Sao Paulo

I thought airplanes almost landing on the rooftops only happens in Lisbon. Until we landed in Sao Paulo. The city is huge, just to get from the airport to the city center can take 1.5 hours or more.

During our short stay we tried the sweet pizzas, visited the local market, been to a samba school, attended a free concert of Norah Jones, seen a football match, been on a theatrical concert, seen cracolandia and the museum of Portuguese language.

The samba school of VaiVai was great: they literally closed down an entire street, where dozens of girls were shaking their butt to the rhythms provided by the guys. They were practicing for the upcoming carnival. We made a couple of photos with them, most of them looked better from the distance, the blondie next to me had the worst smelling breath ever, so we quickly ended the conversation.

Later on we went to some samba dance club, with good friends, lot of Xiboquinha (local drink with cachaca, only consumed by the friends of Simone) and plenty of butt shaking:)

Cracolandia is the saddest and ugliest part of the city. It lays just one block from a big train station and the museum of Portuguese language. Dozens of homeless and drugged people hang around here all day long, doing nothing, waiting for occasional free food from some charity organizations. For obvious reasons we have no photo of this area, here is one from pessoaldofaroeste.blogspot.com.

Just for the city, Sao Paulo is definitely not a place you must visit. The people we met there were great though and huge thanks to Verica, Simone and Tercilio who not only hosted us, but also showed us the real Sao Paulo. Obrigado queridas!:)

Ica: home of the pisco and sandboarding

So after Cuzco we had a few days to spend in Lima and around. We decided to take a 4 hour bus ride to the south to land in the city of Ica. We managed to score a last minute couch (thanks Ricardo) in a little room where the walls were all decorated by previous couchsurfers, so we left our mark too:)

Next day we headed for Huacca China, which is famous as being a little oasis in the middle of a desert, where one can do sandbuggy ride and sandboarding combined. And so did we:)

To cool off, we took a dip in the pool of one of the many hostels of the oasis, then headed for some pisco distillery visit. A funny Dutch guy was trying to sell us the visit at inflated prices, but as soon as we sat in a taxi by ourselves, the prices got 50% cheaper:)

Careful! Pisco is strong!:)

Cuzco: capital of the Incas

Cuzco (also spelled as Cusco, Qusqu or Qosqo) is the entry point for millions of tourists per year to discover the ruins of Machu Picchu. As such, the city center is pretty much Gringolandia: a number of bars, restaurants, hotels, massage parlors, jewellery shops and discotecas cater for the wealthy Americans or western Europeans. The shops are so tuned to the visitors of the ruins, that you can even get a polar filter for your camera in almost every second shop. Funnily enough, in Lima a polar filter is impossible to find, people haven't even heard of it!

Despite the mass number of tourists, Cuzco managed to keep a lot of its charm. When the Spanish conquistadors entered the city, they did a good job in destroying all the rich heritage of the Incas, whenever they could not, they were erecting buildings on top of it. Thus there are a number of buildings in the city which are built on the original Inca walls: stones fit so close together that not even a sheet of paper can pass through between them. A skill of masonry that is unfortunately never been learnt by the Spanish, thus lost forever.

Just a little bit outside the city center, near the San Pedro station one can also face the real Cuzco, as the locals experience it: dirty but vivid market life, people in traditional dresses offering sweets, fruits, or different kind of meat (strictly without refrigeration accompanied by happy flies), some shops specialized in selling cuy (guinee pig, a local delicacy), others are offering a daily menu for as little as 2 soles (around 50 eurocents).
Most other restaurants in the city are also offering 3-course menus starting from 8 soles (2 euros). Pollo a la plancha and lomo saltado is the “default” in every menu, and our all time favorite lucuma and maracuya juices are also easy to find.

Apart from the Inca walls in the city, there are other things to see nearby. On the hill above, lay the ruins of Sacsayhuaman with its gigantic stone walls, the purpose of which we know little.

Walking around in Cuzco one can also observe a number of places with Hebrew sings. Since then we have learnt that South America is full of travellers from Israel. After their military service they all fly out and apparently this continent is attracting them, a lot. At the moment of writing this post, I am sitting in a hostel in Ushuaia, and there are around 15 people around me talking in Hebrew. A phenomenon one have to get used to.

After all not only we visited Machu Picchu from here, but we also did some volunteering work in Cuzco. We have written earlier about this experience. Even though finally we left one day later than we planned (thanks to the great service of StarPeru), we felt like it is a place we could have stayed more. Thumbs up for Cuzco.

