Category Archives: Peru

In the land of the Inca

After some good days of work I finally managed to finish the complete route of our trip through Peru, this weekend. It’s online on my webpage since yesterday. Some more words and pictures (login needed) will follow soon(ish).

Back home …

We actually returned last Wednesday already, but since we left again for the weekend (another wedding party) I only slowly start to feel back home again …
For those that haven’t followed the blog in detail, here’s the very short sum-up of the tour: it was simply amazing and Heike and me became engaged! Yeps!

Lake Titicaca

After a day of driving from Cusco to Puno we started our boat trip on Lake Titicaca. Visiting the floating islands (made of reed) of the Uros people we continued to Amantani island. There we had a homestay at one of the families. I joined a game of football with some tourists and locals at about 4000m above sea level. Afterwards we hiked up to one of the sacret sites on 4200 m.a.s.l. We finished the day with a dinner wth our family and a party in traditional clothing. Tofday we continued our boat trip to Taquile island and finally went back to Puno.

Amazon Rainforest

We just returned to Cusco from our three days in the rainforest. We flew out to Puerto Maldonado and from there to a little boat upstream along the Rio Tambopata to the Cayman Lodge in the middle of nowhere. Four hours that already gave us a little impression of things to come. Caymans and other animals along the river banks. The first evening we had a little night walk through the jungle, seeing spiders (from small ones to a hand size tarantula), birds and other creatures of the night. Next day we started out for a longer jungle hike including a bit in a kanu on a lake. Besides thousands of different plants, we saw hundereds of birds, spiders, ants, monkeys and more. Back at the lodge we had great food once more and finished the day on the river after dusk to look for Caymans again. You can see the reflections of the red eyes in the dark. Really amazing the Amazon.

Inca Trail to Machu Picchu [Update]

We are back from a breathtaking (in all meanings of the word) four days of hiking through the Peruvian mountains. We are alive, became engaged and are off for the Amazon jungle …

[Update]
Alright some more details on the hike. We started out slowly on the first day from Ollantaytambo to the first camp site with only 400 meters elevation difference. In contrast to that we had to climb 1200 meters on the second day (from 3000 to 4210 m.a.s.l.). The Warmiwanusqua-Pass was the also the highest point on the hike. As usual the way down was the most difficult part for me (especially due to the high steps), Heike troubled a bit more with the way up. The third day was the longest in terms of distance, but was a piece of cake compared to the previous one. During the whole hike we passed by a couple of really amazing Inca ruins at stunning locations. The fauna and flora changed several times from cloud forests, to
bare rocks, snow covered mountains and normal forests. The lase day finally brought us to Machu Picchu. Simply amazing! Walking through the Sun Gate towards the site, while seeing the sun rising over the mountain tops.