Flying over and walking around Lima

The first thing we noticed on arrival to Lima was... no more altitude! 

I was already used to the high altitude, and had forgotten how it felt like to be able to breath deeply, climb stairs youngly, and sprint freely.  Not that I sprint a lot, but you get the point.

After a hectic taxi ride from an ugly part of town, we found a pretty and quiet hostel in the cute, very touristy neighbourhood of Miraflores.

And they had this beautiful hairless dog.

Seriously, look at this hairless beauty! Their skin is very warm and
in Perú they are considered to have healing powers.

Sadly we only got 2 nights there, and then had to go on one of those looooooong walks in search of a new place.

All of the hostels/hospedajes we saw were fully booked, horrible, super expensive, or the three at once.

But finally, when we were about to give up, we found a place which was fairly cheap, clean, central but quiet, with good wifi and good showers. And it was almost empty.

How was that possible? Two reasons: it has no social area, and it isn't listed on hostelworld, hostel bookers, booking.com or tripadvisor (later I found that it was listed on a gay-friendly accomodation website, which turned us into the "weird straight couple" in the place).

The guys running the hospedaje are a family, and were quite respectful and a bit solemn towards us, which was funny after being at that noisy hellhole in Cuzco.

 They cleaned the room every noon when we went for breakfast, changed our towels, cared about the internet quality and altogether made the place a great base to work on our Visa application, and explore around the capital.

...But to be honest, Lima seemed a bit lacklustre. It isn't an ugly place, but it lacks the majesty and serene beauty of the Imperial city. 

Luckily for us, we found something to distract us from our paperwork-filled days and our Cuzco-homesickness: pretty cheap tandem paraglading over the ocean. 

Paragliders over the ocean.

 So on the second day we went straight to the esplanade and booked us a flight each. We had been wanting to paraglide since the end of 2014 when we saw it in El Bolsón.

It was quick and easy, and before we knew it we were up in the air. We took turns to do it just so the other could take photos. No regrets!

My instructor was lovely and I felt instantly at home up above. We flew a bit over the city, did some quick turns, and finally flew a longer while over the beautiful waters of the Pacific. I wanted it to last for ages.

Chey and I agreed that as soon as we get the chance we'll learn to do it without an instructor.

Getting ready, pretty scared.

No turning back point.

And there I go!

I'm flying Jack!

That's me!

Safety for my mate.

All ready.

And now he is the king of the world.

 After the flying we felt like there was not a whole lot left to do in Lima (if you're not surfing) other than walk around and explore, so that's what we did.

We spent quite a bit of time just randomly strolling around looking for food. We had Peruvian, Italian, Arabic, Chinese and then repeated the circle.

We cuddled a lot with the cats from the park, and went downtown to see the hectic and grey city centre, and the Limeño Chinatown.

Parque Kennedy in the middle of Miraflores is
generously sprinkled with abandoned cats.

They're insanely cute but, like the crazy cat lady I am, I couldn't stop thinking about them not having a home.

There is, however, and organization that takes care of them, feeds them,
castrates them and gives them up for adoption.
I used to volunteer for one like that in Buenos Aires.

So since we're on the subject... adopt, don't shop!
Now back to the regular post.

  A lot of the city centre is pretty grim and we could tell the government puts all of their effort into Miraflores and Barranco (where all the tourists go), so the rest of Lima has a lot of of no-man's land sort of places, fairly filthy and pretty dodgy.

Fun times walking around the crazy trafic.

A building. Which building?
Honestly I can't remember.

A random panorama.

Chey poses very cool with these bulls and their friend.

I, on the other hand, had eyes only for the bull.

Outside the Mercado Central: half a carcass and a lot of bags.

Chinatown.

Barranco is interesting too, and we had a good long walk along the shore to get there.

Lima has a lot of warm but very grey days like this one.

And pretty awesome buildings.

Chey walking Lima.

Pretty cool street art in Barranco.

Night view of the ocean and the city.

 During our stay we also spent quite a few evenings drinking beer and chatting with another Aussie-Latino couple.

He's an old friend of Chey from back home and she is his awesome Peruvian girlfriend. Spending time with them was nice and refreshing, with intelectually challenging conversations and a lot of instant inside jokes. They gave Lima an almost home-ish feel.

But as we quickly discovered, we were actually right and there isn't a lot to do in Lima other than surfing and walking around the different neighbourhoods.

And listening to the car alarms that are CONSTANTLY going off.

 We promptly packed our bags and headed North for the mountains.

Our San Pedro experience

If you're ready to read a lot and a few less photos than usual, then welcome!

The way back from Aguas Calientes we did the same walk of the train tracks.

 Only now we were extremely well rested because of two extra days in town (Chey was feeling slightly ill so we decided to stay), and no crazy ride before the walk.