 

Music: Flor de Huaraz y Gringo Karl

This is so bad/funny that I just couldn’t help putting it on the blog:) This is 10 times worse than Speak the Hungarian rapper:)

Lima: culinary heaven

Our first impression of Lima was very good. Probably because we arrived at night:) The streets looked cleaner, the roads better, the air less polluted than in Bogota or Santa Marta, and hell yeah, they have street names, not just numbers! And what the heck, the street names are indicated on the corners of the streets? Amazing!:)

The very first night we got introduced to Cusquena and pisco sour, which was a very pleasant encounter after the tasteless beers of Colombia. The following days we got all through the local delicacies. Ceviche has nothing to do with the Colombian ceviche. It has many forms, but the most traditional one is slices of raw fish with onion and lemon and some kind of spicy sauce. Lomo saltado is a traditional beef dish, served all around Peru. Aji de gallina is chicken with some delicious sauce. Lucuma is a fruit only present in Peru and the juice and ice cream made of it are fantastic. Chicha morada is the traditional drink of the Inkas, it is made of dark corn and it is not alcoholic as one would expect. Inca kola is the local favorite of all ages. It is so popular that when Coca Cola was unable to compete with it, it decided to buy into the company instead. Other dishes include causa, sopa criolla, sopa de zapallo, etc. All pleasant dishes, for really low prices. The number of Chinese immigrants also brought and developed their own dishes, that’s what is called “chifa” all around Peru. The local burger chain is called Bembo’s. The locals love it but it is not that great.

The first few days we visited a number of pre-inka ruins and learnt that Lima is not only Miraflores and Barranco. We saw a number of shantytowns and apparent poverty in contrast of some rich neighborhoods.

The driving in Lima and in whole Peru is crazier than that we experienced in Colombia. Any driver is ready to sound his horn at any time. In fact, sounding your horn is a warning, meaning “I am coming, don’t even dare to cut in front of me”. The lanes painted on the pavement are purely guidelines, most of the time the locals judge there is space enough for 3 cars on a two-lane street. In peak traffic times getting from point A to point B in the city can be tricky and painfully long. I will never forget all the tricks my taxi driver was applying in order to get me to my destination: he had a normal horn in the center of the steering wheel, plus an additional one on top of the gear shift. Nevertheless he must have been realized at some point that in the noise of a dozen or more horns, he needs something unique, so around his neck he was wearing a kind of whistle that the local police is using, and he was not hesitating to set his lungs free, while leaning out the window with almost full body. In the midst of all this sound cavalcade and anxiety, the relaxing tunes of Chopin’s Waltz in A minor piano play was gently oozing from the radio.
The bus system is similar to that of Colombia, except that the buses are slightly better. The driving habits of the bus drivers are not different from that of the car drivers though. In the race to pick up passengers first, they can easily crash into one another.

The hospitality of Peruvian people is amazing, we have met great people in Lima, Cuzco and Ica. Some funny facts that we observed or found out later about the people:

• In Peru the median age of the population is 26 years
• Nearly half of the population is English teacher or at some point of his/her career has been an English teacher. The other half is working in tourism….some of them are also English teachers though:)
• In Peru all girls are single:)

The complete Machu Picchu guide

Going to Machu Picchu begins with going to Cuzco, the former capital of the Incas. Unless coming from Bolivia, most likely you will start off from Lima, from where either you can take a 22 hours long bus ride through the mountains, or you can opt for a one hour flight. Star Peru, Peruvian Airlines, TACA and LAN are operating many flights between Lima and Cuzco. The price for a one way ticket can range from 100 up to 400 USD, therefore it is recommended to book early. LAN and TACA are normally the expensive ones, Star Peru and Peruvian are cheaper. We had a lot of problems with Star Peru (our flight was cancelled without any notice), so I don’t recommend them. Peruvian residents have huge discounts on the flights, but it is required that you show a Peruvian ID during check-in, otherwise not only you pay the normal price, but you also pay a penalty.

Once in Cuzco, stay there for a couple of days, not only to get used to the height of 3400 meters, but it is also a great city with many Inca mementos and modern-day nightlife mixed with gringos and locals. In every corner of Cuzco they will try to sell you Machu Picchu tours. Most of them will tell you lies like you are obliged to take a guide to the ruins, which is not true. Ignore them.

