22- Cusco, Peru

22nd to 29th of March 2019 - Cusco, Peru

The bus from Cusco to Arequipa took the whole day (6am to 7pm) and we drove through a very very amazing landscape. I also saw herds of Lamas & Alpacas along the way. I scored the front panoramic seat again & I am very very happy about that. I will never understand while most people just sleep or watch a movie or so when in a bus or in a train. I think they miss out on half of their travels.
On my first day in Cusco I just relaxed. It is recommended to take it slow the first few days due to the high altitude and I saw a few people getting sick. I personally had just a headache, but I also realized that you really have to take it slow & steady as everything is just so much harder for your body. For example it was quite hard for me to climb up the stairs to the breakfast room on the forth floor in the hotel. My heart was beating very fast & I had to take a rest half way through.

I explored the city for 2 days, which is surprisingly big (500,000 inhabitants). I took two of the free walking tours, which I highly recommend. The guys are awesome & very passionate about their city & their culture & love to work with people. The tours aren’t actually free, they ask for a tip at the end, which I was very happy to give. It’s nice to do a few tours to see the different parts of the city & to hear the different explanations as every guide takes you slightly different ways & focuses on slightly different things. They also variate their tours based on the interest of the group. Finally it’s also a good way to meet new people.

You can also get very good and cheap massages in Cusco. I had a so called Inka massage which included Shiatsu & hot stones, lasted for 1hr and the costs were S/.30, which is about 8€. Amazing!! She also knew exactly about my back, shoulder & neck issues & helped me a lot with the pain management.

Tours I did from Cusco:
- Machu Picchu (2 days partly walking variation)
- Sacred valley
- Rainbow Mountain
- Maras (salt mines)

I will have separate blog posts for them.
So I stayed about 1 week in Cusco. It was quite stressful & exhausting with tours almost every day. As usual, I wish I would have much more time to take things slower.

21- Arequipa, Peru

19th to 22nd of March 2019 - Arequipa, Peru

We left Huacachina on 19th of March 2019 & drove to a vineyard where they produce wine & Pisco (main ingredient for Pisco Sour - the national drink). A tasting was included, good that I had a decent breakfast.
When we left, the bus broke down after a few meters & we stayed for about 40mins in the middle of the road while the driver tried to fix the bus. After it worked again, we drove for about 1hr & than the bus broke down again. This time we stayed for over 2hrs on the road. They didn’t give us any info what was wrong, only that there were technical issues.
Because of this circumstances we missed our stop at the Nazca lines. Although they were never really high up on my list, I am now very very disappointed that I never had the chance to see them. Very annoying, but that’s just how things sometimes go & you can’t do anything about it.
The bus than continued fine over night to Arequipa. I had a panoramic seat & very lovely company- this time from Germany. We talked for hours. Unfortunately he didn’t go the same route as me & left the bus earlier. That’s the hardest part - meeting amazingly interesting & inspiring people & than have to say goodbye.

Arequipa is a white city, with many buildings made from white volcano stone. The architecture in the city is incredible and it’s fun to walk around and see something new and interesting on every corner. I stayed here for 2 full days. If you have more time here, you can do a tour to the Colca Canyon which seems to be worth a visit, but I skipped it. One month in Peru is basically nothing and I have to compromise and can’t do everything unfortunately.
My highlight in Arequipa was the visit of Santa Catalina, an old Monastery. It seems to be like a little city within the city, it is wonderfully colorful & you can sneak into every corner & explore everything which is pretty amazing. I stayed for over 4hrs in there.
Arequipa seems to be having a whole lot of vegetarian & vegan restaurants & cafes, which is pretty amazing, after Ecuador & the north of Peru were so tricky when it came to a vegetarian diet. Down from Lima & up to Cusco is much more touristic, which definitely has its plus side when it comes to food & communication.

20 - Paracas/ Huacachina, Peru

17th to 18th of March 2019 - Paracas & Huacachina, Peru

I got picked up at 7am in Lima by PeruHop.

There was a breakfast stop on the go and we also had a quick stop at Tambo Colorado an ancient Inca fortress.

We landed in Paracas, a beach town, at around 2.30pm.

The beach was not nice, dirty and overcrowded, I am happy that we will leave again the next day. But: there were Pelicans very close by on the beach. It was the first time I saw them that close - this was very lovely. They are huge.

The next morning we did a boat tour. We passed ‘El Candelabro’ a 2000 year old sand sculpture (170m high) & went to Ballestas Islands. Which is a protected national reserve with thousands of thousands of birds and sea lions. It’s not allowed to leave the boat, but we drove around the islands quite a bit. It was a good experience.

We than had a bus tour to the National Reserve (desert) which was a very cool place as well, especially to see where the desert meets the ocean. Met a very lovely couple from Norway.

