Essen – radrauschen

La bonita ciuadad de Cusco y las ruinas de Machu Picchu

After 5 days in Cusco, including the trip to Machu Picchu, I spent my last hours hours in the vegan Restaurant „Green Point“ to write. The restaurant does not just provide healthy, ecological and vegan food, but offers an pleasant atmosphere. But the best is the lunch offer for just 12 Soles, which does include a salad from a buffet, a soup, a main course, a dessert and a frech juice. For the main course there are two options, between you can choose. Currently I’m just having a coffee while listening to the music of Vintage Reggae Café.

Cusco entered the charts of my top cities in Latino America on number one. Cuenca y Cartagena had a great atmosphere as well, but Cusco had its special charme with numerous culinary and culture offers. The nice market of San Pedro, the neighborhood of San Blas, the narrow streets and the colonial buildings. Additionally there are several treks around to walk in the mountains or to discover the ruins of the Inkas. Cusco in pictures:

I spent a full day in Cusco, walked around a lot, visited the museum Coricancha, gave away my camera to let it clean, visited the market and bought a new gas cartridge as well as some care products. So I was prepared to go to Machu Picchu the next day. There are several options to visit the city of the Inkas. You can take the service of one of the hundreds tour offices, which is maybe the most expensive possibility. Then you can follow the Inka trail or other treks, which will take several days. Another economical way and that’s what I have done, is the public transport, which I will sum up shortly.

The map shows how to get from Cusco to Machu Picchu. At first you can take a bus for 15 Soles into direction Qillabamba and leave the bus at Santa Maria. To get there, the bus needs around 6 hours. Arrived in Santa Maria further taxis and small buses will wait for you to go go to Santa Teresa (10 soles, 1 hour) or Hidroeléctrica (15 Soles, 1 1/2 hour). From Hidroeléctrica there is the possibility to take the train (38 $, 15 minutes) or to walk along the rails (2 hours). In Aqua Calientes there are many hostels in all price categories, so no need to reserve in advance. Also restaurants are numerous. If you want to avoid the touristic prices, go to the small market, which is near the Plaza de armas. There you get a meal for 6 soles. Usually you stay one night in Aqua Caliente after a one day journey to arrive there. In the next morning you can take the bus (12 $, starts from 5:30) or walk (bridge opens at 5:00) up to the entrance of Machu Picchu pueblo (opens at 6:00). It’s a steep walk, but if you hurry up, you will arrive before the first buses.
For the tickets for Machu Picchu you have three possibilities. Machu Picchu Pueblo (128 soles), Machu Picchu Pueblo + Machu Picchu Mountain (148 soles) and Machu Picchu Pueblo + Wayna Picchu Mountain. The tickets can be purchased in Cusco or near the Plaza de Armas in Aqua Calientes.

So, back to my experiences: I got up early in Aqua Calientes to walk up and arrive for the big mass of tourists and indeed I did it and after I entered the entrance I got to see the ruins without people while the llamas were running over the green areas inside the village. It was an awesome experience when I catched the first glimpse. It’s impressive that human beings were able to construct these houses and walls during that time, considering that it’s high up in the mountain and the stones are quite big and heavy. After I walked to the Inka bridge and walked around a bit, I went up to the mountain of Machu Picchu. I was still exhausted from the first climb and didn’t expect that another 500 meters steep walk up to the top waited for me. The weather at that morning also wasn’t the best, foggy, cold and during my way up I even went into the clouds. On the top I was surrounded by a big white soup of clouds and it took over an hour before I could look down. But after the torture of the climb and the amazing view over the ruins, which finally appeared, it was totally worth to wait for a while.

Waiting for the bridge to open.

The view, when I arrived on the top of Machu Picchu.

A part of the ruins were visible.

And finally the clouds were gone.

The street from Aqua Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu pueblo.

Machu Picchu on our way back to Hydroeléctrica

I left Cusco to Quiquijana, a small village 70 kilometers in the south of the city. There it finally worked, what I tried from time to time during my travel. What it is will be found on my blog in the next few days.