Before going away, though, I had to get my photo
with this cool Inca guy.

Leaving Aguas Calientes (where, funnily enough, we didn't
get much luck regarding hot showers) *AC means "hot waters"

The train arriving to town.

Chey frolicking in the sun.

"It is forbidden for pedestrians to go through the tunnel"

"You're not the boss of me, sign!"

Last bit of train tracks.

We had to endure an even crazier driver (than the one on the way there) after Hidroeléctrica; so I tell anyone thinking about doing MP on the cheap/ alternative way: do NOT book a van with "viva tours". 

And just in case: a guide for this is absolutely superfluous and takes away your freedom to move and stop and use your time as you want to (though if you really love the idea of a guide I won't say don't do it).

We arrived in Cuzco at night (again) and went straight to the place where we had stayed before (hot showers, comfortable room, cheap). As it turned out, they didn't have any room available other than a horrible, horrible, windowless closet upstairs where we suffered from the cold and the hideous super-loud music of the pub next door.

Obviously the following morning we left and looked for greener pastures. After seeing around 15 different places, we found a place that looked perfect. 

We arrived at the same time as other couple. They checked in first in the room next to ours, and as we were finishing with our check in, we heard the yelling of the girl in the shower: "EEEEEEEEK!" "WHY ME!!" and other expressions of despair as the showers were apparently not the most reliable.

We looked at each other probably thinking the same: what's done is done.

Then we dropped the bags and went for lunch. Being back to Cuzco (and Papachos) felt almost like getting back home.

...

This time we stayed a little longer in town (around one week), but there's not too much to say about it because we were basically taking care of Visa-related boring stuff.

There was one thing, though, that was extremely interesting and broke with the monotony of paperwork.

After A LOT of reading and investigating and considering, we decided to go to a San Pedro ceremony.

In Perú and the neighboring countries it's nothing like in Argentina: there's a deep respect and connection with the indigenous cultures and inside this, many traditions that are adopted as a part of the cultural identity. 

San Pedro is just one of the many plant medicines that the tribes of America used (and still use) with healing purposes. Only the healing is not necessarily seen just in the physical sense, but on a deeper level of the mind and the emotions.

In Peru, plant medicines like San Pedro and Ayahuasca are not only legal, but also offered widely to a range of foreigners who approach them from different perspectives, and even travel from overseas with the express purpose of taking them.

Of course there must be people wanting to try them just for the "high". Who am I to judge. 

Others are looking for a higher something, a sort of spiritual connection or revelation.

Being as I am, extremely skeptic and non-religious, some of the  things I read or heard about San Pedro didn't convince me. But in the end we went to this lovely "chaman" lady, who spoke to us in such a way that made us extremely comfortable and ready to go through the ceremony without feeling like we were being sucked into some kind of religious cult.

So the previous day of our ceremony there was no Pisco sour, and we had a very light and early dinner and went straight to bed, only to wake up super early and have no breakfast.

We got together with the other people who were doing the ceremony with us (a couple older than us, a young guy and a young girl) and were taken to the chaman's house: a gorgeous place with two lush gardens and a little hut in the middle of one garden where the ceremony took place.

This is the only photo we took there, before the ceremony started.

 I'll try to be as short as possible but this was a very intense experience, so if you want to know about it bear with me. If you're not in the mood for reading much, maybe you might consider coming back later. Also, I'll speak mostly about my own experience because it's already hard to explain my own mind to even try to explain someone else's.

The ceremony was simple and not too ostentatious. We were sitting on a circle until the (pretty tough to swallow) cactus juice started working. By then the chaman and three of her helpers were with us, and also a man from a tribe that live high up the Andes, at over 6000 masl, who said a short speech in his language (which we didn't understand but found very beautiful regardless).

Once the medicine was starting to act, we walked outside to the garden with mats and fluffy blankets, and each person found their spot.

It took a long while for me to actually feel anything but drowsiness; but at some point, very slowly and naturally, all things started feeling more and more perfect and natural.

I went through various states, but only within a spectrum of happiness, calm and a sort of deep connection.

As I said before I am deeply unreligious, so it wasn't that sort of connection I felt. Instead, it was a marvelous feeling of perfectly perceiving that part of the mind I rarely get in touch with, distracted by more shallow things.

I basically spent the afternoon lying in the sunny garden, touching every blade of grass, marveling at the shape of the clouds, and realizing things that I basically always knew, but usually get covered by the mishmash of everyday life things.

What things? Well, I don't think it's important. They were not "revelations" from some outside, but a realization of things buried deep inside me. All good and perfect and happy things.

