Cusco the Inca capital

Cusco, the charming capital of the Inca empire, sitting near the top of the world at 3400m elevation. It was by far the city we liked the most considering the amount of pictures we took. The plaza de armas is downtown done right. As usual the square is in front of the cathedral, but here in Cusco the square is huge, so that you can admire the cathedral in all its magnificence. However here in Cusco all the 2 story buildings surrounding the main square are also a work of art. We could actually say that to the entire historic center district.

Like in Berlin you step in history all the time. There's clear evidence of the advancement of the Inca culture, but also of the atrocities committed by the Spanish conquistadors.

I understand Cusco is the airport to get to Machu Picchu and other adventures, but the city itself is very comfortable and welcoming.

For a touristic city it's quite cheap, with laundry for 2 soles/kg in the maloq street, and awesome lunch for 6 soles in restaurant Gallito Rojo at calle Siete Cuartones, 242. Lunch includes soup as entrée plus main dish and a refreshment.

There are even some restaurants that offer a lunch menu for 4 soles.

Another highlight are the artisan and gift shops. They have awesome items for good prices.

Practical information

Once you arrive at the airport, you can get one of the vans to downtown for 0,70 soles. A taxi downtown should be around 8 soles. Word is the taxis inside the airport cost 3 times more, so you should just get out of the airport in the main street (a short 100m walk) and hail a cab there. Since there's no taximeter you will have to haggle.

Machu Picchu

The lost Inca town, hidden in the mountains. It took 50 years and thousands of workers to build it. It has a nice location with a river flowing by and several mountain chains as natural protection. No pictures can describe Machu Picchu. By the way have you ever noticed that it has an extra C in Picchu? It is pronounced by the way so the name is sounded like Matchu Piktchu.

The real name of this town is lost in time. It's known as Machu Picchu because that's the name of the mountain it's built on. The name means old mountain. Next to it is Huayna Picchu, i.e. The young mountain. Huayna Picchu also has ruins, but it requires an extra ticket reserved at least a month before and it probably also requires that you don't have fear of heights.

Machu Picchu is much larger than it seems in the pictures. It's said to have between 400 and 600 inhabitants, possibly from the Inca nobility, including astronomers and engineers.

There's a path that goes all the way to Cusco, and according to the guides it had another 7 paths leading to it. The speculation is that the other paths were destroyed when the Incas were forced to flee the town.

It was built around 1450 and lasted for almost 100 years until the Spaniards arrived to rape, kill and pillage everything, forcing residents to go away. In an incredible strike of luck, the Spaniards never found it and that's why it's so well conserved even after 600 years.

The Incas used what are considered current methods of architecture and engineering which made sure the city would resist the weather and the earthquakes.

The locals have a slightly different version about when the city was discovered by the Yale university researcher Hiram Bingham between 1909 and 1912. The official story is that he was doing research and he's a nice hero for discovering the city. That's what's on wikipedia as well. The local version is that he was searching for gold from the Inca nobility. Word on the street is that he helped to steal 48000 artifacts from Machu Picchu, making a fortune out of it.

There's much pride from many of the locals about the Inca empire and rightfully so. One thing that comes to my mind though is that the Incas didn't conquer such a vast territory by sending flowers and giving free hugs.

The city itself is stunning and one can't help but be marveled at the ingenious ability of the Incas. There's even an aqueduct bring fresh water from the mountain. The part of the mountain above the city was used as a cemetery, many mummies were found.

We had an interesting encounter when were strolling around looking for nice picture angles. We decided to get inside one of the few stone houses that has a roof. As we got inside a young girl pulled her pants up quickly and vanished outside. I hope she was only peeing on the sacred ground. The toilets cost only 1 nuevo sole, it's a shame she had to do that.

I'd say a guide is a must to have a better understanding of the ruins. I noticed that some people prey for tour groups and simply follow a tour guide once inside.

Practical information:

You need to get to Ollantaytambo to get the train to Machu Picchu. You can buy the train ticket online. You can also buy the Machu Picchu ticket online. The train leaves you at the village Aguas Calientes, now renamed to Machu Picchu pueblo.

To get to the lost town you can either get the bus for USD 12 each way or walk around 2 hours up.

In Machu Picchu pueblo there are only overpriced shops and restaurants. If you are on a budget you'd rather pack food.

