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Alilles on Tour
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Alilles on Tour

A 273-day adventure by Alilles Read more
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    Salento

    July 17, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    From the Tatacoa desert into the mountains! Salento is said to be one of the most beautiful little towns in Colombia, and even though we cannot judge that (yet 😉), it really is a very pretty spot with its many nicely decorated, colourful houses! As a very touristy spot it also sports many craft stores selling the typical colourful sombreros and ponchos of Colombia, among a lot of other, (supposedly very Colombian) souvenir stuff. The town is both a hotspot for national and international tourists, making it very busy but also resulting in a very lively and lovely latin vibe around Plaza del Bolivar (the town’s center) in the evenings! 💃🏻
    Due to its location in the midsts of the Coffee region of Colombia, coffee is also a very big thing in Salento (making it hard to just simply order a coffee without having to decide for the preparation method, temperature, coffee bean etc.) and a visit to a coffee farm seems to be a must - but as for many ‚must-do‘ tours, we happily missed out on this one 🙃 Instead, and as we really craved a proper trekking tour, we decided to go for a 3-day guided trek to the los Nevados national park which will get its own footprint.
    We timed our 3-say trek perfectly, coming back to town just for the beginning of the parade for the Colombian Independence Day on July 20th. It was very cute and very local, but we were surprised to find out that no big party was happening at the Plaza Bolivar - may have been because it was a monday? Who knows!
    Still, we highly recommend Salento to anyone who wants to feel the Colombian spirit but also have the comfort of the international touristy infrastructure - it is a beautiful mix of both and definitely worth staying for a couple of days! 🥰    Read more

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    Los Nevados trek

    July 18, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Our 3 day trek at the border of the los Nevados national park was a double premiere for us: Not only was it our very first multi-day trek together, but also our first trek to an altitude of over 3000 meters (luckily, we did not suffer from altitude sickness)! The trek was roughly 36 km for the three days and led by a spanish guide (and no, we still do not speak spanish 🙃): One day up the mountain to our accomodation, the second day further up the mountain through beautiful Espeletia fields to our main goal the Chispas viewpoint on 4300m, back to the accomodation, and then back to Salento on the third day. The trek was beautiful all along and we almost reached our viewpoint in sunshine - but only almost 😅 We ended up having to be knotted together to our guide for climbing the little peak as Alina was almost blown away by the strong winds (no exaggeration there, unfortunately). The trek down led along a ridge and later - after seeing Alinas unamused face, probably 😬 - the guide decided to lead us as straight back to the finca as possible, meaning we did not really follow a path anymore but walked/fell/slipped straight down steep hills and very muddy fairytale forests. But to his defence we have to say that the mist and the rain really made it hard to navigate 🤷🏻‍♀️ We came back to the finca savely, so good job, dear Yesid!
    Next to the trekking, the finca la Argentina, which we spent both nights at, was kind of a challenge by itself. Not minding the altitude of 3300 m the finca is built of wood, open at both the entry and at the back end, creating a lovely, chilly and very consistent airflow through all main areas 🥶😅 The positive thing: everything got dry within a night despite the cold temperatures (Gilles guessed the temperature to be about 10 degrees during the day, Alina felt max. 5 degrees 🙈). The bedrooms were smaller (and luckily closed) wooden boxes with double bunk beds and each bed sported 3 blankets - all of them were needed, let us tell you 😂. The finca was full of animals (a turkey, chickens, two piggies, many dogs and some cows and sheep) and other touring tourists with their guides, so a lot of lovely human and animal interaction. Also, the view from the finca in the evening (and at night) really made up for all the cold 🥰 A really rewarding experience overall!    Read more

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    Jardin

    July 21, 2023 in Colombia

    The trip to Jardin, our next destination, was a long (and sometimes quite scary 🙃) one: The only mountain road up to Jardin was not only very bumpy, but also superduper narrow at parts (interestingly, it seemed to be most narrow where the descent next to the road way the steepest?!). But the driver certainly knew the road well and soothed us all the way with classic colombian music - certainly a very good mixture and we arrived in Jardin with zero deaths from heart attacks and noone jumping off the bus 💪🏼
    Jardin is another colourful town in the mountains and another town which is said to be among the most beautiful ones in Colombia. It is bigger than Salento but - to our opinion - lacks its charm. However, the town was really busy with local tourists and the central plaza (which is overlooked by a massive church btw) was humming with music and the sound and laughter of the locals having fun 💃🏻 so we spent the two nights at the plaza, watching monkeys and enjoying the scenes. Apart from that (and many beautiful birds flying around in the Jardin area), there‘s not a lot to do there anyways :)    Read more

