PERU

After 3 days of travelling from Ilha Grande, we arrived in Lima, Peru.
If you didn't know better you would think you ended up in St Petersburg.
It's a city of cold buildings, a heavy atmosphere and the sun rarely ever shows it's face...
Without feelings in fingers and toes we found that our travel agency had booket us in at the Grand Hotel Boulevard...heavenly surprise-party!
The backpacker-life has limited our choice of clothing,
and little did we know how much we would suffer during the following week...

Spending some time in Lima we came in contact with lots of open people,
and the culture is definately warmer than the climate.
Even our new amigo Christian begging in the street was enjoying life*

"Come and steal, I've got everything you need!"

Precious pearls

C

Coming to Peru we thought we were the flexible brothers with no limits...
but we proved ourselves wrong. But man we can tell you we've grown...alot!
Torture has now another dimention...
Being on the bus for 22 hours straight with a temperature near freezing point, driving only up and down endless curvy roads...feeling the altitude sickness hunting you down, your fever exploding and headache killing, you just don't want to live anymore!

And that is no joke...even Mr Philip & Robert Flexible (yes us!) gave up all hope!
The worse was that when we finally got to Cusco we had to order the same bus- tickets to get back to Lima only 4 days later.
Not exactly the brightest start of a new adventure.

C

Cusco is a city in the mountains close to the Andes. It's on a hight around 16 000 feet
and the thin air has it's impact on everybody expect the local people.
But it's a beautiful place with beautiful people!

The city has tracks of the incas (indians) but also the Spanish
architecture gives it an extra touch!
Cusco is definately run by the enormous tourism
caused of the world's famous Machu Picchu.
The people are still down to earth and laid back as South Americans.

I

If you are just taking some time to sit down and actually look around in the main square,
people are more than happy to sit down just to have a chat and share their stories.
Not all conversations are understood in the sense of languages,
but a quick look in their faces where life left it's tracks,
is telling more than a thousand words!

Anti- tourists as we are (believe it or not!), even we had to humble ourselves and
join the migration from the city to the mountains of Machu Picchu.
Just getting there was a project of taxis, trains and buses for hours.
But one of the world's 7 wonders was waiting.
The place where about 300-500 Incas used to live,
has it's own beauty in the majestic mountains of Peru!!

"Been there, done that!"