Altitude sickness in Cusco

When you go to a place as high as Cusco you always study the place and all the tips and tricks to avoid altitude sickness. And so we did. However a small detail turned out to be very important. Between the flights from Quito to Lima, and from Lima to Cusco I drank very little water. And that was my downfall. After arriving at the hostel slightly dizzy, we went out to find the travel agency for the trip to Machu Picchu to pay the remaining of the tour. And it was around that time that it hit me. Dizziness, felling very weak and as if I was going to pass out.

The walk back to the hostel was awful with my mind full of negative thoughts and stopping to rest 2 times during the 500m walk. As I arrived I laid down in bed feeling awful, with no energy at all.

After a few coca tea mugs and some water fetched by my girlfriend I was finally able to sit up, and after some more able to walk out the door seeking a restaurant. We found one right in front of the hostel for 6 soles. Entrée was Muña soup. I had my soup and half the one served to my girlfriend. A day later I found out that Muña is excellent to help the body expand the lungs to take more air with each breathing. Am I lucky or what. I'm not sure whether it was the coca tea, the Muña soup or all the water ingested with them, but soon after I was felling way better.

All I can say is that the altitude sickness is very democratic in selecting victims. It does not matter whether you are a marathoner running 50 miles a week or a 70 year old who smokes 3 packs a day. All that said, if you go to the altitude, go slow. Not walking slow, more like sit down for some 3 hours and see how your body reacts. Drink tons of water. Follow all the advice to the letter. Maybe nothing will happen, but maybe altitude sickness will catch you and let me tell you she's a bitch.

The good news is that apart from those 2 hours of terror nothing else happened to me and my girlfriend suffered nothing at all.

Bus cable in Quito aka Teleferiqo

The bus cable starts near the avenida occidental around 2950m elevation all the way to 4050m. From the top you can take very nice pictures of Quito and the surrounding mountains provided there's a clear sky. We weren't that lucky unfortunately as clouds were covering most of the peaks. We took a bus downtown at La Marin terminal direction terminal La Ofelia. We got off the bus at seminario mayor station then walked avenida gasca until the tennis club where the teleferico signs start. Following the signs was then easy and there were no lines on a Thursday morning. Once at the top you can also hike a path to Rucu Pichincha.

Mitad del Mundo

Mitad del Mundo is a small village created by the Ecuadorian government exactly over the Ecuator line. It has a nice monument, a museum, a planetarium, some llamas, a few restaurants and some gift shops.

There's also a scale because your weight is lower at the Ecuator line. The reason is that the Earth is wider at the Ecuator thus you are further from the nucleus and the planet's gravity impacts you less.

To get there you need to take a bus to Ofelia terminal and take the bus "Mitad del Mundo" from there. The second bus charges extra 15 cents.

Hiking to the glacier on Cotopaxi volcano

If the travel agency had told us what climbing the Cotopaxi volcano would entail I'm sure we'd decline. However now that all is done I'm glad she didn't.

We were supposed to stay in front of the hostel at 6:30am. And the trip started on the right foot as the minibus was there on time. There were 10 people on the excursion.

First we went to a small restaurant near the entrance to Cotopaxi park for breakfast. It was a very nice breakfast with pancake, omelet, natural juice and coffee. The place even had wifi available.

Then we headed to the parking lot at the parks administration house. It was there that we met our park guide Medardo.

From there we'd take the gravel sinuous road to the Volcano parking lot at an altitude of 4500m.

We got raincoats, gloves and goggles and started climbing the 1000m or so to the refuge at 4800m elevation. It seemed pretty easy at first until we realized how steep the climb was. It was probably 30, 35 degrees and the ground was slipping. To make matters worse the weather got really bad, probably -5C and raining with some very strong headwinds that almost knocked my 84kg (185lb) frame down at times. 

To make matters even worse, on the advice of the travel agency clerk we were prepared to face maybe 5C. That means our sweat pants and coats weren't nearly enough to protect from the cold. The gloves we got from the guides were wool gloves, so not as useful as we got wet.

Oh, and our running shoes are definitely not appropriate fir this kind of hiking making us slip all the time. It was a hell of a quad and lower back workout though. Aerobically it was about the same as running a 10k, but one of those where you go out too fast and pay for it the while time.

Luckily the altitude didn't seem to bother us at all which could be good news as we have Cusco, La Paz and Uyuni coming up next on our trip.

It took us probably 40 minutes to get to the refuge. When we got there I was freezing, wet and afraid to lose my toes and fingers to frost. Once in the refuge though and after some hot cocoa I was feeling much better.