To get to the ruins of Machu Picchu you have basically 3 options:

1. take the train to Aguas Calientes
2. take the multi-day (at least 4 days) guided trek on the “Inka trail” directly to the ruins
3. take a combination of collectivo buses plus some additional 4 hours trekking to Aguas Calientes

Options 1 and 2 are the most common and will cost you some money, option 3 can be painfully long and depending on your Spanish skills you might end up in the middle of nowhere:) Note: there are no roads to Aguas Calientes, only trains or walking trails can take you there!
If you decide to take the train as we did, it is advised to buy your train tickets at least a few days before your departure, but in peak season better to do it a week before. You can buy them online, or in the offices in Cuzco. Perurail used to be in monopoly operating the trains and on many websites about Machu Picchu, you will read that you have no other option. However, times are changing and now there is at least one other company, Incarail at your service. Both companies are operating various classes of trains, depending on the class and availability it will cost you something between 40 and 400 USD one way. Take the cheapest one, as it has all the comfort you will need.
Another tricky thing is that the trains do not depart from Cuzco. The funny fact is that there is a train station in Cuzco and as far as I know, some trains do go to Aguas Calientes, but tourists are not allowed to take these trains. So it comes to be that you will have to take the train from Poroy, which is around 20 minutes away by taxi from Cuzco, or from Ollantaytambo, which is a 1.5 hour bus ride. Poroy is closer, but fewer trains depart or arrive here. The train ride from Poroy to Aguas Calientes will take around 4 hours, and the train-junkies will enjoy the switch-backs the train makes. It basically means that the train descends zig-zagging on the steep hillside, while going backwards in every zag. At the first such event 90% of the tourists jump up to find out why do we go back to Poroy:)

Before you get your train tickets, it is important to decide, if you are going to climb up to Wayna Picchu (also spelled as Huayna Picchu), or not. Wayna Picchu, is the iconic peak that is visible on most photos taken of Machu Picchu. Not only it offers great views of Machu Picchu itself, but it also has many Inca ruins. If you decide to climb it, you will need to stay at least one day in the city of Aguas Calientes, at the foot of Machu Picchu. Climbing up to it and returning to Cuzco in the same day is something close to impossible.

If you decide to stay in Aguas Calientes, upon arrival take a rest, walk around the city, try the local restaurants or the “Inca massage”, or dip yourself in the waters of the hot springs that the city got its name after. The pools of the spring are not so impressive nor clean, but it’s a good place to mix with the locals. When we were in the pools, some 14-year-old Peruvian girls were coquetting with us speaking quite good English already:)
Don’t forget to buy your bus tickets and Machu Picchu entrance tickets either. The latter is more important as you can NOT buy it at the entrance of the site, you have to buy it in Aguas Calientes or Cuzco or Lima. The bus ticket to the ruins costs around 7 USD one way, the entrance fee is around 45 USD or 22 USD for students with an original looking student card.
If all settled, go for an early sleep as next day you will wake up around 4 am:)

The hostels of Aguas Calientes are probably one of the only places in the world, where they serve breakfast starting from 4am. Fill up your stomach and also pack water, sandwiches and energy bars with you for the whole day as there is no food inside Machu Picchu. Officially food is not allowed inside, but if it is hidden in your backpack, you are good to go. Make your walk to the bus terminal around 4:30. By this time you will have at least 50 people waiting in line for the first bus that departs at 5:30(!). Wait in line half-sleeping until the first bus is ready to go. After the first one, buses depart every 10 minutes. The bus ride is around 20 minutes and offers spectacular views as you arrive to the entrance of the ruins. Depending on the season there can be already hundreds of people waiting for the 6am opening, some of them arrived trekking instead of taking the first buses.

Now the question is, why do you have to wake up so early to see the ruins? The thing is, for Machu Picchu you don’t. But to climb up to Wayna Picchu, you do. Every day only 400 people are allowed to climb up: 200 at 7am, and another 200 at 10am. While queuing for the entrance a guy will come around and ask if you want to climb up to Wayna. If you do, you get a stamp on your ticket. Without the stamp, you will be refused to climb at the beginning of the trail.
To our biggest surprise, even though there were around 200 people in front of us we managed to get a stamp for the 7am climb with a sequence number of 40. This means that most of the people there got up so early not because of the limit of Wayna Pichhu, but probably because they wanted to see the ruins and make photos without the flood of tourists who appear later.

Once inside the gates, take your time to look around a bit, you can comfortably arrive to the backside of the ruins, where the trail starts, you don’t have to be there 7am sharp. When entering the Wayna Picchu trail, they will register your name and other data. If you took the 7am trek, you will arrive back to this checkpoint around 10am, when you sign off. In case you don’t come back, they will know who to mourn:) Seriously, the steps are steep and slippery.

After 10am you will have plenty of time to discover the rest of the ruins. Stand next to a guide to hear the creative mumo-jumbo about the ruins. Most of it is imaginative guessing:)

Once done, take the bus down, or if you still have energy you can take a trail (lasts around 50 minutes on the way down), to Aguas Calientes and take your train back to Poroy or Ollantaytambo. If your train departs later, most hostels will allow you to take a shower and a nap in their common area. If your train is the last one that day, don’t worry, you will still find connecting collectivos in Ollantaytambo.

Done. You did it!:)