Rio Napo

In the morning I headed to the port to board the boat that will bring me to Nuevo Rocafuerte - the last village on the ecuadorian side of the Rio Napo. It was already packed with people and I had to scramble for a seat. The chickens beneath me made me feel really cousy. The boat was not to fast, but we were definitly moving. Primary jungle can be viewed at all times. Besides of me there were two other travellers in the boat. A guy from Puerto Rico and Mauricio from Argentina. Every now and then we stopped at some shacks because people were getting of. Even though the landscape is truley amazing the moment when things get boring is bound to come. So I was glad to get out for the lunch break in a unsignificant village. Tasty chicken and way to familiar rice out of plastic cup was the best I could hope for. The puerto rican guy got out of the boat. After a total of 11 hours in the boat the few people that were left arrived in Nuevo Rocafuerte. 20 houses scattered along the river is the pride of the peruvian navy when they captured it some decades ago. The town is dangerously tranquilla and has only two "hostels". Maurico and me quickly found out that there is no boat scheduled to leave towards Iquitos anytime soon. Mauricio who only had 70$ left, because he thought it's going to be a short two day trip got a bit worried. But there were so many different opinions about how to get down the river as people live in the pueblo. So the next day we sat at the port for the whole day asking every passing boat, if they were going to Pandoja.
Mauricio is on a trip to follow the footprints of the famous Che. He likes to make artesan (aka rubish) to sell them in the next major city to extend his trip. He's 21 years old and dosent speak any English. So I had to speak Spanish all the time. He also dosent beleave in hygiene. He smells and he is wearing the same clothes all the time because somebody robbed his clothes in Quito. And sadly he dosent brush his teeth as well. So, all in all a good guy.
When it started to rain in the afternoon our mood turned because we still didn't find a captain. And people kept telling us, that this wouldn't change anytime soon. I checked in to the hostel and Mauricio camped at the harbor to safe some money. In the evening we found somebody, who would take us to Pandoja for 30$. But an hour later he wasn't sure anymore. In the evening we were playing with the local children the guy of the ecuadorian navy told us, that there will be a cargo boat tomorow morning. Yppiee...
This boat turned out to be really cool. We turned into a side river to a finca to get the cargo. It was really silent there and a lot of animals could be seen. Cows, pigs, monkeys, chickens, fish and of course dogs. Then we left for a laidback trip to Pandoja.
After dealing with the immigration (the captain didn't have a passport, but after a 10 minute discussion they allowed him to enter anyway) who told us that there was no cargo boat for the next 8 days, the mood turned once again, because even the swiss guy didn't have enough money for both of us for 8 days. But shortly afterwards some peruvian soldiers told us, that there will maybe be a navy ship in one hour going close to Iquitos. A half an hour later it was alreadly scheduled for the next day. So we spent the misty day at a local house and were also able to spent the night there. At 6 PM we boarded the boat. It was smaller than expected with 20 young soldiers fooling around singing songs of pride and honor. For lunch we got out at an other settlement and the soldiers quickly ran into the woods and came back with yucca, burning wood and bananas. They ignited the fire by burning plastic that was laying around. I talked with the owner of the nearby house, who provided the rice and salt. He was laughing all the time and proudly told me that he has 9 kids. Since I still had some mustard from Coca with me, I gave it to him. I didn't know what it was and insited that I have to eat something of it first. The food was delicious - well lets say ok. Mauricio asked the poor locals for free bananas. He also had some fever and I gave him some medicine.
In the evening we arrived in Puerto Elvira. The people there only drink water out of the river. But the gringo stomache can't take that, so I had to organize some water. After an hour a kind local ran up the hill to a spring to get some water, while I was waiting in the candle lit house with his familiy, who offered me some soup. After he returned he didn't wan't to charge me for water. Mauricio who had a bad headache was happy for some liquid. After eating and fooling around with soldiers for a while we got to sleep on the concrete floor.
The next day was a long, rainy journey with another short stop at a shack to eat some jungle deer, yucca and rice. In the evening we arrived in Santa Clotina. A by comparison major village with all coka cola and soon. The captain of the boat and the boss of the soldiers invited Mauricio and me to a friends place. It was an opulent meal served at the kitchen table, with "cafe con leche", chicken and fish. Afterwards it became increasingly clear that we were going to get drunk - a pleasant surprise. When we were finished Mauricio and me went to the local "discotheca". The poor soldiers were dancing all by themselves - no girls around. They shared their beer with us and I bought them another 4 bottles. Then the boss told them to go back to the house to sleep, that once again was just a concrete floor.
Since there was no gasoline in town, the navy boat would have to go upriver the next morning to look for gasoline. The captain knew that we wouldn't like this thought and paid for a fast boat that left the next morning to a village close to Iquitos. Another TukTuk and a short boattrip brought us to the biggest city in the world without access by road.
Even though I helped Mauricio a thousand times with giving him money (that made it possible for him to get to Iquitos), food, water and medicine, he didn't want to give me 1/3 $ to much back and insisted to change money first.