I gave the cashier a 20 dollar bill, he asked me if I could come the next day for the change. I burst out laughing, no way I'd face that hell again.

Back on track we'd climb 200m more to reach 5000m elevation at the beginning of the glacier. The volcano top stays at 5897m and it requires a couple days trip at least. Not for us.

We got to the glacier, took a few pictures and then started the descending. Ironically this was the hardest part as we'd slip all the time and had to go very slow to avoid a fall.

When we finally got to the parking lot at 4500m elevation again, the bus was there with the other travelers. We rode in the bus for a few km then got out for the second adventure of the day. Downhill. The bus had bikes on top, we got on said bikes and started descending the downward gravel road on the bikes. I even got dust on the right eye so I had to ride one-eyed which improved the adventure hah.

We rode the bikes for some 20 minutes until the plains near the lagoon. The landscape was inviting for pictures and so we obliged.

After that a short bus ride to the same restaurant from the morning for us to have lunch. Lunch was broccoli soup as entree, rice, meat and potatoes as main dish and fresh strawberry juice to wash it down. Since I'm a glutton I finished my soup before anyone else so they placed a bowl of rice in front of me. Not realizing it was meant to be shared by the table of 4 people I started eating it. Once my mistake was pointed out by my girlfriend I wanted to hide underground in same. Oh well. The poor colombian couple who was sharing the table with us had to eat rice contaminated by me. Oh, and the husband's juice had a hair in it.

We got a ride back to Quito, overall very happy with the experience.

Quito part 1

The flight from Guayaquil to Quito took only 35 minutes and it really seems like a good choice. It takes 8 hours by bus. There's also a train available that goes to many points of interest on the way though 3 days and 2 nights.

Upon arriving at Quito airport we immediately realized we should have spent less time in Guayaquil and more time in Quito. The view from the airport itself facing some rocky mountains is awesome. Quito has a very good transport system and the fare is also 0.25 USD. We took a bus from the airport to the Rio Coca terminal. From there we took a bus downtown.

The historic center which seems to have been recently renovated is very charming with narrow sidewalks and narrow streets as well. The town square where both the Cathedral and the presidential palace has the mountains surrounding Quito as background making for nice pictures. Walking up Venezuela street you end up at the Basilica with a breathtaking view of the city from its tower. To get there you have to either walk up the stairs or take the elevator to the third level. From there you walk a wooden bridge that's on top of the basilica's main aisle, though it's still inside the building. At the end there's a super steep staircase that reaches outside in the towers. I cannot comment on the amount of vertigo going up or down those stairs. It goes up about 5m on a 65 degree angle. It's leg trembling vertigo while going down backwards.

Did I mention there are restaurants serving lunch for 2USD? They are very clean and the meal involves some kind of soup as entrée plus rice, veggies and meat as main course plus a glass of natural juice. I love Quito!

Guayaquil - last thoughts

Guayaquil is a huge city and it feels opressive in a way, much like you would feel in Sao paulo. Tourists mostly go there to take a flight to the Galapagos Islands.
It was surprising that there were only 240 restaurants registered in tripadvisor. The downtown area has plenty of whole in the wall restaurants but we're unlikely to eat at one of these unless via tip from a local.
The transport system is still in the 60s with the small buses where you cannot stand upright inside. There is the new Metrovia system but it seems to cover limited locations.
The highlight of the city has to be the Sweet & Coffee chain. They have quite a few inventive and delicious sweets plus the regular coffee drinks you'd expect from Starbucks.
Still, like any giant city Guayaquil has many nice things, you just have to look at the right places.
The area on the riverfront, also known as Malecon is a pleasure to walk for a couple hours. There's a very interesting monument depicting a meeting between Simon Bolivar and General San Martin, both heroes of the independence in south american countries.
At the end of the Malecon you are in the picturesque Las Peñas district. You can either walk the stoneroad known as Llona or climb the 444 steps to the lighthouse. Try it at noon for maximum effect. This is a massive workout but the view from the top is more than worthy.

Guayaquil - Isla Santay

Santay island on the Guayas river used to be only accessible by boat. Recently the government built a bridge for cyclists and pedestrians as well as a elevated wooden footpath inside the island that takes you to the ecovillage. The entire ecovillage is built on a swamp so all the houses are elevated as well.
There are a few small crocodiles that are taken care there though they are not much of a show, rather just staying still. There are also a restaurant and a few snack huts.
If you have overeaten your sweet quota like us you not only would like, you would need to visit Santay island. The 3 km from the start of the bridge to the ecovillage plus all the way back will burn all that extra sugar.

