Christian's posts with tag: peru
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While Italy still has not yet won the world cup, a first greeting from the Galápagos Islands! After three and a half consecutive days on the road (only interrupted by one night of decent sleep in a hotel on the 7th in Piura, Peru), I have just arrived on the islands. Five buses (Huaraz - Trujillo - Chiquian - Piura - Loja - Guayaquil), then directly to the airport and straight into the plane (which was very lucky!), then bus - boat - bus. And I even managed to find a hotel already, which actually had turned out to be a little difficult as the world cup was already on and it is siesta time, too.
Peru bade me farewell with the most revolting splatter movie on the bus, I have ever, ever seen. To give you a taste - New Mexico after the nuclear tests, a few humans remained in the area and have now turned into horrible monsters with disgusting mutations. Of course they only want to take revenge on the Americans. So they direct a biggish family traveling through into a side-road and make sure they break down with their car and mobile home. After that you enjoy 90 minutes of the bloodiest limb-hacking and sick splatter scenes. Besides them raping the about 15-year old daughter and the mother, they start murdering the the family in the most bloody manor imaginable. All shown in close-up and great detail, of course. I am surprised you are allowed to produce something sick like this anywhere in the world! But I am not so surprised you can show this shit on a public bus in Peru at 9.30am. Nobody was worried the slightest by the fact that there were plenty of kids between about 3 and 15 years on the bus all watching with great interest. Unfortunately this only fits the general picture. No surprise therefore that some of the people in this beautiful country are somewhat - excuse my explicit language - fucked in the head. This last impression did not make it overly difficult to say good-bye to Peru. It is a shame, but the only thing I did not like so much of Peru were some of its people.
I am very glad to have arrived in Ecuador, hence. Much more brash, more technology, but also dollar-driven higher prices... Getting out of the plane on the Galápagos Islands I had to take care not to step on a lizard - it looked at me like a funny new species of tree. And look at the picture, these little fellows are everywhere on the beach promenade and the black volcanic rocks. They will move, though, but only if you get closer than about 20cm. There are plenty of birds in the air, mainly pelicans and huge Frigate birds, and big and beautifully reddish crabs on the cliffs... Lots of wildlife even in town!
Being now in Puerto Ayora, I have to sort out my boat-cruise etc. And France vs. Italy are into the penalties now, will have to watch that. More later.
 Hard to believe I have been around for seven weeks now! Huaraz turned out to be a great base for all sorts of mountain activities - and a very pleasant place to hang out during (many) lazy days. But as it is getting more and more comfortable for me, it does get time to get going again! I know where to go for chocolate tart, where to find the best coffee in town, where they do a great and cheap fruit salad, where to go for an inexpensive and yummy lunch menu, where to have really nice food, which internet cafe has the best computers, etc.
I get greeted by the locals almost everywhere I go, often by handshake. Many people even know my name. I keep meeting people on the streets and have to plan a little bit of extra time for chatting. Francois, the French owner of my favourite restaurant wonders about my beard when I come back from the mountains and asks where I have been. I get special treatment (free lemonade) at my favourite lunch spot. The people in the internet cafe are relieved to see me again as they had worried I might have been one of the climbers who died ten days ago because I had not shown up for a while. I know the menus of my favourite restaurants by heart and order straight away when I walk in. Of course all the waiters there know me and always ask how I am doing. Marcelo, the Basque owner of the bar where I hang out sometimes, gives me free drinks when I bring in other people. I sometimes get a free breakfast at my hotel and have a chat about the latest news regarding the climbing accident with Flor, the lady who owns the place. She already knows which of her rooms I prefer and tries to keep one for me when I am off to the mountains. Last but not least I find myself often giving detailed advice on where to find what in Huaraz to other foreigners...
If I do not fancy getting a permanent part of this city, it is time to move on now! I am a little bit sad to leave Huaraz behind, though. I truly had a great time here and I do plan to come back some time to "do" a few more walks and mountains at some stage in the future.
So I am finally leaving tonight! My night bus to Trujillo on the coast leaves at 9pm. From there I will move on to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. I also feel it is getting time to get back "home" to Buenos Aires, at least for a couple of weeks.
As I found out just today, I have probably taken the last picture of three climbers only minutes before they died on the wall of Artesonraju. This was when I was climbing Pisco more than a week ago. They were barely visible in the far distance but William, our guide, had spotted them with his impressive eye-sight. I had a look through my pictures again and found one where they are just visible. Minutes later they were nowhere to be seen anymore. William was quite concerned then, but there was nothing to be done. The only way to disappear that quickly from the middle of a 900m ice wall is by falling down. A most horrible tragedy which is the talk of the town at the moment. Their bodies have just been recovered from a crevasse at the bottom of the mountain yesterday. I have uploaded the picture here. There is some news on the accident on the internet here, here, and here.
