Bolivia has been a great country with amazing experiences, but staying at the same place all the time even with an impaired foot is a sign of standing still, of being captive, especially on a trip around the world. Besides, travelling with crutches has some striking advantages. You are allowed to board the bus first, at the airport you don’t have to wait in line but can go to the counter of the privileged. Maybe we should bring the crutches along every time?
Out next destination Peru would have offered countless opportunities for adventure, but unfortunately multiday hikes or jungle tours are still out of reach for us. A backpacker’s heart will surely get over a grain of organized bus and taxi tours. Luckily nowadays there a lot of super comfortable options for travelers. We begin with “Bolivia Hop”, an unbeatable offer to get from La Paz to Peru. One ticket, flexible stops and schedules, everything can be booked and changed online, at no extra costs. Our first stop is Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable body of water in the world (altitude 3800m / 12500ft). Here you can eat yummy trout (if it’s well done and not rotten), cruise with many other tourists to real and false islands and buy local handicraft. Uros, the floating islands of the indigenous population are made from reed and are destination of an army of excursion boats. The entire port of the city of Puno is full of these boats. Since we go on board without big expectations, we can actually enjoy the trip. A young indigenous couple shows us her reed hut on one of the islands. Do they really live there or is it just a fake? Doesn’t matter, they are just so cute that we even buy something from them. We haven’t done that anywhere else on our trip and at one of the most touristy spots of all we give in. At some point everyone gets weak. But a nice and colorful sofa cushion cover is something nobody can take from you.
Together with all the other tourists from Europe and North America we continue with the Peru Hop bus. We are on the Gringo trail, next destination: Cusco, the legendary capital of the Inca empire. Alongside Rio and Buenos Aires, it’s one of the top spots in the whole of South America. Here you can find churches and monasteries merged with Inca temples. The huge amount of gold and silver that used to be displayed there was of course immediately brought to Spain. Today tourism is the main source of income for Cusco. It’s full of restaurants, museums and colonial buildings. The real Cusco we only discover when we donate Conny’s orthosis in a local public hospital. Like in many other places on our trip we conclude it’s best not to get a serious sickness.
In Cusco we live with the uncle of Catalina, my Spanish tandem partner from Dresden. It’s quite a coincidence that she is at the same time in Cusco on vacation with her whole family, without us talking or making specific plans. If we talk about coincidences, Catalina’s uncle is a shaman and offers Ayahuasca ceremonies for tourists in his house. In Bolivia other travelers told us of “their” ceremony with exactly this shaman. How small is the world – or at least the Gringo trail. We are not that much into hallucinogenic states of trance, that clean the body, meaning emptying all orifices, but rather go on an excursion.
The only way to get from Cuscu to Machu Picchu that doesn’t involve longer walks is by train through the deep valleys of the Andes. For Peruvian standards you have to book luxury class at luxury prices. Everything has to be reserved in advance and has to be paid in US dollars. Early in the morning in Machu Picchu Pueblo (the village below) there is breakfast at 4:30 and at 5 you queue up to wait for the bus that brings all the Gringos to the entry gate. The line is long, but the bus go frequently enough for us to arrive on time at 6 o’clock at the entrance. A bit of shoving and we’re in and can look at the incredible views. It’s not just the ruins. The Incas couldn’t have chosen a more beautiful spot. The snow-covered mountains nearby tear almost vertical valleys into unbelievable depths. Everything is coated with green vegetation and below a torrential river cuts the valley even deeper.
The viewpoints are under siege by posing tourists, with or without selfie sticks. Now currently “only” 2500 visitors are allowed per day. Still it feels more like after god’s punishment on the tower of Babel. We have ambitious goals this day. Not only are we planning to go to the ruin city but also trying to climb Machu Picchu Montaña, the mountain close by which gave the name for the city. It is quite bordering insanity, 2670 irregular steps with crutches. Our fellow climbers are astonished and express that fact over and over. Conny is super happy at the top, it is big progress after all. But as always in the mountains you have to be able get down again. In the heat of the day that’s quite exhausting. Finally we stroll through the ruins, patiently letting the groups of tourists pass. To our surprise, a bit further down a thunderstorm approaches, with thunder and lightning.
And that’s been it for us in Peru. So many western tourists in one place we haven’t seen anywhere on our journey. We will be coming back, but next time avoiding the Gringo trail.