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    Medellin

    July 23, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    From tiny mountain villages to one of Colombias main cities: Welcome to Medellin! We were excited to meet our friend Milena for a visit - even more so when Sebastian also sneaked up as a surprise visit and early birthday present for Alina 🥹🫶🏼 (credits to the boys for keeping his visit a secret for a full month!). So the four of us explored Medellin as best as we (safely) could by eating at a lot of places, drinking at a lot of places, riding cable cars and the metro, doing a walking tour through the infamous Communa 13 district and enjoying the beautiful view on the city on our shared terrace.
    Medellin really is very different from Bogota and much more modern (they are trying to build a metro in Bogota for the last 10 years now, while Medellin has a running metro system already). We stayed at the - very safe - prime tourist area called ‚el Poblado‘. In our half of the neighbourhood, the streets were peppered with cute little cafes, bars, restaurants and shops, all giving off a very relaxing and quiet vibe. It just takes a 10 minutes walk to the other part of the neighbourhood to experience a completely different vibe altogether: This was where the parties are at, every single night 💃🏻. Full streets are completely closed off for vehicles, crowded with seating areas of all different kind of restaurants and bars, and booming with all different kind of latin sounds. Great for a night out, but also very tiring 🙃
    Many say that they prefer Medellin over Bogota, and we see why - it‘s much easier for tourists! All in all a city well worth a visit and spending a few days exploring (especially great with friends we haven‘t seen in 4.5 months 🥰).    Read more

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    Palomino

    July 27, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Our quartet headed to the beach destination of Palomino on the northern coast of Colombia. Arriving in Santa Marta, the airport closest to Palomino, was a surprise: all passengers were greeted with a live band and - if wished - a shot of the famous local spirit Aguardiente. Undoubtedly the best airport arrival we‘ve had so far! 💃🏻😂
    Palomino is a small backpacker town at the beach side. The nightlife is big there, and everpresent, manifested in loud music being blasted almost all day long 😅 but the adjacent beach is very long and extends quite a bit on both sides of Palomino, so finding quiet spots was not a problem. Our days consisted mostly of walking around, enjoying the beach, reading, enjoying some non-colombian food and each others company - a little bit of holidays 🤗 We even managed to find a bar playing electronic music on the night before Alinas birthday and had a little (well, maybe a big 🤷🏻‍♀️) dance session 💃🏻 And the sunset the evening after was one among the best we‘ve seen so far! What a lovely way to get old(er) ❤️    Read more

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    Mendihuaca beach & Tayrona National Park

    July 31, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    After our ‚holidays‘ in Palomino we continued our journey to another beach destination near the Tayrona National Park: Medihuaca beach. It was a real lucky shot! A small stretch of a beach lined with wooden guesthouses, a couple of restaurants and many pretty lights - a very instagrammable place ;) But very, very peaceful! After spending a very quiet night in our rooms with sea view (to the sound of the waves 🥰), we left our big luggage in the hostel and went to the Tayrona National Park to spend our first night ever in a hammock 😍
    The Tayrona National Park is famous for it‘s beautiful beaches and and it really lived up to its reputation ❤️ The only sad thing was that due to strong currents and big waves, it is not allowed to swim at most of them, so we simply enjoyed the view of it in the scorching 36 degrees 🫠 Our ‚campsite‘ was the most famous one in the park: Cabo San Juan. And fortunately, we were allowed to swim there! Due to the many daytours aiming at Cabo San Juan it is a very busy spot with a bar and a restaurant, but still crystal clear turquoise waters reminding us of Thailand and Sardinia. As the Park closes at 17:00 (at least for those who did not book a night inside the park) the evening was wonderfully quiet ✨And - despite our fears and worries - sleeping in the hammocks went better than expected and may not be the last time we will opt for it! We wished we would have had more time to explore the park, but Sebastian had to catch a flight 😢 So we said our goodbyes on Medihuaca beach and our now-trio indulged on one additional night just for the peace of it before heading back to the city life of Cartagena✌🏼    Read more