 Climbing mountains truly is addictive. I know I had promised to leave the mountains behind after Pisco... But look, there were a couple factors that had me change my mind. The weather is perfect and stable now, I am fit and acclimatized, I am here now, the mountains are just out there, I had to watch them all the time (literally from the pillow of my hotel room!), and last but not least I had met Andy, a great guy from Sheffield who turned out to have similar interests... You see, I really had to go and climb one more! So we decided to combine a short three-day course on mountaineering, glacier travel, and rescue with a summit climb. We ended up going with William, my guide from the Pisco climb, who turned out to be a great teacher, too. William certainly knows his stuff. He would spot us putting the carbine the wrong way from more than four meters away and would meticulously and patiently correct all of our numerous mistakes making knots and setting up the rescue systems... But let me start at the beginning. So four days in total, besides Andy and me - William, of course, and his father, Pedro, who would take care of the camp in our absence, cook, and help ferrying the loads. It was actually impressive to see this fit 58-year old fellow carrying a heavy pack swiftly across the steep and ugly trail up to the moraine camp at 4900m. If I would be able to do this at his age, I would feel very fortunate! Speaking of the "trail" - this was actually the ugliest part of the whole trip, partly scrambling up steep rock slabs and slippery mud patches. Not overly bad, but with a 35kg backpack certainly not a walk in the park. The three nights in the moraine camp turned out to be somewhat rough for me, it got very cold immediately after the sun disappeared and I had trouble sleeping the first two nights. The fact that I also got diarrhea was an unpleasant addition to the discomfort. Honestly, a little bit of loose stool would probably not bother me much at low altitude - at high altitude, though, it is severely debilitating. On the third day around lunch time I had to quit the course and go back to camp to spend the afternoon dozing in my tent in order to gather enough strength for the summit day. This, my self-prescribed diet of only a few biscuits and copious amounts of tea for lunch and dinner, and some Loperamide two friendly American climbers gave me were probably responsible I actually made it to the summit. Life at the high camp turned out to be much more demanding than usual trekking. The wear and tear on my body and equipment in these four days was significantly more severe than during the twelve days in the Huayhuash. At some stage you do not care anymore about small bruises, dust, and dirt. And the fact that you are wearing the same cloths for four days, day and night, does not even come to your mind anymore as you have more severe things to worry about. For the course we went from the moraine camp up to the glacier at 5000m to practice the proper set-up of anchors, knots, rescue hoisting systems, ice-climbing, placement of ice-screws, etc. William not only turned out to be a very patient teacher, he really surprised us by his ability to spot the tiniest flaws in our technique even from far away. Well, if you want to survive mountaineering for a longer time, I guess you have to be extremely serious and accurate always. Unfortunately I could not really enjoy the lessons fully since I already felt somewhat weak after the first day. On the summit day we got up at 2 am, had some breakfast - a cup of hot water for me - and set out at about quarter to three. William set a very good and steady pace and although I was pretty much at my limit, we reached the summit at about 7.15 am, shortly after the sun had risen. I did not really enjoy the walk up due to my weakness and the cold, but on the summit I did warm up and the three of us spent a great three quarters of an hour doing silly things and snapping lots of pictures. Andy turned out to be a very keen photographer and he kindly allowed me to show some of his pictures on this site. Have a look here. The photograph of this blog entry is by him as well. On the way down the glacier we could see what a spectacular landscape we had missed on the way up. This included a few gaping crevasse holes right next to the trail we had come up, maybe good we did not see them before... We also met the two Americans who had helped me out with the medicine. They were carrying their skis up to the summit to ski down the mountain! Possible, but given the heavily crevassed glacier not without danger. After arriving in the camp, I took a quick nap in my tent. Then, we had to pack in everything and hike down the trail towards the access road. We were surprised ourselves how we had managed to climb up this gruesome path with our heavy backpacks the first day... At one spot William even secured us with the rope when we had to go down a rock slab. Once back to Huaraz at about 3 pm, I really enjoyed the hot shower!!! It did feel highly deserved. And the first night of nine hours solid sleep in a real bed were truly heaven. You can find my pictures of the trip here.
| | Had to look at this beautiful mountain for far too long from my hotel window in Huaraz... So in the end I just had to climb it! I went together with my guide from the Pisco climb, William, and Andy, a great fellow from England. Since we stayed three nights in the moraine camp at 4900m to learn a few mountaineering skills in the days before the climb, we were joined by Pedro, Williams father who took care of the camp and cooked sumptous meals and seemingly infinite amounts of hot tea. A very enjoyable trip!
