Cuzco and the Holy Grail of Peru

After we had this very interesting time in Lima and the Andes region, we finally made it to Cuzco, the base of the possibly most hyped attraction in South America: Machu Picchu!

We arrived early in the morning, and as we heard before, Hostel Loki was usually a good choice for traveling people of our kind, and thus we jumped the cab with another two American girls, who’d just arrived in Cuzco with us, and off we went.

Unfortunately, the place was packed and chances were little that enough people would check out so that the 4 of us could reside there together. Also it was insanely expensive, compared to the hostels we have been to before. SO, next stop “Pariwana Hostel”, a place that was recommended by some other friends, and which was even closer to the centre. There they had enough space for us, and after having put down our stuff, we went into town to book ourselves one of the mystic Jungle Inca Trips with a visit to the holy Traveler’s Grail on the last day.

Badabing Badaboom, first place offered tours for 170$ and we were hooked instantly. The party would begin the next morning around 6:30am and happily we returned to our hostel, only to find out that it was the Dutch Queens’ Birthday. Usually, no one would really care about that, but as our neighbouring hostel “The Point Hostal” threw a massive party in Her Majesty’s honor, with a beerpong competition, we were hooked for the second time this day.

Chris and I competed in the Beerpong thing, and unfortunately lost the 3^rd round due to me being already too wasted and having blocked the opponents ping pong ball before it hit the glas… (who knows the game and it’s rules knows that this is such an unnecessary reason to lose. :-/ ) Anywho, the place recommended another party after their Pong competition and with the flyers lying around in the place, a free drink was even included when going to the Mystery club (or something like that). Chris was again on top of it and grabbed about 16 free-drink flyers and off we went.

Now having the free drink flyers doesn’t mean you can get drunk instantly, or let’s say worsen the state we already were in, because when you don’t get through to the bar, you can have all the flyers in the world, but will still stay dry. Luckily for us, I had brought out my orange glasses and one of the guys from the bar staff absolutely loved them. As soon as I punched my way to the bar, I offered the champ a deal: He could keep my glasses and be the star of the party, if he made sure that every time I waved with our “free-drink” flyers he’d instantly get them Vodka-Orange drinks prepared and pass them over to me. Said, done.

Long story short, we tumbled out of the place around 4 towards our beds and were completely plastered. I didn’t even think about the tour which would start only a few hours later, cuz I was that much abuzz with having a good time around all these orange people.

Inka Jungle Tour – Day One

Around 6:30am our two American companions, who did not come out with us the previous night, jumped out of their beds and screamed in panic that we were late and we’d miss our tour. Chris and I couldn’t care less in the first minutes. We got out of bed and Chris slowly moved towards the bath. When I found out it was 6:45 already, I started moving faster and upon Chris’ return from the bath, the three of us were already gone and looking for the minivan which was to pick us up. The greatest thing this morning was Maggie asking for Chris and upon seeing him stating “OMG, he moves like a fucking turtle…”

The drivers and guides were really pissed at us and after breakfast actually did move us into another bus as they didn’t want us to be in their group. :D After breakfast, we drove up a mountain for about 3hrs, just to get out into the freezing cold there and being handed a mountain bike to cruise down the whole damn thing again. In the beginning no one enjoyed being in the cold, but after a while the cold went away and after we went below cloud level we were rewarded with an astonishing view of the mountains.

After about 4hrs we arrived at the bottom of the mountain, grabbed some lunch and drove to our first night’s accommodation in the next village. There we discovered a small soccer pitch and luckily for us, the hostel even had a ball, so Chris, another guy and I went out and harassed everyone in town to join us for a little bit of kicking around. After 10 minutes, the place was packed with local children and we played for a good 2hrs, despite some rain and some really annoying wind. GOOD TIMES!!

The night was finished of by a decent dinner and a single beer in the town’s only bar, who surprisingly had a great collection of games to play there.

Inca Jungle Tour – Day Two

In the morning we got up around 7 and walked towards breakfast, only to start our two days of hiking towards Machu Picchu right after. In comparison to some other groups, our tourguide was THE SHIT!!! He was amazingly funny and simply a good tour guide, constantly stopping along the way and explaining this and that and giving us great inside into the Inca culture.

Apart from the astonishing views we got along the way, we stopped at one point and received Coca leaves to try, which would (against all prejudices NOT make you high, but rather) suppress hunger, thirst and altitude sickness. Additionally, our faces were painted with some part or a local flower and after a good 45min break continued our way up to the highest point of the Inca Trail.

After another 3hrs of hiking we reached a little bridge which could only be crossed by a tiny gondola. There we had to wait for about 30mins as almost 6 other groups were ahead of us and the gondola only fit like 3 people at a time. The wait was rewarded though, because after another 30 minutes of hiking we reached the local hot thermes, which were the final stop of the day.

