Arequipa, city of good coffee

This morning we arrived very early in Arequipa, the "white city" in the south of Peru. We picked a hostel from the Lonely Planet recommendations (Tumi de Oro) and it turned out to be a good choice - close to the Plaza de Armas and full of character. The decorations in my room definately give room for thought - peruvian artefacts and a tennis racket on the bathroom wall!? I am still trying to make a connection - after the Nazca lines this should be an easy one ;-) It is run by an elderly couple - actually they are so old that I suggested to Alberto that we might ask them about the Nazca lines. And without kidding, when the lady asked me if I had already visited the mummy "Juanita" it sounded like she was talking about a friend. Her husband, a very lovely elderly gentleman, immediately took a liking to Alberto when he heard that he is from Italian. He told us about his love for Italy and Italian music, especially Paganini! So Alberto got his first hug of the day and we took off to explore Arequipa!

Our first destination was the "Cafe Casa Verde", part of a social project helping street kids and orphans. Alberto is planning a film project about those kind of projects and therefore was very interested in this place. And it was definately a good starting point for exploring Arequipa - very comfy and quiet and with the best chocolate cake in South America or maybe even the whole southern hemisphere ;-)

Anyhow, I have to confess that on the way to the Cafe Casa Verde we got side trapped in one of the numerous craft shops and I ended up buying a scarf and two embroiedered belts and Alberto bought a little bag for his camera and a hat. Well, and I reserved a handwoven blanket which would look very good on my couch... guess I´ll get it tomorrow, even though my backpack is already looking very pregnant! ;-) Another menace to the wellbeing of my backpack are the numerous and very well assorted book stores...

After hanging out at the internet for some time we spend the better part of the afternoon in a little restaurant called "Fez". Its in a typical colonial building and has a very lovely backyard and even better food! We enjoyed yummy hummus and warm arab bread, falafel and an incredible delicious crepe with apples and para nuts for "postre"! And real coffee - the one which is made of real coffee beans and smells and tastes like coffee ;-) Not the Nescafe instant thing that only shares the colour with real coffee. And it should not be the last coffee of the day - we soon stumbled over "Cusco Coffee", a peruvian version of Starbucks, laid back and high quality coffee! We are muy feliz and contento :-)

Actually we both like Arequipa that we think of staying for longer. Alberto would love to find out more about the Casa Verde project and I´d love to improve my Spanish in one of the many Spanish schools. I´d like to improve my grammar but hope not to lose my Portuguese accent which makes everybody think I am from Brazil ;-) Somehow the prejudices one encounters are much nicer that way ;-) Taxi drivers usually will ask you if you dance samba and waer g-strings on the beach. If they think you are from good old Germany they usually assume you are loaded and / or a cheap skate. Some know about Bayern Munich and many think Germany is full of racists who enjoy beating up latino students on the weekend. So you will understand that I am not planning on giving up my Brazilian accent and prefer the g-string version to being a rich racist ;-)

So "Adeus" for now, I will go back to the hostel now and practise some samba moves ;-)

Monkeys, Hummingbirds and Astronauts

Today we flew in a tiny shaking Cessna over the mysterious Nasca lines and I am still speechless - not just because of the shaking of the aircraft! ;-)

There are many theories of how and why and by whom the Nazca geoglyphs have been constructed. Rangeing from the very likely explanation of being an astronomical calendar of the pre-Inca Paracas culture to the less likely one of being alien drawings. Somehow though there might be another, very simple explanation. What if the local tourism board of Nazca had just painted them themselves??? If you have a look around in Nazca you will see that everybody profits from the lines, be it the taxi drivers, hotel owners or people selling crafts...you can get absolutely everyhting with the lines on it - shirts, mouse pads, bags, postcards... So I'll stick to my theory of clever marketing strategy and am already developing new designs to paint in the Goethepark next to my home in Mainz ;-)

So thanks to the Lines Nazca is a lively and pretty little town. The best thing about it is a little cafe that calls a real coffee machine its own. After 4 month more or less on Nescafe this is a blessing and as Alberto shares my addiction we became regular guests at this little place. Tonight at 22pm wewill take the night bus to Arequipa, the ¨white city".