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 I just had the most exhilarating mountain climb of my life! A gorgeous day with spectacular weather and stunning views - out on one of the mountains with the most scenic panorama all around. What more could you want?
The day before yesterday I left Huaraz together with Carol and Raymond, a couple from North-Carolina which I had met on the Huayhuash trek, and William, our mountain guide. After a good two hours in bus and taxi we walked the 700m in altitude up to the base camp at 4600m of Pisco. After setting up camp, we had a little time to relax and Raymond and I set out to have a look over the first moraine ridge towards the mountain. A huge field with giant hills of moraine rubble separates the base camp from the glacier where the actual climb begins. Normally, about two hours are required to scramble across this desert of loose rock and scree. After an early noodle dinner we turned in to catch some sleep. I only slept for about two hours and lay awake the rest of the time.
It was a crystal clear night, millions of stars in the sky (and some shooting stars), no wind, cracking cold but dry. We got up at 1am, had a very scarce breakfast, and left camp at 2am. We took on Luc, a Canadian from Quebec, who's climbing partner had gotten sick in the base camp... So we were five in total crossing the moraine in total darkness just illuminating the rocks with our head-torches. I was wearing the plastic mountaineering boots all the way as I did not want to carry the additional load of my trekking boots - all the climbing gear is already heavy enough! These plastic boots are the mountaineering equivalent of ski boots -totally rigid and great on snow and ice, but they did surprisingly well for moraine scrambling and rock-hopping, too.
It turned out that Carol had quite some problems with the moraine rubble and we hence took almost three and a half hours to cross the this unpleasant terrain. Our guide William got a little nervous here, but for me the delay turned out to be a great plus as I had plenty of light for photography on the glacier! When we had put on the glacier gear - additional cloths, gloves, harnesses, boots, gaiters, crampons, ice axes etc. - and finally stood on the snow, the sun began to rise colouring the spectacular rock and ice lanscapes beautifully in all hues of orange and red.
Initially, progress on the glacier was quite slow as Carol was still bravely battling on, obviously being in dire straights. I had no reason to complain - I enjoyed plenty of time to snap pictures during the walk. At the first step after the col (the saddle between Huandoy and Pisco from whereon the walk up the flank of Pisco begins) she finally had to give in. Raymond immediately decided to stay with her, and William brought both back to the col where they waited on the glacier until the rest of us would return from the summit. As the sun was already out and warming, the climb could not have been any more comfortable. No wind and deep blue skies... Not to speak of the gorgeous views into all directions.
We were a little quicker then, and the next two hours climbing through the marvelous glacier landscapes will be one of the greatest memories of my whole trip. Shortly before we reached the summit ridge, a few clouds emerged from the mountain top which obscured the 360° panoramic view. We stood on the summit of Pisco (5752m) at 10am. Regardless of the occasional summit cloud, the views were totally mind-blowing and we spent about 20 minutes on the mountain top taking the great scenery in. The water in my water bottle was almost completely frozen, but due to the sun the climate on the summit was really pleasant and we had a snack of cookies and chocolate - almost the first food for me since getting up in the morning.
On the way down we passed two other groups which had been starring in my glacier pictures on the way up. Walking with crampons on glacier snow can be incredibly easy and quick! Especially downhill. After catching up with Carol and Raymond and reaching the end of the glacier, we took our mountaineering gear off and walked back across the moraine rubble towards basecamp for an other couple of hours. I was very glad to finally take off my plastic boots after a full 13 hours of walking and climbing in them! The longest break had been the summit stop of 20 minutes...
We quickly packed camp and walked two more hours back to Cebollapampa where our taxi to Yungay was waiting. From there we took the bus back to Huaraz. The walking in my heavy but comfortable trekking boots felt like heaven, despite the extra heavy backpack with all the climbing gear in addition to the normal camping stuff.
I do not think I have ever before been walking for 15 hours straight during one single day! But I have not been feeling so extremely happy as well as pleasantly and thoroughly exhausted in a very long time! When I finally fell into my bed in Huaraz after a long hot shower, I slept like a log for ten hours.