From the Reservado National de Pacaras to Cusco

70 km trough the desert until Ica, road nearly not visible and instead of sand boarding I slided down the dunes until my bike was so deep in the sand, that I made a controlled somersault over my handlebar. The way along the coast was beautiful and I passed one nice beach after another. But the riding on my bike was very tough.The sand was most of the time very hard, so posible to ride in but it changed frkm time to time. On top some dunes were so steep, that I had tk push my bike. Before I went inland to reach Ica, I had a last view at the Pacific. I observed the flourishing life of the ocean, seal and birds were chasing after the fishes, pelicans and seagulls were gliding over the water. It was a harmonic view.

The inland road was clearly visible but the waves on the ground made the riding very jumpy, so that I was proceeding very slow. And slowly I was running out of water under the burning sun without the possibility to have some shadow. For 2 hours not any car passed me, but finally two and what did they offered me, yes, water! As well my food was going to end, but at least I found some shadow next to a tall gate. I sat down, but finally I heard a voice and a stone crashing into the gate from the other side. The owner of that farm was afraid that I would rob him, but as he saw my bike he calm down and offered me food and something to drink. Finally it ended up with a foto with him and it’s crew!

I arrived in the Oasis of Huacachina which is famous for its dunes where you can do sandboarding. I decided to have enough of sand and followed an invitation of Berly, a warmshower in Ica. He took me out for a free wine and Pisco tasting as well as a to short tour to the production process. Afterwards we visited another winery, which was over 200 years old, where we were offered more drinks.

From Ica to Nasca a ride of two days were waiting for me, but as I took a picture of a burned car, a Land Rover with a german number plate stopped in front of me. Ecki, a 58 old guy from Waiblingen asked if he could give me a ride and since the part of the Panamericana was going through the boring desert, I followed the invitation and saved one day.

After we found our accommodations in Nasca we met for dinner and had a good conversation.

By accident I took the key of my room in Ica with me, so I had the chance for my first experience in sending a letter. As I arrived in the post office they wanted to have to copies of my passport and an envelope was also not available. Until now I don’t know why the asked me for these copies.
The way to Abancay included 8500 meters of going up on a distance of 400 kilometers without many possibilities to receive provisions.
So I decided spontaneously to take the night bus. The ticket was 60 soles including my bike, that what I was told when I puchased the ticket. They even had a look on my bike if it will fit into the bus and told me that it would be no problem. In the evening the situation changed and they wanted me to pay 20 soles more for my bike. But after complaining I didn’t have to pay more. The bus was 1 1/2 hours late but finally we where on the way. During the night some people throw up due to the up and downs up to a height of over 4000 meters.
The next three days to Cusco included another 5000 meters of climbingwith some nice views frm the tol of the mountains. I enjoyed Mango ice cream, met parrots and dugs and spent one night in the garden of a family in the countryside of Limatambo.

