February 25, 2005
dream team
Right next to me this is Brindisi. Dunno, what to say. She was indded not very strong, so I carried the backpack by myself.
in the news
On the left this is Stefano from Italy just after he had given the interview to the man from the newspaper to his right.
Gil and Taurus
This is Gil, the Israeli, while saddling Taurus (alias "Shaggy"), the strongest horse we had
one of many valleys
One of the countless valleys we crossed within the two weeks on the horseback
pics from the horse trip
A couple of days ago Stefano, the italian guy, sent me some pics from our horse trip. I have chosen a few to present them here and now.
People (from left to right): Me, Gil
Horses (from left to right): Brindisi, Shaggy, Gringa, Carrier
February 24, 2005
from Chiclayo to Junin
After selling the horses in Sallique the three caballeros (Gil, Stefano and me) left the highlands and drove together to Chiclayo, situated near the west coast of Peru. As we all had different plans regarding our travel routes we split up and from Chiclayo on everyone went his own way.
Thus I caught the bus to Trujillo on the next morning. After my arrival in Trujillo I went straight to the migration office. The reason for that is when I first arrived in Peru I only asked for an one-month stay. But after that unplanned two-weeks-horse-trip-thing we have done, an one month Visa canīt be sufficient, of course not. Accordingly I asked the migration office to extend my Visa for another 30 days. That whole procedure cost me like one day and about 30 Dollar. The next time I enter a country I apply from the beginning for the maximum stay of ninety days. Apart from all this official and paper work stuff I also visited a few sights in and around Trujillo. An only 20 minutes bus drive away from the city centre there is Chan Chan, once the glorious capital of the Chimu empire. Chan Chan is touted as the largest preserved mud-brick city in the world.
Totally sweated and exhausted from the merciless sun over Trujillo I hopped on an overnight bus to Huaraz, the jumping-off point for the best hiking in Peru. Huaraz is not only famous for its prime location in the valley that is formed by the Cordillera Negra and the Cordillera Blanca. Unfortunately, the city also tells the story of the catastrophic earthquake that shattered all but one street and killed half the cityīs population in 1970, many people had been killed while watching the Mexico-hosted World Cup. As the weather wasnīt that good to do a more-day hike including sleeping in a tent I only did two single day trips. The first one brought me, accompanied by a dutch couple (greetings to Leon & Miranda!!), to a lake on 4.500m elevation, called Laguna Churup. Trip number two, also in company with the dutch couple, lead us first through a valley, called Pumapampa, as once the Puma lived here, before we got to see the seldom Puya Raymondi plant (grows only at altitudes of 3.800m – 4.200m) and an ice cave. By the end of the trip our guide offered us to walk on the glacier of Mount Pastoruri. After a few steps walking on the white ground we could notice the consequences of the global warming; the ice of the glacier was not really strong and before we would run in trouble we rather decided to bring our adventure to an end at this point. For me it was already highly satisfactory as I have been over 5.000m this day, higher than any point on the European continent.
Since Trujillo I am traveling alone through South America, and this is reflected in my travel route as well. I decide in the evening, or sometimes even in the morning, where I will go and what I will do that day. And so it happened that after Huaraz I did not go the travelers “usual” way down to Lima, but more to the east, approximately heading to Pucallpa. On the way to Pucallpa I made a first stop over in La Union. From here it is just a few hours hike to Huanuco Viejo, “the second-best Inca ruins in the country”, if you want to believe the words of the local tourist office. To be honest I really liked those ruins. May it be because I was the only visitor on this day, may it be because the sun was shining so bright, may it be because I had an original Peruvian meal together with my tour guide or may it be because it didnīt cost me anything to visit these ruins except the effort the way and the time to get here.
From La Union / Huanuco Viejo my trip continued to Junin, a bit south-east of La Union. When I arrived in Junin I took the first hotel I saw. Later on I should experience that this was a big mistake, my room was clean, but the chemical they have cleaned it with was Diesel, and so smelled my room like. Junin is located 4.100m above sea level. Together with the smell of Diesel and the high elevation I could not sleep much this first night in Junin. The next morning I had an appointment with three local people I met the evening before. Together we went by bicycle to the 20km distant Lago de Junin, Perus second biggest lake after Titicaca. The view from the lookout point was not even a little bit spectacular but it was more the talk to the local people that count. Exhausted from the bike tour I did not realize the smelliness this second night anymore and slept quite well. The next morning my new friends brought me to the bus station where I changed my cap with one of theirs, so that I now have my first Peruvian souvenir. Afterwards I jumped, as I did it so many times already within the last 6 weeks, on another bus, pointing Puerto Bermudez, where there is supposed to be the hottest budget jungle lodge in Peru.