We than continued the bus tour to Huacachina, which is an oasis inbetween sand dunes. A very lovely place. We did a sand buggy tour (very shaky and I lost my checked shirt - it just got popped out - 1st thing I lost) and even did sand boarding, which I loved. But I was just lying down on the board.
After that long day I went for dinner with a nice girl I met on the tour.

Tambo Colorado 

‘El Candelabro’

Desert meets the ocean

19 - Lima, Peru

14th to 17th of March 2019 - Lima, Peru
Came with the bus from Trujillo and got picked up for free at the bus station by my accomodation. How nice is this 😊. Unfortunately the bus were about 2hrs delayed (traffic) & the poor man waited at the bus station the whole time. I felt so bad for him 😢.
I was still sick and didn’t do much in Lima - again. But I think it will get better rapidly now as I think I found the root cause. A few days before I went to Chachapoyas (which is the amazonas region of Peru) I started taking Malarone - a prophylactic against Malaria. This was recommended by the doctor I went to in Ireland. Fore I started traveling. I am pretty sure this is what is making me sick and I now stopped taking them. It’s just not worth it!
I walked around a little in Miraflores, but I haven’t seen much of Lima, which is a shame.
For further travels into Bolivia I booked PeruHop. It’s quite a good amount of money, but I think it’s easier (even brain less) & I hope I will see more & meet some people on the go.

18 - Trujillo, Peru

11th to 14th of March 2019 - Trujillo, Peru

I arrived in Trujillo with a night bus from Chachapoyas. We were about 2 hours later as at 2am in the middle of nowhere one of the bus tyres had to be changed. There are no day buses available, I would have loved to take one during the day to see more from the landscape.
Trujillo was a shock temperature wise. It’s soooo hot here, around 35degrees. After the 15-18degrees in Chachapoyas this is just crazy. I am also still sick and only managed to walk around a little in town the first day & stayed in bed completely the 2nd day. I am getting sick of being sick & very very unpatient. So annoying!
On the 3rd day I did a day tour. First we visited the ruins of the temple of moon & sun & than the ruins of Chan Chan, a pre-Colombian city & archeological site. Both were alright. My highlights of the day were the time we spent at the beach at the end of the day & my company. As the tour is completely in Spanish, my hotel hired a girl from Venezuela who acted as a translator for me. Very lovely girl who was very excited to be on the tour.
Next stop: Lima

Traditional boats on the shore

Trujillo 

17- Chachapoyas, Peru

07th to 10th of March 2019 - Chachapoyas, Peru
I arrived with the night bus from Chiclayo in Chachapoyas on 07th of March around 7am. The bus was a bit delayed & the journey took around 10hrs. I pre-booked a hostel, so I went straight there and into bed. I seem to be the only person in the whole world, who is not able to sleep in buses or planes or so. I can only drift off for a few minutes, that’s it. I got a panoramic seat, top floor front row & the bus was warm inside, so the journey was still quite enjoyable.
On my first day in Chachapoyas there was a thunderstorm, as I was exploring the city in the afternoon, so I got sooking wet. Not good, as nothing drys here. Luckily it was the only really bad day during my stay here.
It was almost impossible to find anything to eat, which is vegetarian & not sweet. After I tried about 15 restaurants (I am serious!) and was already desperate & starving, I ended up with a bunch of rice and an egg. Better than nothing. Later I googled & found one restaurant which has veggie options, so I will eat here for the next days. It seems to be good & the prices are alright.

The first day tour I did was to Kuelap, an ancient walled city in the middle of nowhere. It was a good bus ride, than we took the teleferico over the mountains - wow - and than had to walk about 30mins uphill to Kuelap. It is being named a fortress all over the internet, but our guide ensured that we know that it never was one, it was just a walled city. Our 74year old tour guide Edgardo was very knowledgeable and very passionate about the place & surroundings & it was a very good tour with him. Also the group of people I did the tour with, were very lovely.
Before we went to Kuelap itself we went into a restaurant to pre-order our meal for later one. There I got a new name ‘Ana Gringa’ 😂.

The 2nd day tour I did was to Quiocta (cave with stalagmites) & Karajia (sacorphagis over a cliff). It was the same guide again - lucky me. We had lovely talks. Such an interesting person, who had such an amazing life. Very inspiring. As much as I love being at new places & seeing new things - I mostly enjoy the company & the people I meet.

As a 3rd day tour I had planned a hike to the waterfall, but unfortunately I felt very ill & therefore stayed in bed until it was time to catch the night bus to Trujillo. What a pity.