About the life in Lima and habits of travelling

Although there were a lot of intereting things in the north of Peru, I will skip to write about that part to be back in the present.
A week ago, I entered the metropolitan area of Perus capital. Already 50 kilometers before I reached my destination, the traffic got dense and the Panamericana grew from one to two and occasionally to four lines. It demanded a lot of concentration to cycle trough this traffic jungle and I especially had to watch the buses and so the so called Micros, which crossed my way all the time to let hop in and hop off the passengers. Like in most off the parts of South America there are no paths for cyclists. But at least in the towns its changing. Recently they started to build a lot of new ones in the suburb Miraflores, but seems as if the people still have to get used to it, cause cars are crossing the ciclovias without looking or pedestrians walk on them, but the first step to built up the awareness is done.
One third of Perus population live in Lima and their surroundings. It seemed to be as if I’m in another world in comparison to the rest of the country. Especially in the Center, in Miraflores, Barranco, San Isidro or Surco, the quality of close to Europe. Various bars, restaurants, shops of brands, casinos, hotels and also malls give me the feeling of being in a western city. The average of the prices are much more expensive then in the countryside and according to well-built houses, the clothes and some more expensive cars it’s obvious that the people have much more money. In contrast to the well-being of the rich suburbs there are huge favelas in the suburban areas, where people live in small houses made out of loam and corrugated sheets. This areas become bigger and bigger cause more and more people settle down uncontrolled, which is leading to bigger and bigger problems. Especially the water suply is getting critical due to the massive growth of the city in combination of the global warming. In addition the high gradient of life quality rise the potential of conflicts, but currently you don’t feel so much of it inside the good areas and I haven’t had any problem, but while passing the poorer districts I felt this rising tension.
Nevertheless I had a good time in Lima. I visited two art museums, was impressed by the colonial buildings and enjoyed the high culinary variety. Camu camu fruits from the market, picarones, empanadas, ceviche, pisco, causa rellena, tacu tacu and more typical local food show that Peru provide a lot of different tasty dishes. I took part in a birthday party and visisted some bars, where I hadn’t been for a while. The coast is full of surfers and paragliders hover through the air. They can be well observed from the cliff coast in Miraflores, where green parks give space to hang around or do some sports.
I regained the feeling of habit, driving along the same street several times, entering the elevator in the house of my friends, waking up in the same bed or meeting the same people over and over again. The totally unusual feeling of habit and other changes with come with it like getting a role in this context, showed me even more what it is to be in an always changing environment. So, do I have any daily habits during my travel? I would say barely. Maybe the construction of my tent or the packing of my bike became something like a habit or to order a vegetarian dish, but there is not much left to feel like in a daily grind. On top I got lost in time somehow and most of the time I don’t even know what day of the week it is. Eating doesn’t stick to a certain time and waking up is more related to the sun. It feels good not to have any deadlines, appointments or any points in time, where something or somebody determine my doing.
In a few minutes the journey goes on, pedaling south like most of the time. Pisco, Paracas and Ica are waiting to be explored.

The South of Colombia

For my travel the bike became an extension of my body and so the man-maschine-interaction has a big influence on my travel. And so if I exert force on my bike, the bike also exert force on me. But in case of any misalignment, I’m the only one who will feel pain.
About 7 years ago I had an an operation on my knee, where a part of meniscus had to be cut away, due to a crack which harm my cartilage. I recovered quite well, run a marathon, could do all sports again without suffer pain. Very seldom I felt that there ever had been some incident that lead to a potential irreparable weakness.
The crossing of the Cordillera Central to Ibagué dared myself and concerning to my power it was not worth mentioning, but my knee reminded me of being the key part of my body, which was demanded the most on climbing up steep hills with a heavy travel bike. Two days after the increased burden and another 190 km to Neiva I couldn’t even walk properly. So time to slow down to recover my knee! We decided to stay a few days to observe and support the healing process.
We arrived in Neiva and rest in a Café to figure out where to spent the night. We couldn’t find any hostel in town and thought about cycling out of the town again but suddenly we had three possibilities, so how come. I had a look on airbnb and asked for a room, but didn’t expect a fast answer, which I received surprisingly. We were told where to find a camping ground and we got invited by a family. So, we followed the offer and due to a flat tyre had to ride trough the dark city surrounded by heavy traffic to the house of the family, as we thought. But the house was owned by the mother of the man who invited us and it was a bit confusing cause all the people we met in the café weren’t present as we found the place. Well, everything clarified, we slept in the garage and enjoyed the hospitality. The next three nights we spent in a room in the house of two locals, which were very lovely. It was a perfect place to recover and on top I learned about several new fruits and typical dishes of Colombia and the department of Huila. On top, the town was celebrating San Pedro, which lasted over a week. Born from rural customs, this celebration remains as a memory of old traditions, where locals and visitors participate in parades, cavalcades, reigns, competitions, festivals and various cultural and artistic events. Our host showed us around and gave us the advice to the two parades, especially the one with the Chivas, a bus which was first built in Medellín especially considering the mountainous geography of the Andean region. Their colourful design made them famous and a symbol of Colombia and Equador.

Local fruits

One of the iguanas in the garden of our host, about 40 centimeters

Street parade with typical clothing

Desfile de Chivas/ street parade of the Chivas

And strikingly it was the day of another match in the Copa America, Colombia against Argentina, which was lost by the Colombianos after penalties.
We left Neiva, but not before we went to the local market with our host. More typical fruits and dishes.