Guayaquil

Guayaquil is the largest, richest city in Ecuador sitting in front of the river Guayas.
Ecuador uses the US dollar since 1999 as its currency after the Sucre went down. It's quite interesting tomuse the dollar specially considering the prices are much lower here than anywhere in the US.
The funny thing is that the ecuadorian central bank also minted ecuadorian coins which are worth the same as the dollar coins. Not knowing that I thought that the ecuadorian coins were from the old currency and thus worth nothing. That's why I was rejecting ecuadorian coins on my second day here in Guayaquil. There are at least 2 ecuadorians now hating me and with good reason. One was the bus driver who got quite annoyed at me. Bus fare is 0.25 by the way, Porto Alegre mayor I'm looking at you.
Our stay here hasn't only involved me being an asshole though. We visited Cerro Santana that has 444 levels of stairs to arrive to the lighthouse at the top. It's quite the workout under the terrifying ecuadorian sun. We also hit the artisan market, the malecon, the 9th of october avenue and the parque centenario. We must have looked quite the tourists on that park with our dunkin donuts bag.
One dude even shouted to us while he was doing some sort of shady transaction which involved him taking a hit at a marijuana joint and leaving the place with a black plastic bag full of something I have no intention of knowing what it is.
Oh, yesterday we visited the Citymall where we picked the cheapest meal for 3 dollars per person only to visit Sweets and Coffee (a starbucks competitor) and spend 8.50 on sweets and coffee haha. Awesome financial skills.

Lima em 2015

The flight from Porto Alegre to Lima went smoothly with comfy, spacious seats and good food. 

The arrival at Lima brings you a landscape that looks like from another world. Lima stays on top of a desert and it's hard to find green sceneries except for the strip near the Pacific ocean. It's a joy to walk the clean streets, specially in the upscale neighbourhood of Miraflores.

Miraflores is the nicest district, very clean, organized and safe, custom tailored for tourists. It's there that both the "park of love" and larcomar mall are. Larcomar mall stays on the pacific ocean front which leads most of its restaurants to have a fantastic view. Unless there is mist, that is. We are here in the beginning of march. There is a huge mist clouding over the city for most of the morning. It's crazy to think the city can have 95% humidity yet it never rains. 

The second day was spent downtown visiting plaza de armas and the saint francis monastery. The monastery is a architectural relic, but the the fact people used the underground as a cemetery is shocking. There are 25000 people buried there, these days there are only skulls and femurs left though.

The main street is reserved for pedestrians with hundreds of shops on each side and it ends near parque de exposiciones. A couple km ahead is the parque de la reserva where the show of water and lights is presented in the evenings.

To get downtown from miraflores simply get on one of the blue buses on Jose Larco street.

Another cool aspect of the Miraflores district is that there are uniformed people on the street who will exchange dollars or euros for the local currency using the official rate. The exchange shops will sell Soles to you for 2.82 to the dollar while these guys will sell for 3 to the dollar, a much better deal.

The city stays on a high plateau which is smart considering the earthquakes.

The airport is far away in the not so pretty Callao district. Taxis do not have meters so you are on your own while haggling the price.