Coca

Coca is the lasy city reachable by bus while travelling east. I arrived there at 4 o'clock in the morning at a remote street and was glad to be able to check in to a hotel next door. Coca is not a nice place. Only the "malecon" at the river offers some beauty. Kids play there all day and in the trees there are a lot of small monkies. The already impressive river Napo slowly passes by. The only turist I saw were peruvian turists. Otherwise there were no gringos around. I hung out with a peruvian artesan seller and later on with his friends. The market is tiny and dirty. There were a lot of fruits I didn't know, grilled bugs and a little crocodile on a leash. Since there are not boats going down the river every day, I had to stay an extra day. That day I met an ecuadorian who has spend the last 20 years in Virginia. He just got divorced from his lebanese wife and lost the kids, his company and even his dog. Now he want's to teach English to the local people in Coca. So if you get divorced, get a good lawyer.

Quito

After arriving in Quito I went to the "Cafecito hostal" - a place recommended by a good friend (Melanie Schnidrig) of Switzerland. It turned out to be a very nice place with clame patio and in the middle of the fiesta district of the locals. The streets offer italian style restaurants and the general mood in the city seems to be very upbeat. After organising a new camera I hung out with 3 israeli guys for a day. The streets are covered with police - sometimes they are in groups of 20 and more. People get drunk more or less every evening and do the salsa-thing. Downtown Quito is packed with colonial buildings, that are only matched by the masses of middle aged turists. In my eyes the parks are the most impressive locations in the city - also because of the noise level - and thats why I spend most of the time there.
Later on I met a girl from Barcalona, which seemed to be a interesting person. She was studying the local indigenous villages at the Rio Napo for a project in school. We hung out together for two days - going to museums and movies. She constantly quoted romantic catalan authors, which probably wouldn`t even have impressed me in german. But the more time I spend with her, the more awkward she seemed. Towards the end I was glad that my departure day came closer.
The Amazon journey was about to start.

Baños

I took a 7 hours bus from Cuenca to Ambote. Next to me sat a fat old dude who was to greedy to pay for a seat for his daughter. So I had about half a seat. When things were already bad the kid started to vomit every 15 minutes. In Ambote I switched to a bus to Baños. Just after we got going a guy from the company placed my small backback on the shelf above. Even though I never put my backpack there I thought - what the hell, this bus seems to be much better than the one before. Arriving in Baños I wanted to take my backpack, but it was not there anymore. After cursing for a minute and checking out the whole bus I had to accept things looked bad. I messed with the police afterwards, but they werent able to do anything. The next morning I made a complaint at the police station. They didn't seem to be interested at all and just wrote down everything. So I lost my small backback, my 2.5 weeks old camera, the jacket I bought in Caracas, the LP and some other things I liked.
After that I was depressed and whatched a lot of TV and ate even more pizzas. Now I'm strolling through Baños, which is famous for the hot water pools and hiking. Tomorrow I'll go the pools and leave for Quito in the hope to be more lucky further on. And I have to buy another camera. Damn it