My knee was not totally recovered, so I started to hitchhike while Tobias was pedaling. On the first day it didn’t work that good, so that I had to cycled a bit until I found a nice spot to camp.

Camping near Gigante

The hosts in Neiva own a farm in Pitalito, where I stayed the next night. I got up at 5 a.m. in the morning to milk a cow for the first time, but they were not used to me and therefor to shy, but I had the possibility to observe the process: how to get the cows from the field into the cote, to let the calve start to suck some milk out of the udder before it were tied up during the milking before returning back to its mother animal. a

I went on without my bike to San Agustín, where I took part in a Jeep Tour to see some archeological places, a narrowness of the river Magdalena and two waterfalls, one of them falling down uninterrupted of a height of 400 meters. And I got to see how Panela, the famous brown sugar is made, by visiting a small manufacture of cane sugar.

Estrecho de Magdalena

The sugar cane press

Heating up to get out the liquid

Salto de Mortiño

Salto de Bordónes

Lovely Colombia

Colombia is turning to my favourite country so far. Nice people, beautiful nature and some more great moments on my way south. Lying in the grass, surrounded by a bunch of colombian kids, who explore all of our stuff and bombard us with heaps of questions, I’m trying to remember the last days to write this blog entry – and finally the kids are gone, so here we go.
We left the friends of Tobias after the breakfast and went down to Medellín again, where I forgot my Towel in a hostel. After a terrific 1000 m descent we had to climb the whole day and ended up in a restaurant on the top, where we met two Australian cyclists, Joanne and David, who is originally from Germany, but moved to Melbourne several years ago. After we talked for a while we decided to camp behind the restaurant on a horse meadow.

The next few days we shared with the two other „viajeros en bici“, which we will meet again in Equador, where I will join David to hike on of the highest mountains in South America. After we left the horses alone on their meadow, we descended another 45 kilometers into the valley of the Rio Cauca, which is the second largest river of Colombia. The view from the mountains were amazing and the speed of our heavy loaded bikes reached their maximum.

But it took us over and hour to reach La Pintada, the village in the valley, where we enjoyed our daily „Hugo naturales con leche“ (frischer Saft mit Milch). This juices became one of my favourite drinks and now I consume about 4 a day if it’s available. Orange, Guanábana, Banana, Maracuya, Papaya, Strawberry, Lulo, Lemon, Grape, Mango and some more fruits are served ice-cold and give me the necessary power and refreshment during the days. Well, after we enjoyed our drinks we followed the river and tried to make some kilometers, knowing that the next day will be a hard one, climbing up to Manizales. Joanne and David found a super cheap hotel in Irra while Tobias and me drove out the village to camp next to a small tributary river. After a hot day we laid down into the refreshing stream for a while and enjoyed the last sunbeams with a bottle of colombian beer.

The next day we had to climb 1600 meters and so we started early to have some hours in the cool morning. The mountain seemed to be endless but half the way we were accompanied by a nice girl riding her road bike. Finally we made it and all four cyclists checked in the same hostel to spent three nights in Manizales, which belongs to the famous coffee region of Colombia. An hour by car, two volcanos with an altitude of over 4000 meters stick out in the horizon. I never had been that high, but after been asked of joining a 2000 meter downhill ride by bike I was breathing in the thin air in he next morning. A Austrian guy, David an me went up to 4150 meters by car and got some coca tea, before we were chasing down our mountainbikes. It was an awesome experience in an intense I never felt before on an offroad downhill track.

After I had been back on solid ground I relaxed a bit and followed the invitation of the girl on the road bike, we met before while cycling up the hill. The others stayed at the hostel, so it was only me who where collected at the hostel to attend the dinner at the place of the girl and it’s family. It was another intereting evening with a lot of talking only Spanish and by getting to know a wealthy family.
The next day Joanne, Tobias and I discovered the city with all of its churches and parks.

