The magic of some places - Cusco, Inca-Trail, Machu Picchu

Hola mis amigos!
To begin with something strange but true: In this part of my trip it was the first time that i liked the places itself much more than all the people around me or living there... I felt the magic of the area, but the culture of many people living there seemed to be destroyed by tourism and its followers. For example, almost everyone wanted money: For a photo of his house, for using the toilet, for entering nature in a public area...
Arriving in Cusco the Dutch guy and I shared a taxi with a french couple. Another guy entered the trunk as a passenger. I watched him, just in case he would steal something. He didn't. But he and the taxi driver may have had a deal, because first we drove to a hostel where this guy worked! How pushy is that!!! That's what I didn't like about people there...
Of course I didn't stay in this hostel. We choose another one close by but more expensive. But as it was off-season I could bargain a quite good price for myself, as usually I always was alone in a room for more people.
Cusco itself is a beautiful city! Former capital of the inca imperial, with nice buildings of the Spanish conquerors later. (2 photos)
I also did a free guided walking tour there and learned some more about the history and the art of making and drinking a good Pisco :)
Also I ate good and cheap at the market, like the locals do. The tourists restaurants charge you 6 times the price for the same portion of food and it is not even more tasty. Just appeared strange what things they really sell there on the market (photo).
The other day i wanted to leave this over-touristical place. I asked for the most untouristical ruins in the area. So I went to Pumamarca, outside of the city. I only saw locals, farmers and a hand full of archeologists working there. And nobody wanted money, i only spent 1,40 soles for the local bus. Well, there was not much to see but nice nature and a bit old walls. But it felt good. And as I crossed a river in a valley by foot and was walking through the bushes I was sure, that never before a european foot has walked this place... (1 photo)
Back in Cusco I went to some travel agencies for finding the cheapest way to walk the historical Inca trail in 4 daysto reach Machu Picchu. I wanted to walk this trail because some people told my hiw amazing it is. Problem: because of the regulations it is really expensive, you can't walk alone (have to join a tour). In the agencies I tried to get hired as a translator (with 5 spoken languages should be possible) or porter (for carrying the stuff of other tourists). But also for this you need to be registered... so I paid. Incredible 330 €. Even though the lady in the agency seemed nice, I got wrong informations to my directly asked questions...
It is always depending on what you want to do, but I would not do this trail a second time, because it is just too expensive. There are other nice trails for less costs.
Nevertheless the Inca trail was really nice. We saw some other ruins as well (2 photos). The first day it was just strange to see the village people selling things to travelers in their small shops (1photo).
Gecampt haben wir die erste Nacht im Hof einer Familie in einem kleinen Dorf. (Photo eines Hof-Teils)
The thing incredible good was the food! Our cook made really delicious things for us (photo) although it was not always enough for my big hunger...
After the oficial part of our first day of hiking I went up alone a nearby mountain. On the way up i found 2 small beautiful cemeteries. And on my way back down a farmer asked me if I couldn't help him getting his horses down to the valley - of course I could help :) (photo).
Everybody already recognized the first day that I walked pretty fast. Luckily I didn't have any problems with the altitude. Just had to walk more slowly than usual. But the second day I kind of broke some nowhere-written records. It was going straight up and steep down again. I walked this day on my own in my fast pace in 3,5 hours with a break of 45 minutes for washing and drying my sweaty shirt. Usually people need 7 hours in average. I was called Miguel 'Speedy Gonzales', the fastest tourist on the trail... this is also why I bonded more with our porters. Because mostly I arrived early with them at the camp and helped building up the tents or just talked to them... (picture of the porters).
At the morning of the 4th day (after getting up at 3:30 and walking for almost 1,5 hours we all were at the sun gate and saw a first dusty glimps of Machu Picchu (3 pictures).
As i did not wanted to go with the crowds I decided to hike up Machu Picchu mountain first. At the entrance I was told that I should have bought a ticket before in the internet. Well i was told i could buy it there... The nice guy at the entrance told me, we could solve this problem 'in between us'. 25 Soles later (the actual entrance money - which never reached the oficial money box) I was the first and only one on my way up. (2 pictures). Up there I had to dry my clothes (2 pictures). I was the only one up there for about 2 hours. So I had enough time for myself, enjoying the beauty of God's nature in silence. It was very cloudy and as I was above the clouds I only saw Maccu Picchu for some seconds through the clouds (picture with Fred). And there were also some Colibris around.
Back down I entered the M.P. area. Amd the Lamas there really liked me (photo). I joined a random tour with their guide and learned something about the inca and their lifestyle. At 2 or 3 already most of the tourists left and I could enjoy the beauty and magic of this place more by myself. (4 pictures)
After a long day I walked down to the village, took the train and then the bus back to Cusco. Tired I arrived and fell into my bed. The next day (and night) I traveled to my final destination of these 5 month: Lima...
I will tell you more about that in my next post... for now I have to sleep.
If I don't write it in time or you don't read it:
FELIZ NAVIDAD! Para todos! Que la mensaje del amor viene a todos sus corazones...
До встречи мой друзей!