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    Minca

    August 4, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We spontaneously decided to add Minca to our list of stops in Colombia (not only but also because Milenas brother, who was in Colombia not long ago, pointed it out as one of his highlights - danke Silvio!). Minca is located in a small valley a bit higher up in the mountains and well known for nearby waterfalls, bird watching, cacao tours and great views to the surrounding djungles. We found a really gorgeous hostel just a 10 minute (steep uphill 🫠) walk of the small village, including a vegetarian restaurant, a bar with a view terrace, and a triple room in the middle of the forest with one front overlooking the djungle 🥰 As Minca is a very popular backpacker destination and as we arrived on a friday, we even got to enjoy a very good life DJ at the bar terrace while drinking our beer and watching the sun go down over the djungle hills of Minca - definitely among our favorite moments during our travels! ❤️
    We also did a tiny trek to see the two most famous waterfalls and even swam in the (pretty cold) pool of one of them, but none of the two waterfalls was able to reverse our opinion that we just don‘t care for waterfalls - unless they are Rheinfall-size at least 🤷🏻‍♀️
    So, we conclude that Minca was a full success which not even the thousands of tiny, nasty and very hungry mosquitos could spoil (they were even worse than in Koh Rong Sanloem in Cambodia 😒). Let‘s cross fingers that a nasty pattern of red and bloody patches is the only thing these sh*tty little things gave us 🤞🏼 (update from August 11: seems like it was the only thing 😉).    Read more

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    Cartagena

    August 6, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Our last stop in Colombia was Cartagena, one of the most famous cities in Colombia. We‘ve heard about the place being quite hot, but after Vietnam we only laughed at it - well, we did not laugh anymore when we arrived. Cartagena truly has the most uncomfortable climate we‘ve encountered so far! It wasn‘t the heat (32 degrees is bearable) but the humidity being so high that we were drenched in sweat after simply standing in the shadows for more than 2 minutes 🫠
    Still, the city is a very very pretty one and is fortified by (irritatingly low) city walls. It further sports a gorgeous (but due to its unusual layout again slightly irritating) castle, dating back to 1657. Its cobble stone streets (yey, cobble stones!!), all the old buildings in spanish architecture, colourful murals and street decorations as well as and the many lively plazas make the city a tourist magnet like we had not encountered in Colombia so far. Unfortunately for us three, this also reflected in the prices 💸 (but as we tend to say nowadays, or since in South America: Cuanto cuesta el mundo 🤷🏻‍♀️).
    As this was Milenas last stop before flying home, and as we also felt like one month of Colombia has been enough, we also decided to move on after Cartagena- Stay tuned! ;)    Read more

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    Guayaquil, Ecuador

    August 12, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Our first stop in country no. 7 was Guayaquil, the gateway city to the galapagos islands at the westcoast of Ecuador. We didn‘t know much about Guayaquil and only chose it because it was the cheapest destination in Ecuador to fly to from Bogotá - We only found out at the airport that Guayaquil is said to be one of the most dangerous cities in Ecuador 😅 Luckily enough, our hotel was located right at one of the „safe zones“ for tourists, so we had around two to three blocks where we knew we can walk around a bit without getting in trouble - even though we don‘t know how bad it really is in Guayaquil, we were not eager to find out 🙃.
    All in all, it was a good decision to only stay for one day, as the city really has nothing to offer apart from a viewpoint (which we did not do), a cablecar across the river (same as above) and a really big, really crowded and really overrated river promenade. So: If you go to Ecuador and if possible, skip Guayaquil ;) We were quite happy to depart by bus, finally off to the mountains of Ecuador for some altitude acclimatisation and trekking!    Read more

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    Cuenca

    August 13, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We decided to go to Cuenca for a few days, primarily for the purpose of acclimatisation to the upcoming higher altitudes (Cuenca lies at 2600 meters above sealevel). Not knowing a lot about the small city, Cuenca really surprised us with its many beautiful churches and colonial buildings, as well as with an extensive tourist-oriented infrastructure. We later learned that Cuenca is even said to be the safest city of Ecuador (which seemed to be true, in our experience)! It was nice to have a city which you can roam freely, even at night, and without taking the risk of being robbed 😉 Nothing to get used to, though, as we were told many many times 😅
    The acclimatisation went really well and we felt fit for our excursion to the nearby Cajas National Park very soon (which is again covered in a separate footprint). We even managed to shop some warm essentials for our time in the Andes 🥶 We also learned (again) that Ecuador is definitely not as cheap as we hoped for, so we started to get really backpacky and make our own cheap oatmeal breakfasts to safe some $ 🤷🏻‍♀️. Still, Cuenca definitely is a big yes from us!    Read more