During the day the colour yellow became the dominant colour in the streets, because Colombia had to play it’s second game in the Copa America against the favourite Brasil. The mood was growing and reached its top in the evening, where a joyful tension was filling the air. The soccer team of the Colombianos made their dream come true and after 14 years of not beating the big rail, they won 1:0 and Alm the town drowned in cheer.
Tobias and I left Manizales in the next morning, while Joanne and David stayed one night more, but the time will come to see each other again. The first few kilometers we flew down the mountain to go to Pereira, where we stayed at a Warmshowers place behind the down in a calm area. The house of the couple was amazing. Full of Fotos and painting, as well as books, records and heaps of well-chosen decoration. A garden with fruits, vegetables, herbs, chicken and coneys gave this beautiful place a complete character. The couple and their son traveled as well down south to Patagonia some months ago and provided us everything a bicycle heart needs to be pleased and feel comfortable.

On the descent to Pereira, Tobias fell of his bike, but luckily nothing bad happens. But on the next day he favored his bruise on his upper leg, so that I went to Filandía alone, while he went ahead to our next stay. Filandía is famous for its beautiful and coloured buildings, as well as having some great Coffee Fincas around. So I enjoyed a coffee as well as a Hugo con leche in nice atmosphere in the center, before I went on to the similar but more touristic village Salento.

Arrived there, I couldn’t believe to see a small snack bar with vegetarian and vegan food, burgers, falafel, hummus, guacamole and of course Hugo naturales- wow. It might be nothing special in Germany anymore, but on a continent, where the nearly just only eat carne and where they will tell you in restaurants, not to have any vegetarian meal, in these places it seems to be like a oasis in the desert. Furthermore, some South Americans don’t even know what it means to be Vegetarian – after telling them not to have any kind of mest/carne, they will offer you some pollo/chicken or they will bring you a meal which includes some kind of meat mixed in chickpeas. Salento seems to became adapted to the demands of tourists and the streets were full of international visitors.

Anyway, it’s a nice spot as well and it is close to the Valley of Cocora, which descent up to the mountains with a river in its heart and ends in a small village from where you can do several hikes into the mountains. Huge palms adorn the slopes and create a nice view of the surrounding landscape. We camped next to the creek and fell asleep under the lapping of the stream.

I did a quick hike at 7 in the morning up the hill to gather another view over the valley, before we rode back to Salento. Nearby I attended a coffee tour, where I got to know the whole process of the growing of coffee plants as well as the procedure of gaining high quality coffee, including the picking of coffee cherries and a delicious coffee at the end of the tour.

On the way back I was given a lift up the steep hill to Salento to meet Tobias again, who relaxed in the park in the meantime. What happened afterwards is to be considered my hardest climb ever. Another 1100 meters, but this time on a gravel road up to 3200 meters over the sea. On top we found abandoned house with a great view, where we stayed over night. The first time I had to wear my winter equipment and the wind was strong as well. At the horizon we could observe a thunderstorm.

The next day was not much better concerning the up and downs in the road and most of it again on loose ground. On top lonesome cows and horses walked along the path. For the eyes the views were pure joy, but for my knees it became a big challenge.

We arrived in Ibagué after two physically demanding days and we’re hosted by another warmshower. This time we made Pfannkuchen instead of Spätzle and went together with the father of our host to a short trip into the city center before I fell into a deep sleep.
Today we went on to La espiral and further south to Neiva, the next big town, which is still 120 km away. We asked for a plce to camp along the road at got offered a meadow behind some houses, which we share with cows and goats.

Besieged by four kids, we couldn’t really enjoy a calm afternoon, but the kids seemed to have fun with running around our tents or overwhelming us with questions.
In front of my little home I lie underneath the starry sky about to fall asleep again. To the friends who will attend the Fusion: Enjoy the time, the atmosphere and dance like nobody is watching!

Turning to alternatives

One, who might expect another story of my travel, should simply skip this entry! For me, there are also other things, which happen during this time. Things, which needed an inspiration to arise in my life. Things which are actually obvious, but I haven’t really got into much deeper and haven’t gave theses things the attention they deserved. I don’t like when people try too hard to hoax somebody else, to convince about seemingly extrem ways of living and I know everybody have to discover and experience things on its on. Therefor I will only loose some sentences about a topic of what I get inspired on during my travel and with rising information seems to matter a lot for me. The process chain „inspiration, curiosity, information“ awaken the motivation to change – to change my life.