I can now perfectly understand why climbing mountains is so addictive! But I feel I have done enough hereabouts in Huaraz and can finally move on. William, our guide, however, tries to convince me to climb Alpamayo together with him... It really is tempting as I am now as fit and acclimatized as ever! But no worries mum, I will probably be sensible and leave the mountains behind for a while.
Have a look at some pictures here, if you like.
P.S.: The mountain was actually named after the local alcoholic drink which the first climbers had in copious amounts when coming back into town after the first successful summit attempt! For me the impressions of the day could not have been any more exhilarating, no alcohol required.
| | Blown away by stunning glacier beauty... The most phantastic mountain climb I have ever done. And many agree - the best views from the summit to be had anywhere! |
 So back I am again. What a great walk! Where to start? Too much to tell - 12 days is a long time. After looking around for companions to do this walk, I finally hooked up with Ashley and Pete, whom I had already met a while ago in Bolivia and who happened to arrive in Huaraz just in time.
We decided to do the trek on our own, that is to say not making use of guides or mules, and taking our time. Most people, however, do go with at least mules and a muleteer. (We did not meet anyone else who was carrying their backpack themselves!) But we found carrying our 30kg+ backpacks, well, what to say... invigorating?! Honestly, if you are fit and acclimatized it is not too bad. One could do the whole circuit in as little as eight days, but then you would not get to see some of the truly spectacular side-valleys (which for me were the absolute highlights of the trip!). So we planned our food on 12 days instead, which turned out to be exactly right.
The landscapes we got to see can only be described as utterly spectacular! Beautiful peaks, glaciers, lakes, and valleys. I fear my pictures do not do the landscape justice, they may be nice but the views were truly breathtaking in reality! The only mountains I have seen so far that impressed me similarly were in the Nepalese Himalaya.
The walking itself is not too bad. About six to nine hours on the trail per day, going about 400m to 1000m up and down. At low altitude this would be only a moderately demanding walk. But since during this trek you are continuously between 4000m and 5000m, this is actually quite a tough daily program. This exercise, however, is only becoming provided you are sufficiently acclimatized! We have met people basically spending the first couple of days throwing up, feeling really sick and nauseous... And you have to cross a high pass of more than 4700m almost every day!
For me the hardest thing were actually the long nights. Due to the closeness of the equator the nights last from about 6pm to 6am. Lots of darkness and cold. Freezing at these altitudes! So you spend almost 12 hours in your tent and sleeping bag every day! I have never been to "bed" later than about 7pm. With temperatures between about -5°C to 5°C in the tent (less outside), there is only one place you are roughly comfortable - inside the sleeping bag!
Although I am typically very happy with my bag at temperatures around zero degrees, on this trip I was slightly cold almost every night which sometimes kept me awake for many hours. The lack of oxygen and the sufficient but not overly rich food supply certainly contributed. So there I was lying awake with all my cloths on inside the sleeping bag - two layers of thermal underwear, fleece jumper, down vest, wool socks, wool hat and fleece gloves - waiting for the morning... Sometimes dozing on and off. My advice: bring a really warm sleeping bag! (Or a mule and hence all the food and cloths you can possibly want...)
One little annoying thing is the current payment system. Every settlement you are passing is charging a few dollars per person for letting you walk by! So people with little ticket books walk up to you to make you pay, sometimes several times a day. It all appears to be totally random and you do get to hear various stories about what is going to happen with money. Track improvement, community subsidy, "security". The latter is particularly interesting, since until very recently the Huayhuash was known to be quite unsafe. The latest major incident was 2004 when four trekkers were robbed and shot by local bandits. So basically now you pay the locals for not robbing you! This is next best thing to robbery in my eyes.
A negative highlight was - owed to my own stupidity - when I arrived on the third day in camp after taking an exhausting "alpine" route variation (i.e. leading without trails through more rugged territory than the normal valley route), just to discover I had left behind my camera when I was preparing for an approaching thunderstorm... I could not believe my own stupidity!!! But in the thinner air your brain does funny things at times.
So I set out immediately again, trying to find back the spot where I remembered I had intended to pack my camera safely into my backpack. Unfortunately this was quite a while before the camp on a very chaotic and very steep slope with lots of rocks and bumps and bushes of tussock grass. Nothing but plenty of animal-trails. And no way to spot anything from further and a couple of meters away. So I criss-crossed the slopes for hours until darkness trying to find back the exact spot. Without any success. Walking back to camp with hurting feet and totally exhausted, it was already dark and I got more sleet and rain into my face from the next hailstorm... When I arrived in camp, Ashley and Pete very kindly comforted me with hot drinks and food. On the walk back I had already mentally prepared for a "let-go-of-you-possessions"-exercise. If it only had not been my camera! Worth a lot of money, too.
