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South America

May - July 2016
A 59-day adventure by Ruedi Read more
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  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    1
    Day 9

    Arequipa

    June 8, 2016 in Peru ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    We have spent today in Peru's second largest city, called the 'white city' for its beautifully preserved cityscape in the centre going back to colonial times. The building material, soft 'sillas' volcanic stone, hails from the nearby volcanoes, which are still active, and it allows for intricate carvings. The softness is no problem, as there is no acid rain here👍
    The market is a unique feast of colour with all the produce from the fertile soil in this area. We've also visited one of the main attractions, the Santa Catalina Monastery, a Dominican nunnery - a huge complex amply provided for by the Catholic church ( a large and rich landowner around here and exempt from taxes, of course🤔😏). In the evening, we sample some more of the excellent Peruvian food - and I have my first Diamox pill to ward off altitude sickness in preparation for things to come ...    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    Day 10

    Chivay

    June 9, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Just a short update: after a bus ride of 5 hours through impressive Andean landscapes including the highest point on our trip (4910 meters a.s.l.), we've made it to Chivay (3600 m.a.s.l) - nap time, then hot springs and some folklore later. The altitude gets to you, but I'm feeling fine for now.
    We saw some of the wild vicunas- most graceful creatures- plus llamas and alpacas: they are domesticated and especially alpaca wool allows the locals a decent living as far as it goes. Alpaca meat is excellent, by the way!
    After taking a diamox pill last night, altitude sickness wasn't an issue really, but of course we just left the bus to take in the breathtaking scenery and take some pics at the highest point. We'll see what it does to us on the trail😏 The coca tea was really tasty and heartening, too.    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    Day 11

    Chivay

    June 10, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We're up really early today to see the condors, if possible - let's keep our fingers crossed. Then our first homestay will come up, so see you later😉
    ... and we are lucky: plenty of them soaring into the sky and majestically gliding past - and all of this against the background of Colca Canyon, the second deepest in the world. We must have hit the right weather and thermic conditions👍🍀
    In the afternoon it is off to Aguas Calientes for a pleasant soak before we start our first homestay. A nice elderly couple greets us in Manakota, a village nearby. The place is nowhere as rustic as I expected, but still pretty basic - I am grateful for the decent loo because it is my turn to get the runs during the night🙃😞 Days are pleasantly warm, but nights get freezing cold in this winter season-three layers of clothing plus woollen blankets do the trick, however.
    Our hosts take us to do some field work digging potatoes, back-breaking work, which they still do at their age for 13 hours for 6+ days a week    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    Day 14

    Puno

    June 13, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    We're back in Puno after a two-day boat trip on Lake Titicaca, six times the size of Lake Geneva and the highest navigable lake on earth. Our trip took us to three islands: Uros islands, man-made out of reeds, Amantani, where we had our homestay, and Taquile.
    Tourism is obviously a mainstay of the island economy, but on balance, I feel it is a good example of sustainable and responsible tourism. Tourist groups are taken to the different villages or communities on a rotation basis, so that, for the homestay on Amantani for example, families host guests every 21/2 months. Supported by the community, families build simple but functional adobe houses, where they also house their guests. Guests are requested not to give tips but maybe consider buying their handicraft, which is often of really high quality. There is always some interaction with your hosts - and due to the fact that you do not get any ensuite toilets, you get to see the most amazing starry night sky with the milky way in clear view😉🌟
    Our guide gave us a real insight into the local culture and the unique mix of natural and Christian religion.
    The communities offer primary and secondary education, there is always a - rather basic - health care centre - which locals frequent when natural cures and the shamans couldn't help.
    Still, adolescents and young adults tend to to live away from their island homes...
    The pics show Cantuta, the national flower of Peru (and sacred to the Inkas), our delicious lunch on Amantani with the most awesome view and the sunset seen from Pachatata, the sacred mountain we climbed as a first mini taster of things to come ...    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    1
    Day 16

    Cuzco

    June 15, 2016 in Peru ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    What a magic and vibrant city!
    Our explorations today of Cuzco, the heart of the (Inkan) universe, started at the Coca Museum. We learned about the benign effects of these leaves since ancient times ( see pic of Inkan chewing coca - note the cheeks!) as anesthetic, restorative, for ritual purposes etc. and bought plenty of products for the trail and as presents. It is only legal in Peru and Bolivia - yes, an extract of one of its ingredients is used in the complicated chemical process of producing cocaine: it takes 300 kilos of coca leaves to produce 1 kilo of cocaine ...
    Locals use coca leaves regularly to increase their stamina - certainly needed when I think of the 13-hour workday of our hosts near Chivay😏💪
    Then on to the Plaza de Armas, the main square, where there was a folkloric dance competition of students from all over the province in celebration of the Cuzco anniversary - we watched the lively, colourful presentations under the brightest sunny sky from a restaurant terrace on the plaza.
    The Cathedral, built on the foundation of an Inkan temple, is simply breathtaking in its scale and grandeur - you begin to understand the effect of Spanish Catholicism on the mindset of the locals in the 16th/17th Century. The cui (guinea pig) on the table in the depiction of the last supper, however, is one sign of how indigenous rituals fused with and changed the newly dominant religion.
    And finally, the Archeological museum gave us a sense of historical perspective by allowing ample space to the rich pre-Incan cultures reaching back to 1000BC (first cultural artifacts: 5000BC).
    Resting on the Plaza de Armas soaked in sunlight, wandering through the narrow alleyways - a relaxing way to gear up for our Machu Picchu hike. It's goodbye to Cuzco and findpenguins for the time being at 5:40 tomorrow ...    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    1
    Day 18

