Category "Traveling"

The Trip: Cusco

We arrived in Cusco, the former Inca capital, one month after the rains that made the Urumbamba river destroy everything, causing many people to be homeless, hurt, sometimes killed. It also locked Machu Picchu. As cynical as it may sound, it allowed us to visit the town for much cheaper, since the tourists went elsewhere and competition roars. This is how we payed S/.10 for a hostal instead of 25.

Cusco

We took cheap touristic tours to see the different sites of the region very quickly. The problem was we didn't have time to do anything properly. We visited the Sacred Valley, but we couldn't see, for example, the whole extent of Ollantaytambo.

Ollantaytambo

Same thing when we did the "city tour": after a guided visit, we only had 10 minutes to walk around Qorikancha, which used to be the religious center of the inca empire. Still, I happened to find a painting representing the inca constellations.

Qorikancha

We also did Chinchero, a village used as a reserve for the inca descendants...

Chinchero

I also visited the museums and stuff. The Contemporary Art Museum was very interesting because it showed the obession of the Peruvians with the Inca empire. I will not comment more on this in this post because it's a complex topic.

The Dream of the Pachamama, by Ruben Flores Encalada

I also had my tatoo.

When we decided to go, I met a German who told me he managed to get into Machu Picchu. He gave me infos and Ada, Peter and I decided to try our luck. After going through a cable-car above the river and witnessing tiny landslides, we arrived behind the mountain of the Machu Picchu. Unfortunately, my info was not complete and given the weather and Peter's knee, we decided to go back.

No Machu Picchu

But we discovered something else. Officially, the site is closed for security reasons. But after talking with a few people, we learnt that there is a monopoly story behind it and it's quite fucked up. This is terrible for the region as tourism is the main resource.

I made a little donation for people who are suffering from the rains and the landslides.

The Trip: The Tatoo!

I had the idea of getting tattooed in Peru, more precisely in Cusco, because they seemed to have good tattoo artists here. I went to Mistical Tattoo, and I met Christian, a peruvian tattoo artist, married to a Canadian lady. Children of the Globalisation...

I asked him for a design, inspired from Chavin culture (yeah, those who do San Pedro!!), because this is what I preferred in all I've seen. He did a drawing very quickly and a few days later, he tattooed me.

Getting tattooed

I tried to stay cool for the 3 hours of work...

Getting tattooed and trying to stay cool

In two hours, the lines were done.

After two hours, the lines of the tattoo are done

The Chavin adored, among others, the snake, the jaguar and the hawk. This drawing represents a chimera made out of these different animals.

Then, the shadows

Then, Christian added shadows. It doesn't look great on the picture but in reality, it looks good!

Ta-dah!

And in the context of the Andes, it looks like this!

And in context...

I'm gonna keep doing tattoos on my back, I think I'm gonna do one for each inhabited continent I will have explored.

The Trip: The Alizée mystery

Do you remember Alizée? If you are from the UK, you should have heard this, about 10 years ago...

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

The credits of that video must be on the website hosting it.

Since I've been in Peru, I've seen pictures of Alizée everywhere. Not that she's famous here... Actually her face is used in every poster for... orthodontists.

Here, in Trujillo:

Sign for an orthodontist in Trujillo

In Huaraz:

Sign for an orthodontist in Huaraz

In Cusco:

Sign for an orthodontist in Cusco

And I've seen more of them... So, has Alizée got a contract with the dentists organization in Peru? Has she been elected Miss World Teeth? Or is it just randomness? The mystery remains...

The Trip: Arequipa and the Colca canyon

Arequipa is nicknamed the White City because it's been built with a volcanic rock that is specific to this region.

Arequipa, la Ciudad Blanca

It's also an access point to the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world. Ada, Peter and I went for a trek there. We wanted to do 3 or 4 day but the path was very hard and Peter's knee was damaged. It's nevertheless one of the most magnificent places and one of the best experiences I have ever had. Between the enchanting landscapes,

The Colca canyon

the geysers,

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

the lost villages,

Llatica village

the antisocial sheep,

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

the uncertain bridges

An unfinished bridge

and the hotels with hot baths!!

Hot baths in Llanhuar

On the second day, Ada and I went solo to check out the waterfall in Fure village but on the way back, we got lost. We had to slide,

Sliding on rocks

go through cactus fields (aooow!!), then we decided to take a shortcut through the irrigation system (it wasn't very safe actually!).

Going through the irrigation system

But the final blow was the day after, when we returned to Cabanaconde, not by walking, but by going to the "terminal bus". When we arrived there...

At the "Terminal Bus"

...we realised it was actually a kettle truck, used by the villagers of the canyon to go and sell their products in town. We were 45 inside.

The camion

Peter travelled all the way on the edge of the truck, Ada was among the grannies sleeping on the floor

Peter and Ada in the truck

and I was standing as well.

Me in the truck

For 3 hours, we drove along nothingness, in a truck that was pitching and whose driver forgot once or twice to put on the brakes when the truck was moving back on slopes...

The truck and the emptiness

A real nightmare! It was nevertheless a proper experience... And from the truck, we could finally see a condor!!

A condor!

I had massive blisters on both feet!

Massive blister!

We visited Cabanaconde, where a carnival was going on.

Cabanaconde carnival

I also ate alpaca, and it's really good.

Hmmm alpaca!

Back in Arequipa, we could visit a few museums, including the Santuarios museum dedicated to Inca rituals (especially the human sacrifices), the Viceroy Art museum, and so on. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed.

Museum of Viceroy Art

I also did the museum of Modern Art, and it was really interesting to see how an art museum works here.

Artworks that didn't make it at the auction

And after that, Cusco!

The Trip: Nazca

We went to Nasca to discover the civilisation of the same name.