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    Cajas National Park

    August 16, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Even though we got some impressions from the internet, Cajas National Park really surprised us by its beauty (similar to Cuenca 🙃). We took a 13 km hike at an altitude from 3800 - 4200 m, and the route led us through beautiful alpine (andine?) landscapes, around many crystal clear mountain lakes and through fairytale-like enchanted forests. All the time (or up until the last 3km) we were blessed by almost uninterrupted sunshine and, consequentially, with quite high temperatures despite the altitude (memo to ourselves: SPF 50 does not work the same at this altitude!). We loved every second of the trek and highly recommend everyone in or around Cuenca to visit the Cajas National Park, and to do the ‚long‘ trek! It really made us look even more forward to all the other treks we are planning to do in Ecuador.
    Ecuador, eres hermosa!! ❤️    Read more

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    Latacunga and Quilotoa Lake

    August 17, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Latacunga was our third stop in Ecuador. The city is mainly used as a gateway to the Quilotoa Crater Lake, located at approx. 3920m, and is - again - said to be not safe outside of a little tourist area. We‘ve spent to nights there and luckily found a cozy little restaurant with a courtyard and heaters 💪🏼, as well as a mexican restaurant serving fajitas with a huge vegetable plate - Alina was very very happy to finally have some tasty vegetables again!!
    The bus ride to the Quilotoa lake was also an experience by itself, as it was a slow bus, stopping randomly along the way to pick up many indigenous folk from the andes region. Slower than scheduled, but so very interesting to see all these very characteristic faces and their traditional way of dressing!
    The lake itself was very very beautiful, too. Instead of just heading down to the lake level, we took the 10.3 km route around it - a nice workout with some slopes of 32% and beautiful views of both the crater lake and the surrounding area. We even saw (or let‘s say we are 95% sure that we did 😉) our very first Andean Condor, the largest flying bird in the world and sadly an endangered species. Truly a majestic sight!
    And now that we are acclimatised to the hights, we head off deeper into ( or up to) the andes mountains for some more hiking 💪🏼    Read more

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    Mejia, Rumiñahui & Cotopaxi

    August 19, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Our next stop was near the Cotopaxi Volcano / the Cotopaxi National Park. We stayed in Mejia at 3800m at the cheapest hostal around - which nevertheless was 50$ / night, including breakfast 💸. Luckily, it featured an amazing restaurant and an amazing view, so we were more than happy with our choice! Darwin, the young owner of both the hostal and the restaurant (and also the cook!), was so helpful and a true magician in the kitchen - every meal was simple but flawless! 🤤 (It‘s called ruta de los volcanes, if you will ever find yourself in the area, give it a go!!)
    We had amazing 3 and a half days there, in which we did three hikes: two to the Rumiñahui Volcano area nearby (one to 4200 and one to 4300m) and one in the Cotopaxi National Park. The hikes to the Rumiñahui volcano were challenging, especially as Alina suffered a bit from altitude sickness on the first hike, but both were really beautiful - even though the weather had left much to be desired. Alilles brings the rain, as it seems 🤷🏻‍♀️ Still, we were lucky enough to spot a family of great Andean Condors on both hikes to the Rumiñahui Volcano (see video) - such majestic creatures!! ❤️
    The hike in the Cotopaxi National Park was alright, though not very challenging, and was lacking the famous view of the Cotopaxi Volcano due to the weather until the very end. Still, it showed itself last minute, and we were still able to get some pictures of the majestic (and still active, btw) volcano!
    All in all, our stay in Mejia was a full success and we really enjoyed both the hiking as well as the quiet time at our room (despite the cold - heating and hot water was not existent 🥶). Another great training for all upcoming altitude hikes! But for now, we‘re having a break from hiking and head to Ecuadors capital - Quito, here we come!    Read more

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    Quito

    August 24, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    A capital is not to miss! Or so we thought, before arriving in Quito 😅 We stayed in the very center of livelyness, la Mariscal, and (especially after seeing other hostels and areas coming back to Quito) it was not the right choice for us. La Mariscal is the nightlife district, and even though it was (luckily) not very noisy at night, it was also not very good-looking and/or charming whatsoever. We spent our days mostly planning country number 8, having coffees, eating local cuisine (in the cheapest restaurant with the biggest plates around - yummy food!) and trying to relax in our hostel next to grumpy volunteers and very trippy other guests… Next to the abovementioned local restaurant (again - yummy!!) the only thing worth commenting on was the Basilica del Voto Nacional, which was very nice, and that we got a free concert. But most worthy of a metnioning when talking about Quito was Alexandre, a young lad unfortunately living on the street but is one of the sweetest souls we’ve met so far! It broke our heart to see him struggling so hard, and it visibly broke his heart to meet people - especially tourists - that show respect and care for him - which broke our heart again 😔 Alex was definitely one of those chance meetings that throw you back into reality, and we can do nothing more than wish him all the luck in the world (and if you have fingers to spare, please cross them for him, too). So, Quito has its share in memorable encounters at last. Alex, take care!! May Quito be kind to you ❤️Read more

