From Lima to Cali

Last week we were 3 days in Lima where we visited the Museum of the Spanish Inquisition (scary) as well as the beautiful seaside (Costa Verde), and its romantic parcs (you can see a picture of the love statue in the love parc). But the biggest highlight of Lima and Peru are the restaurants  -  in our opinion the best cuisine in the world! ...it's really gastronomic, so special! alot of asian influence (they call it fusion), fish, meet, seafood...! Rosa Nautica, Osaka, Rafael -> 3 restaurants you should definetely visit at least once in your life...hmmmm!!

We then spent a week in rainy Bogota - the city is super nice although a bit cold...actually the whole country is flooded...and we are crossing fingers to have some sun in Cartagena (Caribean coast) in 10 days! We first spent 4 days at one of Alex's aunt's place (super welcoming!), it was really nice because the children are our age -  Santiago and Maria Emilia  - and they took us out to this amazing restaurant called “Andres carne de res” – amazing food and great RUMBA! So much fun dancing! They also invited us to their "country club" where you can do pretty much anything from manicure to bowling, golf, horseriding, tennis, pool... you name it! Amazing and very different from anything you can find in Switzerland.
In Bogota we also spent 3 days at some of Alex's parents' friends, Cecilia y Gonzalo, who have been happily married for 35 years (definitely inspiring!) and welcomed us in their lovely penthouse. They took us the Catedral de Sal in Zipaquira (a cathedral built inside a salt mine – where we watched a 3D movie about how it was made!) and on the next day we visited el Museo del Oro (museum of gold and native artifacts, very modern and impressive) and the Museo Botero (the paintings and sculptures were awesome!).

 Yesterday we flew to Cali (tierra caliente) where we are staying at Alex's uncle’s place – we had a very nice dinner, catching up and all. The weather is nice and hot in here...just the way we like it!

La Rosa Nautica

 El parque del Amor

 La Plaza de Armas de Lima

 Maria Emilia and Claire at the Country Club

 La Bandeja Paisa...Alex had to help Claire to finish it...

 Cecilia and Gonza's place

 Bogota seen from La Calera

Museo Botero

Life is beautiful in Machu Picchu!

Yesterday we finally reached the Machu Picchu! This Inca site was never known to the Spanish during their conquest and therefore remained intact during centuries...

We were very excited about getting here, as this is one of the major highlights of our trip and we have not been disappointed... This place is truly magic and unique - you can really feel that you are in a very special place, full of harmony with nature on one side, but also full of mysteries which will remain unknown.

We were actually quite sad to find out that UNESCO is considering of putting Machu Picchu on its List of World Heritage Sites in Danger  - this means that we don't know if our kids will be able to walk through the site as we did...

But the stars remain definitely aligned for us: we were able to hike up the Huayna Picchu although we arrived late - the number of daily visitors is restricted to 400 and we were number 368 and 369! The way up to the summit is a very steep and harassing hike (especially since we haven't been working out much these days), but we were quite proud of ourselves when we reached the top and admired the view on the Machu Picchu site - (The Huayna Picchu is the mountain in the back of the picture where you see Claire with the guide.)

Today we enjoyed the Inkaterra hotel (our prefered hotel until now) which has hot jacuzzi outside, amazing food, and special guided tours through tea and coffee plantations as well as an orchid garden... Yes it was a very relaxing Sunday and we're looking forward to the dinner tonight... aaah honeymoon life is beautiful!

Thanks to you!

 The Huayna Picchu is the mountain in the back of the picture...we hiked all the way up!!!

...and this is the view from up there...amazing!!!

 

On our way to Machu Picchu!!!

We have now left Cusco for the Sacred Valley. It's a lot warmer here...you can feel that we are getting closer to the Jungle and to Machu Picchu. Today the temperature reached more than 34° and you must keep in mind that we are still at more than 3000m...this is crazy! In Switzerland at this altitude you find the "eternal/permanent snows"...
Once again we are staying in a very nice hotel (5 stars...) where the birds are kings! It's full of parrots and peacocks. Today we pretty much didn't do anything but tan, bath in the swimming pool and drink fresh lemonades...awesome!
Yesterday we visited some Inca ruins in a very nice village called Ollantantaybo. And tomorrow morning we have to wake-up at 5:00 AM because we are taking the train to Machu Picchu...finally...we are so excited!!!
Pictures and comments will follow...so stay tuned!

From Bolivia to Peru!

So next we spent 3 days in Sucre, just resting from the trip to the lakes and the Salar. We had an awesome hotel (Hostel de la Merced), where we had a very nice upgrade (special thanks Luis!!!). By the way now that we are thanking Luis, for those of you who like the trip we are doing and would like to do a similar one in the future, please contact Luis Lopez (www.laroutedesandes.ch). He's my friend who has helped us to organize the whole trip and everything is working so so well and it's thanks to him so don't hesitate to pay him a visit. Now back to the hotel in Sucre...the room was on the last floor of the hotel and a magnificent view on the vvv romantic & charming city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage.

Sucre was Bolivia’s first capital, and it’s quite funny because it’s not really defined internally which one is the capital between Sucre and La Paz...and as you can guess both inhabitants have their version of the story!

Since we wanted to relax, we didn’t do much, and Claire decided she would find a hairdresser to do her highlights… ok she decided not to do so for the moment – they were suggesting to dye the hair and then to color it in blonde… and clearly had never done any highlights on blonde hair!

Other than that, we spent a lot of time sleeping and relaxing in the parks… and we visited the Casa de la Libertad (pretty cool) which is where the independence of Bolivia was declared and signed in 1825. We also saw the first flag of Argentina...Claire almost cried...too much emotion!

After Sucre, we flew to La Paz, and went directly to Lake Titicaca and the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). The lake is extremely beautiful and looks more like a sea, because it’s so so big, and also because on Saturday evening on our way to the lodge we experienced some huge waves which scared Alex (so bad...)- On Sunday we did a 4-hour hike to cross the island of the Sun from North to South, which was just amazing, our guide told us all the legends about the islands and Claire even got to step next to the sun’s steps (see pic). After which we watched the magnificent sunset with a Paceña (local beer) and a huge smile.

On Monday it was All Saints day, and here the tradition is to bake a lot of bread in the form of men and women, ladders, lamas, etc. so that the dead people in the family who come and visit them get some help to go back to paradise. It’s quite interesting to see how catholic and indigenous religions are mixed and accommodated, in the rituals and the churches – sometimes in a very simple way. For example, the Virgin is the equivalent of the Pacha Mama (mother earth).

After visiting the Isla de la Luna (Moon Island), we took a boat and returned to La Paz. La Paz (which is the highest capital in the World at more than 4000 m) is a huge city, Alex particularly enjoyed its size and the mountains surrounding it (there's a 5400m peak just next to it...). We also really enjoyed the beautiful 5 star hotel room with TWO bedrooms and 2 bathrooms! Quel luxe J

From La Paz we flew to Cusco, Peru! Cusco is an amazing little city, full of tourists like us! I know we shouldn’t compare, but Peru has definitely much higher standards than Bolivia (is more expensive too though), but as a Swiss citizen, we feel we’ve entered a whole new dimension! Cusco is very beautiful, with its colonial style, renovated monasteries and numerous Inca testimonies. We have spent two amazing days here and are particularly enjoying the Peruvian cuisine (Lomo saltado, etc.)- We had the most amazing ceviche and sushis last night at Limo’s, downtown.

We will be taking a bus to Valle Sacrado tomorrow, which will lead us to Macchu Picchu in 3 days! Can’t wait!