Cuenca

Quenca is famous for it's colonial beauty, that maybe is only matched by Quito. It's pretty cold here and rain is the norm. Streetvendors add some character to the game. They sell a lot of candy, flowers and in the evening they grill meat of all sorts - without side effects. The colonial beauty is not bad, but nothing breathtaking. We ate the best food in town, when we didn't eat at the market. I also met the first swiss guy since 2 months. The nearby river still serves some locals as a "lavandaria". So it was definitly not turisty. The ruins are not worth mentioning but the history museum was ok. The gay hairdresser who cut my hair did it really bad - so now I look like I'm part of the hitler-youth.

Mancora

The refuge for my birthday was a small town on the most northern tip of Peru. Fishing is still pretty important but turism is taking over. The town is still poor and people struggle to get by. At the beach national and international turists are sunbathing and try to learn some surfing. Tuk-Tuks dominate the street picture. Even though the town itself is not bad, I decided to stay at the Point hostel a 1km out of town but also at the beach. And the creepy, old knight in the cave said: "Your chose wisley." Swimming pool, pool table, beach, volleyball, hammocks, parties almost every night, cool people and safe food make this place a good refugee camp for exausted backpackers looking for some peace. We had a lot of parties, but two of them are specially worth telling.
The full moon party officially started at midnight. But of course some of us couldnt wait and started much earlier. Then 150 people from all over town joined us (30 pers) for a massive drinking rampage. The sound was terrible but the atmosphere on the edge. At six o'clock it was finished - thats when Tad came back. He got so drunk that he apparently walked down the beach. Thats when his blackout ended and so he didn't knew where he was. Ha had to ask the security guys where he may be and how to get back to his hostel.
The pirate party was much more spontaneous. The deal was to drink as much Rum&Coke for 7$ in 2 hours as you want. The looser had to walk the plank into the swimming pool. Well people got drunk as fast as Roadrunner after eating spinach. Doug fell backwards from the bar after dancing on it. He also peed into our room later that evening. Jill - the loser of the drinking excess had to walk the plank. Sadly she first realized in the water, that her digicam was in her pocket, when she was in the water. A crossbar of a bunk bed springed out and hit somebody above the eye. Somebody badly cut is big toe. The manager was drunk and wanted to kick out a girl, that didn't wear pirate clothing. And Nick was at the beach throwing up. The whole thing ended up as a poolparty.
The next day it was my birthday - everyone including me had a huge hangover. So most of us chilled at the hostel and in the evening there was a bonfire. And I had to listen to this stupid song people sing for even suroundings of the sun.

Trujillo

After another 16 hours, while skipping dusty Lima, I arrived in Trujillo. This authentic peruvian city is close to the sea but still fairly chilly. With about 150'000 inhabitants it's one of the major cities Peru has to offer. I ate at the best restaurants in town - sticking to the local joints with the cheap 4 meal dishes. There were once again minor demostrations because of the "evil" goverment, that wants to earn some money with exploiting the natural resources in the amazonian jungle. It turned ugly when 3 police officers were missing. Police was all over town. I gave another shot at the peruvian wine, but it was clearly not worth the glas bottle it was in. Trujillo is fun for a few hours but definitly not the 3 nights and 2 days I stayed there. When leaving town with the nightbus - it broke down after 5 minutes after leaving 40 minutes late. They tried to fix the hydraulic problem with some simple tools and strangely enough with my lighter. After 45 minutes we were finally leaving. But another 2 hours later the bus broke down again and we had to wait for an empty bus comming from Trujillo. After boarding the new bus, the nice peruvian lady sitting next to me was already sleeping; the middle handle was in the upper position and her huge ass occupied one third of my seat. Come on god - I didnt have sex with your wife.

