November 5 The last day

Thanks to the Pisco Sour I sleep long and then spend most of the morning trying to get all my things into the luggage and make it airplane safe. At exactly 12 - checkout time - I am done and ready for some breakfast. So I leave the luggage at the hotel and find myself a Starbucks.

I see the tourist bus company and I am tempted. I have all day to spend and haven't really seen Lima.

So I get a ticket. The bus leaves at 2:15pm and I am supposed to be there 10 min early. No issue. 

I read, write the blog and have good coffee. Somehow my mind is set on 2:30pm and so I show up there at 2:20 to see the bus depart. Here goes my afternoon. This was the only one.
I take a cab downtown to look at the historic part of Lima and end up in front of a building that could be the government. There is a marching band coming around the corner and marching inside the courtyard, so I am watching. They are rolling out red carpets and appear to be very busy. The street gets closed off and it seems like something big is happening. So I am sticking around. 20min, 30min, 45min, 1h... Nothing is happening and I am leaving. The area around this building is really nice.

I do some last minute shopping for the christmas tree. :)
After dinner I go back to the hotel and the taxi driver is already waiting for me.

In Lima airport I meet Carolina and Paul from the Inka Trail again. On the plane I fall asleep right away. When I wake up, I will be in the US :)

This was definitely one of the most adventurous vacation I ever did. It was a lot of fun and the experiences I made were unbelievable in the most positive ways.

Nov 4 Cuzco to Lima and Goodbye Arzu!

And again we are up early. The mess in the room is still big and our taxi to the airport is coming at 6:40. We hardly manage now to get everything inside our bags, but still we are outside and ready to get back to sealevel in time.

The airport is crowded with people and we are not sure whether we will manage to get to the front of the line before check-in stops. Luckily we find 3 self-check-in machines and we try to get boarding passes. For me it works, but Arzu cannot be checked in. So I wait in line at the baggage drop off and she is trying to find someone to help her. The lady tells her to go to counter 69, but in the 25 min she is there, there is nobody helping the about 20 people in line. When I am almost at the front, she joins me again and then she gets a boarding pass without any issues. Puh, that was close. We were already thinking about how to get to Lima on a different flight.

Once we land, Arzu is breathing the nice humid air of the sea, she is very happy and I have to admit that also my body also enjoys the amount of oxygen it is getting all of a sudden.

We grab a cab and let us drive to my hotel. It is in Miraflores, but the street is under construction, so we have to drag our things through the dirt for the last couple of meters. The room is not ready yet, but we can leave the luggage. First I need to find a laundry service and I am once again crazy bag lady. I could wash the stuff myself, but would be stuck there all afternoon, so I decide on the luxury service of having them do it for me - like I did all my vacation. I never had the chance to do it myself so far.

We have lunch and then want to do some shopping. I need some fancy shoes for a meeting in Boston on Wed night and Arzu can always shop :)

We go to Larcomar, one of the coolest shopping malls in Lima with a view of the ocean. Unfortunately it is very misty and so we don't see much. There are mostly small shops and lots of restaurants. So we are done fast without finding anything. We go to Starbucks and research other malls, let the taxi driver drive us there and are amazed. This is huge and has more than what we are asking for. After some fruitless attempts I find boots and am very happy. Luckily our luggage is already full, otherwise we could spend a lot of money here.

Going back to Larcomar, we pick a nice restaurant with a now clearer view of the ocean and celebrate Arzu's last supper... With Pisco Sour, the Peruvian national drink. I think we have more than what is good for us, stupid happy hour :)

When we get up and go to the hotel, we are both drunk!

Arzu gets in the taxi to the airport and I try to find the laundry service again where literally all the clothes I am not wearing, are. Luckily. I find it and luckily I didn't bring any money with me or I would have gone for a haircut right then and there, which might have looked funny, a drunk non-Spanish native trying to explain what she wants.

Nov 3 Inca Trail Day 4

The wake up knock on our tent is at 3 am :( NOT MY TIME!

I am not even really awake when we pack everything and go to breakfast. Omelette and coffee, but it is way too early and I cannot even think straight. We head down to the gate, which opens at 5:30 and are the second group to be there. I try to sleep again on the bench, leaning against the rock behind, but it is awfully cold although I brought my sleeping bag inlay to keep me warm. All through my attempts to sleep I can hear Israel and the Canadians talk and talk and talk. 

At 5 it gets light out and when the gate finally opens, everybody starts running like mad. Although it is not going uphill, it is hard to keep up and I feel very rushed. There is no time to take off even a hat and put it in the backpack, let alone a sweater. This would mean to be run over by the groups coming from behind. At one point I have to stop though because I am hot and here we loose contact to the group. So Arzu and I walk with Carlos and start enjoying some of the views along the way. He also helps us with the Gringo Killer steps, the last steep part up to the sungate. When we get on top, there is nothing to see, only clouds. I take off my ski underpants and we keep running. Now things seem to have slowed down for everybody. Israel, Fiona, Mike, Arzu, Carlos and I are walking together and then in between all the clouds Carlos makes a comment: This is Machu Picchu!

And there it is... Still hard to see, but clear enough to make me stop and be amazed. Israel is trying to ruin this moment with talking, but I choose to ignore him and enjoy the moment all by myself.

3 days of walking are forgotten. This is simply amazing!

We keep walking to enjoy the view from up close before all the day tourists come, but once we get there, there are already people running around in the ruins... But it doesn't matter. We made it!

I quickly change my t-shirt to feel a little more fresh - nobody is looking :) - and we take some pictures before we head to the official entrance to eat our snacks and then re-enter for the tour Ruben will guide us through.

I am a little overwhelmed by all the people. After four days with only the group there is now a lot of stress and hectic here at the entrance. I can hardly manage to walk through the masses. 

Once back inside we look for an Inka sofa (one of the terraces) :) and Ruben explains how Machu Picchu was found only 102 years ago by an American Yale professor with the help of a Peruvian farmer. 

After 2h of learning more about Machu Picchu and the Inkas we have time to explore on our own. The sun is out and so before we go anywhere, we lay on a rock. Then I go up to the temple with James and Jon while Arzu watches our stuff. There are only a couple more steps, so no big deal. The view is great but when we want to go down the guard shows us to the back and we have to make a huge detour to get back to Arzu. Oh well, what are a couple of steps more after 4 days of constant walking?

We explore some more, but nothing is as cool as the view we had this morning, where you could see it all.