Brussels / Bruxelas / Bruges / Antwerp

Voce ja parou pra pensar como exatamente a Belgica consegue funcionar com 2 linguas tao diferentes que dividem o pais? Duas culturas tao distantes, de um lado os Flamengos, nao o time de futebol e sim o povo flamengo. Eles sao holandeses que por ocasiao do destino estao em territorio belga. Apos tantos anos ja tem algumas variacoes culturais. Eles sao quase 70% da populacao da Belgica. De outro lado a Wallonie, com um terco da populacao, que e uma continuacao cultural da Franca. Porque exatamente a Wallonie nao pertence a Franca e as demais provincias a Holanda? Excelente pergunta.
Bruxelas demonstra essa divisao muito bem. Em um momento voce esta vendo sinais em Frances e predios de frente lisa cheios de detalhes nos cantos. Dali a pouco os sinais estao em Holandes, e os predios agora tem aquela fachada de tijolinhos a vista bem caracteristica da Holanda.
Os nomes das ruas sao todos traduzidos entao naturalmente a maioria das ruas tem 2 nomes, assim como os nomes das estacoes de metro. Estacoes estas que por sinal possuem bicicletas ergometricas para que as pessoas possam fazer um exercicio enquanto esperam os trens.
Aqui tambem reina a tranquilidade, e impressionante ver familias caminhando tranquilamente no parque em frente a Basilica, as 9 horas da noite, sem a menor preocupacao.
Alem de ver Bruxelas tambem foi possivel fazer passeios curtos para Bruges, cidade medieval perdida no tempo, com suas ruelas estreitas e casas feitas de pedra, e tambem a Antuerpia, que ainda tem muitos tesouros arquitetonicos, e alguns desses predios foram convertidos em shoppings.
Pouco diz na Wikipedia a respeito da quantidade consideravel de falantes de arabe que moram na cidade, mas eles estao aqui em grande quantidade e por toda parte.
De modo geral a Belgica e mais baguncada que a Holanda, mas mesmo assim parece ser um lugar super agradavel de se viver.

Translation coming soon.

Amsterdam

Sao 7:30 da manha, ouvindo reggae do Cidade Negra no radio enquanto tomo o cafe da manha.
O cheiro caracteristico de Amsterdam, de maconha predomina no ar, mesmo nos ambientes interiores.
O cafe tem uma pequena placa indicando que e proibido fumar tabaco, mas se voce quiser eles tem "erva" de brinde para te oferecer.
O cafe da manha no The Bulldog Hotel e bem completo com pao, iogurte, sucrilhos, frutas, cafe, cha e etc. Este hotel foi uma boa escolha, esta muito bem localizado. Dentro do quarto cada cama tem uma tomada eletrica disponivel, assim como uma pequena lampada individual.
Do lado de fora do albergue a recepcionista casualmente queima um enquanto observa o movimento interminavel de pessoas indo e vindo. A cidade esta lotada de gente e deve ser assim o ano todo. E muito compacta e da pra dispensar o excelente sistema de transporte indo para todos os lugares caminhando.
O transito e totalmente dominado pelas bicicletas. Elas sao a imensa maioria. Bicicleta e O meio de transporte, e todos usam como se fosse um carro enquanto pedalam em alta velocidade pelas ruas e ciclovias da cidade. Sao todas bicicletas bem grandes, grandes assim como todos os Holandeses e Holandesas. A impressao e que alguem com 1.90 de altura deve sofrer bullying devido a sua baixa estatura.
Amsterdam nao deixa de ser uma versao maior de Veneza, com seus canais e ruas estreitas, como labirintos que vao te levando por essa doideira que e a cidade.
Enquanto voce caminha pelas ruelas vai se deparando com os mais varidos tipos de comercio e servicos, algo mais ou menos assim: igreja, lanchonete, salao de beleza, "vitrine", sorveteria, "vitrine" e por ai vai. Tudo junto e misturado.
A impressao que se tem e que aqui o cidadao e tratado como um adulto. Faz o que tu queres desde que nao prejudique o outro. Ao contrario de paises com influencia catolica onde ha o tabu do proibido, onde as pessoas sao tratadas como criancas que nao sabem se comportar.
O dia anterior foi dia de conhecer o Museu Nacional (Rijksmuseum), por sinal um excelente museu. Imagino que e necessario ser um museu excelente para entreter alguem com tao pouco conhecimento de arte como eu. Logo apos foi a vez do Heineken Experience. Mais uma experiencia fantastica conhecendo como e feita a cerveja e quais os segredos dessa famosa marca holandesa. Visitantes ganham 2 chopes de brinde, ainda bem se fosse mais que isso o pessoal ia passar ali o dia inteiro, depois sair perambulando pelas ruas e cair dentro de algum canal.
Mais tarde uma visita ao museu Van Gogh. Eu entendo de pintura mais ou menos o mesmo que entendo de foguetes espaciais entao imagino que a minha experiencia no museu tenha sido um pouco prejudicada, sabe aquela historia que e preciso ser um aluno da arte para saber reconhecer um mestre?
De qualquer maneira, a visita foi marcada por duas turistas que furaram a fila, e tentaram entrar com um ticket falso. O rapaz que fazia a conferencia dos tickets mandou elas pastarem e irem embora, pois ali nao iriam entrar. Nesse momento eu senti uma felicidade imensa. Se nada mais acontecer nessa viagem, so aquele momento ja valeu a pena.
Um frio danado e ventos glaciais obrigaram a compra de um casaco de moleton. O preco parece bem interessante, apenas 15 euros. Na gola do casaco esta escrito que foi feito em Bangladesh. Curioso que apenas 3 semanas atras eu estava criticando empresas que produzem em Bangladesh por abusar dos funcionarios com salarios de fome.
E uma pena nao ter tempo para visitar mais outros lugares da Holanda. Amsterdam com certeza deve ter uma cultura modificada devido a quantidade imensa de turistas. No geral porem a impressao que se tem e que os Holandeses sao mais tranquilos. Imagino que o fato de terem um dos paises com a melhor qualidade de vida no mundo deve ajudar bastante.
Claramente aqui deve haver ricos e pobres, mas a distribuicao do dinheiro nao e tao aguda como em outros paises, entao todas as pessoas sao tranquilas pois tem o minimo necessario para ter uma vida agradavel e saudavel.

