PERUVIAN MARVELS

PERU - Lima
... And finally, after many postponements, here I am in Lima!
Once again, all convinced that the dangers of the journey are an integral part of the experience and who do not find nothing more nor less than in any other large country, especially of social tradition crisitiana ...
... as I expected the city 'is not the strong point of the country. A cluster of houses and streets with noisy and polluting machines. The walk to the sea is the only, for now, nice part of town '.
The hostel is nice and is easy to make friends with people originally spread a little 'for the whole world, and especially, as always, Canada, New Zealand and England ... Turn together and eat together, as if we were friends for life are all nice ... even though I have some balls that are already traveling style "backpackers", and so far nothing wrong, but traveling the usual 6 / 12 months. But in life these people that#!?ago?
I did not expect anything more than what I found in Lima: traffic unbearable, the city that just behind some well-kept neighborhoods (like where I am and all the hotels / hostels for foreigners in the city) conceals a painful poverty. Even if his charm, hidden and difficult to find him. And then the people, thanks to being able to speak by speaking the language is polite and pleasant. And as always, just keep your eyes open so as not to make it more dangerous than it probably '.
.. however, in Lima two days, just to get used to the change time is more than enough. At most you can add an excursion outside the city that takes away from this collection that already today more than 13 million souls ...

 

CARAL

I decide, definitely before you leave the capital, to travel north and visit the oldest town 'of the Americas: Caral. Dated to 5000 years ago makes it a place that rivals, antiquity and mystery, with Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Bellissino place: the remains of the city are located along a valley surrounded by natural landscapes of a more absurd I've ever seen. Mountains of sand that form a true desert a few miles from the sea and peaks over 3000 meters high. Truly amazing. Sore point: the trip.
Convince a poor French and a young Dutchman to follow. 3.5 hours of local bus, ie animals and plants on board, amazing stretch of road along the Pan-American Highway that runs along the coast, or rather, two ruts dug into veritable mountains of sand overlooking the ocean, where, always continuously without side shields, buses and trucks whizzing at full speed and pass like crazy! I felt bad about forty times! After that, I do not know where he lost another hour by taxi on a dirt road to say the least, in the 8 most diverse species of plants and animals arrived at their destination ... and visited Caral ... back! Same means, same roads and same hours .... arriving exhausted but alive at 9 pm ...

HUACACHINA

... a person is in Peru and rightly expects to be cold, climb up the Andes and get the jacket ... and where I end up?!? In an oasis in the desert at 40 degrees to make sandboarding (translation: jump off steep slopes with a snowboard board, however, the sand ...) up and down dunes over 2000 meters ... and that 'the Peru that I found. Unbelievable this country! Everything for the moment and 'unexpected beauty and charm of this part of the world ...
Old target of the rich and wealthy of Peru 60 and 70 years, Huacachina is destiny now popular among young foreigners who travel with reduced budgets.
However, all positive surprises ... except the sweat, that here I have already brought sweatshirts, long pants and boots ... damn ignorance ...
Continuously without pause to take buses recommended. Sti go crazy at night to 200 hours without overcoming narrow canyons, I believe, not even watching the road ... and what can be done? .. Well, close your eyes and hope ... then opt for those that are bus so-called "safe", but apart from the higher price, I will notice that there are no big differences ...

NAZCA

Finally! Nazca ... ...
How many times I've leafed through books looking and touching, I almost like a maniac, all the lines drawn on the dry soil in this remote part of the world. Drawings impossible to see, and then only to imagine, if not hundreds of feet in the warm, dry desert pre-Andean. The monkey, whale, the hummingbird, the tree, the spider, the figure "seeds" the man known as astronaut and trapezoids that the craziest recognize as landing strips for extraterrestrial contacts with phantom ...
honestly ... the mystery and 'great and fascinating, as they could appreciate the very people who drew these lines were visible from the sky if only ?!?... if we consider that we speak of a civilization that inhabited the area at a time between 900 BC and 600 AD ?!?... frankly the problem aside for a moment you have that is more concerned about having to fly a Cessna propeller for 40 minutes. Of course I paid volunteer for the pilot flying alongside. Here you will fly! The stomach twists as to better appreciate the figures the pilot did not hesitate to bend the small aircraft practically upside down ...
That 'was Nazca. One of those dreams as a child that you hope one day to touch with his own hand.
... for the rest of the village where we are staying is not 'nothing of that. Indeed, far from here only serves as a base to fly over the lines.
The night bus. Travel at night to save time and money, but also for not having to look at the road that climbs up to almost 2500 meters high which rests the city 'of Arequipa white ...