After a good 90mins of warming up in the thermes, we grabbed a cab and drove into town. It was some Peruvian holiday, as we found out the next day, but none of us were able to go out and celebrate big time. The Queen’s birthday still hung in our bones, plus we didn’t even bring any cash with us, except for the dough we needed to get along (water, snacks, entrance to Machu Picchu and so on). So again we were in bed early and were asleep after just a few minutes.

Inca Jungle Tour – Day Three

This day, we again had to get up early, even earlier than the night before. After a strong cup of Coca-Leave Tea we were off towards Machu Picchu, or rather Aguas Calientes, at the bottom of the Machu Picchu Mountain. And it was a strong piece of work we had to do that day. The sun was burning down on us mercilessly and the dusty path we walked on, made our lungs suffer additionally.

After a good 2hrs we arrived a little control point, just half an hour before lunch, from which we could look up the Mountain and see the first stones and terraces from the old Inca City. And it was a good teaser, that made us rush along the last 30mins towards lunch.

After lunch we had to walk the last few kilometers towards Aguas Calientes, which basically meant we needed to walk on the Railway tracks that lead towards the town and which were for the lazy people that were not physically able or willing to walk towards Machu Picchu, but still wanted to see it.

It took another few hours, with lots of breaks organizes by our tour guide, to gather or “Inca Power” for the last bits of the track. Upon arrival, we had like an hour to buy some groceries and snacks for the next day on Machu Picchu, because lunch wasn’t included, nor was Dinner. So we packed our bags and after a decent dinner went to bed again really early, as the alarm was set for 4am the following morning.

Inca Jungle Tour – Day Four

The alarm mercilessly kicked us out at 4am sharp to gather our stuff and get ready for the long day ahead. At 4:30am we started walking towards the bottom entry gate of the Grail Mountain and finally entered around 5:10am only to be confronted with another 45min hike up the steep mountain side. On the upside, the Spaniards had carved a set of 2800 stairs into the side of the mountain to make it easier climb the place, but still it was a sunofabitch to get up. For the earlier mentioned lazy or unwilling people there were even buses driving up the hill, to get even the un-fittest bloke up there and let him enjoy a culture he’d never heard of before.

After arriving at the top we kinda lost track of our fellow group members and as we were transferred to another guide the previous day (our tour guide had some other business to attend in Cuzco and had to leave) we didn’t even know who to look for. After a good 30min search we finally found them and followed to one of the terraces on which we hoped to see the sunrise on Machu Picchu. Sadly, the clouds prohibited any sun to shine through and thus we listened to the new tour guide in the cloudy darkness, as he explained things about the lost city. After a 2hr tour we were dismissed and were allowed to explore the lost city by ourselves. This opportunity was gladly embraced and after having taken some of the classic Machu Picchu pictures, Chris and I basically pissed the day away by just chilling in the sun on one of the terraces overlooking the ruins.

As the clock hit 2pm, we had already eaten most of our lunch stuff and went to see the Sun-gate, an entrance through which all tourists came, when doing the actual, real Inca Trail. And I can imagine that the first view onto the ruins from the Sun Gate must indeed be breath-taking and stand in no comparison to just entering the site through the front door.

Upon arrival at the Sun Gate we saw that heaven was closing in on us and that massive black clouds were rushing into the valley. Without hesitation, we grabbed our stuff and raced down the mountain. It took us about 20mins to get back to the ruins and from there another 30mins down to the front entrance. An additional 25mins walk towards Aguas Calientes was inevitable but was rewarded with some delicious dinner in one of the many restaurants in the little town. Also, we enjoyed and feasted upon the 5 for 1 cocktail offer of one of the other restaurants with at least another 15 other Inca Jungle Tour members, before we had to leave for the train station, and our train that departed at 9pm sharp.

After a 60min ride on the train and another 3hrs after, we touched down back in Cuzco around 1:30am and rushed back to our beloved Pariwana Hostel, where we had pre-booked another two nights in advance. Exhausted and reeeeeeally tired we fell into bed at 2am, but everyone with a broad smile on their faces. Great 4 days!!!! GREAT!

The next day was a Saturday, and despite our tired feet, we still decided that we need to hit Cuzco another time loud and hard. This time we’d all go out, including our new friends from the Jungle Inca Trip. But first, laundry had to be done, our stuff smelled horrible and this had to be changed immediately. In the evening, I unpacked my cooking skills for a few friends and made up a fantastic “mushroom - white wine - cream - sauce” which went splendidly with some rice and vegetables. And after this delicious dinner, we got our drinks on and went to rip Cuzco a new one. Mission completed, I would say, because we returned home around 5am and were loaded like seldom before. :D

The following day was used solely to recover from the previous night and write some blog. Additionally, I managed to book my flights back home, which is sad, but inevitable, and finally I’m looking foreward to fly home soon. It has been amazing so far and I’m sure there is so much more to discover on this incredible continent, but the fun has to end at one point, and I can’t wait to see all my friends again.

The following day would be our last in Cuzco, as Arequipa and after Bolivia were waiting for us and we were running out of time. So we packed our stuff and left for the Bus station at 6, but not before we had not gotten a 60min massage in one of the little relax-centres which are everywhere to be found in Cuzco. And for only 25 Soles per person, our body and souls were crunched, hurt and finally relieved of all the pain that had accumulated during the previous week.