Charlie Garcia is everywhere

So far I had no idea who Charlie Garcia was or that he even existed. But since I have been traveling with Alberto I have heard his name about a million times. It seems that Alberto resembles this Argeninian singer who is very famous in South America. Be it at the bus terminal, be it walking the streets of Pisco - there is always someone shouting "Hey Charlie Garcia" ;-) At first Alberto seemed not too happy about it but by know he got so used to it that as soon as he notices someone stare he goes "Hey, I'm not Charlie Garcia"! ;-)

So if someone could make a T-shirt for him saying "I am not Charlie Garcia" - please send it to me, it will be highly appreciated ;-)

The Poop Factory

On Wednesday we finally said goodbye to Lima, our friends at Hostal Iquique and of course Fito (a story in itself ;-)) and took off to the first leg of the Gringo Trail - Pisco.

In Pisco itself there is not much to see - the town has been heavily destroyed by an earthquake in August 2007 and most buildings have not been restored. And as it seems the money donated to restore the city has gone into the pockets of a "lucky" few and the majority of the inhabitants is still coping with the aftermath of the catastrophe. Most buildings have been repaired temporarily with sugar cane or plastic foil and even the church has not been restored - a very sad sight!

Most tourists therefore just stop in Pisco for a day or two to visit the Islas Ballestas and the National Reserve of Paracas and then continue to either Nasca or Lima. The Ilsas Ballestas are world famous for their wildlife, all kinds of sea birds and sea lions and the poduce of the first ones - the "guano"! According to Wikipedia the word "guano" originates from the Quichua language of the Inca civilization and means "the droppings of sea birds". Since Inca times guano has been collected from the coast of Peru for use as soil enricher. And guano has even been the reason for the so called Pacific War or Guano War between Peru - Bolivia and Chile! The discovery during the 1840s of the use of guano as a fertilizer and saltpeter as a key ingredient in explosives made the area strategically valuable. Wars have been fought for all reasons under the sun - but bird droppings definately seems to be one of the most obscure reasons, when you come to think of it ;-)

So on Thursday morning we set off with another couple from our hostel - Ukainian born Boris and his girlfriend Sara from New York. Both with the same stunning blue eyes, blond hair and winning smile. First we were not sure if they were a couple or siblings, so much alike where they. Im Paracas our guide Rafa and his cute twin kids met us at the pier and we had to wait in line with another aproximately 20.000 tourists to put on bright orange life vests and board one of the boats that left every 5-10 minutes. Finally we boarded "El Mesias and took off to the "Poop Factory" as one gay American behind us called it ;-)

The Poop Factory definately is very impressive - rocks full of penguins, cormorants, pelicans and other birds I can´t even remember the names! It does smell of bird poop but you´ll soon forget about it. You'll definately forget about it when you get to see the sea lions - they are so noisy and playfull - born jokers :-) A couple of them were lazing around in the sun, looking so relaxed and funny. Unfortunately the captain of the boat overdid it, getting really close to the poor creatures, waking them up and getting them to move to ensure that everybody got a good shot...

Somehow the trip left me pretty sad - the beautifull animals and nature exploited in such an "industrial" way - at times you could see more tourists than penguins! Somehow a "poop factory" of another kind...

After a lunch break in Paracas we met with our next guide, Jesus, and some more tourists to visit the National Reserve of Paracas. For me the Reserve was a bit disappoining as it is just a desert - as Boris put it, he hap "excpexted more trees", and so did I. Paracas is derived from the Quechua words sand and rain, meaning sand rain or sandstorm. We stopped at a few places to see the cliffs and the sea but for the rest it was not very unteresting. The bus turned a sauna soon and the only highlight was when Alberto got a shot of a Condor without knowing it was one. Our last stop was to watch a group of flamengos far away at the beach but we got into such sandstorm that nobody really cared about the flamengos anymore and just tried to get back to the hotel. For the evening we planned to meet up with Sara, Boris and the Colmbian siblings, Maurizio and Elizabeth for dinner and drinks.

La dolce vita in Lima

On the first of January 2009 my Plaza de Armas friend, Fito, picked me up and we went to the beach at Punta Hermosa. Of course we were not the only ones with this original idea and the bus and beach where packed ;-) Still it was nice to get out of town and see something different.

The next days passed in a flow... I went out with Fito and Alberto, had too much food, too many bad coffees and a few good ones... and definately a lot of fun and great conversations!

Lima is a universe in itself - there is the historic center full of churches and historic buildings, then there's chic Miraflores, a very stylish and starbucked neighbourhood close to the beach, then of course our favourite Barranco, home to original bars and restaurants, a lively beach and a couple of upscale beach restaurants...

