LAMBAYEQUE: good bye Ecuador, hello Perú

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It was a nice feeling when I crossed the border to Peru. After almost 5 months, 8 countries and 25.000 km I'm back to the starting country and getting close to the end of this trip. I was happy not only because of tons of good things learned and experienced, but also because the lack of bad experiences. Even the most optimist must agree there is always a chance that something happens, gets lost or similar, but I had nothing to regret and this made the nice feeling really complete. The border crossing was again a time consuming experience, especially because it was at 3am that we crossed Aguas Verdes in Tumbes, Peru.

PUNO: island hopping at 4.000 meters high

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I used a turist bus to go from Cuzco to Puno. The advantage of these buses is that they stop 3 or 4 times on the 400 km way for a guided visit to places like the Wiracocha temple and the Andahuaylillas church, plus a stop for lunch (buffet) on a nice location.

The drive itself was ok and the bus arrived ontime; what I missed completely was that Puno was celebrating "La Candelaria" and that my hotel reservation was not confirmed. It was Monday February 10th.

CUZCO: the world's navel

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After Arequipa and Colca I can say that the acclimatization phase is completed; the risk of sorocchi is now very low. But of course I will keep drinking the good Coca tea as long as I'm above 3.000 meters high.

The trip to Cuzco on Thursday was easy and fast. The flight was scheduled for boarding at 6:50am and passengers were requested to be at the airport 2 hours earlier. A bit disapointing was to find out that the airport only opens at 5am, so I had to wait 2min in the taxi (we were "late").

COLCA CANYON: where el Condor pasa (sometimes)

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The bus picked me from the hotel at around 8am, drove passed the airport and took the road towards Puno. Chivay, our today's destination is the main entrance point to the Colca Canyon.

The road crosses the Salinas and Aguada Blanca National Reserve, a protected area where the Vicuña population is now growing.
 

AREQUIPA: the white city

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After two weeks in Lima Gina left on Saturday and arrived home in Erding in the meantime. For me it was time to start moving south.

Sunday 2, early in the morning a taxi took me to the modern and well organized Cruz del Sur bus terminal in Av. Javier Prado. From there it took 7 hours to reach Nazca for a short stop on my way to Arequipa. My plan was to do 30min overflight of the Nazca lines, to have dinner, and to continue to Arequipa.

LIMA: Paragliding and historical downtown

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Our last week in Lima is going really fast. The weather has being nice and warm with some cool fog in the mornings, waming-up around noon to reach 28-29°C and stayed so until late at night. We found this perfect to combine some sighseeing with an afternoon beach-break and meeting other people for dinner.

Foggy Miraflores, sunny La Encantada

A fresh summer fog is not unusual for Lima, speciallz for the districts located directly towards the sea like Miraflores and Barranco. This is sometimes good as it keeps the day fresh , but were sun hungry and decided to go south looking for less fog.

Taxi driver ...

Taxi drivers can be really interesting to talk to, especially in countries like Peru where drivers have it usually as 2nd or 3rd job. Here, a taxi drive is not expensive (3EUR for a 30 minutes drive in my case) and is much faster than any other kind of public transportation. Many of the drivers, especially the most experienced ones, have an intensive life and an interesting past.

LIMA: the starting point

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Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in central coastal part of the country, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. With a population approaching 9 million Lima is the largest metropolitan area of Peru and the fifth largest city in the Americas.