Translation coming soon

Ramblings about many things

Without a doubt the most rewarding part of traveling are the lessons learned from all the strangers you meet.
As much as we wish to think other people have their agendas for or against us, most of the time other folks are simply reacting to whatever feelings we are transmitting accross to them.
These lessons are especially deep when you travel solo. The reason being that you are away from your comfort zone. Completely out of your comfort zone. All the people that surround you will usually ignore your quirks and depending on your friends they may even shower you with compliments (it has never been the case with myself however I know plenty of people who fall in that category).
The thing about complete strangers is that they don't care at all about you in the sense that they don't need to hide their reactions to your quirks. They don't need to shower you with compliments. If you do something stupid, there's a good chance somebody will point that out. Or at least react to you in a certain way that will place a puzzle in your head.
When you analyze people's reactions, you can then learn from it and become a better person.
I remember once back in Jaipur, India, when I was trying to find a driver to take me to the sightseeing locations. There were lots of touts pestering the tourists around there, but this one dude make his case by helping me find the correct booth to buy my train ticket.
Even though I'm an asshole and usually very rude to touts, that one dude grabbed my attention by offering help, in a place where I was feeling pretty much attacked and under danger. Once I got my tickets, I went out again and started asking for prices. It turns out that one dude who helped me earlier had the best price.
Well this one gentleman drove me to the nice places in Jaipur and along the way we were chatting about many things. One of the things that I used to talk a lot was MONEY. I would ramble and vent all the time about prices and all money related things. This dude, who drives a 70's car for a living, driving around entitled western tourists, this one person taught me a lesson by simply saying "come on dude, quit bitching about money all the time".
It was an eye opening experience. I know I probably did that way more and these days when I go back to the first blog posts I notice how much I could only talk about money. All the posts are full of prices and me bitching about them.
Not only that, these days when I see some other traveler doing the same thing I can't help but think "Bitch, please!"
Another think that happens a lot more when you travel solo is that you tend to talk more to other people. When you travel in groups or couples you tend to talk to each other, living on that little bubble and forgetting everything around you.
As a solo person you end up talking to all these strangers who come up with the most weird theories you can think about and the most amazing life stories. Yes, I know you are going to mention that you can find that in any bar near your house, but I call it bullshit. The thing with travelers and not only travelers, but locals as well is that they have experienced things that your buddies in the bar have not.
They see stuff that the folks on your own country have not. Off course you can achieve similar stuff with pen pals, but it seems it's not the same.

Lima - Réplica do Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer replica)

It's interesting to note that pretty much nobody knows about it. This statue has been built about 2 years ago. It's a replica of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, however it's only 37m tall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristo_del_Pacifico

It has been built with funds from ex-president Alan García Perez, as a gift to the city of Lima (or so they say).

I had no idea how to go by bus to the Chorrillos district, where the statue is, so I simply walked.
I crossed Barranco (Bohemian district) on the way and the view was so nice I kept walking all the way to Chorrillos. I only stopped to ask for information to 2 police officers standing by on a corner. Funny enough they told me to be careful as the surroundings of the statue are dire.
I decided to take the small risk and took a shortcut up the hill where the Cristo del Pacifico is. It's a 20 degrees incline so it was not as tough as I thought it would be. It took only about 20 minutes to reach the top.

There isn't really anything over there besides a welcome police van and a few rickshaws. The view from the top of the hill is not really pretty, I'd dare say the view is not worth the walk there :)

Once I came down the hill I finally found which is the right bus ( the pink ones ) that could take me all the way to Miraflores (and that I could have taken to go there in the first place).