I especially enjoyed visiting the museum and the catacombs of the San Francisco convent. Enjoying is maybe not the right word for tunnels full of bones and skulls - impressed would be more fitting. And than there is a paiting of the Last Supper - a Peruvian version, where Jesus and the disciples share a dish of roasted guinea pig! Unfortunately it was not allowed to take pictures - I would have loved to share this paiting with you - I think its hilarious ;-)

So somehow we spend one week doing nothing special, just enjoying life! :-) And I think both Alberto and me got quite used to the Iquique Hostel and staff - a really nice place in a busy neighbourhood where you easily feel at home! I will definately back later this year... but first, off to the Gringo Trail :-)

...bienvenido 2009!

For the party and countdown to 2009 we returned to Barranco where we had a nice dinner and then tried to get yellow hats, as yellow is the lucky colour of new year here in Peru. Unfortunately we neither got the hats nor a bottle of champagne but we managed to find a collar or yellow plastic flowers and got a great start into 2009! We went to a couple of bars and ended up in one playing everything from 60s, 70s, 80s to salsa and lambada! We definately had a great time and if 2009 continues in this spirit it will be one of the best years, definately! :-)

So the new years resolution for 2009 is: traveling, being happy, making many friends and enjoying life to the max!

Happy new year and feliz año nuevo to all!

On the back of the entry ticket to the San Francisco museum and catacombs I found the prayer of Saint Francis which I´d like to share with you for the new year :-) Here comes the English translation...hope you like it as much as I do!

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love,
where there is injury, pardon,
where there is doubt, faith,
where there is despair, hope,
where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved, as to love,
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Adios 2008...

Until the late afternoon of the 30th I still had some hope that my tickets would show up or that I somehow could make it to Rio de Janeiro. When the time of the flight arrived and still no news from my tickets I got into a kind of panic - my friends Thomas and Bill waiting for me in Rio and me all on my own in Lima! I already imagined myself spending new year alone in my room watching tv or sleeping... In the morning I had gone for a run with my new friend from Plaza de Armas, Fito, but in the evening he didn't show up so I had no idea if he would be back for new year. But I shouldn't have worried - somehow my trip had developed its own dynamics during the last weeks and months and just like in a movie the right things always happened at the right time - and more important than that, the right people showed up at the right time! And so it happened also on the morning of the last day of 2008 - a year with many surprising encounters and experiences!

I got up on time to contact some local Couchsurfers or to find out about any expat or backpacker parties in town... at the breakfast table I met a guy I had seen the other day in the internet room - seemed to be as addicted to the www as me ;-) Anyhow we got talking and it turned out he also had no idea what to do for new year. So we decided to meet up for lunch and then check out what was going on.

In the morning I had my watch repaired and met a guy at Plaza de Armas - as usual, its impossible to sit down for a minute without meeting someone - who took me to the well of Santa Rosa. Here you can write a wish or prayer on a letter and throw it in the well. Lets see if it will come true ;-)

My hostel neighbour and me then met at 1pm at the Plaza San Martin - a plaza with a funny detail! Right under the statue of the liberator Don Jose de San Martin is a smaller one of Madre Patria which was supposed to have a crown of flames - llamas in Spanish - on her head. Instead the craftsmen adorned her with a little llama - the Andean animal! Anyhow, we met there and went from there to a very nice restaurant close to the Plaza de Armas where we tried the local speciality ceviche, a dish of nearly raw and marinated fish. And my 'compañero de noche vieja', Alberto, turns out to be exactly the kind of person you want to meet when traveling - open,easy going, intelligent and with a great sense of humour! He is from Napoli but speaks excellent Spanish - another plus point as I avoid speaking English as much as I can to improve my castellano skills ;-)

In the afternoon we went to Miraflores and to the beach. We walked along the beach and talked about most subjects under the sun - and I am quite happy to be stranded in Lima ;-) We ended up in a neighbourhood called Barranco, very bohemian and charming. There we met a group of guys from all over Peru, making crafts and selling them. They seemed ok and we decided to come back to Barranco for the last hours of 2008. Actually we had an extra 6 hours of 2008, as we had started the year in Europe and ended it here in South America, Alberto remarked!

From Barranco we took a taxi back to the hostel to get changed and I am not exaggerating when I say that this was the most hilarious taxi trip of all times ;-) We had bought some bananas at the beach and also offered one to the taxi driver - he refused with the explanation that these small bananas gave him "gas" and that he prefered the bigger ones. He then asked us to kiss each other and I told him that we're both catholic and that there will be no kissing before marriage. When he then asked why we're not married yet and Alberto replied that we don't know each other long enough I nearly choked from laughing. We then promised to invite the driver for our wedding and got out of the taxi laughing tears! The extra 6 hours of 2008 where definately well spent ;-)