trip was totally worth it. It the town Maca we visited traditional church and tried local fruit Sancayo which is a cactus fruit similar to kiwi. We ended our tour with hot springs of Chacapi. The complex of different pools with temperatures between 32 and 42 degrees. The way back was long again but we managed to sleep a bit and got back to Arequipa around 17:30.Read more

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    Arequipa - day 2

    March 13, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    On our last day in Arequipa we missed the hotel breakfast and got instead great breakfast in one of the many cafes in the center. I wanted to visit the cathedral of Arequipa but you could enter only if you pay the fee for cathedral museum and guide 😅. We left and walked to the nearby Santa Catalina Monastery. This incredible women’s monastery is like a city inside of city and we spent almost an hour walking around. This monastery has 3 courtyards, library, Bild gallery, common kitchen, many private apartments ect. After that we walked out of the city center to the Viewpoint de Yanahuara. Unfortunately it was cloudy so we couldn’t see the volcano Misti in the background. Highlight of the day we the visit of the most popular restaurant in Arequipa among locals ~ La Nueva Palomino. This amazing beer garden has a nicely decorated outdoor patio and the food is amazing. You can taste that the food is homemade and delicious 🤤. At 17:20 we took short flight to Cusco, our last stop of this trip. Due to conflicts in the south of the country there are not many tourists and we managed to get accommodation discounted from 42€ to 11€.Read more

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    Sacred Valley

    March 14, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We woke up in the morning and left our big backpacks in Cusco. Today we planned to visit the sacred valley and take the evening train to the Machu Picchu village. Most of the tour agencies offer sacred valley day trip. In this day trip you can visit most important sights from Inka empire apart from Machu Picchu. The trip has following route ~ Chinchero, Moray, Maras, Ollantaytambo and Pisac. Some passengers which wish to continue onward to Machu Picchu village usually stay directly in Ollantaytambo to avoid traveling next day there for 2 hours. Unfortunately in that case you miss Pisac the most impressive Inka town in Sacred valley and famous market. The market is really spectacular, especially on Sundays when the local communities from mountains coming down to exchange their products as in the old times. We decided at the end to hire a taxi for a day and visit Pisac first and skip Chinchero. Our driver was nice and was explaining us a lot of things about the history and stopped several times for pictures. In the morning it was raining heavily but luckily once we arrived in Pisac it stopped raining and we could enjoy the sacred valley without rain and fog. Pisac was the biggest sight of the all sacred valley places. The monument is located high up in the hills few kilometers after Pisac village. There is a cool hike from the village to the archeological sight which takes 3 hours. I highly recommend taking a guide. It helps you understand the Inka culture, astrology and agriculture knowledge. Our second stop were Salineras Maras. This place was already found in preinka times when the spring with salty water was discovered. Nowadays this place produces the best salt in the world and additionally they produce 3 different types of salt ~ medical salt, pink salt and classic salt. After that we continued our trip to Moray which is an incredible Inka Agriculture Laboratory. The terraces were built in place which got hit by meteorite and the Inka people found out that in the bottom there is a different climate zone then in the upper terraces. They plants in each terrace all the crops in order to find out the best recipe / climate zone for each product. After that seeds and instructions were sent all over the Inka empire. On the way to the incredible lunch we saw impressive sky lodge hotel built on the rock 😅 you have to climb for 1 hour to get up to the hotel room and on the way down you take 7 zip lines. Really cool but pricey experience (320€ per night). Last stop of our day was village Ollantaytambo where we said goodbye to our driver and visited the Inka sight by ourselves. This is the newest sight and the construction was not even finished. The village was supposed to be 2 bigger but then the Spanish people arrived and the temples were destroyed. At 19:00 we took train to Machu Picchu Village which felt around 9 in the evening more like ghost town. It was really sad to see how the local people suffer due to the conflicts and how it effects their daily lives.Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America