Walking out to go to the bathroom and have a cappuccino is painful. Our legs hurt from walking down all those steps in the past two days. But we are strong and manage those last meters :)

Sitting in the coffeeshop with a cappuccino in our hand, we realize that we did it! And we are proud, so proud of ourselves! Who would have thought after my panic attacks in the night before we started that we would sit here, all sweaty but superhappy?!

We take the bus to Aguas Calientes to meet everybody for the last lunch and also get our dufflebags. The town is a typical tourist trap. There are shops and restaurants everywhere and everybody tries to drag you in to sell you something. I buy the last postcards for the Grandmas and Arzu is looking for a t-shirt but has no luck.

We go to the restaurant and the second everybody realizes there is wifi, we are all online to tell the world that we did it :)

Carlitos is leaving early and Isi is still on the mountain, but everybody else is there for a last common lunch.

It starts pouring and we realize that it is the rainy season after all. I skype with Mum, Tulli and Lisa and can see my Mum's relief that I made it back safe and sound.

Then we loose power and it is not coming back until we have to leave for the train station to go back to Ollantaybambo.

We get out our ponchos one last time and waddle to the station, which is very well hidden behind a market you have to walk through.

We board the nice tourist train and I finally try Inka Cola, the neon yellow bubble gum soda. Well, I guess there is a reason it never made it worldwide :)

In Ollantaybambo we switch to a bus, which should be faster than the slow tourist train. On the bus we play a fun game all the way to Cusco.

One asks a question and gives an estimated number. Then everybody says higher or lower and needs to reveal the information. Example: How many pieces of Llama clothing did we buy in the group? How many languages do we speak? How many people have we kissed on this trip?

This is a fun game and we learn a lot about each other. 

In Cusco it is the final Goodbye. Arzu and I give the duffle bags to Ruben and only have plastic bags now. We look funny. Arzu is wrapping her things in her poncho and so we walk through the city, get me a sandwich and make it to the hotel by 9:30. Arzu is asleep at 10, I shower, download the pics and fall asleep as well.

What an amazing experience!

Nov 2 Inca Trail Day 3

And once again I manage to poison Arzu with my deodorant. :) Today we will have a warm shower in the afternoon. We don't have much to walk today, but the path includes 3000 steps down. That will be good for our leg muscles.

While we are having breakfast, it starts to rain :( and except for the fact that we didn't buy the ponchos for no reason, this is no good. Everybody takes time to waterproof before we start walking. We look like a moving rainbow in all the colors we have. :) Going down the steps without slipping is a challenge, but we all manage and after a couple of hours the rain has stopped and we take the ponchos off.  Mine is wet from the inside as well, which is no fun since I took the one that was a little more expensive to avoid exactly that. It is too bad that we don't see anything. This part of the Inka Trail is supposed to be beautiful. Before we make it to the campground we stop at another beautiful and very steep Inka site. It is amazing how they could be built like this!

We did it... Now we are only a 5km walk from Machu Picchu.

We arrive at the campsite for lunch and also for the rest of the day... Before my body even cools down I am going to have a shower. Against what everybody writes on the internet, the showers are cold here as well. The building had to be shut down and so I have to be fast. 

Although I am almost freezing to death in there, I manage to wash my hair and pour water and soap all over my body, and it feels so good after. :) Everybody is jealous of my clean hair... 

After lunch where we almost ruin the table we all have some rest and Arzu tells me the funny story where Israel offers her a foot massage she resists. Carlos then asks from the next tent if he can have it instead, but Israel refuses. :)

At 4pm - before the other groups even make it to the campsite - we go to a nearby Inka Site which is equally impressive as the other one and Ruben explains more about the Inkas. Then we explore on our own and I have to show Carlos the way out because he is lost. :)

Arzu stayed back to read and relax and when I come back she gives me a massage for my troubled shoulder. So here I am half naked in a tent, rain dribbeling on the tent skin, being massaged by my friend... This could be the beginning of a good story, but it's not, don't worry :)

At Happy Hour we get 2 cakes and Phil manages to cut 13 pieces out of one of them. 

This is the last night for all of us and we say good bye to the porters since they will go straight to the trainstation tomorrow morning without a stop at Machu Picchu.

Carlitos is very sweet to organize a hot water bottle for me so I can fall asleep with warm feet. Wake up is at 3am!

Nov 1 Inca Trail Day 2

We get woken up at 5:30 am by Carlitos bringing us coca tea and asking how we slept. Like Babies! No, like baby llamas, he adds. :)

Today is supposed to be the hardest day. The temperature is ok, Arzu survived her first night in a tent and didn't freeze. We warm our clothes inside the sleeping bag before we put them on and do the baby-wipe shower. I almost kill Arzu with my deodorant when I start spraying inside.

Breakfast is amazing. We get pancakes, fruit, bread...

And here comes my body telling the story of today...

The legs: What is she doing today? We didn't have to work that hard in a really long time and although she seems to have not been working in a while and we had to work a lot more, this is really hard work now. We seem to walk up a really steep hill and there is not enough oxygen coming through. Hey, blood, what's up?

The blood: I am doing the best I can but whatever she has been breathing in the last couple of weeks has had a lot less oxygen. She must be in the mountains or something.

The eyes: oh yes, guys, she is and the views are beautiful. As slow as she is moving, I would have all the time in the world to look around and enjoy, but she keeps me on the ground because the path she chose to walk is very uneven and if I don't pay attention, the feet lose control and we all fall down the steep cliffs. 

The brain: "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight,..." I can do this, I can do this, just keep the rhythm and repeat the song. 

The mouth: What the f?$k? Why did I do this to myself? Why am I here and did not take the train like everybody else?

The legs: The group you are walking with is way too fast. Look at them, they are all trained very well. We need to slow down or we are not going to make it if we have to walk uphill as steep as we did for the past 25 min.

The brain: ok, we will walk slower, but then we lose contact to the group and the slow group is too slow. That way we might never make it up and according to the eyes, there is still a long way to go!

The head: why doesn't anybody put a hat on me? It is sunny out and i might get sunburned. 

... 2h into the walk...

The legs: we are going straight... What is happening? Are we taking a break?

The eyes: Yes, I can see the fast group resting and the view, the view guys! You should see this!

The legs: Shut up about the view, I want to relax...

The eyes: Sorry, we have to look and take some pictures!

The stomach: Am I getting some energy here? Is there a snack? ... Oh yes, there is!

The blood: I am not getting enough oxygen anymore. How much more do we have until the top? 

The eyes: we are at half way, but it seems like everybody is having the same issues with the breathing.

... 20 min later ...

The brain: "in the jungle, the mighty jungle..." Why is there nobody to talk to?