AREQUIPA

Finally he begins to climb up the Andes and feel the air become more sparkling ...
The trip from Nazca to Arequipa is not 'was the most simple. The bus was of excellent quality ', not the way. Still safely arrive in the morning and you feel tired ...
We stay in a cute hostel housed in a former colonial house. There 'also a rudimentary soccer remember where my traveling companion improvised French who won the last world cup ...
Arequipa. Latezza 2350 meters and almost completely surrounded by volcanoes almost 6000 meters high. An enchanting. With good reason they call it the white city, now that all of its historic buildings are built with the typical volcanic rock that abounds here. Quiet, pleasant man, and brought up a few days to wander rilassatissimo, visit churches and monasteries of the colonial period ...
Unexpected surprise for her beauty and interest is the visit to the Monastery of Santa Catalina, a real place with his visit carries a few centuries back in time ... but unfortunately I find that a sudden strike by bus drivers and cut occupied the road to reach Cusco ...

LAKE TITICACA

The local bus takes us about 6 hours to Puno, sleepy town on the banks of the world's highest navigable lake: Lake Titicaca.
They are a little less than 4000 meters high, and after 5 minutes of my arrival I noticed right away. The famous hill pain is immediately felt. A striking headaches, drowsiness and tiredness nothing short of physical violence. We turn to the center of small town and soon after I lie down on the bed trying to recover ... shame that the hostel is where we sleep, and will, during the worst period of the whole trip: no hot water, no towels and no toilet paper! (But I do claim to restart paying a single night and not two ...)
The next day we sail this natural wonder for the whole day. I burn my face due to the aggressive sun, but it's worth it ...
We visit the Uros Islands, (where you can not do well to distinguish the difference between fiction and reality ...) where for millennia the indigenous populations build artificial floating islands (but with natural products ...). It 'amazing how within a few hundred meters you speak totally different languages ??... then we climbed the cold island of Taquile and even there the natives make this place something already incredible experience!
... In the evening we discover there are problems to get back to Cusco because of a strike along the road connecting the two cities' ... then we take an overnight bus to the flight that would take us about 7 hours at the destination, but unfortunately. .. `... But unfortunately there we 21 hours!
Arrived at about 150 km from Cusco we had to stop for about 5 hours. The road is broken by demonstrators, stones and fireworks.
Discovering that there are buses and people standing for three days, heady, take your bags and decide to continue on foot and somehow get to your destination.
Overcome roadblocks, we walk with luggage for 20 km !!!!!... we picked up stones, or rather the taxi that takes us for a while ... even if people then, after speaking, we deal with respect and kindness ... Twice we are forced to flee from the car and run through the fields ... but in the end (for a police escort also drawn up in battle ...), with a delay of more than 24 hours, we arrive safely in Cusco, even if in pieces ...

CUSCO

... after the odyssey of the last trip to Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire and most important city of the Spanish colonial period.
The hostel where we are staying is by far the most beautiful so far encountered. Immediately began to run aimlessly around the city ...
Cusco and 'without doubt a very good place. Part of the valley where he rests, but over the years and 'grown beyond entrenching the surrounding mountains to cover them up like a tablecloth covering the kitchen table.
He eats very well but unfortunately the huge amount of tourists makes it expensive compared to the rest of the country and in ways too western ...
Remains a place not to be missed on a trip to Peru ... also because from here it's off to visit the incredible archaeological site of Machu Picchu, a gem of any trip to this country and Latin America full!

MACHU PICCHU

... after the odyssey of the last trip to Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire and most important city of the Spanish colonial period.
The hostel where we are staying is by far the most beautiful so far encountered. Immediately began to run aimlessly around the city ...
Cusco and 'without doubt a very good place. Part of the valley where he rests, but over the years and 'grown beyond entrenching the surrounding mountains to cover them up like a tablecloth covering the kitchen table.
He eats very well but unfortunately the huge amount of tourists makes it expensive compared to the rest of the country and in ways too western ...
Remains a place not to be missed on a trip to Peru ... also because from here it's off to visit the incredible archaeological site of Machu Picchu, a gem of any trip to this country and Latin America full!