    Machu Picchu

    March 15, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We sleep directly unter the Machu Picchu Mountain in the village called Machu Picchu Pueblo or Aquas Calientes. To get to the archeological site you need to walk steep hill up for 1,5 hour or pay super expensive bus 24 USD go and back 😅. We were first thinking to hike up or down but we book the circuit 2 + Inka Bridge Trail which takes at least 3 hours. Very popular is the circuit 4 which includes the Wayana Picchu mountain but in that case people doesn’t really visit the town and don’t get the postcard view. To see both you would need to buy 2 tickets. Entrance ticket costs at the moment 150 soles which is almost 40€. After expensive bus ride we organized the local guide and walked around with her for 3,5 hours. The weather was amazing and the place wasn’t packed. There were quite some tourists but still it was very easy to take pictures without people. Graciera was explaining us a lot of things about the history of this place, energy, old Inka routes and astrology. Machu Picchu ist until today sacred place for local. In the past it was built as a scientific center for Inka culture. In this place noble people were living, mostly scientists which were making here important decisions regarding harvest for the whole Inka empire. The left part of the archeological site are the temples and right site the village. Machu Picchu is a unique place standing right in the middle between two different climate zone. It’s on the border between central Andean mountains characteristic for glaciers and brown hills and eastern Andean mountains which are characterized by very green vegetation and wild rivers. The tour was really cool and we definitely recommend you to go. It is quite expensive but definitely worth it. After delicious lunch and afternoon in the town we departed by train and bus back to Cusco to spent there our last day of this trip.Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America

    Cusco

    March 16, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    It's hard to believe, that it's already our last day. It's a mixed feeling between sadness and excitement. On one hand we enjoyed every single minute of this trip on the other hand we are also looking forward to going home and seeing our friends and family. Cusco is an amazing tourist town. Every single street has cute shops, delicious restaurants and many travel agencies. There are so many sights and activities around Cusco that one could easily spend 1 or 2 weeks exploring the area. Of course most of the people travel her in order to visit famous MachuPicchu but this town has definitely more to offer then just that. We spent the whole day exploring the town, we visited the local market and temple of the sun. Up in the hill it's worth it to visit the San Blas neighborhood with white houses and many coulourful shops. The highlight of the day was the visit of restaurant Kusykay. Kusykay is rated as number 1 restaurant in Cusco and this restaurant focuses on local product and traditional andean recipes. Our waitress provided excelent service and helped us to order the best dishes we have tried on the whole trip. As a bonus this restaurant wasn't even that expensive. The main dish costs below 10€ so if you are in Cusco do not forget to visit Kusykay. In the night we had a flight to Lima. It was interesting to experience the climate change once again. Cusco is located in 3400 meters above sea level and due to close proximity to mountains it was quite cold there. Lima is on the other hand located right next to the coast in the desert and it was really warm there. The night was really short, we arrived around 23:30 to our hotel and to wake up already around 4 in the morning.Read more

  • Honeymoon in South America

    Time to go home ✈️

    March 17, 2023 in Canada ⋅ 🌬 4 °C

    Today it’s our last day of the vacation and time to go home 🥲

    Here some fun facts and summary of our trip:
    - 73 days
    - 3 backpacks
    - 8 countries visited
    - longest stay Brasil (23 days)
    - shortest stay Uruguay (1 day)
    - we entered Argentina 4 times by 4 different transport means (car, boat, plane, bus)
    - we entered Chile 3 times in south Chile, central Chile and north Chile
    - best food award goes to Peru
    - friendliest people Argentina
    - scariest moment Salvador, Brazil
    - 0 times we got robbed
    - 6 overnight buses
    - 8 national flights in different countries in South America
    - 4 bike trips ~ Rio de Janeiro, El Chalten, San Pedro de Atacama & Death Road in Bolivia
    - 3 times stomach issues
    - 30 plus rides with Uber
    - 1 Jeep tour
    - 2 new wonders of the world visited
    - 4 vaccines before the vacation
    - best beach Ilha Grande

    Thanks for following our adventure ❤️    Read more

    Trip end
    March 18, 2023