The eyes: because she is too fast for the slow group, where her friend Arzu gets pushed by the Israeli Israel and too slow for the fast group, where Paul is already coming her way again because the other team mate Ben lost his camera and he is kind enough to run down and up again to look for it.

But I can see the top, the boobie, Dead Women's Pass. This should be the highest we are going to.

The ears: I heard someone saying this is at 4200m and then we go down into a valley and back up to 4000 and down again before we can all sleep.

The eyes: I see Carlitos waiting for the slow group. 

The ears and the mouth: let's have a conversation!

The legs: oh yes, some rest!

... The last 20 min ...

I cannot do this anymore, I have no power and drag my body up on the walking sticks. Up on top the fast group greets me with a big applause. I try to catch my breathe to take some "I made it pictures" and am happy to be there!

When the whole group is there and had a little rest, we take group fotos and start the descent. It is steep and I would love to have my skies with me and some snow. The knees are not happy, but it is better than uphill. When I look around, I can already guess where we are going after lunch... Steep uphill again :(

But first there is lunch. And again Sebastian has outdone himself. I have no idea how he can cook such good things with so little equipment, which is all being carried by the porters. 

The spot where we have lunch is the campsite for the second night for most of the groups. They don't make the second "bump" until the next day, which seems like a good idea when I am resting on the ground, hoping some angel will come and carry me up the second mountain. But there is none and Ruben keeps telling us it is only 20 more minutes, but this is once until the first breakspot, then the Inca Site, then 3/4 up and then finally we make it to Dead Man's Pass. Considering that Dead Women's Pass is called like that because of a boob shaped mountain, you can only guess why this pass is called Dead Man's Pass :)

We have some Ritter Sport chocolate and make our way down. The stairs are really steep and uneven and it takes more effort to not fall than going uphill. Arzu, Ruben and I walk with the Canadians, but for me this is too slow and so I speed up after a while. It is misty, we are walking in the clouds, but after a while the view clears and we see a wonderful valley and we know, it is only downhill from here. :)

By the time Arzu, Ruben and I make it to the last Inka site for today, people are already coming back from the 100 steep steps up. Arzu doesn't want to go up and I am also more excited about the upcoming bathroom and so we skip it. Carlitos will not be happy since he is explaining this site, but we cannot help it. We walk to the campsite and are already washed and deodorized when the others make it here. Our tent is next to the guides and Carlitos tells us that snoring is not allowed. Well, we are the girls... So they should be the ones taking care about that. :)

For dinner we hear some ghost stories from Ruben and he claims they are all true. I am not so sure whether I should believe it and choose not to in order to be able to sleep. 

Our tent is not closing all the way and since the Canadians were talking about tarantulas coming into the tents at night, we need to improvise so that Arzu can sleep. Luckily the duffle bags are multifunctional :)

Those are the porters carrying everything for us, tents, tables, food, our luggage,...

Oct 31 Inca Trail Day 1

With a very bad feeling I am getting into the taxi at 4:05 and at the meeting point we meet Ben, who is also very pale. He tells us that he had been sick before and he is scared he won't make it. Well, that makes two of us. 

Everybody except for the two Canadian girls, which were already late for the briefing yesterday is on time. We also have some of the porters on board who will carry everything the same way we walk. We are on the bus for about 2h before we have breakfast in Ollantaytambo. The restaurant is open air and it is very cold. Since it has rained all night, it is also damp and I still feel sick, uncomfortable and not ready for a four-day-hike. My tablemates try to convince me to eat something to get some energy, but all I want to do is go back to Cuzco. We go to Ruben and Arzu explains that we are not sure whether we are fit enough to do the trail. He is very understanding and tries to tell us that everybody manages and we shouldn't be worried. We should try and until the second day it is possible to rent a horse or a donkey to come back if it is really not possible. After that there are the porters to carry someone out in case it is necessary. I am now thinking that I will at least try and I buy a banana to have some food for later when I can eat. The last 20 min on the bus. Everyone starts to get ready at km82, we are the first group to arrive. The porters pack their bags. We get a big plastic foil to put our things on while we buy the last necessities for the hike from the local women.

Here we go... I see the sign and we start the hike with a group picture.

Now I can't go back. It is cold and still cloudy and before I even realize it, Carlos stamps my passport with the first checkpoint stamp. I am on the Inca Trail. Now the only way to keep my self-respect is by ending it in Machu Picchu. I still don't feel well, but decide to walk it off.

We start easy and take several breaks on the way. So far it is going ok. When we stop at the first big Inca site, I am hooked and want to do this. The site looks amazing from above and Ruben explains why it was built here, what the different buildings mean and that you can see the shape of a snake surrounding it.

By lunchtime we already did half of our goal for today and it has not been that bad. We are greeted with a bowl of water for everybody to wash our hands and faces which is very welcome because it is sunny out and although it has not been that bad yet, we are all sweating.

We don't expect much to come from the cooking tent, but are all extremely surprised when we get handed little saucers with guacamole, grated cheese and a Nacho. Wow! And this keeps going. We get extremely delicious soup, trout with vegetables and rice and a vegetarian option and in the end Andean Peppermint tea for our siesta. It is amazing what can be done with a portable kitchen!

We keep walking and soon get passed by the 22 porters with all our things. Each one of them carries up to 25kgs on his back, all the way up and down just like we walk. They carry tents, our things, food, cooking gear,... Only the water comes from the mountains and gets filtered and boiled for us whenever we stop somewhere.

We walk past amazing mountain scenes and a camera cannot in any way catch the atmosphere.

After lunch we start going uphill and it gets a little more strenuous, but with all the good food in my stomach, I feel fine.

The group gets divided in two, the runners and the slow ones. I am finding myself too slow for the runners, but too fast for the slow ones and so I am walking alone.

Arriving at the first campsite I am amazed. It is beatifully located and has a great view into the valley we just climbed. I get some hot water and a towel to wash myself and use it extensively, also to dunk my feet. :) The tents are set up, the duffle bags with our belongings are waiting.

Before Happy Hour everybody is standing around in a circle talking and we notice that most of us are wearing Llama socks and Flipflops. It looks very funny and will probably be the sight for the next couple of happy hours we will have.

Happy hour consists of tea/ Milo (hot chocolate) or coffee with cookies and popcorn. This is the appropriate way to end a day of hiking.

We go from Happy hour straight to an amazing dinner and from there straight to bed. Everybody is dead tired from getting up so early and at 8 everything is quiet, literally.

What a good first day considering my doubts in the morning!

Mixed Feelings

I am writing this post on the night before the Inca Trail, but it will not get published until after...

