07/06/09
Bus from Cajamarca to Chiclayo.
Bus from Chiclayo to Piura.
Bus from Piura to Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Bus from Guayaquil to Tulcan.
Taxi from Tulcan to the border.
Taxi from the border to Ipiales, Colombia.
Bus from Ipiales to Popayan.
And all this in just 50 hours!
I'M HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!!!
For a few more details of the trip so far, I added up a few elements of the route since Buenos Aires.
I left Buenos Aires, Argentina on the 19th of may in the morning and arrived in Popayan, Colombia on the 6th of june at night.
This is 20 days and 19 nights.
Which means, approximately 480 hours.
The distance from Buenos Aires to Popayan is roughly (very roughly) 6000 kilometers.
Out of those 19 nights, we spent 6 sleeping inside some bus.
Of the 480 hours that the trip lasted, we spent 185 inside some sort of public transport (bus, train, car or boat).
Yes, I think we'll just take it down a notch now...........
M.
05/06/09
I came for one thing and left with another from beautiful Cajamarca. I came to fulfill a promise I had made to myself a number of years ago and in the end, I am leaving here not only having succeeded to do what I came for, but also having given a new promise to myself and to others that I will come back.
30 hours were enough not only to be dazzled by the character and the genuineness of this city (thanks to the lack of tourists), but also to appreciate the open heart, the generosity and the smiles of the local people.
Giancarlo was our official couchsurfing host who kept driving us from and to everywhere.
Sergio opened up his house for us and made us feel more comfortable than in any other part of this journey.
Jose would make sure with every opportunity that we'd be well fed and "watered"; beer by the litre, tequeños on the spot, the best ceviche in town, pisco, more beer, even an aubergine desert (yes, aubergine! Delicious!!) made by his wife!
ceviche - Latin america's sushi. Raw fish, mied with lemon and onions
Thanks to these guys, we spent two days like kings and got to know Cajamarca much more than I was expecting. Honestly, I cannot thank them enough.
Shortly we will be boarding the bus to leave from here. A huge route awaits us on this final leg of the distance to be covered: Cajamarca, Peru - Popayan, Colombia without any stops! Good luck to us...
M.
We arrived at Cusco after a ride full of weird events. Just the guy that got on the bus, stood in the middle of the corridor and before beginning his rythm shouted: "Ladies and gentlemen... I shall sing!" to remember, is more than enough!
So, Cusco it is and we're here only for one thing: Machu Picchu.
Words are not necessary. The photos say it all.
Aguas Calientes. The village at the bottom of the mountain.
We were there from 6am in order to get out priority number to enter Huayna Picchu, the tall peak in the middle, onto which they only allow 400 visitors per day.
Now for that one, what can I say? About the long and hard hike to the top?
About the incredible altitude which we reached?
Just look where the river is and Machu Picchu on the left in relation to my feet!
About the even harder hike downwards and around the mountain to find the infamous big cavern?
Or maybe about the fact that after going up and down endless steps and losing tons of sweat, we asked and were told that through this whole route that we followed, out feet experienced about 13.000 steps?!?!?!
Yes. 13.000!
When we got back to our hotel well in the afternoon, we went straight to sleep, only to wake up the next morning and head back to the center of Cusco. The long ride to Cajamarca is about to begin...
M.
Once again an early morning wake-up and off we go to form waves on lake Titicaca. 20-odd people on the boat, along with our guide Juan Carlos, we set off towards the islands of the lake.
The surface of the water within the port area has a strong green color, which although looks interesting when the boat tears through it and leaves a blue track behind it, it still is not very inspiring to touch at all.
Within a couple of hours we had made our two first stops at two of the Uros islands. These are floating islands, artificially made out of dirt from the bottom of the lake and bamboo, onto which live native Quechua families. Personally... not impressed. To me all it seemed like was a tourist trap which although possibly once genuine and fascinating, now it is just being taken advantage by the big boys of local tourism and it seems completely fake. I couldn't stop getting the feeling that to those families (which I doubt they were actually native and having lived all their lives on those villages) saw us like walking dollars. They didn't care about our interest to see their life, the same way that most tourist don't really care about their life. All they go there for is to take a photo of the brave native man that lives in the middle of the lake and the cute little girl and rolls on the bamboo sticks and licks the crap of them. I just wanted to get out of there...