When I finally got into my tent - believe it or not - I found the plastic bag with my camera just lying next to the entrance! How stupid can you actually be? I know I had been carefully looking around at least twice... At least that is what I was convinced I had done. So I had put myself through hell just for nothing! I did feel a lot of relief, though. And this way you do get to see a few pictures, too.
One of the greatest views I had from scrambling up Cerro Gran Vista (5152m, very appropriate name!) overlooking Laguna Sarapococha and the Cordillera, see the view here. This is exactly where the horrible accident of "Touching the Void" took place. But there are many other spots, typically on the high passes, from where the views are incredible. Absolutely worth the effort and hardships of the trek! I would do it again immediately!
Being back to Huaraz now, I do enjoy the amenities of being able to take a hot shower and buying all the food I fancy! And I keep eating almost continuously... I guess my body has to recharge a little.
Of course there would be much more to tell, but I have already spent too much time in the internet cafe... As I am now well acclimatized and very fit, I will probably go and climb an other little mountain near here the next days. Stay tuned!
| | Simply one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world! |
Just a brief note to let you know that I will be off for the next ten to twelve days. I am going for a supposedly nice but quite serious hike around the Cordillera Huayhuash together with two friends from Alaska - so don't expect anything new on this site until about two weeks from now.
The walking takes place in altitudes between 4000m and 5000m, so we will feel like slugs in the beginning, especially with all the food we just bought in the local market! But when coming back, we should be quite fit... and ready for other adventures. Unfortunately the weather really sucks at the moment - rain. And this is supposed to be the dry season hereabouts. The locals only shake their heads about the weather. Will post more when back to Huaraz.
| | Beautiful mountain lake at 4450m - nice day trip from Huaraz! |
| | Not the most beautiful city - but some great mountains of the Cordillera Blanca around. |
 Have just arrived back from the Santa Cruz Trek - four days in the Cordillera Blanca. Unfortunately the weather was rather mixed, so only sometimes views of the spectacular peaks and glaciers. Rain every day and night. I had forgotten how exhausting the altitude was - at the pass Punta Union at 4750m I felt and walked like a sloth... And I almost looked like one (see picture). From the pass I could see four condors circling up into the sky. Very long nights and quite cold - 13 hours, around 5 °C. Have seen humming birds at 4100m altitude, though.
Already the taxi ride from Caraz to Cachapampa, the starting point of the walk, is an adventure. Normally a taxi takes six passengers, ours took seven - not counting the four kids of various age and all the luggage. Then a walk of about four hours to the first camp at about 3700m, nothing special, drizzle set in just when I was finished with dinner.
Spent the second night at Alpamayo Basecamp at 4300m, almost without any views of the mountains. Only after I had already left the valley again early the next morning the skies cleared up a little.
The third night in a secluded valley, Quebrada Paría at 4000m, after crossing the pass. I was completely on my own with the great panoramic view of a massive snow and ice wall around the end of the valley. At least the peaks were visible for a while in the evening... The best day. Heavy rain during the night had me prepare for the worst inside the tent, but only a few little puddles in one corner of the tent.
Today the longish but mainly flat walk out to Vaquería through some picturesque high-altitude settlements. Pigs, sheep, goats, llamas, chicken, and dirty kids - have been asked "¿Hay caramelo?" dozens of times...
The ride in a ramshackle Toyota minivan back from Vaquería to Yungay was great. From about 3800m up to a pass at about 4800m on a very rocky dirt track! Surprising the engine did not stall in the altitude. And then on the other side more than 1000m almost vertically down again into the valley. Hours of switchbacks wiggling like intestines. Many crosses at the roadside to commemorate tragic losses. Incredible views on many five and six thousand meter peaks and massive glaciers on all sides of the road - where not covered in clouds. The following 1000m on somewhat less dramatic switchbacks down into the main valley through villages and small paddies were very beautiful, too. About three hours for the 50 kilometers.
Will post a few pictures, but not now. I am too hungry! And Huaraz with some fab food is waiting for me.