At some point in the afternoon, the helper girl brought us fruit salad to break the fast. I can honestly say I never had such a fruit salad in my life. The little fork she had brought along seemed almost sinful, so I put it aside and eat with my hands like a happy monkey, to the girl's amusement.

At the end of the afternoon we took a walk around the ruins of the Moon Temple, which is right in front of the house. We were all wrapped in blankets because it was already cold, and just enjoyed the rest of our time there. It was a beautiful sunset and I almost regret not taking pictures of it, though then and there it was the last thing in my mind.

In the ruins there's a cave with some deep meaning for the indigenous people where (it's thought) they used to make ritual sacrifices.

Some of the people of our group fell into what seemed like a religious experience, kneeling on the ground and (I thought) blowing into a fire that was lit inside a crack on the floor.

One of the helpers took us inside the cave and started talking about the meaning of the symbols and carvings, and suddenly the young guy told Chey "what happened to the fire?".

 I looked into the crack on the floor and there was nothing. The helper said "there was no fire".

But both Chey and I and the young guy saw the others blow into a fire. Collective hallucination? Trick of the light?

It was pretty intense.

Then I started feeling claustrophobic and uncomfortable. The idea of the ritual sacrifices is pretty disturbing for me even while fully sober, so I left and waited outside while the rest of the group left a coca leaves offering at the altar. Chey came with me and wrapped both of us in his fluffy blanket.

Still the walk of the ruins ended beautifully, up at a condor-shaped rock, with the helper saying some beautiful words I can't, for the life of me, remember.  I do remember feeling comforted and happy just to be there.


When the light was almost gone, we left in a taxi to go back to Cuzco. All of the others stayed in the house up the hills, but we needed to get back to our hospedaje because we were worried the staff were going to move our things out if we didn't return for the night (a boring side story: our hospedaje was actually sort of dreadful).

Only then we found out that we were still up for four or five hours of SanPedrish feeling, which felt very awkward during the taxi ride with a (luckily) very sober taxi driver.

The taxi took us back to the meeting place in town, a hostel, where we were told to stay for as long as we wanted or until the effect was gone. There we found the helper girl and a friend of hers, who stayed chatting with us and made us feel really good and welcome and grounded us a lot.

After a while we felt two things: two kind-of clearer heads, and two very empty bellies. So on the recommendation of the girls, we went to a very popular vegan restaurant to have something light but filling.

This might be the least flattering photo of myself
I've ever posted, but I want you guys to see what
people around me were seeing.

We couldn't stop randomly bursting into laughter.

And to make things worse thay served us this strange
soup. Who makes yin-yang soup?

Still nice. It had flowers in it.

Chey, posing very naturally.

Chey's huge pupils and an accidental
sneaky pic of the lovey couple behind him.

He was also amused by the soup.

We were still giggly and light headed for a long while, which felt strange now we were back in the city and surrounded by other (very normal, it seemed) people. That made us even gigglier (is that even a word?).

 We remained in that state even after dinner and in our hospedaje, until we went to sleep (and fell asleep like babies, instantly and deeply).

The last photo of the day: happy faces.

The days after and up till today, I still feel the San Pedro ceremony helped me uncover things that were buried way too deep in my brain and did me a lot of good.

If I had the chance I'd definitely do it again, and I strongly recommend you that if you ever go to Peru ,you find a good place and do it.

 It's not "getting high" or "doing drugs" (though it does have mescaline, don't get me wrong)... it's what I'd call a shortcut to a deeper level of consciousness and a respected medicine among older, wiser cultures.


A few disclaimers:

*Not everyone has a flowery, lovely, mylittlepony-ish experience with SP as I did. It probably has a lot to do with your state of mind and your intentions.
We read about people taking the wrong amount, or mixing it with other mind-altering substances, and having very bad experiences.

*In many parts of the world, SP is considered just a drug. As much as I loved the experience and what I took out of it, I would never recommend anyone taking it without someone who knows about it, or in a place where it's illegal.

*Also, I strongly believe that we should respect things that belong to another culture's ancestral traditions. Meaning: to them this is a sacred medicine, not something you take for a high.

*If you were going to Perú or Cuzco and wanted more information, or just have curiosity about something, I'd be happy to talk about it via private message (you can message me on facebook or leave your email on a comment).

Machu Picchu (the RA way)

They say that watching the sunrise in Machu Picchu is beautiful and an experience you'll never forget.

What not everybody says, or knows, or thinks about for that matter, is that HUNDREDS of people arrive to MP to watch it.

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

All the tour groups that are freshly arrived from the Inca trail, and all the people who arrived by train and take the buses up from Aguas Calientes... all of them want to see the majesty of the sun kissing the ruins first thing in the morning.

...

While that happened on the day we had our tickets to enter the ruins, we were sleeping. And it was yet another good decision fueled by our laziness.

