Back on gringotrack

Finally, some news from Peru! I hear you wondering, what is she doing all the time? At this very moment I´m sitting in an internetcafé in Puno, next to Lago Titicaca. The nature is stunning… After a nice goodbye of the people I met in Cusco, I´m travelling southwards now. Ofcourse all backpackers take the same way, allthough we all think we´re quite original. This way even has a name: the Gringotrail which means trail of the white men. Tomorrowmorning I´m taking a boat for a group-daytrip to some beautiful isles, looking forward to that.

Well, let´s go through last week in big steps. I studied a lot of Spanish (even earned a certificate ´Espanol intermedio´), drank a lot of cafes cortados with Sarah (otherwise I would´ve never got that certificate), watched sunset from our balcony after the lessons, walked into a huge demonstration against the privatization of tourism in Peru (quite necessary protest!), went out for dinner and beers every night with my schoolfriends. Furthermore, I was sick last weekend. Not too good, because on Saturdaymorning I was expected to go to Maccu Picchu very early, around 5. Didn´t want to miss that… After a night of dreaming horrible things in Spanish language, I really ´dragged´ myself out of bed and went with Marie, an Austrian girl, to the train. We ended up in Aguas Calientes which is the startingpoint for Maccu Picchu.

Aguas Calientes is the noisiest place on earth. Our hotel lay between the busy railway/mainroad and a river that moves such great amounts of water that it sounds like a huge storm. Not much to do there, except for playing with kids and waterballoons! Soon it´ll be carnival in Peru and the Peruvian people practice this by throwing water to eachother. Some do it with bottles, other with buckets. The kids are really fond of the colourful waterballoons and I ended up in the girls-group, attacking the boys-side. With my long arms I was a big help, I think we won!

It was nice and warm in Aguas Calientes, about 25 degrees. I sat quite a while along the riverside in the sun, reading, writing and talking with some people I met in Cusco. One of them is a Suisse woman, backpacking through Latin America. The funny thing is she´s 51 years old. She decided some years ago she really wanted that and has such a good time. So mum, it´s never too late!
To be continued….

Viva el Peru

So hi everybody! It´s been a while, but after almost a year of not updating my travelblog I´m back in business. I´m not sure if you can call a three-week holiday ´travelling´. There are quite serious backpackers that have explicit ideas about what is the ´real´ travelling. Usually this has to do with exhausting, long trips in extreme circumstances that go together with smelly hair and a relaxt attitude. I´m not sure if I fit into that profile. Still I have the feeling this trip fits into my travelblog. So what are my plans? A combination of studying Spanish and travelling around south Peru. I just arrived two days ago in Cuzco, a sweet colonial town in the Sacred Valley, surrounded by green mountains and close to Maccu Picchu. This week I stay in a (really well atmosphered) studenthouse in the citycenter. Next Monday my lessons start. I write in English again so my non-Dutch friends can also follow my adventures. Hasta luego amigos!