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    Cuyabeno Amazon Rainforest

    August 27, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    As we did not go to the Amazon Rainforest in Colombia and also do not plan to go there in the other countries we‘ll visit, and as we got a very enthusiastic report on Cuyabeno (the Ecuadorian part of the rainforest on the Colombian border), we half-spontaneously decided that this will be our next destination. We booked a 4-nights-3-days package including transport, lodging, all the food and several tours and activities, thinking that it would be a nice break from all the planning that travelling usually brings on the daily basis. Well, it was a nice break indeed not having to think about what to do and where to eat, but as we got used to that way of ‚living‘ for the past 6 months it was also kind of weird 😂 Still, our group of 9 was very lovely (surprisingly we were the oldest- I guess we’ll have to get used to that 🤷🏻‍♀️) and the lodge, food and surroundings were very good, too!
    The activities and tours we did were also okay: Several boat rides among the river (not the Amazon river, by the way), everyday sunsets and optional swimming in the Piranha- and Caiman-containing lake nearby (noone got bitten 🤞🏼), two small (but very muddy 🙃) treks of which one in the darkness and a visit to a communal village including Cassava making and tasting Ayuvasca with the local Shaman (just tasting, no worries dear parents). The reasons we label the itinerary as only ‚okay‘ is that we ALWAYS took to much time, resulting in having to hurry up to get back to the lodge in time for food and therefore missing out on a lot of our planned freetime 😕 And, to be honest, we were also quite disappointed by the absence of bigger animals that you are supposed to see in the Amazon, but that was just bad luck we suppose…
    But enough of the negative now, there were still many spectacular encounters, very fun conversations and very good food, and it‘s not that we have not seen any animals - very much the opposit! We spotted several sloths, beautiful birds and monkeys, a tarantula (at our lodge 🥶), a baby caiman, a baby amazon boa, a red-belly piranha, the super toxic dart frogs and - Alina‘s personal favourite - the famous pink river dolpins 🐬😍 (which are only pink when they are quite old by the way, but we‘ve seen such a grandpa (or -ma), too!). So even though we did not see a jaguar, a fully grown boa or a big-ass caiman, it was still a very special encounter with nature at Cuyabeno!
    Ps: Gotta give the credit where the credit is due, and this is to Jenna who provided us with most of the high-quality pictures with her Nikon. Thank you again dear Jenna!!    Read more

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    Mindo

    August 31, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    As we did not like Quito very much (an understatement) we decided to spend our last days in Ecuador in Mindo. Mindo is a small tourist town in the cloud forests 2 hours away from Quito and famous for being the home of many many bird species, including several colibri types. We only spent two full days there and did one small hike, but mostly hung out on our hostel balcony (we initially had more plans for Mindo, but so had Alinas uterus 🤷🏻‍♀️). Again, the village was not to our liking: neither good-looking nor charming, expensive and no cobblestone streets (you mave have noticed the lack of cobblestone streets in Ecuador so far - we miss them ☹️). But the hike was nice and being adopted by another dog-for-a-day (we named him Dario Negro) surely made the trek even better 🥰 Another furry friend we would have taken home with us if we could have, but had to leave behind 💔 These heartbreaks are really getting out of hand!
    Anyways, we also enjoyed that our hostel was a bit out of town and in the greenery, which meant quietness, seeing a lot of birds from our balcony including several resident colibris and invited us to even cook our own meals - a first during our travels and something we will for sure keep on going (if future kitchens will allow it 🙃)! In the end, we were very happy having chosen Mindo over Quito, but were also happy to leave Mindo to finally head to country number 8! 💃🏻    Read more

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    Lima, Peru

    September 4, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    FINALLY PERU! We were excited for country number 8 ever since we‘ve set foot on this continent, and the capital of Peru did not disappoint! We can both happily say that Lima (or the part we’ve seen 🙃) is our favorite capital so far, very clean, very good infrastructure, it felt very save and the people seemed all very lovely. At this timepoint we‘ve been to Lima twice already, both times at the same hostel in the same area and - admittedly - to the same restaurant two out of three times 😬 (never change a winning team, as we like to say). The area is called Barranco and is said to be the party area, but even though we were there on a friday as well, we did not really feel it? No clubs, no noisy bars, no drunk tourists all over the place, but a well-preserved colonial architecture, many colours and very lovely places for drinks and food. As expected, Lima is on the more expensive side, meaning an average of 10$ for a main dish and 4-5$ for a big beer when going out, but oh well, cuánto cuesta el mundo 💃🏻 The historic center was fabulous to stroll through, too, and we visited a very impressive franciscan monastery and its catacombs (no pictures allowed, unfortunately). All in all, we loved it, and hands down the first big city we really recommend everyone to visit (yes, even Gilles 😉)!Read more

