¡TravelSickness!

Typical Day on Board

Since Iquiotos is the largest city in the world, which is not connected by any road, anyone, who wants to travel from Pucallpa to Iquitos, has two ways: you can either fly or take the boat. We opted for the four-day cruise. This, one imagines will be quite an adventure, and yes, even a little romantic... at least before. One has in mind a boat, like the idyllic steam ships from the 19. Century, traveling up and down the Mississippi River. One imagines hammocks hung lazily on deck, swinging back and forth in the breeze, while he gazes on the wild forest to the left and right gliding along the river. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different, and looking back actually leaves a shudder for a moment.

Plaza de Armas at Night

Coming from the quiet, idyllic Lake Titicaca, we were not as prepared for Arequipa (Peru's second largest city) and the city hit us like a slap in the face. The gray smog clouds, which are so thick during the day, that it is hard to even see the outlines of the nearby volcano El Misti, are visible from far away: Coming from the mountains by bus, exhaust blew in through the open windows, and the air strongly reminded us of the pollution of Lima. When we were looking in the evening for something to eat, we were overwhelmed by the masses of people everywhere. We discovered, that one must re-learn, how to move through crowded streets, in order not to crash with a passerby every few seconds .

Isla del Sol

Lake Titicaca is like the sea and its islands are strongly reminiscent of Mediterranean landscapes. The lake seems to be endless and to extend further and further into the distance like the sea. Its water is deep blue on sunny days and sometimes even on its beaches clear turquoise. The fact that we decided to stay in this atmospheric and stunningly beautiful landscape on the islands of Lake Titicaca was of course inevitable!

Panorama from Pisac Ruins

The area east of Cusco is called the Sacred Valley, because there are many ancient Inca ruins. We had just come back from Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu, on our way back to Cusco, and we almost passed the Sacred Valley but it seemed it would have been stupid, not to look. Although I was a bit tired of all the Inca ruins, which we had already visited, including Machu Picchu, which is of course difficult to beat, However, from the beginning of the travels I had wanted to see the Sacred Valley. So, we ignored our fatigue and the desire to recover at Casa de Mama a little longer and explored this famous area.

Jason at Pisac Market

After we were already two and a half weeks in Cusco and never had time on the weekends to get out of Cusco to see something of the surroundings, we finally made it last Sunday to Pisac. Pisac is located in the “Sacred Valley”, as the surrounding area is referred to around Cusco, because so many Inca ruins are found here. And on every Sunday there is the spectacle of a huge handicraft market in Pisac, attracting both tourists, and locals alike. One can really get lost in this market. The entire marketplace of Pisac and all the little streets around are studded with stalls, selling all imaginable kind of handicraft products of Peru: Scarves and sweaters made of alpaca wool, colorful caps and sleeves, Jewellery, ornate carved gourds, Ponchos, Masks and much more.

Inconspicuous Entrance from the Street

A small room in the sky. The entire upper half of the walls is a facade of windows. We are above the whole city and have breathtaking views over the old town. At night we can see from the bed the glittering city below. All the little houses and streets, winding up the dark mountains, lit up in orange light. And in the morning we wake early with the sun. It's always summer in our little room in the sky, because the whole day the sun shines in. It keeps the room warm, so with this stored heat of the day it is a bit easier, to get by on still very cold Andean nights. A ceiling made of bamboo and elaborate decorations from plants brighten up the little room.

Baseball is one of the sports, that is typically American. (In addition to football, of course),. However, I always found football terribly stupid and dumb: A bunch of great guys, they clash against each other in their armor, making funny noises. Baseball, meanwhile, had at least raised the level of my fascination, the one sport in general that can be interesting. Sport was simply never my thing to begin with. But for some reason I always found far more aesthetic Baseball than Football. As matter of neccessity, I had to bring Jason as a true American on my true-America trip to a baseball game. The French were of course, totally exited to see it, however, every American, we told that we would finally see as Europeans our first baseball game, just shook thier head sympathetically. But this was probably because, that it is a game of the Zephyrs (Baseball team from New Orleans) ,, than it really was aimed against baseball in general.

I knew from Valerian in Leipzig, that he would stay at the same time with us for a week in New Orleans. His girlfriend had completed an internship in Canada, which was now over, so the two took a little trip through the states. Of course New Orleans was one for them as French (if we even want to talk in clichés) high on the list.

Since the two only had a French mobile phone, I stood there with my German mobile phone, the deposit amount is slowly but surely coming to an end, and Jason of course has absolutely no mobile phone, raised the agreement one day, a meeting place and time as schwiriger out, than it really should be the case. Finally, we have then done after much back and forth but still the brilliant performance to take the two in New Orleans.