Bye bye Incas, hello big red steaks!
Written by Christian Haugen on August 13, 2009 – 12:10 am -Im not going to lie to you, Argentinas legendary beef has occupied my dreams for a long time now. The thought of the most tender meat on this side of the Milky Way after months of rice and beans was enough to keep me up at night. It was time to endulge ourself in a meat feast that I’ve not seen the likes of! Welcome to Buenos Aires baby!
One of the many steaks we were to enjoy at Desnivel
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Tags: Argentina, beef, Buenos Aires, Porteno, Red Wine, RTW, South America, Steaks, Travel
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Eating Ceviche and meeting Davids family
Written by Christian Haugen on August 3, 2009 – 4:30 pm -After our legendary busride between Puno and Cusco we were glad that we had booked a flight back to Lima. It was not just the comfort of liveable temperatures or reduced risk of burned bridges that was the primary factors in our decision making, but rather the fact that flying back would give us a bit more time in Lima with Hanne Beate and David. The trip back to Lima went like a breeze and we were once again met at the airport by Hanne Beate that for the occasion had even made us a sign! Although it was mostly to keep the taxi touts away it was our first welcome sign and it was duly appreciated.
We only had a couple of days in Lima this time around as well but we managed to squeeze in some last minute souvenir shopping and one of the culinary highlights of the Peru trip, Ceviche. Ceviche is basically raw fish in lime which first does sound kind of weird.. To my surprise it doesn’t taste like raw fish since the lime has marinated the dish in advance. Its a delicious dish and a must eat if you are in Peru! Since we had Hanne Beate and David as our personal guides we were confident that the choice of restaurant was top notch. Finding a place to eat ceviche in Lima is not hard, but as with all national specialities it’s wise to ask the locals where the best one is served.
Tags: backpacking, ceviche. Lima, Miraflores, Peru, RTW, Travel, Ventanilla
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Machu Picchu – The lost city of the Incas
Written by Christian Haugen on July 23, 2009 – 6:39 pm -Machu Picchu, the mere mention of the name of this former hidden city in the clouds is enough to get any adventurers heart beating. It’s a city that was lost to the world for almost 400 years, after the Incas had left it in an attempt to save some of the Incan empire from the destruction of the spanish conquistadors. It was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an explorer from the USA, after he had heard rumours of a hidden city up in the mountains. The story of it’s rediscovery pales compared to the story of Machu Picchu itself, a story that will perhaps never be completely told as the lost city of the Incas remains almost as shrouded in mystery as it was when it was discovered.
After 3 days of trekking through the Andean mountains, up mountain passes and down thousands of steps we were finally close to the goal of our trek. As we woke up in the middle of the night, had a light breakfast and geared up we were a mere hour away from the first view of Machu Picchu, the Sun Gate. We waited for a while outside the gate to the protected area around Machu Picchu, and as we had gotten up early enough we were the second group waiting to be let in at 5.30 in the morning. As the gate opened we hurried up the path, guided by the headlamps of those ahead of us. It was a race against the sun, as we wanted to get to the Sun Gate to see the first rays of the sun hit the Sun Temple at the break of dawn. The pace was high and by the time I reached the gate I was heaving for breath and struggling to keep my videocamera still as I was trying to capture the moment as it happened.
Tags: adventure, backpacking, Hiking, Hiram Bingham, Inca, Inca T, Inca Trail, Lost City, Machu Picchu, Pachacutec, Peru, Sun Gate, Trekking
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The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Written by Christian Haugen on July 16, 2009 – 5:00 am -One of the books that got me interested in more adventurous travelling had a section on Kilimanjaro that inspired me to climb it in January 2008. The book also had a section on the Inca Trail, and from then on it was a must do on our 6 month around the world trip. We booked our trip with Peru Treks far in advance to be sure that we would get a date that fitted with out travel plans. We chose Peru Treks because they are famous for treating their porters well as well as they have been receiving good reviews online. When it comes to trekking with porters I would rather pay more to make sure that the porters are being treated fairly than to save a few bucks.
As we got picked up early in the morning from our hostel we were packed and ready to go. The hostel didn’t have breakfast ready this early, so we had been told that we could eat breakfast with the rest of the group at our first stop. It was also our first chance to get to know the group that we were going to be hiking with for the next few days. We were really lucky with our group, and it was easy to tell from the beginning that we were going to have a great time together. As we had our first stop, where our guide Juan again introduced himself to us and let each of us introduce ourself to the group, I felt that the trek had really begun. We were standing in what Juan referred to as his office, with towering mountains on all sides and the Urubamba river flowing next to us. It was good to be on the trail again and we were eager to find out what the Inca Trail would have in store for us.
Our Inca Trail group ready for departure!
Tags: backpacking, Camino Inca, Chasqui, Chasquis, Inca, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Peru, RTW, South America, Travel, Trekking
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Cusco and the preperations for the Inti Rayma
Written by Christian Haugen on July 15, 2009 – 3:13 am -This blog post will be mostly without pictures as my memory card (which I suspect is fake) failed me for the fourth time. This time I didn’t manage to recover the pictures and I have to wait for a professional company back in Norway before I hopefully will be able to get them back.
Cusco became one of my favourite cities on this trip, as it was magically relaxing and contained a colonial beauty that I haven’t found in other cities so far in South or Central America. Among my favourite places to sit back and watch the life pass by was Cafe Cappucino, ideally situated on the second floor of a charming building overlooking the Plaza de Armas. The place is a bit more pricy than the regular peruvian jouints, but in light of the view and how chill it really is it’s definently worth it. There’s even an internet cafe inside for people like me to catch up on blogging, something which I am seriously behind right about now..
Tags: backpacking, Broken Memory card, Children, Cusco, History, Inca, Inti Rayma, Peru, RTW, Travel
Posted in Peru | 4 Comments »