A couple we had met in Cuzco had told us that MP was really full of people first thing in the morning, and that the sunrise they saw was through the gaps between the heads of a legion of other tourists and travelers who were just as eager as them to capture the moment with their iPhones and cameras.

Me and Chey, instead, slept until the sun was already up, got ready, got breakfast (which was extremely difficult since most places close after the super-early-bird breakfast and until noon), and with out most chilled pace started heading to the ruins.

The main "plaza" is pretty much empty in the morning.

Except for people taking pictures with the sign.

 The way to get there is really pretty. You take the same dirt road the tour buses take, and after crossing a river you start going up a shortcut that is fairly steep and very lush.

Crossing the river.

Chey with the unnecessarily big MP sign. 

A claw-like fern on the way up.

 It was slightly cloudy but pretty warm, and the hike up got us as sweaty as the train tracks walk had done the previous day.

However, carrying only our small daypacks was a very welcome change after the big full backpacks, and the experience was extremely pleasant.

Sweaty Adri.

Sweaty Chey.

 We didn't see many people while going up, so we were getting our hopes up as we got closer to the actual ruins.

In fact, when we finally got to the entrance, heaps of people were leaving, which filled us with joy.

It is still Machu Picchu though, probably the most popular destination in South America, so there was a good assortment of people from all around the world (many of them, to Chey's disgust, were carrying walking poles), and a few lucky stray dogs that were getting everyone's leftover snacks.

Machu Picchu's official dog.

Who, unlike me, is very good a posing for photos.

 Once we entered, the sun came fully out from behind the clouds.

We bathed ourselves in sunscreen and started walking around and marvelling at the beauty of everything.

The first view of MP, which you have probably seen thousands
of times all around the internet, if you haven't seen it live.

 As usual we eavesdropped on a few tour guides for a short while, and heard that we should be going to the Puerta del Sol (sun's gate), a spot on the far edge of MP through which people enter after the Inca Trail.

So we started walking towards the sun's gate (doesn't this sound like something a crazy astrologist would say?) and the walk proved to be fairly long for our already tired legs (after the long walk of the previous day and the hike up from Aguas Calientes).

The almighty jean-wearing hiker.

Not sure if Machu Picchu or Huayna Picchu mountain.

On the way to the sun's gate there are a lot of big beautiful things, but
also a lot of small beautiful things. Here: MP moss.

Tiny flowers.

A short stop to marvel at the beauty.

Can you see the snake-like path of the buses?

 On the walk, we started joking and saying that maybe the sun gate was just a random gate structure, just like the ones at the main part of the ruins and it was not worth the walk. But we imagined going back home and talking to people and having them facepalming while yelling "what do you meAN YOU DIDN'T GET TO THE AMAZING SUN GATE!!"

So we kept walking to that far edge, and guess what?

Yep: the sun gate was just a random gate structure.

Still cool, but so are the main ruins.

And we had fun taking photos of people taking photos.

Walls around the sun's gate. It was actually pretty nice.

More ancient walls.

 The walk was still fun, but by then we were already a bit tired, so we went back to the grassy planes in front of the main ruins and just chilled there in the sun for a while.

B&W MP. Pretty cool, uh?

Always: feet selfie.

Chey's feet selfie.

 While we were chilling we met a nice Aussie solo traveler, and he took this lovely picture of us:

The Random Adventurers (yes, all capitalized)

Once we felt rested, we did some more walking and exploring around.

But before that we let our travel buddies take a good look at the ruins.

As usual, Emperor Meow was not impressed.

Walking the ruins.

Neighbourhood goals.

Llamas asking for snacks.

Me, having a conversation with the llamas.

"Hahaha, good one mate! You guys are hilarious!"

Now look at my cuteness and SURRENDER.

Beautiful vicuña.

It's coming to me.

Never forget that vicuñas are the spawn of Satan.

But she decided to let us live.

More MP.

 And finally we  headed back to Aguas Calientes, down the beautifully green path, across the river and down the dirt road.

Wherever in the world we go, Chey ends up with a
dog following him. 

The river.

Old and beautiful mossy bridge.

...

That night we had celebratory dinner at an Italian owned place in town, where we had the very best pizzas we had in the whole trip, and for me (who never went to Italy), probably the best of my life. A life changing experience. They make their own mozzarella!!!!!!!

We also had beer and a HUGE Pisco sour.

Chey's beer and my ridiculously big Pisco sour.

Like, seriously, look at the size of that goblet!

LOOK!

Most amazing pizzas
(looking at this photo gave me actual goosebumps)

Actually, I was tempted to name this post "That day we had the amazing pizzas and gigantic Pisco sour... ah! and also went to Machu Picchu".