It is 8pm...

This morning we went to the office of our tour operator to pay and rent the rest of the things. They gave us a map and we see how exactly we will hike the next couple of days. So it looks like the first day will start ok-ish with 12km, the second day looks like a night mare of 4h steep uphill, 2h downhill, 2.5 up and 1.5 down, all in all 16km. The third day is ok with 9 km more or less down and the last day is anyway when we are at Machu Picchu in the morning after a 5km hike.

So we have our moment but convince each other, that it will be ok. We can easily do it.

At 5 we have the briefing and get to know our guides and the group. Both guides are young and the group is also relatively young. There is one older guy, but the rest looks like to be in their 20s and 30s. Now Ruben starts to explain and I feel like I am getting more and more dizzy when I hear him talk. At one point I almost need to get up and go outside to get some fresh air. I feel sick. I don't know how I am supposed to hike uphill 6h in one day being a person that doesn't hike ever. What was I thinking? Everybody looks very confident and so I try to catch my breath and calm myself down. It sounds like once we survived the second day, it is a piece of cake. I don't dare to ask what happens if you get sick and cannot go on and noone else seems to think about it.

We come out of the meeting and I am ready to faint. Maybe my body will get sick tonight already so I can't go? What about Arzu? Will she go alone then? Did I really go that far and now I am giving up? NO! I will do this! We got all the equipment, we are ready and we will do this.

Now I can pack my bags.

Oct 30 Cuzco, getting ready for the Inca Trail

I wake up from the smell of nailpolish. It is 7am and Lady Arzu is having a beauty salon in her bed, doing her nails. Really? Yes!

I fall asleep again and we don't leave the hostel until 10 to have coffee and breakfast at Jack's again. It is really nice there, good atmosphere and good coffee, although today I already know about Starbucks so I am fine. :)

Breakfast for me means either some eggs, toast with jam, muesli or Pancakes/ French Toast... Breakfast for Arzu means cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers and this morning it means Steak sandwich with fries and mint lemonade. 

After we laugh off the cultural differences we head to the Llamapath office to pay the rest of our trip. We also rent the sleeping bag for Arzu, walking sticks and more comfortable mattresses. Now all my cash which I collected in the ATMs all over Ecuador is gone... Maybe not the worst since ATMs here seem to work and once I am in the US I won't need all those dollars in cash.

We get a little pamphlet with the details of the trail and we are both a little more shocked than we want to admit. We will walk more than 1000m uphill, not in length, but in height!!! What were we thinking? We are not hikers and we think we can do this?

But none of us will admit this to the other one and so we follow our shopping list and get snacks, medicine, rain ponchos, coca candy, baby wipes, deodorant,...

For lunch we sit on a nice balcony, just for the two of us, overlooking a busy street and of course we are spending some time in Starbucks and some time shopping souvenirs and a new jacket for me since Delta apparently never found mine which I left on the plane. 

Then I decide I still want that bag from the one shop and we have to go back. He let's us pay in Euros and this way we easily change some more money. 

We are not hungry yet and so we go back to the hotel to pack our things into the duffle bags we got from Llamapath for the porters to carry.

And this is where the big mess starts. I decide to take this opportunity to pack everything plane ready, especially the souvenirs I didn't send home. So I unpack literally everything, dust off my backpack from the Bolivian desert and start all over.

Arzu is doing the same thing. By 10pm we are ready, have taken showers - the last ones for a couple of days - and turn off the light to try to sleep. I hear Arzu dozing off, but I am wide awake. This is bad. I need to sleep. So I am watching a show on my ipod to make me sleepy, but it doesn't work. I get more and more worried that starting a four day hike with no hiking experience at all might not have been the smartest idea. The later it gets and the more I watch Arzu sleep, the scarier this whole thought gets and I am working myself into a nice panic attack. All of a sudden I am sitting in bed, breathing heavily, heart pounding very fast. I cannot breathe anymore, I get dizzy and don't know what to do anymore. I have never experienced something like this. I try to think that these are only 45km I need to walk in 4 days, so it is really no big deal. Slowly I get calmer again and try to sleep. 11:50pm, 01:30am, 2:15am, I am still awake and the heart starts pounding fast again. I try to calm myself down by reading about people who thought they couldn't do the Inca Trail and find a blog by a girl who also thought she was not fit enough. But did she also not sleep the night before the first day? I am hungry and I feel weak. I have no energy to even get out of bed to go to the bathroom. This way I will never make it and I am thinking of ways on how to explain to everybody that I cannot join. I am wondering if Arzu will still go and I am hoping she will. She should't miss this experience because I am too weak to go.

At 3:30am the alarm clock goes off and Arzu wakes up. She sees me sitting in bed, breathing heavily and I tell her I can't go. I have a very strong feeling that I cannot come and I won't make it. She tells me to finish packing my things and at least come to the bus to talk to the guide. My heart is pounding fast and when I come out of the bathroom I have to sit, I cannot breathe and I really don't want to go.

I know from my nightly online research that the first two days you can be brought back by horse if you twist an ankle or can't do it anymore. With this knowledge and Arzu's motivational speech I am at least willing to come to the bus.

Oct 29 Cusco

The night was ok, but we are completely confused when we arrive in Cusco at 4:50 am.

Lots of people are waiting to offer us a taxi, accomodation and other things. We go to a corner and a lady with an ok offer for a hostal finds us. She organizes a taxi, we get in and are in a room only 10 min later. Great. So we get to sleep a little more with horizontally...

At 10 we are ready to hit the town, for breakfast. Arzu finds a great place on Foursquare and so we try to find our way there. The place is awesome, they serve real cappuccino, fresh orange juice and French toast...

Getting out from there after a while, we try to find the center of town. As we walk in one of the narrow alleys, I see a guy with a Starbucks cup and I chase him down. He is a bit shocked by my asking, but offers help for a desperate coffee addict and shows us the way :) I love Cusco already... 

Before we head there though, we do a little of sightseeing. There are a lot of churches here and you can really get lost in the tiny alleys and walkways, but luckily there are squares everywhere and you can find your orientation back.

Cusco is a really nice town. This is the first time since Cuenca, Equador that I have the feeling, I could stay longer than a day.

After our Lattes we start the shopping tour. Although it seems like they all offer the same things like in Bolivia and partly Ecuador, there are always things to look at and admire. The Mercado Central is unique. It has a mixture of artesanial things and food. In the hallways the women sell bread with ceramic faces baked in.