Olha só o que eu achei aqui em Lima. Uma réplica do Cristo Redentor, com 37 metros de altura.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristo_del_Pac%C3%ADfico

Foi construído com recursos do próprio bolso pelo ex-presidente Alan García Perez, como um presente ao povo do Peru (Assim dizem pelo menos).

Eu estava com intenção de ir para lá, mas não tinha muita certeza sobre como ir de ônibus. Pensei em pegar um táxi, mas mudei de idéia e fui passear pela praia, conhecer o Parque do Amor e dar mais uma passadinha no Shopping Larcomar.
A partir dali era possível ver o Cristo, a distância, lá no Bairro de Chorrilhos, acho que uns 8km a frente. O Cristo está de frente para parte de Lima, no alto de um cerro cheio de antenas de celular.
Resolvi ir caminhando até o bairro Barranco, que é o bairro próximo aqui do Miraflores. Indo pela orla você nem vê o tempo passar. Há duas orlas do mar na verdade. Uma lá em baixo, no nível do mar, e outra em cima, cerca de 60m acima do mar. É por ali que eu fui. Há tipo uma ciclovia/calçada que dá pra ir caminhando até onde a vista alcança. Por ali fui, passei pelo bairro Barranco, e vi que este tal bairro de Chorrillos onde a estátua do Cristo fica é apenas um bairro a frente. Bora gastar perna até chegar no tal bairro Chorrillos, mais ou menos uma hora depois. Chegando lá, já vendo o Cristo a distância, parei para pedir informação a 2 policiais que estavam ali cuidando da rua.
Me informaram o caminho para subir o morro, que pelo que pude entender era um caminho extremamente comprido, mas pelo visto me deram esta instrução para que eu evitasse o caminho mais curto, subindo pelo cerro, pois segundo eles não era seguro.
Obviamente que quando cheguei mais perto, eu tinha que tomar o caminho mais curto. O caminho mais curto era subir uma trilha pelo cerro, inclinação de uns 20 graus talvez. A subida levaria uns 20 minutos. Indo pelo caminho mais longo, que os carros fazem eu levaria quase uma hora.
Chegando mais perto ainda, há um estádio, e do outro lado da rua esta trilha que sobe o cerro. É uma montanha de pedras, sem vegetação alguma. Há uma rua, e do lado direito da rua, subindo está esta trilha. Do lado esquerdo desta rua, está o estádio e mais acima uma MEGA FAVELA. Pensei comigo mesmo que deveria ser bem fácil me acertar um tiro, uma vez que não havia vegetação, mas também imaginei que o pessoal deveria estar ocupado com seus afazeres (Vender drogas, trabalhar, sei lá o que) que nem me perceberia. Enfim, tomei o tal atalho e a subida foi bem tranquila, levou 15 minutinhos só. Chegando lá em cima tem uma vista muito boa de Lima e também do Pacífico para o outro lado do morro. Havia inclusive uma viatura de polícia lá em cima. Pra voltar, tomei um ônibus pois as pernas já estavam gastas. E descobri que podia ter pego o mesmo ônibus na ida, ehhehe.

Lima - Gravel beach / Playa de piedras

Lima - Magic Water Circuit / Circuito Mágico de Águas

Miraflores - Lima Photos

Miraflores is an upscale district, full of pubs, bars and restaurants as well as tourists. There are gardens everywhere, lots of police, it's an overall very pleasant neighbourhood

Miraflores é um dos bairros nobres de Lima, possivelmente o mais nobre. Extremamente desenvolvido, é um oásis de progresso e desenvolvimento cheio de turistas, restaurantes, hotéis, albergues, etc. Tudo é ajardinado, limpo, organizado e seguro. Tem até uma espécie de guarda municipal com um par de policiais a cada 2 quadras.