We sailed a few more hours and reached Amantani, one of the biggest villages of the lake and where we would spend the night. Here's another tourist trap. Local women took us all and offered us a room to sleep in and also a plate of food for dinner and breakfast. Later on in the night they even put up a show for us. Dressed us up in local costumes and we all gathered in their community centre (equiped with a mini-market of course) to dance their local dances. Yes, let's take the tourists and show them what our life is like. Please... As if this is how they live. You could see it on their faces that they were not awfully excited to have us there and they were certainly not in the mood to be jumping around and dancing with a bunch of people that don't even know why they are doing what they're doing. This is what the travel agent put on our plates and we are simply eating it. Oh, how original. I bet no one has ever done this before...........
Touristy part aside, this is a very interesting island. Peace and quiet all around, old people working hard, magnificent views of the lake, both from the shore as well as from high up at the Pachatata and Pachamama temples and no electricity! Too bad we're experiencing it through the tourist funfare...
The following morning we set off early to go to one more island before setting course back to Puno. Taquile was the name of it and once again,everyone waiting for the "wealthy" tourists to charge them two dollars for a snickers bar. Nothing impressive about it, especially as my earlier fears have by now been confirmed. Other than the fact that this lake is gigantic and is reaching the clouds, it has nothing more to show me compared to the greek islands that I've visited in the past.
So, having followed the most touristy path ever, we're back in Puno and planning to leave towards Cusco tomorrow. But nooooooo.... We'll just stick around another day, doing nothing, because I got food poisoning by the delicious meal that family is Amantani offered us. Lovely...
Yes. Lake Titicaca. Been there, done that, don't want a friggin t-shirt, stop trying to sell it to me!!!
M.
By the time we arrived in Puno until the following morning that we'd start the tour, we had a good few hours to spend and we spent it very wisely; we slept and we ate very well! :)
Apart from the hotel in which I bargained one hell of a price, we discovered two gems of the culinary category. First it was Sayary, a small, local-looking restaurant, outside the whole touristy hype with great prices, relaxed atmosphere, great food and HUGE portions! 
That was only the beginning though, because while looking for a good dosage of chocolate we found... COLORS (dramatic music here please)!! This was not Puno. This was not Peru. It was an oasis in the middle of the desert. It was a fluffy couch in the middle of a construction site. We could not believe this place.
To start with, it was classy. It wasn't run down and it wasn't cheesy. Design chairs and sofas, nicely decorated lighting, a semi-transparent staircase... And what started off as a joke, became reality. It had wireless internet! It was a place to relax for hours.
And then the menu comes. What it this?? What do you mean you provide a lamb dish with tzatziki?? Why am I seeing the word "saganaki" in a restaurant's menu in Peru? What are all these thai curry based creations?? Marquise de chocolate for desert???? My pills!!! Of course I asked the waitress about all this and it all made sense. The chef is Greek. A lady who left Greece at some point and moved here and apparently built the menu of this restaurant! Incredible! I really wanted to have a chat with her, but unfortunately she was in Lima at the time...
Oh well. I'll just... You know... Sit back and have another marquise de chocolate with my cappuccino! I'm just stocking up before tomorrow's tour, that's all!
M.
Bus from Uyuni to Oruro that offers the experience of being inside a baby rattle: 11 dollars
Bus from Oruro to La Paz that goes through every single possible stop: 2 dollars
Bus from La Paz to Copacabana (not the brasilian one. The bolivian one) that crosses the lake on its own personal boat: 4 dollars
Accomodation and food (trout of course. We're not next to the lake for nothing) at this beautiful but kinda indifferent village: 8 dollars
Bus (yes, yet another one) from Copacabana to Puno, the peruvian "capital" of lake Titicaca: 4 dollars
Gazing at the beautiful dark blue waters of the largest navigable lake of the world at high altitude: priceless!
Priceless my arse!!! Did I really go through all this for three days just to see the same images I would see on the greek islands? Ok, joking aside, I am a bit dissapointed. I don't know what I was expecting, but I wouldn't say I'm left speachless by what I've seen so far over here...
Tomorrow we are going on a 2-day tour on the lake and some of its islands. Let's see...
That's our bus sailing away...
...and us on a separate boat chasing after it.
Believe it or not, that's our shower. Hooray for health and safety!
M.
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