When we come out it is raining and we have to wait about 20 min before we can continue our explorer tour. The second the sun is gone, it gets cold and we wonder how cold it will be on the Inca Trail. Bht we are not thinking about that yet.

For lunch we have salad! Purified water for the washing makes it possible and it tastes great. 

This is a great and lazy day to relax. We go back to the hostal and sleep a little more before we get ready for a night out. We pick a club with live music, Arzu even gets dressed up (she brought clothes for that, I am in jeans and my most fancy t-shirt) and we check out the space before we look for food.

And then the evening takes an unexpected turn. We end up in a place that has pizza, Mexican and Peruvian food, right next to the club. In 1h we should have eaten... Well, no!

We sit down, don't get a menu for quite a while and when we finally order, the Australians from the next table start talking to us about how long they are already waiting for their food. The place is not really full, so it shouldn't take that long, and we are hoping.

We talk to those guys and the two women that are with them leave before their food arrives. Exactly one hour after they had ordered, they are getting it. They eat fast and leave since they will start the Inca Trail tomorrow.

We wait for 1.5h, even the guys that came way later get their food. So I go to the counter and tell them i don't want the food anymore. We get Arzu's soup and my Guacamole. And that is what we are having for dinner... After that we are both annoyed and tired and go home. This is not how we expected that night to go.

Oct 28 Isla del Sol and Peru

And again we have to get up early. This vacation is no relaxation when you check the times we get up, but this is how we wanted it.

Sitting in the boat to Isla del Sol it is smelling heavily like gas and then it starts to pour. I wish we would have stayed in the cosy bed and spent the day relaxing instead. But it is too late. 2h of freezing and holding a scarf in front of our faces later we are on the north side of the island. There is not much to do except for the 3h hike to the south side and we are searching for a coffee place to have our first coffee of the day. I am glad Arzu is as addicted as I am. The coffee place is really cold and so our mood doesn't improve. When it stops raining and we see a little bit of sun we head outside to search for the gold museum. We find a room that has a museum sign on the outside and check it out. This is fun. There are only a couple of shelves with old bones and vases. In 2 min we are done. 

So we decide to hike a little bit, but the first lama getting in our way scares Arzu and we go back to town, finding a place to lay down on the "beach" to relax and get some sun. 

BTW I am Canadian again today. :) The Germans which were with us on the boat are embarrassing and they even come from my home town Ulm. I cannot admit that I am from the same place.

After 3h we pass free range pigs :) to go back to the boat and go to the south side of the island where we pay 5Bs to go off board and have lunch with a great view. 

The way back seems forever but we still make it back on time. We get the laundry - and believe it or not it is dry - shop a little more, eat lemon pie, which is served by the slowest waiter in the history, and we are not spoiled any more and organize sandwiches. Arzu almost kills the waiter when he needs a calculator to figure out how nuch change to give from 110 to 120 we give him. And even then he has no clue what to type.

We schlepp ourselves up the hill to the hotel to get our thngs and have to wait for the bus to open (@Dad, Mercedes Benz) before we can sink in our first class seats. The 2 extra Euros were totally worth it and we enjoy the luxury. :)

15 min into the busride we have to cross the border. First we need to get the exit stamp from Bolivia and I am remembered of the border crossings in Africa. 

We need to cross the river by foot but not without stopping at the great Peru sign for a picture. We almost step into the wrong buildings twice and the bus lady is already annoyed with us, but finally we get our Peru stamp.

The bus takes three hours to Puno and the heat is not turned on, so we freeze like hell. The windows are leaking and I am glad I got the sleeping bag from the luggage. Otherwise we would have frozen to death.

In Puno we have a layover of 1.5h and are not allowed to stay on the bus. So we walk around the bus station which is freezing because all doors are open. There are still tourists though running around in sandals in 30degree weather. We are freezing through the layover and are having some fun in the restroom where the wall is sprayed with "do not wash your hair, armpits or feet here!" What?

When we board the bus again the heat is turned on and so the rest of the night is comfortably warm and we can even sleep.

Oct 27 From Uyuni to Copacabana

At least one cab is here when we come outside at 5:40am. We are driving through the dusty streets of Uyuni one last time and manage to get to the airport in time for the sunrise. There is exactly one (!) gate. :) Although we are checked in already and there are only 5 people ahead of us, we are in the queue for more than half an hour. 

The security check has a human scanner but no x-ray for the handluggage, so it gets searched individually. The gas heater in the waiting room is very popular with the Latvians which travel with us. First, we have breakfast ... Pringles and Twix. We are hoping to get more when we make it to La Paz. 

The Amaszonas Air plane looks good and we are positively surprised. The flight is nice and we have the best view on the salt flat thanks to the girl who checked us in on the right side yesterday.

It is raining when we land in La Paz and we are hoping that this fact will make the air cleaner, but that is not the case :( In the busterminal we find out that busses to Copacabana leave from the cemetery and we need another taxi. What is driving us can almost not be called a car anymore. The transmission is done after gear 1 and 2 and the noises it makes, makes you want to jump out immediately. Thanks to the rug and the hanging decorations in front of the dashboard we cannot see anything, but experience shows that nothing is working in the display anyway. 

We somehow make it to the cemetery and find a bus that leaves 20 min later. We buy more cookies because that is the only thing we can find at 8am and sit on the bus. Since this is not the fancy tourist kind, it is not heated and I run out again to get the sleeping bag so we won't freeze. The Bolivians love the "fresh" air coming from outside and leave the windows wide open in 40 degree weather and rain.

Wrapped in hat, fleece and sleeping bag we need 2h to get out of La Paz. Here there are many little communities which all have their own markets and inner life. 

At several spots we pick up more people and luggage. The mountain overshadowing La Paz has some fresh snow and looks beautiful so sugarcoated. 

The road to Copacabana is paved really well. We are amazed and happy and Arzu even gets to sleep a little. 

Several times we get stopped by the military and the driver has to show the passenger list. 

Then the bus stops at the lake and we all have to get off. The bus is being transferred on something that is supposed to be a ferry, but i am not sure, the bus and our luggage will make it. We have to take a passenger boat which looks equally unsafe and get shipped over the little channel. On the other side we walk to the place where the bus will "land" which is completely unnecessary because the bus is stopping in the middle of the town square. Noone is around anymore. Everybody went to get food or presents. Not even when the bus starts to honk loudly they come back and the bus needs to drive away before everybody comes running. This is the only way to Copacabana, the other one already leads through Peru.