Igreja

Estátua no Parque do Amor

Parque Kennedy - Mirabus

Placa Torito

Placa Parque

Torito

Lima part 1

My day started at 3AM, waking up and taking the cab to the airport. There's a direct flight from Porto Alegre to Lima which is awesome since we don't need to waste time in Sao Paulo airport (GRU).
When I arrived in Lima I tried to find the Urbanito bus which allegedly takes travelers to Miraflores, however it seems this bus is no longer in operation.
So I had to take the pre-paid cab.
I noticed a familiar CD on the driver's collection, none other than famous Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos. I mention it and the drive promptly starts playing it. It turns out the singer is singing in Spanish which is really amusing.
I'm headed to Miraflores, upscale district where most of hostels and tourists are.
The streets of Lima are a funny mix of rickshaws, 70's vehicles and modern BMWs.
The horn commands the traffic and aggressiveness is mandatory.
Quick checkin and it's time to go out explore the neighbourhood. I couldn't wait to go meet the Pacific ocean and also Larcomar mall, hehee, which is incrusted on the cliff facing the Pacific. The view is spectacular.
The beach does not have sand though, it has gravel instead which is sad and disappointing though I had already heard the Pacific beaches are not perfect.
Miraflores is very safe, there's police everywhere. It looks much better than Callao, the neighbourhood where the airport is.

Some of the pictures taken today:

Hoje o dia começou as 3 da madrugada, acordando e pegando o táxi para o Aeroporto. O vôo direto de Porto Alegre para Lima é uma fantástica idéia, ninguém merece ficar rolando por horas em Guarulhos.
Chegando em Lima, tento encontrar um certo ônibus que faz o translado até a cidade de Lima (Cerca de 17km do Aeroporto até a cidade).
O cara do balcão de informação me diz que este ônibus não existe há mais de 5 anos. Haha, vai confiar na internet.
Enfim, vou ter que pegar um táxi. Pago o valor pré-pago pra não dar confusão e lá vamos nós.
Observo que o táxi possui uma coleção de CDs. Um deles me chama a atenção, um certo artista famoso Brasileiro, Roberto Carlos.
Pergunto ao taxista se é o próprio, ao que ele responde que sim e põe no rádio para tocar. É o Roberto Carlos, famoso cantor brasileiro, cantando em Espanhol seus maiores sucessos. Essa foi a trilha sonora da viagem, que beleza!
Meu destino é o bairro Miraflores, onde fica o albergue que reservei.
Miraflores é como a região do Itaim em São Paulo, mega desenvolvido, organizado, limpo, seguro. Um oásis de tranquilidade, apesar do trânsito caótico.
E antes que você pergunte, sim, aqui também tem Rickshaw, famoso moto-carro.
É uma mistura de carros de 1970, com BMWs, todos disputando espaço na rua.
O trânsito é no modo indiano, você vai abrindo caminho na base da buzina e de se enfiar na frente dos outros, até que eles abram espaço para você passar.
Checkin pronto, eu saio caminhando pelo bairro, destino agora é o shopping Larcomar. Não pelo shopping em si, mas pelo fato que ele está encrustrado no precipício em frente ao Oceano Pacífico, com uma vista magnífica. O Pacífico até que está pacífico neste ponto. Mas a praia é de pedregulhos.
Neste shopping há vários restaurantes com vista panorâmica, e tem também um mirador acima do shopping, no nível da rua.

Por onde você andar aqui neste bairro Miraflores verá a "Guarda Municipal" deles, tomando conta da rua. Me parece que este bairro pelo menos é bem seguro. Bem melhor que o bairro/cidade onde fica o aeroporto (Callao).

Uma coisa estranha aqui em Lima é que as calçadas não tem bueiros. Aparentemente quase nunca chove aqui, então eles não estão preocupados com escorrer a água da chuva.

Agora algumas fotos tiradas hoje:

Cali - Capital da Salsa

Why exactly come here to Cali? I have no idea, specially considering I have no dancing skills whatsoever and this is the Salsa capital of the world. Maybe because it was close to Medellín and Bogotá and there were 2 more days with nothing to do in the trip.
Fact is now there's no coming back. A quick stroll downtown shows absolutely nothing besides some weird dudes and some weird areas. That was followed by a quick escape to a shopping mall, that heaven of civilisation we all ran to to forget when we see to much beggars and dirt downtown.

Porque exatamente vir a Cali? Eu não tenho idéia, especialmente considerando que eu tenho a habilidade de dançar de um pato e aqui é a capital mundial da Salsa. Talvez porque esteja perto de Medellín e Bogotá e haviam mais 2 dias de férias sem nada por fazer. Agora não dá mais pra voltar.
Uma caminhada pelo centro da cidade cheia de mendigos e coisas estranhas. Depois uma escapada para um shopping center, aquele paraíso de civilização para onde fugimos para esquecer a sujeira do centro da cidade.