To Ilha Grande for more scuba-diving! I arrived in Rio on Sunday, but headed off for Ilha Grande south of Rio on Monday. I heard from many travellers that this beautiful island without any roads or cars and fantastic beaches spread around the Island, is worth a visit. I went there with the aim of doing some more scuba diving. I think Ilha Grande is the closest spot to Rio which is not to bad for diving. It´s good to do a bit just after the course to be more safe on the routines. After three days of diving, two barbeque [View Full Entry]

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One of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world?? I flew from Lima to Sao Paulo on monday. From Sao Paulo I went straight down to Foz do Iguazu to have a look at the famous waterfalls. The falls are shared between Brasil and Argentina. I actually stayed on the Argentinian side since it´s much cheaper there and I got to have a few last beef´s and some excelent wine, before I go home ; ) Two days were spent by the falls, and a visit to Itaipu, one of the biggest hydroelectric powerplants in the world. It´s on the border [View Full Entry]

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A little summary from the northern part of Peru Huacas del Sol y de la Luna The northern part of Peru has been a home for many different civilizations stretching about 5000 years back in time. Around Trujillo you can find archaeological places and remains from the Chimu people and Moche culture as the two biggest ones. After I changed my plans and decided to go to Galapagos, I had some time during that day to visit Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, which is two big temples build by the Moche people. Huaca del Sol is the largest structure [View Full Entry]

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Change in plans II After I changed my plans in Huaraz, I took another nightbus to Trujillo on the north coast of Peru. My plans here was to visit Huanchaco for one day/one night, go to Chiclayo after and then Chachapoyas. I arrived in Trujillo around 6 am, took a bus to Huanchaco and jumped out along the beach in this little fishing town. After been watching the famous fishermen who paddle out on small, selfmade boats for fishing, I was thinking; This is actually what I came for, the weather is bad so I can't stay on the beach. What [View Full Entry]

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Changing plans This time I actually decided to not do a trek/climb! I arrived in Huaraz after a nightbus marathon from Cusco. Three nights in a row and Arequipa and Nazca visited in between. I was heading for Huaraz to climb the mountain Alpamayo, who I heard was a beautiful mountain. And since I climbed Pequeño Alpamayo in Bolivia, I was thinking; "I have to climb the big brother as well!" ; ) But after one day of searching for a climbing partner/guide/logistics, I gave up. It was too expensive to do it alone, with a guide, hire the gear I [View Full Entry]

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Arequipa My first stop after Cusco was Arequipa. It's the second biggest city in Peru, situated behind volcanic mountains. Together with earthquakes, the volcanoes have made some action in the city every century since 1500. The city was totally destroyed in 1600. It's a good place to stop if you want to do some outdoor activities. You can find the easiest 6000 meter in the world, Chachani (6075m), which you can climb in one day! River running is big in the area, and you can also visit the deepest canyon in the world, Cañon del Cotahuasi, or the easier accesible one, [View Full Entry]

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The Inca Capital Cusco was the Inca Capital for over hundred years and a lot of history can be found in this city. The historical centre is beautiful with cobblestone streets, remains of Inca walls, churches and chatedrals. I visited the Inca museum after been to Machu Picchu. It was a interesting tour worth doing if you are here. You can easily spend a few days in Cusco without really doing anything special. Just soak in the atmosphere, eat some local food in the market or drink a coffe on one of Plaza de Armas many balconies. It's a great city [View Full Entry]

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A short history lesson ; ) Machu Picchu means in Quechua "old mountian". Our guide could tell us that the constructions started around 1450-60. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived, the Incas abandoned the place without finishing the buildings. This was around 1536. From then it was a secret until Hiram Bingham "discovered" it in 1911. It's situated just 80 km from Cuscu, the Inca capital, but was never found and plundered by the Spanish. The jungel grew over Machu Picchu and the Incas destroyed part of the trails from Cusco. When Bingham "found" the place some local people had already been [View Full Entry]

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"The alternative Inka Trail" The Salkantay trek is one of the alternatives to the "original" inka trail (which is booked up to the end of september!!) It's named after Mt. Salkantay (6271m), in Cordillera Vilcanota. I booked a tour with one of at least 200 companies in Cusco and headed off last monday at 4 am! We ended up with a group of 12 people and one guide: David & Ruth (England), Héléne (France), Alexa (Switzerland), Abraham (Mexico), Chris, Holly and John (USA), Nir (Israel), Astrid & Tim (Holland/Germany), Percy (Peru, our guide) and me. A nice mix of people as [View Full Entry]

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Apurimac River Cusco is one of the best places for whitewater adventures in South-America, beside Pucon and Futaleufu in Chile. You can do everything from one to six days trips around Cusco and it's plenty of companies who offer their service. The Apurimac River is among the top ten rivers in the world for rafting! It runs through an old Canyon which is as much as 1800 meter deep at some sections. It can also tempt you with more than 160 rapids from easy level to class V/V+. River Explorers I signed up for a 3 days trip with the company [View Full Entry]

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