Well then, thank you Cuzco, it has been a pleasure. Arequipa, you´re up!

High to low Altitude

After we had left Trujillo for the south, again we spend another night in another bus with moderate chairs to sleep in. And this time we were woken up by the freezing cold altitude of Huaraz, an out-door sports paradise in the middle of the Peruvian Andes. Along with us, two girl, one from the U, S and A, and an Aussie, stepped out into the cold with us. They had a recommendation for a cheap nice hostel, and so we tagged along in hope of a decent accommodation. The good news were: it was cheap, the bad news: it was filled with Israeli travelers.

Now before anyone raises their voice and screams “racists” I have to say, they do have the potential to be the most annoying travelers one could meet along their way, due to their habits:

-         they always travel in huge Israeli packs

-         they always speak Hebrew (which after a while just gets so annoying to the ear)

-         they barely socialize with other travelers (although I met few exceptions)

-         they always cook fore themselves and block the kitchen for hours, 3 times a day AND

-         they have the notion of being the loudest people in the bunch, even if they should rather shut up (i.e. in the jungle, when you want to see easily scared/ shy animals).

Now this is only my personal experience, and I’d love someone to convince me otherwise. Nevertheless, I am actually not yet repelled by this and still want to go to Tel Aviv, because I heard it must be an amazing city.

Anywho, so we rode into little Jerusalem and got our beds. Next action, leave the place and look for stuff to do around the town. To our surprise, there isn’t anything to do. There are no churches, no other historical sights and no huge markets to buy stuff. The only thing there is, and there is plenty of it, is travel agencies and tour operators. Millions of them, all offering the same stuff, and all are varying in prices.

In the end, we decided for one company that looked sound and went to the print shop to get our drinking game printed, that we had in mind to play with our two new friends. The gemae unfortunately never really gained speed, as the hostel staff was being a bunch of dicks and constantly reminded us to be quite as other people were in the hostel, too… around 7pm. Still we got plastered and the next morning I was suffering soooooo bad from altitude sickness and barely got my ass up. Despite the 3hrs drive up the mountain from where our tour to the Lagoon 69 started, I still felt like ass, and also, had some stomach problems, which added to the fun. Truth to be told, I didn’t like that day at all and wiggled behind the rest of the group, seriously trying not to day along the way. And I barely had an eye for the beautiful landscape all around us.

Up on top, we finally made it to the Lagoon 69 and first chilled out for a solid hour. After Chris kinda pushed towards stripping to the shorts and running in the freezing cold lake. As I not only had a week stomach, a head like an ambos and the beginning of a cold sneaking up on me, I passed on the opportunity to catch death fully and let him do his thing. And let alone by watching him run into the cold water, my testicles inverted inside into my body and stayed there for the whole time Chris jiggled in the lake.

 After we had to face the walk back down, but somehow we made it quite fast and were only 15 minutes late for the bus, like everyone else, and of course the bus had waited. After followed the most uncomfortable 3 hrs in a minibus I ever ever ever had to endure in my life. I sat in the front row, in the middle seat, which originally must have been designed for dwarves and midgets, and no offense here please, but I was literally hugging myself for the whole ride, and no one from the back was willing to change seats with me, not even after clearly describing my misery to them. Anywho, for Chris and me, the place got its tick on our list, and after a massive fest in a Chifa Place (Chinese Food) we hurried for the Bus Station to catch the next bus to the capital, LIMA.

Another night in the Bus, this time more comfortable and as well warmer upon arrival. Still it was a little early, so we stayed in the terminal, studied our Lonely Planet once more concerning accommodation and food and around 7 took a cab to “el Mochilero” in Miraflores.

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And the place was AMAZING, nice and friendly, and in a beautiful area. Unfortunately, we forgot our food bag in the cab, in which Chris had wisely put some of his cloths so he wouldn’t have to carry them in his big bag. Well, off the cab went, and so his stuff.

The early hours before noon were then spent to drive back to the terminal in order to ask the staff if they knew the cabbie and if there was a chance we could get the things back. Of course there wasn’t…

In the end, we let this one go, stepped by the supermarket and got some beers for the soccer game that was lying ahead. Bavaria Munich against Real Madrid, and it was broadcasted on our living rooms massive flat screen. Thus, asses placed in the front row, rip open a cold beer and let the game begin.

And a heartbeat game it was! When it went into over-time the whole hostel was already standing on their seats and the penalty shoot-out did it for the most of them. In the end, ¾ of the viewers left the living room satisfied but without finger nails, close to a heart attack, but still happy Bavaria Munich won. Two of these peeps were Chris and I. Later that day, we had agreed to hang out with some of the other blokes and go kicking around for a bit too. It was 12bucks a man, but it was totally worth it. We had a great day playing, made some new friends, and best of all finished the day off by BBQing on the hostels rooftop!!! Great Times!!