How 3 planned days in Bolivia became 4 crazy ones

Buenos dias. Que tal amigos?
I am in Bolivia since 4 days. Even though i actually just wanted to cross it this travel for getting to lake Titicaca. We will get there...
So coming from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile i crossed the border (photo of this incredible small check point) in a jeep and we drove more than half a day through the bolivian highlands. (5 pictures of nature,  the regular 'road' and a small village in the way). We were always 3500m above the sea level,  maximum 5000m. I had a bit headache from the altitude but it was not too bad. :) we saw a lot of lamas and some flamingos as well. One time there was a sandstorm which means we couldn't see anything of the road, our driver knew the direction and after half an hour we were out of it.
Arriving in Uyuni i saw my first bolivian city. A bit dirty and ugly, although people were also nice there (photo of a market street).
Then i took the night bus to La Paz (city of the president, not the capital!). It was the worst bus ride ever! The buses are not that comfortable like in Chile or Argentina. And the 'main' road... there was no asphalt for 10 hours. Only bumpy earth. I literally jumped in my seat almost every 5 minutes, up to 40cm!!! And there were no security belts for holding you down. Well, just imagine how my backside looked like and how much i slept...

La Paz
Bolivia seems to be completely different from Argentina and Chile. Not much to see of being a bit like the western countries.
All the people here are really brown. The older women really wear this traditional clothes and the typical heat.
There is a strange mix of the original indigenous and catholic christian religion.
It is really cheap! Taxi ride for 1,60€. Nahrhafte Gemüsesuppe für 40 Cent. 90 Cent für ein komplettes Essen mit Suppe und Getränk. If you know where to eat and avoid the touristic areas :)
La paz just looked pretty sad, not completely ugly but just un poquito triste sin colores.
I went with 2 norwegian girls from the bus to the free city tour. We saw a lot. 4 pictures show the hills of the city, the presidents palace, the main church and dead lama babies at the witches market.
After the tour i got the opportunity to do sky walking for only 15 € from the roof of a hotel. I tried to get the Christmas feeling =) 4 pictures
Typical are also small street kiosks where you can buy something like sandwich with meat, egg and french fries. Also with vegetables for breakfast. Tasty and cheap (2 photos)

The next day i went to Copacabana at lake titicaca (3800m above sea level). On the way there was a strange ferry for the bus (photo).
The city itself was not too interesting, i went up a hill and to the nice church (2 photos).
Once again i was lucky getting a hostel dubble  room for me alone for about 3,30 € per night.
Beim Abendessen im nichttouristischen Restaurant (Foto für besagte 90 cent) hat mich eine Schulklasse samt Lehrern auf der Abschlussfahrt angelacht (Foto).
Ich habe auch das Coca-Blätter-Kauen gegen Höhenkrankheit probiert. Es ist bitter und typisch für hier, hat für mich aber glaube ich keinen Unterschied gemacht.
Mit einem Boot ging es in 2 Stunden zur Isla del sol auf der ich einen halben Tag verbracht habe. Viele sprachen vorher davon, wie magisch der Ort sei, ich habe mich abgesehen vom Genuss der Natur nur über die Touri-Masche geärgert. Ein Führer meinte man könne nicht allein gehen, und überhaupt nur diesen Weg. Und am Ende musste man ihn natürlich extra bezahlen. Das klingt nicht nach mir... ich bin allein los, habe sicher mehr gesehen, musste aber dennoch Wegezoll bezahlen. Nur um einen Weg zu laufen... Da sind die Bolivianer (und scheinbar auch Peruaner) deutlich unehrlicher als Argentinier und Chilenen. Oft werden einem horrend übertriebene Preise angeboten oder schlichtweg Folgekosten verschwiegen.
Auch auf der Straße fand ich Leute in den anderen Ländern etwas netter.
Also Tipp: Lasst Copacabana und isla del sol ruhig aus und besucht besser die Stadt Puno in Peru am Titicaca, dort in der Nähe befinden sich auch die schwimmenden Inseln der Uru-Ureinwohner.

Und nun wollte ich Copacabana und damit Bolivien in Richtung Peru verlassen. Aber es wurde nach der Grenze in Peru gestreikt! Und zwar mit Straßenblockaden und Steinewerfen. As a tourist you don't want to get into that. And also all the buses didn't work anymore. So as the strike would last at least for 2 or 3 days i seemed to be stucked in Copacabana. But I am an organizer. We made the plan to hire an entire big speed boat the next morning to cross Titicaca to get to the peruvian side.
Of course the next morning it came different. There came not enough people to hire the expensive speed boat. A travel agency offered me and a dutch guy (Maarten from Amsterdam) another boat option. So we took first the taxi to the border, got our passports done there. But because of the rainy weather there were no boats at the peruvian side. We took another taxi to get closer to the strike area. We tried to negotiate a good price with our taxi driver to drive us to Puno without getting into the strike. He tried to fool us several times with the price, with the route and so on. In the end we had to go for the good old good-cop-bad-cop game. I was the bad cop and yelled at him until he was shy enough to drive the way we wanted... it was a long ride through smallest peruvian villages. Once we had to hide our faces when we got into another strike area and drove through the stone-covered street with a few angry farmers with fire. But all went well. We arrived in Puno, got rid of this annoying for more money begging taxi driver (he already made his best day of the year with us), and took a 8 hours bus to Cusco - inca city :)
Just one more thing to mention. The bus is always entered for some minutes by people trying to sell food or things. This time it was an annoying guy trying to sell his books by talking about it... for an hour almost. Later 2 women entered and selled food, BUT HOW!!! They basically had a big bag with some potatoes and a whole lamb inside (Picture). With a small axe they chopped the lamb right in front of us apart and sold the meat with some potatoes to hungry passengers. Bolivia, Peru - you are different and sometimes crazy.
More stories about Cusco and Peru later :)

Buenas noches y buena suerte mis amigos!
Que os vayan bien!
Miguel, el viajero  :P