We arrive and are surprised by the huge church. First we need to change money and therefore we walk down the shopping street with all our luggage until we find a changing office/ travel agency. We take a taxi to the cool hostel, but unfortunately they have no room available. We are supposed to come back after 2pm to see if someone who reserved didn't show up. We have lunch there in the cute restaurant and have Lasagne and tomato salad. The owner must be German since they have potato salad, "Bratkartoffeln" and Fondue. 

Only the internet is not working and we cannot check our trip to Cusco. I just read that it takes 15h to get there by bus and I don't want to believe that. There has to be a faster way. My idea is to go back to La Paz and fly from there, but Arzu wants to avoid that city. She is looking for other ways to get there faster, but nothing is really working out. Another option is to take the bus to Puno in 4h and then a train to Cusco, but that means we have to leave tonight, skipping the Isla del sol. Since we are only speculating, we need internet and so we leave our luggage with the German owner :) and go to town to find a coffeeplace with internet. We cannot even find a coffeeplace though and so we end up in a crappy internet place where I have the keyboard drawer on my lap, the mouse is hardly working and the connection is slow. We find out that there is no better option and we go to a travel agency to book the bus. We see that there is a direct bus to Cusco which only takes 10h and has sleeping beds. Oh yes! Let's take it. They have no more space tonight, but tomorrow and so we book a trip to the Isla del Sol for tomorrow. And it is all cheaper than the horrorbus to Uyuni.

Back at the hotel we get a room and are really happy. The view is breathtaking, there are hammocks everywhere and it is clean. The toilet works as well :)

Finally I can do some laundry. The lady promises 3h, we give her 4 and start shopping... We come back to our comfy beds and rest a while before having coffee in the wood stove heated restaurant. 

At 8 we run down for our laundry which is not ready yet, they need one more hour. So we have dinner and finally a salad since they wash everything with bottled water. The water in Copacabana is so bad that it is even recommended to brush your teeth with bottled water. 

We go back to the laundry place at 10 but it is still not entirely done. Half of my stuff is still wet and Arzu's jeans as well. We take the dry and half dru stuff as well as the jeans and decide to dry it in the hallway in front of our room because there is a wooden stove. Finally I get to unpack my clothes line, improvise with two nails, put some more wood in the stove and we hope for the best. We go to bed and have the best mattress ever!

Oct 26 Bolivian hot tub and an adventurous ride back to Uyuni

We are on the road at 4am... To write that is is fricking cold at this time of the day is unneccessary, I guess. While loading the car I see Orion in the sky :)

The windows freeze and we can see icicles. The sunrise is not exactly what we expected after getting up so early and since the car is still only powered by one wheel we are going very slow. Ohr first stop is at the fumaroles, the steaming mudholes that smell like rotten eggs. In the morning sun it looks really great. 

1h later we get to a lake with a natural hot tub on the edge. The girls go in while the guys stay outside to organize a differnet car to take them and the Dutch girls to the Chilean border after this. 

The hot tub is really cool, well hot! and I don't want to get out anymore. One of the reasons is because there is no place to change and everybody has to do this outside with the wind in the still chilly morning. 

This is where we leave the 4 others. They are getting a different transportation to the border since our car is still not working properly and this way we can go straight back to Uyuni with Franz and our one-wheel powered animal :)

We are going in the opposite direction from everybody else and I am not sure whether this is so good since we will not be able to pull the car out of the sand if we get stuck again. Franz is driving more careful now, talks more and offers plenty of picture stops.

Arzu has some stomache issues and tries to sleep although we are shaken to the bones again. Our first "horsetrip" in La Paz seems like a smooth ride now. The "roads" he is driving can only be guessed by us, but Franz knows what he is doing and if he thinks it is a road then it is. We pass a point where Franz tells us we are at 4950m! There is snow! From here it is downhill.

We see Lamas, other animals with a name I don't remember and even emus. All of a sudden the landscape is green and it looks a little like in Iceland. At 11 we stop in a town called Vila Vila, in the middle if the desert and Franz is preparing our lunch while we are very happy to have a clean bathroom with running water. We use it extensively. After a couple of days in the desert you are happy with the small things I guess, :)

After lunch we are in the red valley. Here we have weird rock formations, a lion eating a lama. But some of us are not interested in that right away. They have other business to attend to. What happens at the lion and the lama stays there :)

Once we are down from the mountains and everything is green, there are rivers and we have to go through quite a few with the car, no bridge. 

At around 1 the shaking stops and we are on a paved road. The car made it and got better while we got down from the insane altitude. But the happiness about the paved road only lasts for a couple of minutes and we are back on a dirt road. This will go on and off until Uyuni now. We pass San Cristobal which is a big mining town. Now we are the minibus. First we pick up an old woman and once we let her off, we pick up a guy. Franz finally has someone to talk to and I dry my bikini on the hot seat while I move closer and closer to Arzu's shady side.

At 3pm we are back in Uyuni and Franz drives us to the hotel the Dutch girls recommended because it has Wifi. :) We need it urgently to check if the flight was confirmed or whether we have to go on the bus again at 8. I cannot get Wifi in the hotel and so I run across the street to the internet cafe. Everything is dark. There is a citywide blackout and it will last for another hour. So we have to wait.

2h later we still have no power and just when I start texting ny sister to check my email, the lights go on and so does the signal. I have an email saying the flight is confirmed but we have no reservation code or eticket number. We also cannot do online checkin, so we figure out that there is an Aerea linea Amaszonas office in Uyuni conveniently located 3min from the hotel. They are open and 30 min later we have our boarding passes. Things are a bit slower here, yes. 

Now we can check into the hotel and finally get out of the dirty clothes, take a shower and find some food. 

It seems like there are only Italian restaurants in Uyuni and so Pizza it is. They have a wood stove abd wine by the glass. A perfect night.

Coming back to the hotel we try to organize a taxi for 5:40 to take us to the airport. We had asked the lady in the hotel but noone is around anymore when we get back to tell us whether they reserved one or not. Let's see whether it will work out...

Oct 25 one wheel drive

Breakfast is at 6:30, dry bread. Bt where should they get fresh bread in the middle of the desert? I am anyway impressed how the people live here. And this was the luxury kind compared to what we are expecting tonight. We had electricity and running water. 

At exactly 7 the Europeans are outside with their luggage, Franz is already jumping around on top of the car to get our stuff up, only the Latinos are still missing. :)

In the car we are still quiet. Nobody seems to be in such a good mood as our Turkish neighbor which already talked nonstop this morning and we are all happy he is in a different car.

For a while we are driving through differnet landscapes. Besides other tourist jeeps there is nothing. A "road" - if you want to call it that - is defined by more than four cars taking the same path. There are many ways leading to Rome - or through the desert. We see the train to Chile, some colcanoes, one of which is active right now, 3 lagoons with flamingos and a lot of sand and rocks.