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The next day we had a nice little sleep in, wrote some stuff on the computer and toured around the town a bit. I can tell you it is huge and we walked quite some miles around the place. Especially the waterfront is amazing, with it’s cliffs over the water, you have an absolutely incredible view over the coastline and the little surfers down below.

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Furthermore, the city is buzzing. There are shops and stores everywhere, and you don’t really know where to look next. I think the contrast of that laid-back little place in the mountains to the big city might have helped to increase the sensation, but it still is very lively.

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In the afternoon, we again went to the supermarket to get some more charcoles to get the BBQ going and after shopping groceries stepped into the nearest back because in needed money. Here, the card went into the machine and just stayed there, without me having pushed or pressed anything. What followed was an angry conversation with a telephone service employee who apparently did not want to help me and kept saying “the card is broken, you have to come back in the morning”. I just feared that the machine would give out my card to anyone who would step by, and tried to use it, if it already keeps cards for no reason. We still had the BBQ on the roof, although we would have settled in for a night in the back to guard the machine and make sure no one uses it. In the end, a hand written piece of paper did the trick and kept people from using the machine, just as one little key the next morning opened the machine and the owner of that key handed me my credit card again.

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After having the card back, I got money somewhere else and we got our tickets to Ica, where we were promised, we could go sand-boarding in the world’s biggest dunes. And only 4hrs later we arrived in Ica, ready to hit the sand-slopes.

Unfortunately, it was already dark AND sandboarding could only be done in the neighbouring village, a oasis called Huacachina. So we spend one night in a shitty hostel in Ica and left the next morning for Sandboard-Paradise.

Right there, we booked ourselves into the next hostel and organized a Sand-Buggy & Sand-Board Tour, starting at 4pm so we would just finish the tour by watching the sunset over the dunes. AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!

 That night was Saturday and we let the desert burn once more, before we left the dunes to head towards Cuzco and the Holy Grail of South America travelers: Machu Picchu. Oh You Holy Inka Capital, make us imbeciles shiver in sight of your sheer Awesomeness!!!

Down the Coastline

Next morning, we got to Chiclayo excessively early and were thrown out of the bus around 4:30am. We slept all right on the bus, although the early hours still got to us a bit. It was even that bad, that Chris forgot his camera in the bus, which unfortunately continued its journey to Trujillo right after and it took us a little bit of effort to convince the Bus staff to look for the cam on board and after confirming its location in our seats, send it to Chiclayo for pick-up. Fortunately, the staff was extremely helpful, and after telling us the cam would arrive some when after 8pm, we happily started our tour through the city to look for a travel agency, which could tell us the most interesting sights in town.

As we walked out of the Bus terminal, we met the very helpful young man from Chachapoya’s travel agency, which whom we had booked our Kueláp tour and he voluntarily guided us to the next travel-agency (of course a  friend’s place) and additionally worked a massive discount for a 3-site culture tour. And just like this we hoped on the bus around 10am and did a 8hr tour around Chiclayo.

Places to see included

The Sipán Pyramids, this time differently presented

The Sipán Museum

And the actual Sipán Excarvation Site

After the tour, we figured that our two weeks jungle trip without internet and Facebook had passed, as well as the 2 weeks of alcohol abstinence. So we checked in a kind of expensive 2 star hotel (the only one with free Wi-Fi in town) and went nuts on FB and Youtube for the rest of the night. Also, we rewarded ourselves for this strong two weeks of no Booze or Facebooking with a nicely chilled brewsky.

The following day, we hit the next bus south to Chicama, the longest left-braking wave in the world. Apparently, one can surf one wave for over 5 minutes, from the very end to shore. *WHOOP* *WHOOP*, if that doesn’t sound fun! :D

There, we arrived and desperately looked for cheap accommodation, an old military hangar, which a friend had recommended, and where we could have put our hammocks. BUT, didn’t find it and the cheapest option available was a shithole directly at the beachfront, which was still overpriced. So after a later afternoon arrival, we got ourselves some food and spend the rest of the day watching Family Guy on my laptop, waiting urgently for the night to come and pass, so we could hit Chicama around 9am, high tide.

We still needed to rent gear, which also was kind of expensive, so we decided to save money and forget about the wetsuit, as we only intended to surf about 2hrs or so, before leaving for Trujillo, the next biggest town south. Thing was, Peru is not nearly as warm as Ecuador, and since we were already quite a bit down the coast, the water was FRESH! The off-shore wind didn’t help the situation so that after some freezing 90minutes, we rapidly left the water and used the last 30mins of our rented gear to tan and warm up in the sun, before returning to our shithole hostel and packing up.