16- Mancora & Chiclayo, Peru

02nd of March 2019 - Ecuador to Peru
I crossed the boarder from Ecuador to Peru via Agua Verdes, connecting Huaquillas (Ecuador) & Tumbes (Peru). I took a bus from Cuenca (Ecuador) & arrived about 8 hrs later in Mancora (Peru). Boarder crossing was a little tricky and took ages due to the amount of people, although it was in the middle of the night. Exit Ecuador & entry Peru are counters next to each other in the same building, which makes the whole process much easier and smoother. You only need your passport, nothing else (ie. proof of onward travel) is required.
The woman for the entrance Peru was very confused by my passport. She had never seen a German one before - how great is that - I love it. She had to take my picture about 3 times, as I had my eyes closed, but to be fair it was around 2 in the morning. She asked me a couple of questions, which some I didn’t understood in Spanish & she couldn’t speak English. So we used Google translate on her phone 😂. After taking my fingerprints, I got a stamp with 30 days. I really hope that’s enough. 🤔
Than I lost the bus & had to ask a few people. There seems to be a general parking sloth for the buses & it waited there. I was definitely not the only one confused by that, even if everyone else in the bus was able to speak & understand Spanish.
The whole process took about 2hrs and the majority was spent waiting in line.

02nd to 05th of March 2019 - Mancora, Peru
I arrived in Mancora - a beach town on the north west coast of Peru at about 5.30am. I was allowed to sit in the communal area of the hostel & could already check into my room at around 8am. That was great.
Mancora is a hot beach town, it was alright, but I didn’t really like it too much. I found it way too busy, the beach was relatively dirty (plastic stuff everywhere) & there were absolutely no shadow on the beach, if you didn’t wanted to pay for an umbrella. Maybe my expectations are now much higher after being on so many great beaches (favorite probably Puerto Lopez, Ecuador). But it wasn’t bad, to be fair, just not my personal taste. I spent 3days & 3nights here.

05th to 06th of March 2019 - Chiclayo, Peru
I arrived with the bus (around 9hrs) from Mancora. Chiclayo is hot, humid & felt pretty weird/unsafe to me. For example there were a couple of shops, but all of them had doors with metall bars in front, so you can’t go into the shop. Say what you want, give your money & receive your goods through the metall bars. Like in a prison - very awkward. I also had a bad experience with a motor taxi. We agreed in where to and a price, he drove about 200m to a petrol station, asked for the money & than kicked me out as he had another client. The next driver was much nicer & even cheaper, but still. I am happy I spent only one night & one day in Chiclayo.

Sunset at Máncora beach

15- Two months

General thoughts & random experiences after 2 months of traveling

Sun protection
So close to the Equator, you need a lot of sunscreen with a much higher factor, as you would usually need. I use factor 20 in Ireland/ Germany & sometimes 30 on hols, so I thought 30 would be enough. I was wrong, even with factor 50 & multiple applications during the day, I got sunburnt.
Take especially care on the high points (nose, forehead, shoulders....) but also on points you would usually forget, ie. your hands.
Also sunscreen is quite expensive here, you pay about 15$ for 200ml & it doesn’t last you long. Which is a quite heavy impact if you are traveling on a tight budget.
As I am usually skin-allergic to a lot of cosmetic products, I bought the ones made for babies & it worked out relatively well.

Lovely surprise
While waiting outside the guesthouse (San Jose, Costa Rica) for our shuttle to arrive, the security guide from the building next door came to us & gave us chocolates 😍.

Stop or non-stop
It’s confusing me to death: the Non-stop bus which stops every 10mins or so to pick up & drop of people in the middle of nowhere or to let people into the bus so that they can sell random stuff to the passengers, give something small of their goods to the bus driver & get a free ride for a few km.

F
Being finally not the only white person in the public bus - yeah. There seems to be a lot like a lot of  French’s in Baños (Ecuador) & in the buses on the way in & out. Even in the hostel the 8 or so other people I met there were all from France.
Haven’t heard German in about 6 weeks now. I am starting to miss the Germans - shocking!

Interesting payment system for public transportation (for gringos?)
Whatever money you are giving for public transportation, they take it & you don’t get change.
For longer journeys you usually buy a ticket in advance & they have a schedule & a fix price. Any other (shorter) public transportation seems to work differently. You just take a seat & they drive you. Later one or at the end of the journey you pay. If you give them 1US$ they take it and walk away. Same with 0.50US$ and sometimes even with 0.25US$. If you ask the fare upfront they don’t give you the info or tell you something much higher, ie. 2 US$ For a bit even 10mins journey. So best to just give them a smaller coin & if they want more, they will tell you. Which also means try to always have small coins with you. In lot if the cases they can’t even work with you when you only have a 10$ or even a 5$ note & might just leave you standing on the road. That I experienced so far in Costa Rica, Panama & Ecuador. I highly doubt that it will be any different in Peru now.