Just before we arrive at the last lagoon, the red one which is especially beatuiful between 2:30-3pm, The jeep gets stuck in the sand. Anyway the car has made some funny noises all day and Franz already had tried to fix so ething before. When we try several times to drive the car out again we notice that actually only one of the wheels is turning, the one that is stuck. 

He is diggin and digging, we bring rocks for the foundation. At least 10 attempts and nothing. He gets the car jack and starts to pump. We bring more and more rocks. Fernando the Brazilian is really mad we have a broken car. We girls try to help but we are not even supposed to push from behind. There are several more attempts with no success and finally another car is coming. Together with the driver and the guys from that car we push and finally get the car out of the sand on the third attempt with them. Finally we make it to the lagoon, our second hostal.

When we arrive my headache is so bad that I don't even want to exolore the lagoon. I gi to bed immediately hoping it will get better. Fernando is here as well with stomache issues. We are at 4700m... The headache seems to come from the shaking in the car and from the altitude, it won't get better and I get up. The girls tell me I need something sweet because that will help the altitude issues. So I have coffee with a lot of sugar, there is anyway no milk. :)

Franz is outside trying to repair the car. We notice that it is getting cold very quickly here and we are afraid of the night. There is no electricty and the light in the common room is powered by a car battery. Dinner is really good again and we get a bottle of wine from Franz which we only manage half though.

In order to get some hot water for my Gatorade hot water bottle, I go to the kitchen which is in the next house. It is a typical Bolivian house with everythg in the same room, wood fired stove, table with benches and a bed. Franz is here to get warm again from working on the car. The whole family seems to live here (grandparents, parents, kid). They are making pancakes and eating hot soup.

The sky is clear and the stars seem really, really close, you almost want to touch them. I find the Southern Cross and also see two shooting stars.

At 8:30 pm we are all under the covers in our sleeping bags because it is really cold and the alarm clock will go off at 3:30am.

Oct 24 The bad night and the salt flats

The hotel owner did not exaggerate but rather understate. Before Oruro we are already shaken like on a powerplate thanks to non paved streets. Sleeping is almost impossible.

At 2 am the bus stops and the drivers are changed, which is good to see, but unfortunately the road is getting worse and worse and soon we are only sliding around between sand and gravel. Sleeping is impossible and at 8am we arrive in Uyuni, not in our best moods. Even here hardly any streets are paved and everything is dusty. We are shocked but way to tired to fully realize it.

In the office of the tour operator we get more information about our trip and then we have two hours to find breakfast and finally some coffee as well as a place with internet to book a flight back to La Paz. After coming back from the desert we are sure we do not want another night like this.

There seems to be no restaurant with internet and our coffee addiction leads us into a breakfastplace. I brought my toothbrush and want to change in the bathroom, but there is no running water and fromthe way the toilet looks like, I also don't have to pee anymore...

Only reluctantly I eat the dried bread and drink the instant coffee with milk powder, which is the normal way of servinng coffee in Bolivia. And there is no Starbucks anywhere...

In a convenience store/ internet place we find wifi and get to use it for 15 min. The couple running place is checking closely and already yelling at a tourist who is on the phone, almost taking it from him although he is willing to pay more. 

I am frantically searching for a flight from Uyuni back to La Paz and when. I get it the confirmation will be only in a couple of hours, great!

In the coffeeshop next to our pickup place we are lucky with the bathroom and the coffee we order just to be nice is real! We do have to wait for it for a long time though because it has to be made in the real coffeemaker by the boss himself. The ladies cannot do it and boss is out. He has 15 more minutes before we have to go and it works out, on time for my second nose bleeding session. The first one. I had on the bus already. Thanks La Paz and your old cars, I guess.

Until we are really sitting in the car we have no idea who is travelling wih us. I am still armdeep in my backpack to get the stuff I don't want on the roof and when I take my hand out my middle finger is hurting and swelling up. I have not noticed being stung, can't see anything else. Weird.

When we are picking up two more girls in front of their hotel I am running around trying to find some ice for the finger. But that is an issue here. I panic and the creativity kicks in. At the butcher I see some yoghurt in the fridge, so I want to buy it. When. I touch it though, it is not cold. Why should it be coming out of a fridge where there is also meat? I am handing the yoghurt back and give up. It will be fine.

2 Brazilian guys, 2 Dutch girls, Arzu, Franz - our driver - and I are on our way. First stop: the train cemetery. Here we can find old and rusty trains. Everything just like the way here is dusty and every step creates a cloud of dust. My nose is not happy and starts bleeding again. This time it won't stop and being in the car again with the windows closed in the heat and the shaking are not helping. I go through several tissues and it won't stop. We have the next stop at the entrance of the salt flat. I run out past the tourist stalls towards the Banos sign. The toilet lady shouts after me that I need to pay, I turn around show her my bloody face and keep running.

I have no clue why she has a right to collect money for what she calls a toilet anyway... But with some water from my bottle and some of my own toilet paper I can stop the bleeding. I hope it will be fine now, but with all the dust, changes are slim.

Inside the salt flat we stop again and see some piles ready to be transported back to the town for processing. This is really cool and there is no more dust. Everything is "clean" here. The desert is unbelievably light and without sunglasses it is like when I am skiing. Everything is really really flat, you can see very far. White, white, white...

At the flag place the Brazilians are happy. Their flag is the most common here. :)

For lunch we stop literally in the middle of the desert and while Franz is preparing lunch out of the trunk we are starting to take the illusion pictures. Very funny. The ground is really hard though.

We drive and drive and my eyes are closing. When we stop we are in front of an island in the middle of the desert, full of cactusses. We have one hour to walk up and explore. Since my nosebleeds it is hard for me to breath and we almost don't make it all the way up. 

At around 5 we leave the Salt flat at the other end of Uyuni for our first night in a salt hotel. We are the first ones and get the best rooms. Then we also take a shower. For 1.20$ it is even hot for 7 min.

Our room seems cold but everything except for the foundation is made of salt blocks.

For dinner we get a typical Bolivian soup, which is really good and the Bolivian national dish we get after is also tasty. This is definitely in the top 5 of the best food. I have had in the past weeks. For entertainment we get to hear stories from a guy from the next table. He has an opinion about everything and has been everywhere. Arzu is embarrassed because he is from Turkey and so she is Canadian for the night. :)

At 9pm we are in bed and pretty surprised at how warm it is. The salt really keeps the cold outside and I am sleeping really good, like I haven't in a long time.