Traveling is not holidays! I know I have said that before. It's true! Believe me, it can be really hard at times... At the moment I am having a little down - and hence decided to take a break from traveling. Well, maybe it would be more appropriate to say my body has been demanding a break. Not only did I have some trouble during the last two weeks with a probable infection with amoebae, but also a cold that has grown into a full-blown bronchitis. The latter is still not really over yet, while I hope to have done with the amoebae thanks to a strong course of antibiotics. I am therefore not doing anything here in Huaraz for a while, a purpose for which this town is actually quite suited.
Found a nice little hotel, enjoying a private room with bathroom and TV, which - compared to Bolivan standards - is rather expensive (about 8€), but still not yet killing my budget. And then there is the Cafe Andino, supplied with a great balcony, a huge lounge-like area, an open fireplace, and a big library. Plus - most important - it serves really superb coffee! What a pleasure for a coffee-snob as me. Especially after having been deprived from proper coffee for so long! And then the summits of about five 6000m-plus mountains and many other peaks are visible from the cafes panoramic windows. All in all, Huaraz is hence quite a nice place to crash out for a while.
I admit, a couple of days ago I was quite fed up with traveling and Peru in general. The tourism machinery of Cusco is truly horrible. Especially coming from lovely Bolivia, this was a terrible shock. There still is tourism around hereabouts, but much more low key.
The day before yesterday I have read "Touching the Void" by Joe Simpson and seen the film the same night in a little Cafe con cinema. What a gripping-ugly mountain story! A very suitable read since the whole thing happened only about a 100km away from here on Siula Grande. Recommended.
OK, enough rambling for now. Will write again once I have something to report. Might not be for a little while, though.
Btw., the picture shows Huascarán, 6768m, at sunset seen from Cafe Andino a couple of minutes ago. Just one of the many marvelous peaks around...
I have already complained about Cusco. Not much more to say. It is actually a beautiful city, but the into-your-face-tourism made it hard to stand for me. Together with a bunch of great fellow travelers we 'did' a few of the many, many Inca ruins around Cusco. One day on horseback, poor animals. Nothing to do with 'riding', the horses would just trod along the same trail they apparently do every day since many years.... Machu Picchu was worth the hassle (and money - a rip-off!!) to get there. But instead of boring you with lengthy descriptions I decided to bore you with a few pictures instead (see here).
Whow - I had thought I had just booked a train journey... But the train actually is only taken by tourists and given the touristic efficiency of Peru, we got the full treat of life music on the train (of the type you guys at home know from the local pedestrian shopping street, "El Condor pasa" etc.). There were several bands, and in one occasion a few of us even had to "happily" dance with a girl dressed up in traditional clothes. Dreadful, I was very glad it did not hit me!
But other than this the journey was actually a treat! The landscape - in the beginning Lake Titikaka and then the hills and mountains - was really beautiful. On the train waiters perfectly dressed up with bow tie and all... So I decided to indulge in a little luxury and order the three-course lunch menu for 10$, which seemed horribly expensive at the time. It turned out to be the poshest meal I have had for a long, long time! Absolutely worth the money! Table-cloth, linen serviettes, decent cutlery, very nice food beautifully presented... Alpaca meat nicely marinated with a salad for starters, then a good tuna fillet with a great vegetable/pumpkin sauce, and panacota with passion-fruit sauce for desert. Whow! Really enjoyed the 10 hour train ride!
Cusco, on the other hand, was a shock! Massively touristy. And it turned out to be really difficult to find a half-way decent place to stay. Either dingy rooms, unfriendly owners, or really expensive (even after allowing for twice the Bolivian budget). After the first night, however, I moved together with a friend to a really nice place a few blocks off the utterly touristy Plaza de Armas. Still on the expensive side, but very chilled. Quite esoteric, though.
This hostel features "guided journeys" with the San Pedro Cactus which mainly contains mescaline. Many entries in the guest book rave about the trip. Today they are just cooking a huge amount of cactuses in the hostel kitchen to make the juice that's drunk for the "journey".
  
Quite mixed first impressions of Peru... After arriving in Puna, Peru, in the late afternoon, we immediately took off to do the "mandatory" boat trip to the floating reed islands. They should rather be called "floating souvenir shops", though. A most horrible experience! Total "into-your-face-tourism". Dreadful. It is actually a shame, since the islands are quite impressive, but the whole thing is really nothing more than a floating Disneyland. At least the islands you get to see during the standard tours.
The very pittoresque full moon over the lake helped soothing the totally artificial experience a little. But I was still very happy to get back to the hostel. But also Puno was not really intriguing - touting in Peru is so much more agressive than in Bolivia. I think I have been spoilt a bit. Could not wait to get away from Puno.
 
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