Peru, different from what I was expecting...

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For the second time in Peru ! I had already been here 2 years ago for my regular holidays, but this time I experienced the country and especially the people very differently. The idea was to visit few of the locations I had enjoyed a lot again but mainly to visit the parts of the country I did not know. I skipped the jungle because I had recently spent a lot of time in the jungle of Bolivia and was up for something else. My itinerary was also a little bit random due to the circumstances. The country is great, but I enjoyed it sometimes less because of the way tourism is exploited by the locals.

The north of Peru does not have a very good reputation with regard to safety. When I was there, I understood why. I spent few days in Piura to recover from the days/nights I had spent in the bus and this was one of the few bigger cities in the north where I felt comfortable. Sullana and Tumbes felt very insecure. I also traveled to Mancora, a very touristy but beautiful beach town. The weather was excellent and no mosquitoes, one of the few annoying things at many locations of the Pacific coast. Perfect place to relax and enjoy the sun, the sea and the beach !

One of the few things on the main tourist trail I had not done yet in my previous trip was Arequipa. This time I was definitely not going to let go the opportunity ! Arequipa itself is a very nice town but the main attraction is the Colca Canyon. For it's price probably the most beautiful excursion I have done in my trip ! We spent 1 day going down the canyon, 1 day hiking in the canyon and 1 day going back. Unfortunately I was not in a very good shape at that time. I had an infection in my left ear and it hurt like hell, worse because of the altitude and air pressure differences. The guide gave me some herb to put in my ear that should have helped, but this actually only made things worse, as I would discover weeks later. Due to the pain, I also forgot my Petzel head light in the room. Of course, the lady of the house afterwards said that there was no head light (value 50 USD). When the pain was not over after few weeks and visited a doctor who told me I had blood in my ear and he asked what they put in my ear. He gave me antibiotics, which made it a little bit better but provoked severe stomach problems. I had been really sick during my trip yet and only now I realise what it means to spend 8 hours in a bus without bathroom while going through this. Every time I could run to a bathroom, and asking for plastic bags every five minutes. Antibiotics, the usual answer of doctors for any kind of infection. Not very effective and definitely did not contribute to my overall health. I would have been better of doing nothing. In Arequipa, I also visited the museum Museo Santuarios Andinos where we could see the Juanita. A girl that was found frozen in the mountains, sacrificed to the gods by the incas 600 years ago. I am not very much of a museum guy, but this was definitely worth the visit.

I had already visited Cuzco and Machu Picchu, but I decided to visit this place again more for my travel companions than for myself. Cuzco is beautiful and Machu Picchu is a special place, but nevertheless very much overestimated. Cuzco is a nice colonial town, but now I know that there are other towns that are more beautiful and more relaxed. The locals in Cuzco working in tourism are extremely "persevering". In general the Peruvians are very aggressive with tourists, much more than in the other countries I had visited so far (says a person who has been travelling through South-America for more than 9 months). They exploit tourists and try to get every single USD out of you they can. If a long-distance bus arrives at the bus station, there were usually at least 5 taxi drivers shouting at me because I am what they call "gringo" (which is actually not correct, because this word only refers to Americans) or probably rather "easy money". They regularly charge me the double or the triple of the price they charge the locals. I had learned how to negotiate by now, but in Peru it is more annoying than in the other countries I had visited, and Cuzco is by far the worst ! They lie to make you buy more expensive deals and even then deliver crap service. This was especially true for our trip to Machu Picchu, were the tour agencies managed to convince my travel companions that it was dangerous to go by car/bus and that we needed to take the train. Nonsense of course, esp. knowing that the 2-hour train rides costs 64 USD because foreigners are only allowed to travel first class. I accepted nevertheless to join them although not with full conviction. The driver who was going to pick us up at the hotel and bring us to the train station arrived 50 minutes later than scheduled and then had to drive like crazy to arrive on time for the train. Never seen somebody driving that crazy and aggressively (again, says a person who has been travelling for almost 9 months in South-America). The service of the guide on-site at Machu Picchu was also unacceptable. There were more than 35 people in the group so that we could barely hear the guide and almost all of the other tourists were Peruvians. I am sure they did not pay 175 USD a person for this 2-day trip ! I would strongly recommend everybody not to book this tour in Cuzco, because I have heard similar stories from other travel agencies. Better to go by yourself or as part of a trekking, you will probably enjoy it more. Nevertheless the city, the ruins and my companions made it a nice trip.

Huaraz, the mountaineering and hiking paradise ! Definitely worth visiting ! I spent more than 2 weeks here and was not bored for a second. In fact, I could even spend 2 more weeks there. I did some day trips to lagoons and glacier, followed climbing courses and hiked up to the mountain called Vallunaraju (5686m). I also wanted to hike the Huayhuash trail, but finally there was no group and I did not want to pay 450 USD for a reliable travel agency. I had some problems because Johny (of "Johny tours") had initially convinced me to book the trip with him. He had a little bit misled me, because he showed me a brochure from Galaxia which is one of the most reliable (but also most expensive) agencies. By the time I realised that this was different, I had already paid although I did not have a good feeling about this "Johny", with his front teeth in gold. I did not bother to much, because all the travel agencies organize one single tour because there are not enough tourists to allow differentiation. Johny kept saying that I would leave for my tour in 2 days and every time it got cancelled. Finally I just asked my money back, which I got only 2 or 3 days after making my request clear. I booked my climbing courses and mountain climbing activities with "Andean Kingdom", an agency with very different style. Professional, correct service, good price and very honest ! The climbing courses at almost 4.500 meters were harder than I was expecting. I was a little bit scared, esp. when hanging 35 meters above the ground or when climbing in "sportive style" which basically means that you climb first and need to put the securities. Not only a lot of responsibility with all the different nodes, but if you fall, you can easily fall 4 meters before the rope stops you. Most amazing was definitely the mountain Vallunaraju. The first day we went the the camp where we slept in the tent for few ours. At 1AM we got up to climb the mountain. I was alone with the guide because there were not any others interested in this excursion. I was well acclimatised and did not have any symptoms of the altitude, only of physical exhaustion. There had recently been a lot of fresh snow and hiking 8 hours most of the time until your knees in the snow is physically challenging. Additionally, there were a lot of pitch falls you could not see because of the snow. The guide had told me to follow him exactly and to be careful for a word in Spanish I did not understand. Later I would find out that that world means a hole in the ground you cannot see because it has been covered by snow. I strayed only a little bit from his footsteps to go a little bit more quickly and found myself in the snow until my stomach. I was very lucky that I did not fall all the way down, according to the guide easily 40 meters. He told me (a little bit angry) that if I wanted to live I had to step exactly in his footsteps and that if I had fallen, I would have been dead. He would have fallen on top of me (because of the rope that connected us both for safety) and I would have received his crampons on my head. The fall would probably have killed him as well. At that time I was awake up, although it was still the middle of the night (at least to my standards). The rest of the trip went without any incidents nor any signs of altitude sickness. Exhausted I arrived the top at 5.30 AM and the weather was excellent ! Sunny with perfect view over the surrounding mountains ! So far the most beautiful views of my trip.

I did not intend to visit Trujillo, but a French guy I met invited me to spend few days with him there. At the end, we only spent our time at Huanchaco, the nearby beach town. Very quiet, perfect to get some rest after the mountain and rock climbing. Exactly what I needed !

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