And because this report is already much too long and also because I donīt want to betray my next adventures to you at this stage, I gonna finish this chapter here. For those of you who cannot wait for the answer you just have to take a closer look on a Peruvian map and to look for Puerto Bermudez, which is actually on Peruīs exact geographical center. With somewhat general knowledge and just as little imagination you shouldnīt have a problem to guess what will be my next travel report about…
February 15, 2005
my route through Ecuador
Hello all!
My friend Marius from Germany does not only provide me with some web space for this site (big thanks!!), he also advises me to add certain information, that could be useful for you.
A few days ago he wrote me if it is possible to put a map on the site and therefore to visualize my travel route.
February 11, 2005
Finally, some pictures (... thanks Jan)
As I am travelling through South America with a mirror reflex camera and not with a digital one I am not able to provide you with my own pictures, not yet.
But, fortunately, I meet people from time to time who have a digital camera and who allow me to use their pictures.
The following five pictures I have got from Jan (the one on the right). He is this german guy I told you about earlier, together we did the Cotopaxi tour (see also travel report "Cotopaxi, Quilotoa, Chugchilan").
If you feel like seeing some more pics from South America just follow the link given below which brings you to Janīs website.
www.bestofgermany.com/html2/page_02.htm
walking on the lava
And this is a picture of the lava stream we were walking on instead of continuing our trip further up the hill. Looking back I would say it was the right decision.
walking along the hillside
Here you have a picture of me. Jan took it while I was resting for a minute. A few minutes in front of us there is our guide walking (yellow jacket). He was in a very good condition. On the contrary I had to stop every now and then to get used to the altitude.
Volcano Cotopaxi, Ecuador
This is it, the worlds highest active volcano, Cotopaxi.
At this time of the day there are not so many clouds surrounding the mountain but later on the volcano will be bedded in clouds. Thatīs why we decided to go along the hillside of the volcano rather than climb up further.
February 07, 2005
on the trek with horses
After 3 weeks of silence I proudly present my latest travel report:
We (Stefano, the italian guy I met in Ecuador) stayed in a hostal in Piura, northern Peru. There we got to know Gil, a boy from Israel. We all went to a chinese restaurant to have dinner that evening and talked about travelling together. The next morning the tourist information in Piura told us about a nice place called Huancabamba, located 200 km west of Piura, in the Andes region. Somehow we came up with the idea to travel in a different way, to go by horse for instance. Shortly our idea became serious. On the same day we bought a tent and some food and decided to take the night bus to Huancabamba and to look for horses over there. The bus ride took 8 hours, I repeat 8 hours for 200 km. Huancabamba, a place surrounded by mountains and muddy streets.
The next day we talked to a lot of people in Huancabamba about our project, to buy horses and to travel around for 3 weeks or so. Shortly everybody knew about us, about the gringos, and wanted to sell us a horse or at least someone knows someones brother, who has a horse for sale. But somehow we did not make progress and by the end of the day we were still without horses. Was the long bus ride to Huancabamba all for nothing? Why everybody has horses but we are not able to buy them? What is it what we do wrong? Some people told us to come back the next morning at 5 oīclock as the father (and owner of the horses) will be still at home at this time of the day and not working on the field...
The morning after we got up very early, very enthusiastic, very optimistic. Today is the day we gonna buy horses! That was our purpose. We jumped in the mototaxi and the driver brought us to a nearby village called Kashacoto. It is 5.15 AM. We knock at the door of a small house. A man opens. We say "Hola Senor! Buenos dias! Have you got some horses for sale?" But the man of course did not really know what we were talking about. It took some time to explain our intention. The man asked us a thousand questions or so and in the end he did not even have a horse. We realized that this is not the way it works. We have to change our proceeding. At the next house we asked more directly, but also this time nobody had horses for sale. Finally we found a family with two horses. Stefano carried on the negotations for about 2 hours. After that we bought two horses. A first, big step was done! Yeah! Quickly some other people appeared on the property of this family as they got to know that there are some gringos who are interested in buying horses. Another hour later we were in possession of four horses, 3 females and a macho. Later on we organized some other things, like buying food and saddles, completing the sales agreements and giving names to the horses. The macho horse got the name Taurus (later: Shaggy), the female horses were called Gringa (as she was owned by gringos), Carrier (as she had to carry our backpacks) and Brindisi (as she was my horse and my house pet in Dublin had the same name). We started our trip on the same afternoon.
The first few days with the horses were horrible. We walked very slowly, every now and then we experienced a new problem. Tell a horse to go left and it goes right, tell it to stop and it walks faster, tell it not to eat and it eats even more and so on. We want to rest for the night near a river. Just after we put our tent on the right place and tied the horses on the trees around our tent a man appeared, very hastily, exitedly, angry and bad tempered and shouted words on us which were not very nice. He was willing to kill our horses and to violate us. In the end we put our tent together with the horses on the neighbouring ground. The reaction of the man was not very nice but he was right, because our horses were eating his crop, the crop he earns his money with, money to feet his family.
