Yesterday was definately one of the sadest days on my trip so far - I had to say goodbye to Alberto, Arequipa and our lovely routine of internet, coffee and Iberica chocolates. We have started into a very promising 2009 together and during the last 3 weeks shared many laughs, exoperiences, meals and also serious conversations. I usually prefer to travel alone to be more independend and meet the locals but Alberto turned out to be such a lovely, easy-going and understanding company that I really enjoyed spending time with him and now miss him a lot! I already had some coffee today - but even though it was much better than most of the coffees we had in Arequipa I couldn´t really enjoy it on my own...
So yesterday we shared some last coffees and the obligatory "last supper", which turned out to be very hectic because it was already 7:15pm when we ordered in our new favourite "La Boveda" at the arcades of Plaza de Armas and my ticket was for the bus at 8pm. From there we rushed back to the hostel, got my stuff (a lot - after shopping in Arequipa ;-)) and took a taxi to the bus terminal. I had postponed my trip to Cusco twice, had a whole day to prepare - but still we arrived to the terminal on the last minute. Alberto provided me with water and our favourite Iberica chocolate for the trip, we sad goodbye and agreed to keep in contact and meet somehow somewhere - but as soon as possible :-)
Alberto will stay in Arequipa for some more weeks to start his filmproject of the "Alphabet of Dreams". He already started working yesterday with the children from "Casa Verde". I am very curious how it will develop but have faith that he will do a wonderful job and the result will be very touching!
The trip to Cusco was not very delightful - my seat neighbour was a Chilean girl of about my age who made "Ugly Betty" look great. I tried to strike a conversation but with no success. Later on she fell asleep and started snoring and falling over to my side. I deeply regretted having chosen the more economical lower floor as my knee started hurting and the only way to stretch my legs was to sit-lie vertically on the regular seat (no "semi-cama" business class seats as upstairs!) and put my legs into the ail. At 5am we finally arrived to rainy Cusco and I took a cab to Hostal de los Niños, the hostel most recommended by the Lonely Planet. Even though its low season now the hostel was fully booked and I took of with all my bags into the rain to find another place to stay. I usually don´t like to book in advance but prefer to see the place before I make a commitment. I tried some other hostels around Plaza de Armas but either they were booked or way out of my budget. As the rain wouldn´t stop I took a taxi up to the Bohemian neighbourhood of San Blas and tried my luck there. The second hostel - Andes de San Blas - turned out to be a good choice. The official rate for a single room with private bathroom and breakfast included being 19USD I got the rpice down to 35 soles - around 11 USD. The rooms is cozy and smells of wood fire smoke. The owners, a lovely couple of around 60, are very welcoming and even though they saw my German passport stick to the idea of me being Brazilian ;-) Guess I still haven´t lost my Brazilian "sotaque" ;-)
After finally getting some real, horizontal sleep I took off to explore rainy Cusco. First I had a yummy lunch of quinua vegetable soap, avocado sandwhich and lots of mate de coca in one of the tiny but gorgeous restaurants in San Blas. Of course prices here are much higher than in Lima or Arequipa - but that didn´t come as a surprise. For a "postre" I went over to the Lonely Planet recommended bakery of "Buen Pastor". The proceeds from this bakery go to social projects and its a typical Lonely Planet-toting backpacker kind of place - but one of the nicer ones. The croissants are nice and the coffee won´t kill you - immediately. Unfortunately one hairy gringo with a flute tried to intonate "El Condor Pasa" for about 10min - with no audible advancement. I escaped to a close-by internet cafe - from the frying pan into the fire, as the music of choice here was a instrumental, heavy on the panflute version of Bruce Springsteens greatest hits. So back into the rain.
Cusco, the ancient Inca capital (1200s-1532) and "navel of the world", (the meaning of "Qosqo" in Quechua), definately has a lot to offer in terms of culture, history and archeology. When the Spaniash arrived in 1533 Francisco Pizarro reported to the Spanish king that "We can assure your majesty that (Cusco) is so beautiful and has such fine buildings that it would even be remarkable in Spain." After the Spanish conquest a kind of cultural and architectonical recycling took place: the Spanish build a new colonial city on the foundations of the old Inca city, replacing temples with churches and palaces with mansions for the conquerors. (Obliged to tradition, 500 years later the gringo invadors did the same - building a Mc Donalds on the foundations of the colonial buildings around Plaxa de Armas ;-)).
Nowadays Cusco is a universe in itself, a kind of "Peru light" - you can enjoy the legacy of the Inca as well as the colonial history without giving up take-away bean coffee and French croissants. And actually that´s what I´m doing right now, too - I provided myself with the blessings of European culinary tration at stylish "Cicciolina's Bread & Breakfast" and took off to the navel of the gringo-backpacker universe. All around the Plaza de Armas you find stylish coffee bars and restaurant, internet is fast and the bookstores have more English books then Spanish books. Which actually is a pity - I am trying since Lima to find Che´s Motorcycle Diaries in Spanish - no success so far. One of the nicest places caterin to traveler's needs is the "Cappuccino Cafe" in the arcades around Plaza de Armas. Coffee, cakes and fast internet. I opted for mate de coca, as for the first time in Peru my belly is not as its usual bests. Maybe its the lack of the usual bacteria in the gringo-friendly food of San Blas ;-)
For dinner I went to "Govinda" - you can guess it, another veggie restaurant playing Hare Krishna music and selling books on vegetarian cuisine. I am not sure why, but there is at least one veggie spot called "Govinda" in every self-respecting South American town. This one is at least the third one I tried out. I wonder why they are called "Govinda" - maybe it is the Hindu God of good cooking or a Hare Krishna-style Ronald Mc Donald? It's definately not the Godess with the 4 or 6 arms as service is usually on the slow side - but smiling. The simple menu at the Cusco "Govinda" was ok, nothing special, but the fig and coco balls for "postre" are definately worth it.