Nasca

I arrived in Nasca after a 10 hours trip from Arequipa. I checked into a decent hostel at the main plaza. In the morning I arranged a half an hour flight over the geoglyphes. During my apprentiship I once had to lecture about them. Maybe 8 years later I was able to see it by my own eyes. I sort of knew what to expect. In general I think that the figures are smaller than expected. But if you see the surroundings it gets increasingly clear, that you can only enjoy the view if you're in the air. Most of the mountains are to far away to get an acceptable angle. Thats why the question "why" even gets more obvious. But I'm probably not the last guy that scratches his head. Anyway - it was nice to fly in an cessna. You feel much more like sitting in an airplane than in an 747. Especially if you land, and the wheels right beneath you are makin strange noises.
At the moment a little kid harasses me in one minute rythem. Lesson Nr.465 of my live: Don't be nice to kids... because they are not.

Arequipa

Arequipa is famous for the surrounding, high mountains and the wonderfull Colcoa Canyon maybe 20 km to the north. There are a lot of vincuñias, foxes and condors to see. But the lazy Timmy - sick of tours - didn't go anywhere close to these places. Instead he organized a new camera. There are basicly 2 ways to do this in Peru. Either you buy it at an electronics shop like in every other civilized country or you go the market. The market is less organized than an English pub after 3 hours of free beer. Prices are not fix, quality unpredictable and lies the thing you have to expect. The advantage of the market is that prices are cut by half. After talking to the various venders for 3 hours I chose my Digital Camera for 100$. When asking if there is a guarantee on the camera, the lady told me while laughing: "I don't think so". She truly didn't know.
I mostly hung out at the main plaza, where almost only locals chill in the sun, children feed doves and the sunbathing is best.

Cusco, Machu Picchu

Cuzco - already seems like ages ago (4 nights). I arrived in Cusco with an Australian girl, that I met on the bus. She likes "Predator", "Alien" and "Terminator". We checked into a branch of "LOKI" hostels. During my days in Cusco I didn't check out many of the turist attractions. The loveliness of the city lies in the city itself anyway. I ate at some of the best places and some of the best food in town. Hideki - a Japanese-American was able to stimulate me on an intelectual basis. In Loki's it's not difficult to meet new people - even for a guy like me. Local people were continuously demonstratiog about some planned reforms. Above all the privatization of water and the licensing of multinational companys to search for oil in the jungle in the NE. That meant that there were costantly people walking through the streets with some banner.
After hasseling to look for the cheapest tour agency I finally found a dumping price to go to Machu Picchu. On my tour were 4 Israelis, 2 colombian girls and a dutch guy. The Israelis were cooking more or less their own soup. The dutch fellow was in his late 30's and colombian girls young and funny. The tour was organized in a - even for peruvian standards - bad fashion. Responsibilitis were as unclear to us as to the various guides. People ended up without traintickets, hostels, transport and in my case without breakfast and enrty ticket for Machu Picchu (40$). After getting drunk with the dutch guy we got up at 4 AM to climb the seemingly endless uphill battle to the ancient fortress of Machu Picchu. The ruins are great, but the sight itself makes this place to the most famous turist attraction in South America. This extraordinary place is almost worth the 110$ you have to pay to get there. By far the most expensive tour on the journey so far. In the village nearby - where you sleep - there is no decency or whatsoever . Waiters put an 30% tax on things, promis discounts and don't deliver at all. Gringos pass through this village for one night all year long - and they know it. After the visit to MP we encountered some indigenous people blocking the railroad - once again because of the water situation. This meant we had to walk along the railroads for 3 hours and then take the microbus back (thats when I lost the camera I bought in Mexico). Arriving at 10 PM in the evening in Cusco, we just had enough energy to get some beers. Thats when the colombian girls left and the Daniel (dutchman) flew to Lima. Once again I was by myself and organized a busticket to Arequipa. At the busterminal I encounterd some people I knew from Bolivia. We shared a cab to get back to the citycenter. Indigenous people were twrowing stones towards us - so we had to change direction a few times until we were close to the main plaza. A truly amazing cabride for 50 cents.
After that I met two Americans with whom I watched the Campions League final. The locals strangely liked the team of the Conquistadores and got there satisfaction.