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    Paracas National Reserve

    September 6, 2023 in Peru ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    Before heading to (and staying in) Peru‘s higher altitudes we decided to do a rather spontaneous short trip to the pacific coast south of Lima to visit Paracas. Paracas tempted us because of two things we‘ve missed or will miss: tiny islands full of birds, penguins and sea lions (also called ‚poor man‘s galapagos‘) and a nature reserve with the prehistoric geoglyph known as ‚candelabra‘, which gives a taste of the famous nazca lines in Peru.
    Already on the way to Paracas we were surprised by the very barren, sandy landscape along the coast, which stayed up until Paracas. Paracas itself is small but very much based on tourists and we both agreed that we have not seen so many tourists in one place for a long time! Still, the town was super quiet and right at the beach, and - in Alinas opinion - an excellent mixture between comfortable-touristy and super-shabby. Depending on where about in town you walked by, you‘d feel like you‘re somewhere in the middle east?!
    We were anyways so excited by these very unexpected and very unknown scenery that we decided to stay one more night and add a tour to the Paracas National Reserve to the already planned morning boat trip to the Islas Ballestas 🥰
    The boat tour to Islas Ballestas - or ‚poor many gallapagos‘ - did not disappoint us: We saw dolphins along both ways, sea lions, many peruvian pelicanes and other birds we don‘t know the names, and were even lucky enough to spot two of the tiny Humbodt penguins waddling around! And besides the animals, also the islands themselves were beauties with the many-coloured stones in turquoise waters 😍 Another place where 20 pictures are not enough to show everything!!
    In the afternoon, we decided to get sporty and booked two bikes to drive the around 13km to the National Reserve and back - not a big issue with bikes, you would think, but you think wrong 🙃 Have we mentioned the strong winds yet? No? How about the shitty sand/gravelroads and the two jokes of bikes we got? Well, you get the idea why it was definitely not easy, and not so very enjoyable as we hoped 😂 Still, there were not many people around the whole way (certainly not on bikes, hehe) and the vastness and emptyness of the sandflats were impressive and again something we had not encountered before. Plus, a good workout every now and then harms nobody ;) So even though a (quite literal) pain in the behinds, we would do it all over again anytime! Enjoy the views 🥰    Read more

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    Huaraz City

    September 10, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After our short trip to lower altitudes the mountains were calling us again: Our next destination was Huaraz, the hiking capital of Peru and, as rumours have it, nicknamed „the little Switzerland of Peru“. As we like to drive long distances by day to see some more of the country we were facing an 8 hour (scheduled) ride from Lima to Huaraz and were looking forward to it - well, not so much anymore after sitting in the bus, seeing all the windows being blocked by the bus decoration and being told multiple times that we are not allowed to eat during the 8 hours non-stop drive 🤷🏻‍♀️ (side note: luckily the seats in the bus were massive, so we were able to hide from the camera eyes of the staff behind our front neighbour back seats and still have some food, but boy, we were annoyed!). So, 10 (and not 8) not-so-relaxing hours later we arrive at Huaraz at 22:30 and go out to look for our hostel. As always, we did not really check out the city much in advance, thinking (as always) that a city with such a name among tourists will be touristy - OF COURSE we were wrong again 😄 So we started walking, got to our neighbourhood and our first impression happened to be just another half-built dirt-and-gravel road leading into a dark alley where our hostel was supposed to be… But it was, and we did not got robbed! Furthermore, it turned out that our hostel was in the superduper local area of the city and near the official city market which just happens to spill out into the streets of three or four more blocks, always busy, noisy and smelly, but - once you got used to it - it was also super interesting and exciting to run around between the colourful shouting women of the Andean Highlands and to inspect their goods!
    Apart from the massive half-legal market, the city is full of outdoor shops due to its surrounding hiking destinations, allowing Alina to trade her 18 L backpack brought from Swizzy into a wonderfully cheap but surprisingly practical new daypack allowing more stuff to be packed (for both hiking and incoming souveniers ;)). We stayed in Huaraz for a full 9 days (which was the longest stay in one city of our whole trip!), starting with two days of doing nothing to acclimatize to the altitude of 3053 m for the several hikes we‘ve planned - they of course all need a separate post.    Read more