The north of Peru is very distinct, so that on the way to Trujillo at times we thought we’re lost in the desert, among bare rocks and heaps of sand. After a 4 hours drive, we finally arrived and asked a cabbie for the nearest, cheap hostel. Guess what: First option he offered a 3 star hotel where a night would cost us approximately 80 Soles (23€) per person. The next option was shit too, and in the end we abandoned the guy and found an amazing hostel for 20 Soles per person, including breakfast and free Wi-Fi. The place was neat and the people cool, plus even the owner was an absolute sweetheart. Tchackaaa, looking around a bit can have its upsides. :D

As we didn’t have enough of the beautiful Sipán Culture, we checked out some agencies that would bring us to the nearest archeological site, featuring the pyramides de Luna y Sol, as well as the museum that belongs to it.

BUT, the next day was the first half final Champion’s League match of Barcelona against Chelsea on, as well as the British Queen’s birthday, which is why we postponed the tour for a day and got plastered in front of the television instead. Later we also met the weirdest Peruvian guy ever! He spoke fluent German and constantly said words like Schwuchteli (Gay) and Arschlöchle (little asshole) and despite the fact that it was hilarious hearing this dude speak German, it was still really creapy.

Anywho, after the culture tour, our time was already over in Trujillo, although it really is a nice place, with an average of 30+ °C and as little as 2mm rain per month. Attractive place to hang out, but, time doesn’t stop and we needed to keep going, to get all our sights done, and visit everything we aimed to. OFF to Huaraz, to the amazing Lagoon 69 ( hr hr hr ) and then hopefully off to Lima!

Peru Cross Country

We got off the boat and looked for the next cheap hostel to park our asses, get a shower and do some laundry. The first dude told us there are no hostals in Yuri and the second told us the same. Only the third TukTuk driver mentioned there was a hospedaje close by, which would cost 2 soles to drive to. In the end, the place was shit and we could have walked the 300m to the place. Didn’t matter, next up: walking through town, looking for a decent bus company to get out of there and a laundry place. We found the laundry place with ease and had already planned the day ahead in a bar, when we came across a little hostel right at the waterfront of the river who offered Ayahuasca-Experiences with a local Shaman

As we had heard so much from other people about this stuff, we thought we could postpone our journey towards the coast and dip into this experience right in the spot. Said, done, we jumped one of the TukTuks and grabbed a sleeping bag and our hoodies and drove out to “Don Pepe’s” place about 30minutes outside of Yuri.

There, we discovered that Don Pepe’s domicile was more of a Russian retreat for the physically ill. Not only his wife was Russian, but at least another 10 people that hung about on the ranch. As the ritual is only performed at night, we had to kill a few hours by ourselves and upon sunset Don Pepe summoned us to prepare us for the ritual. This preparation showed strong similarities to a physiotherapist and he not only corrected my crooked spine (possibly from 4 days in a hammock O.o ) but also cleansed my 7 main chakra points. During one of those cleanings I was about to punch him in the face because it hurt so much, but I kept my shit together and suffered in silence.

After this the Russian bunch, Chris and me gathered around a table and were ready to drink our Ayahuasca. To your information: This stuff is a brew from a vine and contains the highest hallucinogenic concentration of the strongest hallucinogenic substance and it was used by the shamans to clean body, mind and soul. Along with it, people told us, they were tripping hard and after experienced something one would call an epiphany. As I wanted to know in which direction I might head after my SA trip, I could have used such an epiphany and was ready to get down on my Ayahuasca.

Unfortunately, the stuff smells like ass and has this disgusting stinch that you smell when fruits are vegetables have gone bad and started to ferment. So we fought the stuff down our throats and waited. I should mention at this point, that throwing up is not only a common side effect of Ayahuasca, but in our case, as Don Pepe only uses this brew to clean peoples’ bodies, it was even required. So after a few minutes one Russian lady started to vomit into her carefully placed bucket between her legs, and one after the other joined her in releasing their stomach contents.

The worst part was that after every “Huuuaaaarg” Don Pepe gave us another bowl with Ayahuasca and hot water, which we were supposed to drink straight away. And so we kept vomiting for consecutive 3 hrs and after were releaved to be finally able to leave the table and head towards bed. The shitty part about this now was, that we might not have had the correct preparation before the ritual, which meant that the hallucinogenic effect didn’t even set it. We just felt like you would feel at 5 in the morning, after a strong night out, and you just returned the last two drinks from the bar orally to mother nature as you were heading back home. In the end, Chris and I agreed that our 40$ were not well spend, concerning the expected epiphany, which Chris also did not experience. From the healthy point of view, we might have taken some useful information, as I got to know that my stomach is a bit messed up and I am most likely to get arthritis soon, and should urgently do something about it. (No worries, when I get back home, I’ll to a full check at the doctors of my trust).

The next morning we still felt really weak and urgently awaited our breakfast, which was the best thing about the whole trip. After we impatiently awaited our TukTuk driver who was supposed to pick us up, but never came. The worst part about it was that we waited in the rain for like an hour until we decided to grab one of the collectivos for 3 Soles and get back to town this way. After a little stop at the place who organized the Ayahuasca experience for us, we got our money for the TukTuk back and returned to the city, in urgent search for a bus that would get us out of there. We also collected our laundry and were off to what the Lonely Planet calls “a second Machu Picchu”.

