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  • Merry goes places
    Day 265

    Vertical extremes

    April 5, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    What a long day! To avoid the brutal midday heat this time, we left at 5am. 6 hours of steep uphill hiking later, we got to the old Incan City and explored the three parts of the ruins. The ancient town was the last Incan bastion unharmed by the conquerors, yet much smaller than it's bigger sister Machu Pichu. It was quite fascination to see the ruins and imagine how life back then must have looked like.

    One part of the city lays a bit away on a steep mountainside and consists of 30 or so terraces, decorated with white stone lamas. I really wanted to see it, while Max took a quick nap getting ready for the descend. So I hurried and took some pictures to show him. The ranger said it would take an hour to go down and up again - 30 minutes later, I was back ;)

    On the way back, we hung out with an old grandma who runs a little shop for trekkers and cooked us a delicious late lunch. In the most broken Spanish, we talked about life in Peru, mountains in Germany and the latest news of who else passed by her but that day. We got back around 6pm and were sound asleep in our tents by 8 ;)    Read more

  • Merry goes places
    1
    Day 264

    Concert all day

    April 4, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today we had a steep descend all day, following the rough trail into Apurímac valley. While it was quite cold yesterday, the valley was hot and sunny. After cooling down and crossing the river on the base, we went up for another 3 hours to a campsite we shared with a few other trekkers, porters and a group of mules

    Besides the several mules, we were surrounded by exotic and some annoying insects. Giant bugs, biting sandflies (=the annoying ones!) and loud cicadas. They were so loud, for hours we walked through a percussion concert :)    Read more

  • Merry goes places
    1
    Day 263

    Lets go see some ruins

    April 3, 2017 in Peru ⋅ 🌙 30 °C

    Max and I met up in Peru for a week to go trekking and see the Incan ruins of Choquequirao. The trek is less known than the famous Inca Trail and since it takes two to three days of hiking to get to the ruins, less frequented than their bigger sister ruins Machu Pichu.

    After a day of planning and getting some last minute supplies, we left Monday morning on the 4.5 hour journey to Cachora, where the trail begins. Little adventures started already on the way: first, we took a Collectivo van with 10 other Peruvians. The car wasn't the newest and in a sharp corner, the door opened and an old lady almost fell out of the car. Luckily, she didn't. What did fall out was one of Max's boots though. We got it back and the semitrucks on the route hadn't hit them - lucky after all ;)

    The trek starts in town just below 3000m and follows the mountain range for a few hours. Filled with wildflowers, with views of the steep mountains and small glaciers around, the trail starts easy and beautiful. Just before sunset, we made camp at a covered spot, at a Peruvian family home. I was challenged and surprisingly able to have a good conversation with Gladys and her daughter Valentina (pic 6) in Spanish and we shared a good dinner from our own food and some fresh veggies.    Read more

  • Merry goes places
    Day 260

    Longest work phone call of my life :)

    March 31, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    I've spent a lot of my last few days on a work project, while making my way north through remote Chile. Timing the hours I would have laptop and internet access was quite tricky this time, but thanks to awesome colleagues and helpful locals, we made it work. Today, I basically spent an entire work day in the phone, finishing up a project :)

    I'm so thankful and count myself so very lucky that I get to work together with great people, and all while I'm on the road. In the moment, it's not always easy, while all other travelers go on their adventures and I'm spending entire days in a cafe or a hostel kitchen. But I enjoy what I do and it definitely makes each project fun and reminds me that all I have in life is a gift!    Read more

  • Merry goes places
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    Day 260

    Northbound travels

    March 31, 2017, South Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    I had a fantastic trip north on the "Carretera Austral", a 1200 km road that connects southern Patagonia towards central Chile. Our travel family kept growing and changing and it felt nice, after spending a bunch of time by myself, to build friendships and travel together for parts of the way. The hardest one was "losing" Daniela and Benji who stayed​ in Rio Tranquilo to do more trekking there (pic 1 together with our hermano Nicolas from France). Our paths had kept crossing since my very first day in Chile and they make wonderful travel siblings - adventures, lots of laughs and some of the best talks I've had on my travels. But I already know I'll see them again!

    And so Nicolas and I kept the family alive :) Most the way we made via bus, but also by walking, hitch hiking and a 9 hour ferry for the last bit. Some highlights of the week include finding and making food together in small towns, learning more Spanish as for example from Juan who we met on the ferry and who was killing time by teaching me some grammar (pic 6). We also watched the luckiest drivers in Chile: three tourists in a rental car ran into a ditch full speed while trying to pass our bus on the narrow road. By a wonder, they were unharmed because they hit soft bushes and pretty deep mud. 5 minutes after the accident, a semitruck passed by that happened to have a small crane - and pulled their car out of the mud. Another 10 minutes later, they were driving again with as little as a few scratches and a few pounds of mud on the vehicle but nobody hurt (pic 3).

