My journey begins in Lima after a 12-hour flight with KLM, directly to the capital of Peru. A gigantic city with a jumble of streets and buildings. Parks, old churches, “shanty towns” and beautiful art deco houses. It never rains here. After Cairo the largest desert city in the world.
Right on arrival a great experience. Stay first night in the hip bohemiam neighborhood of Barranco. My stay, The Arts Boutique Hotel B is a splendor of a “habitaniones” located in the South of Lima. In Barranco it’s nice to stay. Artists and designers are settled here and inhabit the beautiful art deco buildings.
Early the next morning for a big walk to the beach and my afternoon flight to Iquitos where my first adventure starts, the Amazon with Aqua Expeditions.
New explorers
Iquitos is the city of thousands of tuktuks (local taxi) and houses a splendour of a building by the French architect Eiffel. Iquitos, in the middle of the Amazon can only be reached by air or by boat.”Aqua” is a riverboat, small-scale with 12 rooms. In the next few days it will be my base to explore and visit the many river arms, the rainforest and local villages.
With small speedboats the rivers are explored, a top experience and true experience under the guidance of biologists and local guides who know the waterways on their thumb. They also know all the sounds and that makes it possible to find the little capuchin monkeys. The company on board is international, travelers from all over the world, in search of the lost paradise Amazon. New explorers.
The Amazon is about 1-3 km wide, has 3,100 km on it from its source and still makes a road of about 3,900 km to the Atlantic Ocean. Of course it is jungle and the animals are not easy to observe (almost not). However, we see sloths, some snakes, turtles, Capuchin monkeys, large numbers of grey (I had not seen in Brazil) and pink dolphins and many bird species. For the bird lover, Peru is the climax with more than 1,600 species. Only Colombia does better with 1,900 varieties.
We visit a school, people are excited and happy to see us. Tourism is still in its infancy here. The local community will have an opportunity to sell their stuff. Eco tourism? A wonderful experience, I can recommend it to anyone.
I sometimes have the idea of arriving in a “western” of Ennio Morricone
Via Lima to Thumbes for a few days beach. To me a surprise, always thought it would be dry and barren. Quite the opposite. Thumbes is the center of rice farming, bananas and passion fruit plantations, on an arc drive from Ecuador. We land in the middle of the green.
Mancora is my final destination, a small town 2 hours drive from Thumbes in south. The water is warm. Mancora is drier than Thumbes and a totally different experience than the Amazon. Also the people are characteristically built differently, houses are different, habits are different. I sometimes have the idea of arriving in a “western” of Ennio Morricone. Looking for Clint Eastwood and Claudia Cardinale.
Mancora can be described with “palm trees, surfers and ceviche”. Marinate fish to delay the holdability date. Now the national dish of Peru that is exported all over the world. Frigate birds shave along the palm trees and dunes. Raining hardly does it (December – February), always a lovely temperature.
Back to Lima, for my best dinner ever
Lima, with a population of 10 million, is one of the giants of South America. World-class. From classic retro buildings to funky palaces, golf courses in the centre. Surfers, “shopping malls”, a mishmash of many cultures. Lima lives and moves and to blow out one still has the “pacific”. The immeasurable ocean that hides all the problems. Speaking names such as San Isidro, Miraflores, Barranco and the ever-present Francisco Pizarro, the founder.
I got a table from the best chef in Latin America Central.Chef, Virgilio Martinez, joins us at the table after having conjured heavenly dishes from his kitchen assisted by a team of 20 chefs.Ingredients come from 50 m below sea level up to 3,850 m altitude.Pure enjoyment, plates are unique stones nicely talted, full of flavor explosions.
The Andes, Amazon, Titicaca, Araquipa and the coastal region pass the stage. This is my best dinner ever.
National Geographic’s No. 1 destination
My next adventure will take me to Cusco, capital of the Inca empire. The Sacred Valley beautiful 1 hour drive from Cusco with a rich history but also a great experience like the Maras, salt mines that were already used in pré Inca time in the shadow of ‘Veronica’, a mountain of almost six thousand more altitude.
The next day by train between beautiful mountains to Macho Picchu, wowwow, this is óndescribe! No.1 destination National Geographic… and rightfully so. A mausoleum tucked in the middle of the mountains with the jungle on the right and the highest peaks of the Andes on the left.
Peru has even more to offer, the next days I will explore Titicaca lake, 3850 m altitude. I stay on a peninsula, surrounded by small farming villages, one hour’s drive from Puno, where a large portion of the population makes their money from smuggling. Bolivia is a stone’s throw from here. Copacabana on a two-hour bus ride (border perils not included). I explore the lake, be introduced to a shaman and visit a floating village in the reeds.
My last day, to Paracas airport, 260 km south of Lima via the Pan American highway. Keep in mind that cyclists, goats, sheep, 40 tonners and tuk tuks are your fellow travellers. A four-hour drive full of surprises.
Beacons for the skies?
The Nasca lines, mission of the day. With an Australian and Colombian company we watch the spectacle from the air. Hummingbird, condor, candlestick, trees, pagegaai, astronaut etc. Another civilization. It is still guesswork as to the usefulness and provenance of these works of art. Scars in the desert of hundreds of meters. Beacons for the skies? Halucinant vessels to show you the way to the afterlife? One can ask one’s question. I love it.
Golden poo
Before I finish my visit to Peru I still explore the Ballestes Islands. Off the coast sea lions, Humboldt penguin, inka terns, Peruvian pelicans and millions of Guanay cormorants. But also spotted endemic surf cinclodes, a topper. One should not enter the country, reserved only for the guana harvesters who clean up the golden poo every six years. 2 kg guana soon does 1USD tells my guide.
What diversity!
It’s over, what a diversity. Peru, a country with a thousand faces, a zest for life for the Burgundian (like me), full of beautiful cities with history. Machu Picchu is indescribable, the train ride there between the steep cliffs of the Andes I see condor, cougar, llama, alpaca. The Amazon, whales, the local Inca traditions, Lake Titicaca, the Nasca lines… I think I have an idea of what the country has to offer, at least I think.
In the air, I sit next to the rector of the University of Peru. Witches, Araquipa, Tarapota, Puerto Maldonado… He tells me, “You ain’t seen nothing yet”.
I will be back.