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After this rather unpleasant experience with the jungle’s plants, we wanted to get back to the coast, where the sun was shining and the climate was mild and easy. We read that along the way to the coast there was a second Machu Picchu hiding in the Peruvian Andes, which we thought could be a nice little appetizer for the real thing. So we jumped the next possible bus to Tarapoto, from where we could easily catch another bus to “Kueláp”.

The trip was long, the collectivos were packed and uncomfortable, and to all my misery in one of those rides a little girl behind me threw up due to the drivers racing skillz in the serpentines and thus made it even worse. But after a long 18hrs of travel, we finally reached the little town of Chachapoya, a beautiful little place in the Andes from where we started our daytrip to the ruins.

It took us 3hrs in a cab to drive up there, and in the end we were rewarded with nasty rain and uncomfortable wind and dark clouds. But nevertheless, the place looked amazing. It was high up in the mountains and on a clear sky’s day the view must have been even more breath-taking. Funny little anecdote: Right on the mountain, during our tour, we met Chris’ friend from Quito, Sarina, who didn’t come with us on the jungle tour, as she was afraid it would take too long and she would eventually miss her flight back home. In the end it turned out, we were as fast as she was with her bus-rides, but we saw more stuff along the way, HA!!!

After this, we jumped the next Bus towards Chiclayo along the coast, which we had already booked in advance, and happily fell asleep in one of the unusually comfortable seats of the Movil Travel Operator’s Buses.

Welcome to the Jungle!

The next day we packed our stuff and headed towards the harbor in order to board a boat for Yurimaguas. But there we were immediately disappointed by the local fishermen as they told us there was no ship in this harbor. So we headed to the next one. And the story kept repeating for about 70 minutes, until we finally reached the place where “Eduardo 10^” was leaving for Yuri. The whole trip took about 1,5hrs and costed us S20 (ca. 6€), during which we unwillingly did a whole 3 laps around the city and literally bathed in exhaust fumes in our little TukTuk.

Departure day / 12.4

So after we finally found the right dock for the boat to Yurimaguas, we split up quickly, to prepare ourselves a bit faster. First, Chris went out to buy a Tupper bowl for the food and some water, and I was assigned to hang up the hammocks. After we switched and I went on a food run, to get ourselves some really late lunch. Around 5:30pm I came back and Chris had already chatted up some random chick that talked way too fast & way too much. Around us, it was absolutely buzzing and the whole deck was packed with people. Also, there were freaking Babies everywhere. Half of them playing on the floor, the rest was either sucking on Mommy´s titty, screaming their asses off because they wanted to suck on Mommy´s titty or shat their pants, so Mommy had to change them. And despite a strong evening breeze, the air was filled with the stink of pee and poo from all around us.

Since the both of us already ate and there wasn’t much to do on the boat at night, we called it an early one and resided back to our hammocks. All locks put on, sweatpants on our legs and sweater at hand, we closed our eyes and waited for the next day to come.

Day 2 / 13.4.

The day started incredibly early as all of the “tribe people” (respectively locals) aboard got up normally around 5am. So within 5hrs of the day, the first boom-boxes already started smacking classic reggaeton music right into your face before u even had the chance to prepare yourself for this mayhem. And it would take even another hour for the cheap spiral light bulbs to be replaced by the sun. So I turned around in my pink hammock in search of anything between latino-music enhanced trance and normal sleep.

6:30am: breakfast time. Half the boat, about 90 people were already standing in line at the food dispense, waiting for their two buns of bread and a weird hot cereal soup. Chris’ new friend Linda is also already awake and machine-firing words towards us, which I don’t understand as my brain yet. My brain refuses to accept input at this early hour, especially if words keep shooting out, without even being asked for. Chris must have understood something as he tells me, it would be my turn to get food first, since we were sharing a plastic bowl (required) and it would take him longer than me to climb out of his hammock and mosquito net. Fair enough, I thought to myself, I wouldn’t have had the energy to fight his logic, so I moved towards the kitchen dispense area to grab breakfast. The soup was almost boiling and the bread was insanely dry, but I somehow stuffed it in me, handed the bowl to Chris and got back to bed for a second round of sleep.

I woke up again around 11am, almost in time for lunch, and ready to begin the day. To my right I heard this snoring sound under a mosquito net and figured that Senior Kaiser had the same glorious idea as I did and escaped Linda’s desire for conversation, by going back to bed.

She too, was there again to drown us in words, when we woke up, and this time it even made some sensse to me, what she wanted. She told us lunch was ready in a few minutes and that she didn’t eat any of the cooked food there, as she doubts the quality of the chef.