    One the last stretch, we were unable to get bus tickets and "stuck" in Chaitén for a day, which turned into a fun adventure - this one will get its own blog post though :)

    Thanks everyone who shared these adventures for long or short times!    Read more

  • Merry goes places
    1
    Day 258

    Meeting Edgar

    March 29, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌫 7 °C

    Edgar is how I named a giant glacier in Pumalin national park. The wilderness park was just recently given back to the Chilean government after being in private hands for 25 years. Unfortunately, I only had one day here, but fortunately got to make the most of the little time.

    The three of us started around noon - my French travel buddy Nicolas, our new friend and adopted travel cousin Leo, and I. The plan was to hitch hike to a campsite from where we would do a 6 hour hike to the "Edgar" glacier and then hitch hike back. We got a ride quickly, but only for parts of the way. So we simply started hiking along the road. And of course, we were joined by a dog, as it always seems to happen in Chile :) (pic 2)

    We soon figured that it would take too long to go all the way. So we decided to hike up a viewpoint so we could at least see the glacier from afar. On the base, a sign greeted hikers with an estimated 2 hours to get to the viewpoint. This convinced Nicolas to turn around and enjoy the rest of the sunny day in town ;) Having come all the way, Leo and I walked up the steep trail and up there, saw the beautiful glacier and the trail to it (pic 3). We were soooo close. And it was only midday. We did the math and long story short: we hiked all the way to the glacier, finishing 40km and 10 hours of hiking in beautiful weather (until it got dark and we hiked with our headlamps). And a lovely family gave us a ride back to town just after 11pm.

    We certainly missed Nicolas, but had a great adventure that won't be forgotten.    Read more

  • Merry goes places
    1
    Day 255

    Puppy love

    March 26, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    No matter through which small town or larger city you go in Chile, you can count on dogs to be around. I've had puppies jump on my lap for a cuddle, dogs joined me on hikes and many just want to say a quick Hi. And it's quite the responsibility - I try to name each dog that comes to hang out ;)
    Some of my favorites have been Marcello, Buddy and Louisa 🐕    Read more

  • Merry goes places
    1
    Day 254

    Stairway town :)

    March 25, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The first stop on our way north is Tortel, a tiny harbor town, built into the mountain facing the fjords of Patagonia. The most remarkable thing here is that there are no roads, paths or trails, it's all stairs! So to get from A to B, you climb stairs. Up and down :)

    Every house has its own little stairway and they all connect to create a little web through town. We shared a little cabin and enjoyed the views and sunshine, before heading out to catch a bus going north 3 hours. May the roadtrip begin!    Read more

  • Merry goes places
    31
    Day 253

    Patagonia by the sea

    March 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌫 -1 °C

    It's unbelievable how fast 48 hours can go by! Together with new friends from France and Germany, I set out on the first part of our journey north - 2 days on a 600km freight ferry ride through the Chilean fjords west of Patagonia.

    Like all my time in Chile so far, the weather was a mix of rain, sun, storm, and everything in between. I really enjoyed just sitting outside, soaking up the views, the fresh air and some great music in my ears (which has been full of Italian pianist Einaudi lately). Besides the 3 canteen meals per day, a fond routine became the after-dinner wine drinking which we had to skillfully hide from the crew and which revived memories from being, well..., much younger ;)

    During perfect weather, we stopped at a small, remote fishing village "Puerto Eden", where I feel in love with Helen (pic 4) and found the ship wreck of the Titanic ;) (left boat on pic 5). From Caleta Tortel, as far north as the ferry goes, we'll now continue to the on-land part of our adventure, on the famous and remote carretera austral.    Read more

  • Merry goes places
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    111
    Day 251

    I. Can't. Stop.

    March 22, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    For now, today was my last day of trekking in Torres del Paine. I wish I could keep going!

    But I had a ferry to catch.

    So I woke up at 6am, left before sunrise and hiked in the dark for about an hour. And was rewarded with a fire-red sky once the sun came up. I made it back to Puerto Natales in time and am now on my ferry to Tortel, which is 2 days north of here through the fjords of Patagonia.

    I loved the trek. It wasn't at all crowded as I had been warned. I was by myself almost all the time, and the scenery and weather were stunning. Yay Patagonia 💙    Read more

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