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    Laguna Churup & Churupita, Huaraz

    September 12, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Our ‚acclimatisation hike‘ in Huaraz led us to the Laguna Churup, which is located at 4450 meters above sea level in the Huascaran park. The trek was a total of 8.5 km (to and back) and pretty steep - not the easiest acclimatisation hike 😅 But the views were nice, both the lagunas were of a surreal blue and we met a couple of nice people on the way, especially one german couple to which we decided to stick to 😄 Overall a hike which we recommend, especially if acclimatisation is needed!Read more

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    1

    Laguna 513, Huaraz

    September 13, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Thanks to Lisa and Tobi, the two Germans we met on our acclimatisation hike, we decided to skip the very famous (and therefore very crowded) dayhike to the Laguna 69 and go to the very not famous Laguna 513 instead - as you may suspect from these two very creative names there are a lot of lagunas in the Huaraz area (or within the Huascaran park, respectively), so chapeau to Lisa for finding the Laguna 513!
    The 13.7 km hike to an altitude of 4460 m (yes, we made sure to go higher with every hike) was one of the most beautiful treks we‘ve done so far (despite the rather steep ascend) as it was very versatile in views and landscape. And - in comparison to the famous laguna 69 - we‘ve got to spend the whole day in best company of our new german friends and almost noone else ❤️ Highly highly highly recommended!    Read more

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    111

    4 Lakes hike (Camping edition)

    September 17, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    As we really were longing for some camping in nature we rather spontaneously decided to do a three days two nights camping trip. The trek we chose can be done within one (very long and exhausting) day and passes 4 lakes and one pass. But where is the fun in having a super exhausting 12 hour dayhike?! ;)
    Our first day of hiking led us to laguna Ahuac: the distance was only 5.75 km but with 1120 meters of altitude to climb (and >10 kg of food and camping gear on our backs 🥵). We set up camp all alone at the lake on 4550m and had cold dinner in the tent because it started raining before dinner time - we even woke up in the middle of the night to SNOW and a little stream flowing underneath our tent which we (or Gilles - thanks Swiss Army for his survival skills!) brought under control by digging little canals all around our tent 😂 After little sleep we conquered our highest altitude so far: el Zorro pass at 4980 m 💪🏼 The path had the most beautiful mars-like rock colours we have ever seen - the video truly does not give it credit enough! After lunch on the pass came our steep and rocky descend of roughly to our second camp site roughly 6km away from our first spot, where we first had a perfect view on the superblue lagunas Mullaca and Carhuac, and then dived into a lush valley with many rivers, small waterfalls and a lot of Viscachas, a type of chinchilla looking like a mixture of rabbit and squirrel, hopping around. The second night of camping luckily allowed us to have both a warm dinner and a decent amount of sleep 🥰. After packing up and having breakfast on the third morning, we descended further into the valley and had lunch at the (rather boring) laguna Radian before heading back to Huaraz after 11km for a quick shower, repacking, bringing our rented camping gear back and getting ready for the nightbus: Once again, we were heading to Lima, but this time only to catch a plane to Cusco. Inkas, here we come!
    Ps: Our conclusion of the hike: HIGHLY recommended, especially the camping option! 😍    Read more

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    Cusco

    September 19, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Cusco, which lies on 3400m, was once the capital of the Inka empire before it was captured by the Spanish. What we found in Cusco is a mix of Inka remains, spanish colonial architecture and a big tourist influence (reflected by colourful alpaca and souvenir shops and fancy restaurants) - a combination which we truly loved! Due to the citys prettyness, richness in museums, good food and the many inka ruins surrounding Cusco we stayed a full of 17 days there (minus the 5 days of the Salkantay trek): a record number of days in the same place on our travels which we will certainly not be able to beat anymore! 😄
    It was the perfect place for getting to know the Inka culture better while strolling the oh-so-pretty cobblestone streets (how we missed them 🥹) and indulging in local foods and crafts. Especially at night, when the lights on the inhabited hills surrounding the city center shone, it seemed like the city had its own star-lit night sky - an unparalelled view ❤️
    During our stay we enjoyed both the more local area (with menus of a soup and a second plate for 7 soles - roughly 2 USD) as well as the famous, trendy and very sprouced up San Blas area (20 soles/ 5.6 USD for a soup alone 🙃) and both were very lovely - despite the very dirty and half-rotten apartment we ‘spoiled’ ourselves with in San Blas (note to ourselves: Airbnb is no good). Also, we met up with Lisa and Tobi again, this time with one more new friend of theirs (and now of us) Britta - what’s better than Cusco on your own? You guessed it, Cusco in awesome company!
    Next to simply enjoying ourselves, we used Cusco as a base for several daytrips to explore (pre)inkan ruins as well as for the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu. As always, every trip has to get its own footprint - prepare yourself for the upcoming bunch of big stones, awesome ruins and some more trekking pictures! 😉    Read more

