Trip to Lima, Peru

Viagem a Lima, Peru

Those who have had the pleasure of traveling by themselves know what I mean when I say I do not know how to explain or describe the experiences I gain during my stay in South America and during the trips I have made. I can try to explain what I have done. I can show what I have seen. I can tell how much I payed for it. I can describe how things appeared. But none of it comes close to the real deal. It does however leave me with a big list of things to do and places to visit. Or friends.

I just got back from my trip to Lima, Peru. Before giving a short list of things I have done I'd like to express my feelings about Brazil and Viçosa in particular. Lima has been great. More than that. It has been one of the best experiences in my life and I have done so many things, met so many people, visited so many interesting places and all this in such a short time; it is mind blowing. But Peru is different (as far I can tell from only seeing Lima). Different from any country I have been before and especially different from Brazil. Don't get me wrong, I love Peru but there are many things I have come adapted to in Brazil. Things I like so much and would really miss in any other place on earth. The social, kind and friendly people. The way the country is evolving, following innovative inventions from all over the world and yet trying to involve as less foreign companies or technologies as possible, improving the local economy, wisdom, science and knowledge. The language. And some more things.

When I got back to Viçosa it felt like coming home. My city, my people, my streets, my friends and my home. No need to be constant aware while walking the streets trying not to get pickpocket or robbed. No need to take a cab wherever you go. No need to ask for directions. I have acclimatized so swiftly I am surprised myself. I might love Peru. I love Brazil. I love traveling. I love meeting new people. I love new experiences. And there is so much to explore.

After all the hassle with getting to Peru in the first place I was very happy to board the plane just in time, have a pleasant flight with TACA airlines and arrive in Lima (Peruvian time, -2 hours) at 22:05. I had asked my hostel, Kokopelli, to pick me up and after wandering around for a few minutes I found my driver. I had some problems with switching to Spanish once again but this was probably due to the fact I was tired and had only slept for three hours within the last two days. After drinking some beers at the rooftop of this superb hostel, I'd say one of the best I could get, thanks girls and Thiemo for the recommendations, I went to bed.

The next day I met Stephanie and Silvana and we went for a ride by car. We got to see the coast, downtown Minaflores, some of the casino's, some other neighborhoods and finally went for a lunch at Puro Perú, a famous restaurant serving many of the typical Peruvian dishes. Peru has, supposedly, one of the best kitchens in the world. After lunch we went para-gliding, went for another ride to show the university and some other areas and finally had dinner at Silvana's house. I met Stephanie's family, we took a ride back to the city, had some beers in a Irish Pub and after went to an underground club called Chaqcha. When I entered they were playing techno like I haven't heard before in South America but soon I found out they changed the music genre every thirty minutes. Very interesting.

My second day was one of so many activities that I will probably leave out a lot. I got to see the old city center with its colonial and governmental buildings. We took a ride in one of the small buses and after switched to only cabs. Good choice if you ask me. We walked trough some non-touristic places, both curious and attentive. Bought some souvenirs. Had a famous Peruvian dish for lunch. Got to see one of the lesser safe and rich areas of Lima. Went to a local market. Went to Parque de la Reserva, famous for its fountains which are illuminated with different colors during the night. Had a few drinks in one of the most fancy bars I have ever seen; Ayahuasca Bar.

The third day I went to explore the city of Lima with Torstein, a Norwegian friend I had met in the hostel. We visited the old city center again, took a detour trough the slums, visited Cerro San Cristóbal, visited a local underground market (where it seemed they had never seen tourists before), went to Chinatown Lima, had lunch at a small restaurant where, again, they seemed to never have seen gringos before and went back to the hostel.

The rest of the days I got to see many bars, shops, supermarkets, a shopping mall, many restaurants, the historic centre (a UNESCO heritage site), the beach, a Peruvian fast-food restaurant and buildings. After all I believe I have quite a good notion of Lima and its many different sights. Leaving for the airport made me so sad, I had loved to stay for more days. Visit Cusco, Machu Picchu, Mancora, Ica, Iquitos, Puna, Trujillo and so many other places. I will be back!

Pictures have just finished uploading to Flickr.