So, what happened? About one month ago I stayed in this garden Eden in Costa Rica and got inspired. I got inspired of the idea of just eating raw food as our host used to do. I was curious about what that would do to me to do the same and I still don’t really know. But since that days I became more and more curious about what the idea behind it. I only got the bait, that lively food brings as well more liveliness into my body. But I haven’t had a glue about overall idea of this kind of diet. I asked the owner of the garden Eden to provide me some background information, some books I could read. But remained to be the inspirator. So I started to research on myself and gained some more information in healthy food. During the last weeks I met some travellers and locals, which seems to be into that topic as well and little by little the idea behind raw food and superfoods revealed. The motivation is still rising, but after watching the documentary „Food matters“ (Stream can be found in the internet), I felt that I should wrote down some sentences and to stop again – with the sentence: You are what You eat!

From Garden Eden to the big town Panama City

Some days ago I uploaded some pictures of the Garten Eden without telling you about this place, whee we met Patrick, who lived in Leipzig and owned an organic shop before he left Germany. Finally he settled down in Uvita, a little village at the Pacific. After managing a hostel, he began to build the Garden Eden. Two German girls and one american guy stayed at this place as well and because of having a nice atmosphere at this place and inspiring conversations, we stayed there for three nights. All the guests helped him during the morning to build up a roof in the front of its house, clean up the house, water the garden and do some other tasks. Therefore we could it ate and sleep at his place. During our stay we only ate raw food, so vegan and nothing cooked. But we always conjure tasty stuff like Guacamole, hummus, smoothies and different kinds of salads. The house itself was an open house, so most of the „rooms“ had no walls around. I slept in a hammock for the first time and felt quite comfortable. On our last afternoon the visit of the nearby waterfall was beautiful as well and refreshing compared to the temperature of the warm ocean.

The trip had to go on and we went on to pedal down south. The next two nights we slept in the backyard of locals, whose hospitality is amazing. They offered us juice as well as fruits and water. Using their bathroom seemed to be the most common thing on earth. Well, this is how it should be, right?
In between we had to cross the first border and so we were curious if all things will work. After we had to pay the exit tax, we had to get the exit stamp on the side of Costa Rica. With this we went to the border, where they wanted us to show them a proof, that we will leave the country. Neither we had a flight ticket, nor any other proof. So they wanted us to show them our credit card or 500 $. We were prepared and so we could pass to Panama without any bigger problems.

One of the highlights in Panama, were the stay in Gualaca and the visit of the surrounding area. We stayed at a german woman, who one lived in Remscheid. She took us on a tour to her favourite places. A little canyon, a waterfall and two suspension bridges as well as a resort with rented houses and a tree house, operated by an old American guy with his young well-trained partner from Panama.

The next day we slept in a police station right next to the Panamericana, and as a present we got a pineapple right according to the motto of the police „protect & serve“.

One day before reaching Panama City we asked again at a police station near Coronado and again the served us. A policeman drove through the town to ask for an accommodation for us, returned and escorted us to the place. What a service.
Today we reached Panama City and it was really amazing to cross el Puente de las Américas, very impressive and one of the highlights so far.

The next days we will spent in the city before we will go up the channel to Portobello, where we want to catch a boat to Cartagena.

Well, how is it goin with my tyres, I got asked. One day after I wrote my entry about all the breakdowns, it became better,BUT it was not the end of this episode. A thunderstorm was going to show up and so it was the perfect time to have another flat tyre. Unfortunately Paula also didn’t realized that my misfortune pounced on me again. This time nails of a stapler wanted to have a look into my outer tyre to greet the tube. I found three of them stucked in the outer tyre. And although the procedure of getting out the tube, close the leak and reset my tyre became a ritual during these days, the rain came faster then I could get back on my bike. But I was lucky, cause I found a shelter before an intense rain in combination with thunderbolt began to rage. So, I needed a new repair kit and from that day on the fortne find its way back to me. 🙂

I updated the map with the marks of our night stops, which you can find here.

More pictures can be found on my Flickr Account.