Lodewijk The First goes Peru

Welcome ladies and gentlemen! After a long stay in Lima and enjoying the friendliness of the Lima traffic, a new visitor arrived. I present to you: Lodewijk, alias Louk!

Louk is Arthur's father, and he planned to come and visit his son (as he mentioned often to other strangers in Peru).

After a travel time of approximately 15 hours, a huge smile arrived at the airport of Lima. It was Louk! All happy to see both Anaëlle and Arthur.

We bargained for a cab, hopped in and drove to Anaëlle's and Arthur's apartment in Lima.

Kind of a Dutch feeling...

And what do you think happened then!? Louk opened his luggage, about 15 kilo's heavy, from which 7,5 was mainly Dutch food (young Gouda cheese, Old Amsterdam, pepernoten, speculaas cookies, drop, Albert Heijn corn bread, Spanish chorizo, etc, etc).

And of course 2 pieces of underwear and a shirt.

After finishing unloading the cargo, we showed Louk his cheap hostel, 5 minutes down the road. Yes, even if we had a flat, we still had only one bedroom. Not very handy for a third person...

We will have quite some naughty stories to talk about, regarding this charming hostel... But this is for a later chapter.

Straight to business!

So, we headed straight to the pub: Louk deserved that, after such a long travel!

If you remember the previous post (you, fanatic reader of our amazing adventures), you know what we talk about if we say "Calle Berlin". In this area was Arthur's favorite bar, due to the happy hour regulations: 20 soles (6 euros) for two times 1,1 liters of beer. Even today, a tear drops down as Arthur thinks of it...

This was a good start and we might have drunk a bit more than we should have. Don't remember anyway...

The next day we decided to visit Miraflores. On our way we encountered a school class... how adorable, like elephants.

In the afternoon, Anaelle went to an art gallery; Louk and Arthur visited Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Inca pyramid which is in the middle of the residential area. It is a big adobe and clay pyramid, built from seven staggered platforms. It takes its name from the Quechua word “pucllay,” meaning “game,” which in its entirety can be translated as “a place for ritual games.” It served as an important ceremonial and administrative center for the advancement of the Lima Culture, a society which developed in the Peruvian Central Coast between the years of 200 AD and 700 AD.

Look at this arrogant one guarding the pyramid... it is Peruvian, but it could be French! It didn't move an inch.

In the evening, we had a small surprise for Louk. We took him to Parque de la Reserva, a park with a water/light show in the evening.

If you did well with some of the fountains, you would stay dry. If you screwed up, the following could happening.

The next day, Arthur became a bit sick and stayed home.

Anaelle and Louk went to visit the historical center of Lima.

Sunday we decided to visit Callao, a village adjacent to Lima, with a beautiful fort. The drive towards the fort was an experience itself and we also saw a procession. We won't see that anymore in The Netherlands.

The fort, called Fortaleza del Real Felipe, was built in 1747. This fort, the largest one in the Republic of Peru was built to ward off pirate attacks stemming from the fact that galleons loaded with the Inca gold left from this port. It is a pentagonal star shaped fort. Today it is under the jurisdiction of the Army and contains the Army Museum of Peru.

In the evening we took Louk for another surprise, which you won't find in the tourists books. It is called Los Tambores de la Paz and it is formally a Peruvian tribute to the moon, the earth and peace.

More informally it is a gathering of the left over hippies, smoking marijuana, making awesome music by percussion around fire.

It is a really calm atmosphere at the cliffs of Lima, where people just listen to the music, juggle with cones or fire and sell some goodies.

Cusco

This was the last night in Lima. The next morning we took the airplane from Lima to Cusco. We arrived at a youth hostel called Loki. A great place, with a nice and noisy bar, table tennis, great and flexible employees. Louk had to adjust a little bit to the loud music, but soon he enjoyed the energy of the young travelers in the bar.

We all had to adjust to the height (3400 meters), and Arthur even got a bit height sickness. Walking up the stairs got us all, and therefore the first day we had an acclimatization day.

So, we decided to explore the historical center, and Anaëlle did not want a picture to be taken... this is the result.

Hey! What a beautiful tower in the background!!! (Anaëlle speaking)

Arthur still had a head-ache. One of the ways to fight height-sickness is to get yourself to a lower altitude. We went the next day to Pisac at 2800 meters. This is a nice but very touristic town. Up the hill there are Inca ruins, and we decided to climb them. This was Louk's moment when he realized, that he needed to shape up a bit, since it was a lot of climbing. Nevertheless, it was worth all the effort. What a view and how cool to see those old ruins!

The highlight of each tourist visit in Peru is Machu Picchu and of course, we would go there too. We had a fight with the tourist office at the Loki hostel, who claimed that the only way to get to Machu Picchu is by using the over-expensive tourist train. We disagreed with the guy and quickly found on the Internet other ways to visit it.

We went for a bus ride of 7 hours to Hidroelectrica. And although it sounds long, the bus ride was beautiful!!

After 6 hours, we had a lunch with our mascot at a restaurant where or the table was too high or the seats too low.

Once we arrived in Hidroelectrica, the 2,5 hour walk along the railway to Aguas Caliente started. 