Oct 23 Markets and carbon monoxide poisoning

Since we are leaving for Uyuni with the night bus at 9 we let the day start easy and enjoy our apartment. Fresh and for the first time really good bread is hanging on our door with some juice and we have breakfast...

Our luggage stays here in an area that seems safe, and we go downtown to look at the famous markets. They are all behind San Francisco Church and we are lucky that the taxi driver takes backroads to get there. It is already pretty hot and combined with the load of really old cars, the smell is almost unbearable. The Witches Market is unique and we see weird things like little lambs, dried up on a stick, lots of stones in different shapes that mean different things like prosperity, luck, money,... And of course there is the myriad of teas being sold for all kinds of sicknesses. Under every stall - which are crammed on the narrow and steep sidewalks - are bunches with different herbs. People seem to know what they need and the tourists go for the stones.

The other markets kind of merge into the witches' market and so we also look at fruits and very few veggies. The artesanal market is very nice, lots of colorful things and since I am not going to send that 250$ package to Germany now, I have to be careful what I shop... :)

We notice that basically everything people need is sold on the street. There are almost no supermarkets and you can literally get everything you imagine out there. 

Our breathing gets worse and worse. The car smells combined with the height are not good for us and so we are lucky that we can go to the busterminal at 8 to catch our bus to Uyuni.

The guy from the hostel is wishing us good luck on the sleeping part. After Oruro it is apparently only a dirt road. We'll see.

The office of our bus company is still closed and so we wait inside the bus station. We pick the worst possible spot and have to listen through the high pitched voice of a girl shouting out "Potosi, Potosi" every 20 sec. That is a town. A guy without teeth who is putting a lot of coca leaves into his mouth shouts the same thing, but it is so muffled, that we can hardly understand. The second the girl takes a smoke break, the next one comes shouting "Oruroruro". 

We are happy when we can leave this zoo and go to our bus which will serve us a warm meal, gives us heat and wifi.

The bus looks good and we are happy. Once onboard the row in front of us is empty and so we spread out. The warm meal is cold and the wifi is not working, but who cares? The Japanese guy does. He keeps asking and then falls asleep rapidly.

It takes almost 1h to get out of La Paz. The bus is aching up the steep hill towards the airport and the lights get less and less. Soon everything is dark.

We try to sleep and with the anticipation that the guy might be right and we will not sleep in the second part of the night, that is a good idea.

Oct 22 Arzu is here

I didn't sleep particularly well although against all fears my room was warm.

At 7 I wake up, but Arzu is not there. I am checkking online and see that she is active on Facebook. This can only mean one thing. She is in the lobby :) and I am right. Yipieee!

Now the Bolivia trip can start.

First we need to switch hotels because we want to stay a second night. In a side street not far from the hotel we get a whole apartment for the price of the hotel. Our things need to be driven by taxi, which we are reusing to go downtown. 3600m altitude are breathtaking, especially for sealevel-Arzu. :)

We are tourists again, taking the sightseeing bus. With a 30 min delay something that looks like a bus shows up and we get on board to check out the southern part of the city. The rich guys live here as opposed to what we are used to, that the rich live high above the city, but in this case the climate is much better at 3000 than at 4000m. The poor live on top with a great view of the chaos :)

Traffic in La Paz is dominated by the mini busses which function as public transportation. There are bigger busses which were already outdated in the 70s and make the American schoolbusses look like a luxury coach. 

We drive to the moon valley and it really looks like we are not on this earth anymore. It looks a little like Bryce Canyon, verry surreal. 

The bus that wanted to become a truck in an earlier life, shakes us through and through and Arzu makes the right comment: "I am sitting on a horse!" And this is exactly how it feels. :)

After 1.5h we are back at the Isabela Square and head for lunch before we take the tour of the northern part of the city like the good tourists.

We take one of the minibusses and squeeze in with the other Bolivianos. Very funny and we are reminded of the tuktuks in Thailand, at least when it comes to the carbon monoxide smell.

We have lunch in a really fancy coffeeplace and forget about the coca tea. Then we book a trip to Uyuni with a guy who is totally fascinated that Arzu is from Turkey. That is very exotic here, Germans and French can be found anywhere. The bus to Uyuni is overnight and has heat and Wifi. For me the first is the more important in this case.

The second sightseeing trip starts on time and we are looking at the city center, the bus is aching up and down the narrow streets and there are several times when we almost get strangled by hanging power and phone cables. 

La Paz used to be a really beautiful city, but it seems like there is no money to fix all historical buildings. Most home owners apparently don't even have money to finish their houses and paint them. The biggest part of the city is still unfinished. 

This is in interesting city, but completely crazy. 

Looking for the Hard Rock Cafe we climb up the streets behind the San Francisco church and we almost choke with the car smells and the altitude. Those old cars really stink!

There is no Hard Rock Cafe anymore and you might wonder if there ever was one. 

We go back and check out the San Francisco church, which is beautiful from the inside. It is not really old, which is surprising. And then finally we manage to try the coca tea. It is not as bad as we thought.

For dinner we want live music, which is hard to come by on a Tuesday night. We are back in our apartment having used all possible transportation devices. 

Google, Lonely Planet, Foursquare... We decide on a restaurant close by, but when we get there it is closed. The taxi driver is not very helpful and we decide to go downtown, but then Arzu spots a Spanish place and we go there. Here Arzu is having her second steak of the day :)

2. Oktober Der grosse Schock

Stell dir vor du kommst um 20 Uhr von der Arbeit nach Hause, telefonierst noch waehrend du etwas isst und machst dich gegen 21:30 dran, endlich deine Sachen fuer den in 12h anstehenden 5-woechigen Urlaub zusammenzusuchen. Wenn du dann merkst, dass dein Trekking Rucksack nicht in deinem Zimmer, nicht im Keller und auch sonst nirgendwo zu finden ist, bricht Panik aus!

Ein Anruf zu Hause und der Rucksack ist gefunden, 160km weit weg :(

Der liebste und beste Papa der Welt steht vom Sofa auf, ueberlaesst sein Feierabendbier, von dem er gerade mal einen Schluck getrunken hat, der Oma und macht sich auf den Weg...

Bei mir angekommen, bekommt er dann ein Belohnungsbier und darf sogsr uebernachten. Um 1 geht er beruhigt ins Bett, nur ich wusel noch durch die Wohnung...

Um 4am ist auch der letzte Punkt auf der ToDo Liste erledigt. Der Urlaub kann kommen!

5 Wochen durch Equador, Peru, Bolivien...