“Why?” I asked her, and as she didn’t give me reasonable explanation I drop the topic and continue to do prepare for lunch. The only thing going through my head then was that with her not using the ticket to get food, I could take that and go for a 2^nd round after I used my ticket for food. :D

(At this point, I would like someone to remind me to go see a Doctor about this, cuz during the last months I’ve been eating like a whale without gaining weight. )

The rest of the day we were hanging about, writing a little bit in our diaries. Eventually we were going nuts on the cards and later on the dice for Kniffel, but this was about it. For almost half the passengers, we were the absolute highlight playing these weird card games. It might have helped that we were the only white passengers and let alone this attracted people and made them stare like hell. And while other peeps hung about in their hammocks, some children were playing and the little ones were again sucking on Mommy’s titties or getting their asses wiped.

Dinner was served, again rice with something, but this time I hogged Linda’s card and got two portions, which kept me busy for at least an hour. After that we made a little bit of conversation with different people around us, and finally the night was topped off by reading in my hammock before the lights were switched off.

Day 3 / 14.4.

Again, the day started excessively early for my taste and to be honest, the night before I never really slept, as the little bastards rug-rats were crying non-stop. So when it was time to get in line for breakfast, not only Linda, but 3 other people tried to wake me up and get me out of bed. I was a bit on edge and impolitely shrugged “leave me the fuck alone, I want to sleep”, which Chris tactfully translated as “he’s not hungry”.

As the night was already dominated by screaming of the young and little, the day itself didn’t get any better. And although there were plenty of toys and comrades to play with, including an open deck with loads of space, the little devils grew more and more impatient by the day and got more and more cranky. So in order to blend out the youngster mayhem, Chris and I grabbed our books and started to read the shit out of them. For hours we sat in our hammocks and read page after page and thus successfully ignored whining babies to the left and right of us. Once in a while, we’d get up, stretch our legs a bit, take a walk around the ship and even become witness of one of the most amazing double rainbows of my life, just before dinner. (Again chicken, rice and banana).

The rest of the evening, we stuck to our books and kept a low profile and finally switched off the lights around 10pm.

Day 4 / 15.4

As in a routine, boom boxes started to blast out raggaeton music before even one of the 20  rooster first krieked for sunlight and again breakfast was horrible. Luckyly it was only a few hours for us until we finally landed in Yurimaguas. And upon landing at the port, we were happy and relieved to escape this baby hell and were looking foreward to the next shower that wasn’t installed over a toilet bowl. Bring it on!

Hello Peru, how do you do?

So, that was it Ecuador, hu?
We finally decided to move on, despite the great, GREAT adventures and experiences we made here. BUT you should always stop and leave when it’s best, right? So, good bye Ecuador, I guess I’m gonne see you no more.

On our way out the country, we had to stop by in Coca, a city on the boarderline between civilization and jungle, from where we’d hopefully get a boat soonish, which would bring us along the river Napo to “Nueva Rocka Forte”, the last town before the boarder. Upon arrival there in the early morning hours, we looked for a hostel, as recommended in the Lonely Planet, and after a good time of searching finally found it and instantly tested our beds for solid 5hrs, to make up for the lack of sleep from the shitty busride.

When walking through the town, to look for unchecked items from our shopping list, we met a friend of me from Montanita “Maxx”, who fled the coast, and told us that the once so magic place was dead and they would soon begin to tear open the streets and build in a sewage system. And although Coca was his hometown, he didn’t speak to fond of it, which is why we didn’t leave the hostel that night to grab some drinks, but rather stayed in and watched Troy and 300 one after the other on the rooms TV.

The next day we got up early to get our boat to the boarder around 7 and were already afraid what kind of boat would be expecting us. At the docks we saw it and at first didn’t think too bad of it, but after the first few hours, the tiny seats and the little space for the legs really got on our nerves. The ride was scheduled for 10hrs and after 5hrs we had our only break at a little restaurant along the way. But the stop was only for 15 minutes, during which we only managed to eat a thin noodle soup and couldn’t even take-away order a proper meal. Another 7 hours later, we finally reached our destination and wanted to directly look for people who could bring us across the boarder in their boat, and preferably take us directly to Iquitos, Peru.

Along the way, we met a Belgique couple who had the same plans in mind and thus we started our search together. After 5mins of walking along one of the 3 streets of Nueva Rocka Forte, we encountered an Argentinian couple and a German girl, who had a boat at hand, that would take them to Iquitos, and luckily for us there was still room to hang our hammocks. It wasn’t really cheap with 90$ per person, but as we had no idea when the next boat would arrive that could take us down the river, we preferred expensive security over cheap jeopardy.

They also were just on the way to the Immigration Office, to get their departure stamps, so we tagged along, I at the back, with a weird feeling in my stomache. On the way we found out the German girl had went to the pub with half the precincts staff the previous night, and said they would be all very cool guys and that I would get my stamp, without trouble. To be honest, I still wasn’t calm about it, and when the police officer in charge finally looked at my Passport, he couldn’t his eyes. He triple checked the current date, to be sure the Ecuadorian visa in his hands really was expired since 5 weeks, and immediately called his superior in the next bigger town. Upon return he mentioned that he would have to arrest me and put me in jail until he was told what to do with me by higher levels of the police.