This walk is not a punishment, since it is such a beautiful environment with traces of Inca civilization everywhere.

And finally we arrived in Aguas Caliente, the village only built for tourists, just before Machu Picchu. Time for a well deserved beer, pizza and rest.

Please note the cute fury animal on the menu. It is a guinea pig.

It was time to visit Machu Picchu. Arthur was awake, the other lazy ones were still sleeping. Wake up dudes!! It is already 7 o'clock and we have to go up the hill...

Now let's start the hour walk up the hill, which is quite a climb. But again, so beautiful, you don't mind.

Here we are still smiling, since it is the start of the climb.

But the higher you go, the harder it gets.

See who's there?

A common sight, when climbing.

The big smile at the bottom of the mountain has disappeared. But, I have to admit, when I am at his age, I wish I still climb mountains like this! Way the go, dad! You rock.

 And after 1,5 hour, we finally reached the top and everybody smiles again. The hard work gets paid off!!!

Machu Picchu wouldn't be a part of Peru without ...

Time to leave Machu Picchu, which means down the hill again, enjoy a well deserved drink and sleep the night in Aguas Caliente.

The next day we walked back to Hidroelectrica. Here we were waiting for our (lost) bus. We decided to have a bite before the long bus ride back, next to the train track. If you think that the train rides only on the right side of the two tracks, you are wrong! When you are eating in those small shops on the left, you have to pull in your legs, to prevent the train hitting you. No warnings!

And as everywhere in Peru, where they create and print advertisements, full of spelling mistakes. Can you find it?

After visiting Machu Picchu we had a relax day at the hostel. But since we can't do that too long, we talked about rafting; and so it happened the next day. We drove down to the south-east of the mountains of the sacred valley where the Riobamba river flows.

Time to gear up!

The safety instructions, rafting instructions, and off we go!

Then the adventure starts, first slow water to practice the rafting commands: paddle left, paddle right, straight, left back, go front (dive), secure yourselves, hold-on, and call for an ambulance.

As you can image, at this moment we were soaked. But it doesn't matter! It is just great fun!

 On the calm pieces of the river, you can enjoy the environment, which was and is beautiful.

Finally back on the land, a last team goodbye, a lunch and back to civilization.

After the rafting we made an appointment with all the people of the rafting, to meet in the evening for a drink in the Irish pub called Paddy's.

Everybody said it was awesome to meet in the bar. Besides us, only two others showed up! A steady and funny English guy called Dave and an Australian guy called Ryan. He understood how to have a good party. Louk went home 'early' at 2 o'clock, Ryan, Dave, Anaelle and Arthur stayed.

After loosing ourselves in beers and Jagermeisters, we headed to a club to have another drink. Ryan with his high alcohol level was very busy with his broken flip flops, after which Arthur decided to take them off and put them in his pockets. Now he could focus again (as far as possible) on the girls. He hopped directly on the bar.

Anaelle as always, danced her bud off.

Arthur and Dave, who definitely had too many drinks, enjoyed each other a lot.

Dave had since the first bar in mind that if we would go back to the hostel, we needed to get a last drink, and so we did. Neither Dave and Arthur needed a drink, in fact it was a stupid idea. It got even worse when we could not decide if we wanted beer or Jagermeister. So, we took both. Arthur drunk the Jagermeister and never even touched the beer.

The next day, surprisingly Arthur's hangover forced him to stay at home. Anaelle and Louk went for a walk in the city, visiting Saksaywaman (ruins with huge perfect fitting stones - pronounce it 'sexy woman', it works), El Christo Blanco on the top of the mountain guarding the city and other charming streets of Cusco.

Saksaywaman. Look at the size of the rocks!

I hope the indigenous did not see this picture being taken

Anaelle with Cusco in the background

El Christo Blanco with Senior Sanctimonious

In the evening we had another walk through the city center and ended up at the main square called Plaza des Armes. Here we had a nice relaxed drink and we enjoyed the view.

The last real visiting day, we visited Salinas de Maras. To get there we needed a taxi or bus. We ended up taking three cabs and Anaelle going bezerk against the annoying behavior of the cab drivers. This time she was awesome in negotiating... her anger payed off! :)

Salinas de Maras is a salt mining parc, high in the mountains, built by the Inca's and utilized by the Spanish. It is a special and lovely place to visit.

The way back we decided to take the bus. Which direction do you think the bus comes from?

After arriving safely home, we had reserved a typical Peruvian evening dinner, in our lovely Loki hostel. We all enjoyed it a lot! Ceviche, Aji de Gallina, Arroz con Leche, Pisco Sour, and much more. We were stuffed!

Since it was the last evening, we had a nice drink and headed for the bed. In the morning, we grabbed our stuffs, ordered a cab which never showed up, grabbed another cab and headed to the airport.

We drank a coffee, since we were a bit early, and then the always hard moment of saying goodbye.

Although the goodbye was a bit hard, we had a lovely time together! We walked a lot, we climbed a lot, we drank a lot, we visited a lot, we relaxed a bit, and most of all, enjoyed each others company.

@Louk, thank you so much for visiting us in Peru! We had an awesome time together and I believe we all enjoyed it a lot. What will be our next trip together?

That's all folks! See you soon!!

Anaelle and Arthur.