    Quarry Trail, Ollantaytambo

    June 17, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The quarry trail, offered as an alternative to the Inka Trail when this is 'full', is certainly a great alternative to the genuine article: it takes you higher than the Inka Trail, you meet next to no other hikers, there are some interesting Inkan and pre-Inkan sites to explore - and the landscape is simply breathtaking: when you get to the second-highest point (4400m), Puccaqasa Pass, a splendid range of mountains opens up in front of you, which makes up for all the hardship and possible breathing problems on this second and hardest part of the trail (8 hours of walking not including the breaks in high altitude terrain - I was 'lucky' as I didn't feel any serious effects). I immediately fell in love with Veronica, an absolute beauty of a snow-covered mountain, which accompanied us for the rest of our journey.
    Another hit was the wind gate, a sacred place up in the mountain, which you saw from afar and where the sun started to set when we got there. We only had to carry day packs - horses brought along the rest. There was a team of 4 horsemen and two cooks to accompany us - the food the cooks conjured up from a simple field kitchen was simply fabulous: it even included a birthday cake on the last morning of our trip!
    Still, it was not glamping exactly, as the nights were bitterly cold and we were glad to get a shower and a warm hotel bed before we climbed up to Machu Picchu on Sunday.
    This was another advantage over the Inka Trail, as that didn't afford an extra night to relax before Machu Picchu.    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    Day 20

    Machu Picchu

    June 19, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    After a short night's sleep, 6 of us got up at 4:30 (you get used to getting up early on this trip😉) and, to the surprise of our guides, decided to climb up to Machu Picchu instead of waiting for the bus for ages. We got there after an hour of covering 500 meters of altitude climbing up uneven stairs predominantly, which was definitely a good feeling - we realized why most tourists preferred the bus ride, though😜😅
    We took a tour of this fascinating site shrouded in mist (no sunrise for us) - later, however, when we reached the famous Sun Gate, Machu Picchu lay below us in brilliant sunshine, the crowds disappeared in the distance and we experienced the sheer magic of this sacred Inka shrine.
    In the late afternoon it was back to Cuzco.    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    Day 23

    Puerto Maldonado - Cayman Lodge

    June 22, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    The last stage of our 'Peru Encompassed' tour took us to the jungle - a very short but most impressive final leg of our splendid Peru tour.
    Cayman Lodge, situated in the Tambopata Nature Reserve near the Bolivian border,and on the shore of a tributary to the Amazon ( 200km further up this river you would still find tribes untouched by civilization...) fully deserves its name, as on our night boat trip, we discovered a whole family of caymans on the shore😊
    Other highlights included a night trail where we discovered all kinds of creepy crawlies - and I got a nice shot of a tarantula (see pics)!
    The 5-hour day trip (starting at 6:30 - but we got used to early hours on this trip😏) with our experienced guide gave us insights into the typical features and uses of trees and plants (the walking tree, Parapara etc.) and included a boat trip where we spotted a baby anaconda - we were actually quite lucky with the numbers of live creatures we came to see...    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    Day 25

    Lima II

    June 24, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    ... and then we were whisked back from Puerto Maldonado to Lima - via Cuzco, where Cris, our delightful guide, a native Cuzcenian, left us.
    On Thursday night, it was goodbye to some of our travel companions - and on Friday morning, Trudy and I took in a heavy dose of Catholic Spanish colonial architecture: the Cathedral (almost as impressive as the one in Cuzco) and the archbiscopal palace - the riches on display are simply mind-boggling. -see pics!
    As if this were not enough, I took a tour of the Franciscan Monastery and its famous ossiary - and then relaxed during a stroll through the Mercado Central, bustling with people and life.    Read more

  • Ruedi MeyerSouth America
    Day 28

    Quito

    June 27, 2016 in Ecuador ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Spanish colonial times have left their indelible stamp on the houses and the grand religious buildings in Quito's centre - and indeed, on a Saturday night, churches are packed during mass: after all, more than 80% of the population are practising Catholics...
    But then, of course, there is another side to this, as impressively demonstrated in the Casa del Alabado Museum, whose displays of Pre-Colombian artefacts, combined with succinct comments on their importance in the spiritual pre-colonial world, are simply superb ...
    ... and in addition, I came to admire the works of Alfredo Guayasamin as displayed in his museum and the aptly called 'Capilla del Hombre', a shrine for his large-scale paintings of human suffering in the 20th Century, of human diversity, conveying a powerful humanistic message beyond religious faiths - just to think that I had never heard of this great agnostic artist before!
    Now it's back to school - with a sprightly, vivacious Afro-Ecuadorian called Vanessa, who will take me on a 'Travelling Classroom' tour of Ecuador during the next two weeks...    Read more

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