14- Cuenca, Ecuador

27th of Feb to 01st of March 2019 - Cuenca, Ecuador

Cuenca
Next (& unfortunately already the last) station in Ecuador for me was Cuenca. The bus from Banos took about 8hrs, so that’s relatively typical here that getting from one place to another kills a day of your time. It’s because of the distances, but also due to the fact that most roads (especially the ones through the mountains) are not really in the best state & therefore can only be traveled very slow.
Cuenca is nice & relatively warm compare to Banos & Quito. (I am missing the heat & about 18-20degrees still feels pretty cool somehow.)
During the time I was here there were carnival celebrations, which was nice; it was just a bit loud & very crowded especially in the evenings. Also when you walk around everyone sprays you on with some white foamy stuff, which is interesting. I was happy with my accommodation as it’s basically directly in the city, so you can enjoy all the fun & everything is close by, but the room was actually relatively quiet.
Cuenca is especially worth exploring when we walk around after dark, as everything is illuminated & just looks very beautiful. I especially loved the ocean blue lighted towers of the new cathedral.

Next will be Peru, were I am planning to travel around for about 1month.

13- Banos, Ecuador

24th to 27th of Feb 2019

The bus from Quito to Banos took about 4.5hrs (4.25US$). It would probably usually be a bit faster, but we had to change the bus tire a few km before Banos for some reason. Asking for a window seat usually doesn’t mean that you actually get one, as the seat counting system in the bus seems different with every bus. But sometimes you can change seats if the bus is not fully booked.
Banos is a small & pretty relaxed town in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains. It’s famos for their possibilities of outdoor activities (ie. hiking, biking, rafting, zip lining....), the many waterfalls nearby & their thermal baths. It’s also a town with many spa’s were you can get a cheap pedicure or a 30mins massage for 10US$. (Same a Panama, Ecuador uses the US$, but also has a few national coins.)
I did a tour along the waterfalls. There are many tourist agencies in town & everyone seems to have the same price for these kind of tours. It costs 5US$ and includes only transportation. They drive you to different spots were you can do the different activities if you want. I took a cable car to a waterfall (2US$) & hiked down to another waterfall (2US$). The whole tour lasted about 4hrs.
I also went to Casa del Arbol the famous high swing, which was included in another tour I did.
I also had a few massages (very good) & went to the thermal baths. The baths were very hot & the locals were extremely amused about the few gringos (foreigners) which were using the baths & couldn’t stay longer than 2mins inside, due to the heat. Nevertheless it was very relaxing, despite the necessary permanent in & out, before my skin would get deep fried.

12- Quito, Ecuador

21st to 24th of Feb 2019

Quito
Took the bus from Puerto Lopez to Quito on 21nd of Feb. What a drive. I left the accommodation at 7.15am. The bus left the station at Puerto Lopez at 8am; arrival at Quito was around 8pm & than it took me another hour to reach the accommodation. Jesus. At least I got to see “The Intouchables” in the bus, although it was in Spanish. It’s a great movie.
The public transport system here in Quito seems pretty cool. There are a few lines ie. north to south & east to west. Some buses (ie. Ecovia - the one that goes from the city to the bus terminal) mostly have there own lanes, so they don’t really stuck in traffic. Pay with a 0.25US$ coin and go as far & as long as you want to. Pretty amazing, cheap and fairly easy to navigate. And if you want to take a taxi it’s about 2-3US$ for a 10mins drive.
Here in Quito/ Ecuador in general there seems to be a lot less tourists (or at least white people) than there were in Costa Rica or Panama. I feel being observed the whole time. A pretty weird feeling, but they are all very small, curvy or overweight & with dark thick hair & dark brown eyes. So I do look different & I do get noticed. It’s just something I am slowly getting used to.
A went with the Teleferico (cable car) up the hill. The view about Quito & the surrounding volcanos was amazing & its pretty high up there (4.100msnm). The drive is about 2.5kms, 20mins & costs you 8.50US$ return. That’s the price for a foreign tourists, almost all touristy things have different (much cheaper) prices for Ecuadorians, which is alright.
I also went to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, the Equator monument. The Equator is painted there as a yellow line on the ground and you can basically step or jump from the northern to the southern hemisphere and vice versa.
Quito is pretty high up (2.850m above sea level) and many people get sick (anoxia), especially if they fly in. As I took the bus & therefore gradually adjusted to the height, I was totally fine. But unfortunately I felt freezing cold in Quito - the whole time. Coming from the very hot Puerto Lopez (>30degrees), the about 11degrees in Quito felt more like being on the North Pole, instead of being by the Equator. Also it basically rained/drizzled the whole time I was there. I felt a bit like I never left Ireland.

Teleferico (cable car) 4.100msnm

The Equator - one foot on the northern & one at the southern hemisphere