Then, after 3 days hard walking and riding, we arrived at the Laguna Shimbe. This is some kind of a lake in a valley, 22 km north of Huancabamba. We stayed there 3 days and nights. This place is in the mountains. Consequently it gets very cold at night (8 degree celsius). Fortunately I bought the right sleeping bag in Europe. The days at the laguna were very good, easier than the days we needed to get there. Horse business is exhausting and hard work. Once we arrived at the laguna, the horses could rest and we had time for ourselves. Stefano and me collected dry wood to light a fire, looked for worms in the ground to use them for fishing, Gil (his occupation is chef/cook) prepared the meals for all of us and sometimes there were local people coming to the lake from the next village which is two hours afar. Then we had the chance to buy some food from them, like potatoes, mangos, or eggs and even alcohol, like Aguardiente. With one inhabitant we changed a map of Peru, which we got from the tourist information in Piura. He has not seen many maps in his life and we could explain to him the countries, Peru is surrounded by. The man gave us 2 kg of potatoes for this map.
About 6 days after we left Huancabamba we came back here as the trip to Laguna Shimbe was just a first test. Now we have to organize ourselves in Huancabamba, get things sorted which went wrong in the first place, buy some stuff, do some laundry and meet again the s we met here on our first visit. (==> Hello Alejandra, Dilma and Arrabella. Thanks for your hospitality!!). From now on our trip goes south. As our final destination we want to get to San Felipe which is about 120 km south of Huancabamba. As far as possible we always try to stay close to the river, where the horses have water and where there is enough green for them. Since we bought a lot of food for our own we donīt need to care about ourselves so much. We are quite independent. The next villages we cross are Kashacoto (the place we bought the horses), Sondor, Laguna, Chonta, Tuluce, Yuripampa and Sallique.
==> I hope its not to boring for you, my readers, but I donīt no really where to cut my story. Writing essays/stories was not what I called my favourite subject in school.
When we walked along the way from place to place everybody was looking at us. In the villages the people were gazing at us. We did not really like it. I mean, of course, we are gringos but why do they stare at us as if we are monsters? And then we always sang the song "We are aliens, we are little aliens, ..." But as soon as we greeted the people and talked to them a few words the ice was broken and they were very friendly. Every one of them. When we stopped in front of a shop to buy mangos (always mongos, again and again), immediately we were surrounded by 20 to 40 people, looking at us, watching every single movement we do. Sometimes we had problems to leave a shop as the door was full of people. The reason for their behaviour is because they donīt see tourists over here. In Chonta for example it was the first time that tourists traveled through the village the people told us. Or in Tuluce one man invited us in his house. His wife prepared an excellent dish of fish and sweet corn. Later on he sent his son to buy some Aguardiente for us. This man is 30 years old. He was so happy, so exited, so stunned and so endless friendly to be able to invite us in his house and to sit on a table with us because we were the first foreign people he has ever seen in his life. In every place we stopped for a night we could use the kitchen and the fireplace of the people. They helped us reparing our stuff, like saddles or rucsacs, gave us and our horses accomodation for free and sold us food for very little money. The people did not want to make money with us, they never overcharged us. The people in this country, or especially in this region donīt have much things for live, but the little things they have they are willing to share with us. This really touched my heart. And then in Chonta, Tuluce and Sallique for example the locals invited us to play soccer with them. So I pulled over my URSUS IMMORTALIS (www.ursus01.de) T-shirt and shoot 4 goals so far in south america. As I told you the people here have hardly seen any foreigners before and so I did not even have my private when I took the shower after the soccer game. Within the last three weeks I did not have the chance to access the internet as there is just no internet around here for lies over miles (except in Huancabamba). The places we visited do not even have electricity or running water. My last hot shower counts 3 weeks ago in Villcabamba, Ecuador. For me it is only travelling with horses, have some fun and get new experiences, new impressions but always with the possibility to go back to Europe and live on our normal, european life.
The day came we had to sell our horses. We bought them about 20 days ago. In Sallique we got to know that the father of the mayor is a person who could come into question to buy our horses. Again, Stefano effected the negotiations and after a few hours the horses had a new owner. While we stayed in the house of the mayor a police man came to take our details, we had to identify ourselves by giving our passport and declare our purpose. After that everything was fine, no more questions, the police man told us that this is just the way it is and wished us good luck in our future travelling. That was not our only contact with a special person. On the next day a man from the local radio station/newspaper came to the mayors house to look for us and to interview us as it is something very special for them that tourists come to this place. Unfortunately we did not have the time to stay another day and to buy the newspaper. Maybe I can get it later.
I gonna finish this horse chapter now, although there are a thousand more things to say but then I should probably better write a book, right?!