Hm, its amazing how much you can write about without actually doing anything usefull... ;-)
So yesterday we shared some last coffees and the obligatory "last supper", which turned out to be very hectic because it was already 7:15pm when we ordered in our new favourite "La Boveda" at the arcades of Plaza de Armas and my ticket was for the bus at 8pm. From there we rushed back to the hostel, got my stuff (a lot - after shopping in Arequipa ;-)) and took a taxi to the bus terminal. I had postponed my trip to Cusco twice, had a whole day to prepare - but still we arrived to the terminal on the last minute. Alberto provided me with water and our favourite Iberica chocolate for the trip, we sad goodbye and agreed to keep in contact and meet somehow somewhere - but as soon as possible :-)
Alberto will stay in Arequipa for some more weeks to start his filmproject of the "Alphabet of Dreams". He already started working yesterday with the children from "Casa Verde". I am very curious how it will develop but have faith that he will do a wonderful job and the result will be very touching!
The trip to Cusco was not very delightful - my seat neighbour was a Chilean girl of about my age who made "Ugly Betty" look great. I tried to strike a conversation but with no success. Later on she fell asleep and started snoring and falling over to my side. I deeply regretted having chosen the more economical lower floor as my knee started hurting and the only way to stretch my legs was to sit-lie vertically on the regular seat (no "semi-cama" business class seats as upstairs!) and put my legs into the ail. At 5am we finally arrived to rainy Cusco and I took a cab to Hostal de los Niños, the hostel most recommended by the Lonely Planet. Even though its low season now the hostel was fully booked and I took of with all my bags into the rain to find another place to stay. I usually don´t like to book in advance but prefer to see the place before I make a commitment. I tried some other hostels around Plaza de Armas but either they were booked or way out of my budget. As the rain wouldn´t stop I took a taxi up to the Bohemian neighbourhood of San Blas and tried my luck there. The second hostel - Andes de San Blas - turned out to be a good choice. The official rate for a single room with private bathroom and breakfast included being 19USD I got the rpice down to 35 soles - around 11 USD. The rooms is cozy and smells of wood fire smoke. The owners, a lovely couple of around 60, are very welcoming and even though they saw my German passport stick to the idea of me being Brazilian ;-) Guess I still haven´t lost my Brazilian "sotaque" ;-)
After finally getting some real, horizontal sleep I took off to explore rainy Cusco. First I had a yummy lunch of quinua vegetable soap, avocado sandwhich and lots of mate de coca in one of the tiny but gorgeous restaurants in San Blas. Of course prices here are much higher than in Lima or Arequipa - but that didn´t come as a surprise. For a "postre" I went over to the Lonely Planet recommended bakery of "Buen Pastor". The proceeds from this bakery go to social projects and its a typical Lonely Planet-toting backpacker kind of place - but one of the nicer ones. The croissants are nice and the coffee won´t kill you - immediately. Unfortunately one hairy gringo with a flute tried to intonate "El Condor Pasa" for about 10min - with no audible advancement. I escaped to a close-by internet cafe - from the frying pan into the fire, as the music of choice here was a instrumental, heavy on the panflute version of Bruce Springsteens greatest hits. So back into the rain.
Cusco, the ancient Inca capital (1200s-1532) and "navel of the world", (the meaning of "Qosqo" in Quechua), definately has a lot to offer in terms of culture, history and archeology. When the Spaniash arrived in 1533 Francisco Pizarro reported to the Spanish king that "We can assure your majesty that (Cusco) is so beautiful and has such fine buildings that it would even be remarkable in Spain." After the Spanish conquest a kind of cultural and architectonical recycling took place: the Spanish build a new colonial city on the foundations of the old Inca city, replacing temples with churches and palaces with mansions for the conquerors. (Obliged to tradition, 500 years later the gringo invadors did the same - building a Mc Donalds on the foundations of the colonial buildings around Plaxa de Armas ;-)).
Nowadays Cusco is a universe in itself, a kind of "Peru light" - you can enjoy the legacy of the Inca as well as the colonial history without giving up take-away bean coffee and French croissants. And actually that´s what I´m doing right now, too - I provided myself with the blessings of European culinary tration at stylish "Cicciolina's Bread & Breakfast" and took off to the navel of the gringo-backpacker universe. All around the Plaza de Armas you find stylish coffee bars and restaurant, internet is fast and the bookstores have more English books then Spanish books. Which actually is a pity - I am trying since Lima to find Che´s Motorcycle Diaries in Spanish - no success so far. One of the nicest places caterin to traveler's needs is the "Cappuccino Cafe" in the arcades around Plaza de Armas. Coffee, cakes and fast internet. I opted for mate de coca, as for the first time in Peru my belly is not as its usual bests. Maybe its the lack of the usual bacteria in the gringo-friendly food of San Blas ;-)
For dinner I went to "Govinda" - you can guess it, another veggie restaurant playing Hare Krishna music and selling books on vegetarian cuisine. I am not sure why, but there is at least one veggie spot called "Govinda" in every self-respecting South American town. This one is at least the third one I tried out. I wonder why they are called "Govinda" - maybe it is the Hindu God of good cooking or a Hare Krishna-style Ronald Mc Donald? It's definately not the Godess with the 4 or 6 arms as service is usually on the slow side - but smiling. The simple menu at the Cusco "Govinda" was ok, nothing special, but the fig and coco balls for "postre" are definately worth it.
Hm, its amazing how much you can write about without actually doing anything usefull... ;-)
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