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    (Pre)Inka Ruins around Cusco

    September 21, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    There are two ruin ‘circuits’ which can be bought in Cusco: one being near the city, and the other one being rather far away but leading into the ‘Sacred Valley’ (where also the Inka trail goes through).
    We decided for the nearer circuit consisting of older and smaller ruins for our first aquaintance with the (pre)inkan histories - below a short description of what we still know of the sites. It was a very lovely day with a bit of hiking in between as the trail from the first (and furthest) to the last (and nearest) ruin runs through a tiny village full of alpaca craft stores and a lovely nature path down a valley with lots of non-marked (pre)inkan remains.
    The temple we liked best (as it was not only the biggest but also the most impressive one, featuring the very characteristic big-ass stones) was Saqsaywaman - an archeological site within a 15 minute walk from the city center. However, despite its location and size, we got the impression by talking to other backpacker that it is overlooked super often by tourists?! Weird to us, but anyways. Enjoy the pictures and the descriptions of the sites below! If there are any questions, please refer to Gilles, as he is now an inofficial Inka expert 😉

    Photos 1&2 Tambomachay: Many beautiful (probably pre-)inkan water fountains & -canals (was a place of worship for water)

    Photos 3-5 Puka Pukara: Said to have been a hunting residence OR a military fort (given the location our guess would be the second). Beautiful stone work incorporating the natural rock formations of the hill. Probably pre-inkan.

    Photo 6 Chuspiyoq: Hidden in the valley where the nature pathway leads through, we not only found this very interesting remains of a ritual site, but also a young local pure-incan (he stressed that) guy performing an ancient inkan ritual - crying and getting drunk on his own. Nevertheless he was happy to see us and tried to explain the ritual site, some inka customs and became quite heated talking about suppression of the inka culture nowadays in Peru. We’d love to add his explanations here, too, but his accent was very thick, and even Evan, our spanish-speaking australian friend on the tour, had troubles understanding him 🤷🏻‍♀️

    Photos 7-9 Templo de la luna (inka stairs) & Kusilluchayoc (El templo de los monos): Another really cool site with stairs and seats (yes, inkas seemed to love their views) carved directly and neatly into and onto the stone hill, and a small collection of ruins sitting at the bottom site of the hill - very interesting were the many features of housing (such as shelve-like structures and stairs) again directly cut into the stone side of the hill.

    Q’enqo: This one was actually not that impressive, so not a lot of infos to that site… It is said to have been a place where sacrifices and mummifications took place. No pictures for that one 😬

    Photos 10-16 + video Saqsaywaman: Super big and impressive site with the huge but incredibly neat-fitted stone walls which are so characteristic for the inkas. It also features a big flat plain on which ceremonies and spectacles are said to have taken place. Very interesting here was the combination of the mentioned inkan stone work versus the work which was presumably done by pre-inkan cultures, featuring smaller and less well-fitted stone walls.    Read more

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    Ollantaytambo

    September 22, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Ollantaytambo is another big half pre-inkan, half inkan site located about 2.5 hours from Cusco and was originally built as a royal estate. During the spanish conquest of Peru, however, it served as one of the last strongholds of the inka resistance against the spanish, as its location on the hill overlooking the narrow sacred valley was an ideal site for resistance. The site itself was again a very interesting mix of some huge well-fitted inkan stone work and buildings and walls made of smaller, less neatly fitted stones. Also here, there is a theory that the site was actually built by pre-inkan cultures (as seen by the smaller stones and the sloppy construction method) before being conquered and ‘topped off’ by the inkas - the guides will sell it to you as purely inkan, though, and explain the different construction types by the inkas being stressed out by the spanish invasion (which is a weird explanation considering that some of the small-stone constructions build the basis of some of the clearly inkan constructions, but what do we know 🤷🏻‍♀️ ).
    The town of Ollantaytambo is supercute, though clearly made only for tourists 😉, and was built on the remains of the inka town which belonged to the Ollantaytambo royal estate/later stronghold. Naturally, seeing many of the typical inkan construction elements (such as neatly fitted stones and water canals) throughout the little town really adds to its charme! We definitely recommend a visit :)    Read more

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