This post, and trip, have almost solely been made possible by Stephanie and Silvana. Others are TACA, Kokopelli, my new Australian, English, Norwegian and Peruvian friends and .. Maestro.

Feliz cumpleaños Michaël

So i am writing this post from Guarulhos Airport, São Paulo - SP, Brazil. One of the many airports in São Paulo. The wrong airport. Well lets start with the beginning.

Last year me and five other friends made a trip to visit one of our clubmembers, Jan Jurrien, who was studying in Barcelona. We got to celebrate new years evening with him at an Open Bar party somewhere outside the city, on a hill side next to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. There we met, along with a great bunch of other people, a group from Peru who were visiting Barcelona with their family. We got acquinted and hang around all night. In the end it turns out, small world or is it just a coincidence?, they were actually studying in Groningen. As part of their curriculum they got do study abroad and they chose Groningen as the place to be. Before I traveled to Brazil we were invited to a big international party and went to get some beers in the city center after. Good times.

As many people do when meeting foreigners they invite them to come visit or just give a call when in need or in the area. Same happened to us. When I got to Brazil and found out I had to travel abroad for a few days it wasn't a difficult choice. Not just because of the hospitality. Peru seems to be one of the most interesting countries of Latin America, it is not as popular as Argentina, or for us dutchies Suriname, and I would probably lack the opportunity to go there the next few years. And some say Peru has the number one cuisine in the world. I've got to put that to the test. It might not be the cheapest option but most definitely one I won't regret. Besides I managed to get myself a fairly priced ticket so all went well. All untill I left Belo Horizonte to the airport. More about that later.

I got the contact information of the two Peruvian girls (thanks Flop!), managed to organize a trip with my *lovely* traveling agency Expedia.nl and made an arrangement with my internship coordinator and professor that I could be absent for a few days. After all I'd rather not get deported now, do I? But that's another story.

Before taking the plane, which would fly from Belo Horizonte (a six hours busride from Vicosa), to São Paulo (a one hour flight and four hours waiting at the airfield) and from there directly to Lima (a five hours flight), I would visit Marco. Hence the plane left early in the morning it was a good opportunity for us to discover the night life of this big city, get some sleep, breakfast and board the plane. The only three things I had to organize in advance were:

• get my ticket printed no more than 24 hours in advance
• get some foreign valuta (even though US dollars are not the main currency in Peru they do accept them everywhere) and
• get Marco a present.

I might miss out on my brothers birthday today (sorry Michaël) but in his case I had no opportunity to be there. Marco however invited me to his birthday party which would be the 19th, one day after I had left for Peru. A present might releave some of the pain, so to speak.

I arrived at the busstation (around 19:30) after which Marco picked me up (20:45 *jeej*, when will I finally addept, or at least get used to the Brazilian habbits) and we took off to his new appartment. The present wasn't the hardest part and Marco turned out to be very happy with my gift (getting birthday presents isn't a common thing in Brazil though). I took a quick shower and we went to a local street full of bars and usually crowded with people (except for a regular working day like Wednesday). After ordering a few beers a friend of him joined us and we switched to the more heavy stuff (do I need to say it was cachaca?) along with a plate of porks rib which had the good of our spearribs (sweet marinated meat) without the bad (bones). Delicious, even though I was told they've had better. We went home early, around two, hence we would wake up early to get breakfast, visit Mercator Central and organize the few things I had left on my to do list.

It turns out net cafes are not only good for gaming and after paying R$1,- I was the proud owner of a black and white e-ticket to São Paulo. If only printing my ticket would have been the hardest part. I had to get a lot of dollars. The exchange rate for Brazilian reals to Peruvian pesos isn't that good (and I already need to pay a fee for getting my euros exchanged to reals) they accept US dollars almost anywhere. Exchanging them at an airport wasn't the best idea though since it would be very expensive. So downtown Belo it is. Turns out it is practically impossible for a foreigner to exchange valuta. First of all you cannot pay with your bank or credit card. Second you need to give almost every private information you can think of (except for what you had for dinner last night) including email, all your phone numbers, social security number, a copy of your identification documentation and so on. Turned out Marco could arrange all this for me and after emptying my bank account (R$700,-) we exchanged a lean $320,-. The last money I had, R$100,-, unfortunately, were spend on a cab to Confince Aeroporto, hence it would take too much time to get a bus (costing either R$8,- or R$22,-) and do my checking in. However, the cab should be able to get there within 40 minutes, instead of the regular one hour by bus. Unless your cab driver gets pulled over, starts a conversation, ignores you (even though he told me my Portuguese was muito muito bom! before) and then arrive after almost one and a half hour at the airport instead. Some of the Brazilian culture and habits did influence me; no flaming, no argueing and no fight. Besides, he wouldn't pay me back the R$420,- anyway.