Anike, our new German friend just went “best-buddy” with him and said that we could easily resolve the issues at hand over a beer of 15 in the nearest watering hole. Unfortunately for us, it was Sunday and thus, no one was allowed to sell alcohol to these “oh so pretentious Catholics”. Also, I couldn’t just offer 50$ to him, as there were at least another 5 people in the room, just doing nothing and already witnesses of me being in the country illegally. In the end, the problem was attended to outside of the precinct where the police officer told me he would like to do a trip to Coca with his friends, but apparently they had spend all their money during the previous night and it would probably cost them 30$ back and forth. Said and done. I handed 30$ over to him and 1 minute later I held my freshly stamped passport in hand and had officially checked out of the country. With a massive smile in my face, and an angry Chris (he had paid his 230$ for an additional visa in Quito) we went to the hostel to try out our newly bought hammocks and then go out to grab some food.

Again, the next day was an early wake up and we met the others around 5:30am in the kitchen of our hostel, where the host had already prepared breakfast for Chris and me (for ridiculously cheap 3$ per person) and then headed off to the river. There, the tiniest boat was waiting for us, in which we barely all fitted. The Belgian guy had with 1,96m the worst seating on the little boat and really did suffer for the whole two hours it took us to reach Pantoja, the first city along the boarder. There Passports were stamped and we were off to the big boat, already waiting for us along the riverside. We boarded and set up our stuff, and within 1 hour we were on our way to Iquitos.

Basically, we did not much during our 3 days / 2 nights cruise down the river but hang about in our hammocks, read, cook, chill out and once in a while play card and dice games. Concerning the food we had the good fortune of being accompanied by an Argentinian chef, who would cook up brilliant things with very little choice of ingredients.

A few of the highlights along the way were during the first day, when I somehow agreed to let Chris shave off my hair, as the chances were very little that I would ever do this again in the future and thus would never know how I look without hair. I’ve always had relatively long hair, and shaving it off, would be a radical thing to do, but again, I have no idea what I was thinking. I just know that after our first lunch, Chris and I settled on one of the decks and a good 15 minutes later, I was bald.

Another highlight was the first night, during which it started pouring down on us. And as we set up our hammocks under the stars, Petrus fucked us right over. Unfortunately, I had made a mistake when tying the knot of my hammock, and by the time my “bed” was taken off the rails, all my stuff and I were soaked. I then set up next to the engine in a dry spot, without wind, but it was still a very uncomfortable night, which only got better, as by 5:30am the engine was fired up and the heat of it started to dry me and my equipment. Lucky for me, I wore my earplugs against eventual snoring from Chris and hence managed to not become deaf by the engine noise. (We had times before, when Chris’ snoring actually could have deafened me as well, but that’s another story ;-) ). Chris and Anike, on the other side, had no earplugs, and after Chris snatched my spare ones, only she partially turned deaf.

The next day I didn’t get out of my hammock before lunch, as I was still cold and I finally enjoyed not having to get up for anything. So around 1pm I felt like I needed to move and was just in time for another delicious meal by Franco. The morning apparently was grey and rainy and sun only came out during the late afternoon, so in the meantime I read a bit and Chris and I taught one of the captains of the boat how to Kniffel. J

This evening I also helped Franco to catch some fish from the back of the boat and after a nice night with everyone on the reeling, we returned to our hammocks for a last night on the boat.

This night passed without any incidences and although it didn’t rain that night, I preferred my cosy place next to the engine. Unfortunately, I lost one of my earplugs that night and when the engine roared up the next morning, it was deafening. It took my left ear about 7-8hrs to recover from that noise and to regain full hearing again.

Around noon our ride was already over and we reached Manzán, a little town just around the bend from Iquitos. There the seven of us grabbed a Tuk Tuk to cross the island to the other side and there boarded a speed boat which would bring us to the big city. Upon arrival it was loud, noisy and stank like rotting animals. No wonder, we arrived at the production market where indigenas from all around present their hunted game right under the burning midday sun. We walked a few blocks to the plaza de armas from where we thought we could arrange either a tour through the jungle or a boat to the next stop along the river, Yurimaguas. Just before we got the plaza, we were harassed by about 5 guys that shoved their “official tour guide” signs in our faces and wanted to convince us to jump into the next boat with them for a jungle trip, at about 100$ per day, per person. We held them off for a bit to get our own interests set first and then talk to the guys.

In the end, we said that we don’t like the city and wanted to leave as soon as possible. So we grabbed one of them, told them we need to change money and a boat leaving for Yuri. Said, done. The first part was easily done, as his three cousins awaited us around the corner with Peruvian dough; the second part with the boat, not so much. We checked three harbours and everybody told us that the next boat would leave the next day. Hence, we too went to the hostel where the other guys were and settled for a night in Iquitos. That night there was a soccer match on, Peru versus Chile, and I have to say, they really are shit at it. Chile bust their nuts with an easy 3:0 and could have scored another 3 goals more, with a bit more concentration. But with this we went to bed and hoped to really get on the boat to Yuri, as this town just wasn’t the right place for us.