Blogs from Cusco, Cusco, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 77

We arrived in Cusco on Christmas Eve. The main square was chockers full of stalls selling junk people wouldn´t buy, having said that I did buy myself a scarf. The air was filled with burning frankensence and shit. Christmas Eve dinner was at Paddy´s Irish pub and was one of the best meals I´ve had so far -- crunchy green vegetables at last! I spoke to my family for the first time in five months and it was great. Unlike last time, I was ok after the phone call and I´m glad I rang them. Christmas Day was spent exchanging Secret Santa presents -- I received a beautiful appliqued scarf -- and Christmas lunch. The meal was atrocious and the dessert was made worst knowing that my family was enjoying my favourite homemade chocolate mousse back ... read more

Ich bin seit 10 Tagen nun wieder unterwegs und die Eindruecke aus 6 Monaten in Cusco beginnen schon zu schwinden. Schnell noch ein Paar Zeilen, bevor die Reiseerlebnisse alles ueberlagern. Eigentlich wollte ich Neujahr noch in Cusco feiern, aber da mein Plan zwischen den Feiertagen nach Puerto Maldonado (Regenwald) foermlich ins Wasser fiel, habe ich mich kurz entschieden schon eher aufzubrechen und Kelly ein paar Wochen mitzunehmen. De Abschied von Cusco fiel da nicht ganz so schwer, auch weil ich nicht viel Zeit fuer Sentimentalitaeten hatte. Weihnachten in Cusco war unspektakulaer aber nett. So richtig weihnachtliche Stimmung kommt bei 25 Grad, Sonne und staendigen Latino-rythmen nicht auf. Aber Lebkuchen von Gudrun (Granja Heidi) und das gemeinsame Plaetzchen-backen mit den Kollegen haben uns dann doch etwas an heimische Weihnachten errinnert. Mehrere Weihnachtsfe... read more

Alright so the past few days have been an adventure to say the least... Ballestas Islands So we went to the Ballestas Islands (only a short ride from Ica). The little coastal fishing town was in shambles from the recent earthquake but they were rebuilding pretty well. We took a FREEZING cold bus ride out to the islands. It was AMAZING (as usual...)! Tons of penguins, pelicans, bird I dont even know what to call em, and sea lions crowded the islands. The water was crystal clear which was really cool because we could see the sealions playing in the water! The rock formations (although COVERED in bird poo) were really cool too! All the tunnels and caves carved out by the water were just awesome. After we got our fill of wildlife we went back ... read more

So it’s finally time to update you on my big trip around the south of Peru. First stop: Cusco - the oldest continuously-inhabited city of the Americas and the capital of the Inca Empire! After a 22 hour bus ride (yes, you read right, 22!!) Jore and I arrived to Cusco in the late afternoon of March 24th. There we met up with Dries and Kristine and we all had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner along with Marion and Cedric (also volunteers at the Casa). We had done a Secret Santa among the six of us, so after the food we exchanged presents, which made it feel a lot more like Christmas. After dinner we went to a café-bar where we spent a very relaxed and fun evening. We all even managed to speak Spanish during ... read more

So we left Arequipa by bus to travel to Puno. When we got to Puno we found out that the trains to Cusco only run a few days a week so we will have to stay in Puno until Saturday, my birthday. We decided that we will travel in style and have booked first class tickets. We went to Los Uros, which are floating islands made of reeds on Lake Titicaca. There are loads of these islands and we visited two of them. We saw how they keep the islands going by making new layers of reeds to replace the ones that have rotted. We also visited another island called Taquile, and had lunch in an islanders house. They showed us how they made their traditional clothing and sung songs and did a dance. Miles was ... read more