We started with Chauchilla cenetery where many very well-preserved mummies are resting. Their hair is generally perfectly preserved. (They had hyge dreadlocks.)

Chauchilla cemetery

We could also see reproductions of sculptures of that time. I really liked the shaman and his San Pedro cactuses on the shoulders.

Sculpture of a Nasca shaman

But the most important is the geoglyphs drawn by this civilisation in the area and that have been discovered only in 1920, because they are only visible from high. Nobody really knows what they were for. So we took a small plane (I hate it so I had to take a sedative before taking off) and we went around the "Nasca lines" for half-an-hour. At the end we turned around so much, we wanted to puke but we were alright and it was quite impressive. Oh, a condor!

The Nasca lines: the condor

Also, I had a trenza done.

The Trip: Huacachina

Ah, the Huacachina oasis... It's so beautiful... But so expensive!

Huacachina: oasis and swimming pool

We found peruvian hippies (oh!) with whom we did some San Pedro in the middle of the dunes for my birthday. VIDEO!

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

The morning after, going back was difficult, but the view on the oasis, on Ica city, on the desert, from the top of the sandhill, was amazing. Unfortunately some sand got into my camera and fucked it up. It was very frustrating.

Full Moon above the desert

We left very quickly, going through Ocucaje, a village lost in the middle of the desert, where Ada and Peter could buy good stuff to make artesañas.

The Trip: Lima

After a great bud ride from Huaraz (it was either that or waiting for the end of the strike...), we passed quickly in Lima: Inquisition museum, cathedral (10 soles to visit it!), the artesañas market...

The Lima cathedral

I saw a Tarot reader because I'd like to learn how to read the Marseilles Tarot. It was nice, he predicted good things for me and said I should do... Reiki.

At the Tarot reader

The day after, we saw the Nation museum, impressive by its diversity. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to finish it because we had to check out from the hotel and leave for Huacachina.

Moche artefact

I also tried to check out a gay bar but I had few addresses and the one I decided to see was "not gay tonight". Harsh.

The Trip: Huaraz

We stayed more than 2 weeks in Huaraz. We were in a very nice and cheap hostel (El Tambo, highly recommanded), beside the market where you can easily bargain for prices!

Lamas in Huaraz

We started with a Pisco Sour night, helped by Mariela, the hostal landlady. Then, we visited the Chavin ruins (ouah!!), ate guinea pig and did our San Pedro ceremony with Manue, that I had met by chance in the streets.

The Ranzon, the Chavin's god

Manue left, then so did Luca, with Christophe and Baba (a French couple met in Huaraz), while Ada, Peter and I saw Llanganuco lake,

Llanganuco lake

tried the Santa Cruz trek (3 or 4 days by I got sick the first night so we had to abort),

On the Santa Cruz trek...

and did Laguna 69.

Laguna 69

Then Ada got sick and we stayed in Huaraz until she got better. We dedicated ourselves to other experiences that are possible in Peru, squatted the DVD room...

Action shot!

I'll keep a very good memory of Huaraz and highly recommend it!

The Trip: THE SAN PEDRO TRIP

Before I tell all my stories in Huaraz, I have to talk about San Pedro.

In Huanchaco and in Huaraz, we could visit Huaca de la Luna, from the Moche civilisation, and the Chavin ruins. These two civilisations, like most pre-columbian civilisations, used San Pedro, a cactus able to produce mescaline, a powerful hallucinogenic substance, on divinatory purposes.

Peter in front of a San Pedro

Everywhere around, San Pedro can be found. It just grows like this, in nature and it's completely legal here. By the way, guides refer to it as a medicina, supposed to cleanse the mind.

We decided we should get some, curious about the effects of this substance venerated by so many peoples. We had already bought some in Trujillo market and we took the rest in the neighbour's garden.

Cooking San Pedro

I won't tell how we cooked the cactus as I don't know if it's legal. I can tell you that you can find online recipes to prepare the potion in 4 hours instead of 24. The magic word is: blender!

The glorious shaman-wannabees

The thing was that we had to prepare many doses, and we were not only 5, we also had the french couple we met in the hostel. We asked Mariella if we could use the TV room for our ceremony and she agreed. I arranged the room, put candles, then we put mattresses, everything to feel comfortable. The french couple lent us speakers and we could put on music.

The ceremony room

We started the ceremony by giving each one their dose, by cheering and drinking. We had to go slowly as it can be dangerous. The San Pedro smell is close to artichoke but the taste is absolutely disgusting. I nearly puked several times and it made us feel ill-at-ease. The start was rather harsh. But then Manue started laughing...

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

And then, I mixed the thing with apple juice, chocolate milk, honey, coca cola, inca kola... And then...

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

The Trip: Huanchaco

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

This video has been produced by me or a friend.

We spent new year's eve in Huanchaco. We were on the beach, among the fires and the fireworks, by the Pacific, walking around.

We met some people, it's a beach that surfers like a lot, it's hot, sunny, etc.

We visited the Chimu ruins of Chan Chan, Huaca Arco Iris and Huaca Esmeraldas. Chan Chan was the most impressive, only by the size of the thing. The two others were not that impressive.

The Chan Chan ruins

We also visited the Moche ruins with the superb Huaca de la Luna, the Temple where the Moches were sacrificing humans, which has been discovered only about twenty years ago.

Huaca de la Luna

Peter, Tadzjo and I also went up the hill behind the ruins, just for the fun.

On the top of the hill

We spent some time in Trujillo, between two billion churches, maze-like shopping centres, casinos, and so on.

Trujillo cathedral

Still, we were happy to leave, because there is some much left to see in Peru.

Copyright Jujupiter
Tools CakePHP MooTools Silk Icons
W3C XHTML 1.0 CSS 2.0 WAI
Previous picture Next picture