Yes, fourhundredandtwenty (!!). I missed my flight and could get a new one, which would leave in two hours, but ... would land in a different airport. Thank god all the people working at the TAM desk spoke fluently Portuguese making sure I got the right information. After calling to TACA airlines (Portuguese and Spanish only) to try get another flight I took the chance, bought myself a new TAM ticket (ofcourse the old one wasn't refundable, most definitely not the fault of my wonderful traveling agency Expedia.nl) and hoped I would find the one cab driver who had been a former Formula 1 racing driver and would manage to get me to the other side of São Paulo (one of the biggest cities in the world) within one hour.

While at the desk I thought of fixing my return ticket to Amsterdam. I will have the same 'problem' (three hours in between flights and different airports) and I'd rather be safe then sorry. Especially when calculating the risk of an incompetent taxi chauffeur. So this is what I learned:

• Canceling my flight would cost me, hold on, R$2281,-.
• Easy solution; just skip the flight by 'missing' it, right? Well, that would cause my lovely traveling agency Expedia.nl to cancel my second flight (São Paulo - Amsterdam) as well hence it is some kind of single ticket even though there are two different airlines, two different destinations and two different airfields.

Trying to solve this well in advance, making them able to resell my seat, without asking for any kind of refund just won't do (Tim Deluxe was a wise man).

While waiting at the desk I see a girl, who seems to speak only in English, buy herself a ticket as well. After I offer her my help we start a conversation. I am still shivering from missing the flight and buying a new ticket and babbling a lot of rubbish (she's definitely not from Florida, Kentucky or Ohio, nor is she American nor visiting Vicosa (well duh, she just booked a ticket)) but it seems not to matter. While feeling light headed she is telling me she also had just missed her flight, by five minutes to be precise, and is now taking the next plain to São Paulo. She is very calm about the situation (or knows how to hide her state of mind very well) and says it's probably for the better cause. Who knows why we missed it in the first place.

So Macy is from the Phillipines,works for an international company based in Japan cooperating with the Japanse Times and China Daily. Shes in Brazil to do a report on the special coffee market and was supposed to leave the 23th of April. Apparently not the first time she missed her flight. After visiting some places near São Paulo she will be visiting Peru as well and after travel to Europe. Visiting Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, India, Indonesia and back to the Phillipines. Even though I have been convinced it is not all serenity. I think traveling for work is actually the greatest perk of them all.

After we landed in Congonhas she helped me get a cab and I took off. If we might ever meet again I will most certainly pay my gratitude in whatever way suits.

Mauro was anything but a race car driver. He was wearing filthy clothes, was about 50 years old and didn't speak any English. We did however have the infamous traffic on our side and after some life stories and interesting facts about the city (66% of the countries income is produced in São Paulo) we managed to get to Guarulhos in just over one hour. I didn't have the time to get any cash withdrawl at the airport and didn't have any more (Brazilian) cash on me, except for the few coins which were no way over five reals. Where the day before my creditcard stopped working, leaving me completely dependant on my bankcard, now even this one ceased to be cooperative and stopped doing what it used to do best (helping me be able to shout out loud "money to burn, we're students right?!" for anyone willing to hear). Eventually I managed to pay the R$130,- ride with one of my three onehundred dollar bills and he would give me back my change when I would call him the second time for the same trip. Ofcourse that will never happen. I am actually trying not to think how this will work out once I get to Peru and spend the few dollars I have left. Maestro might have worked for me all over the world (except in Antwerpen >.<), it doesn't in Peru. Visa and MasterCard it is. I should have gotten me one of those prepaid creditcards Neil recommended me.

I am halfway my flight to Lima right now and have, after writing all this stuff, almost forgotten what happened to me today. Even if it might sound different, this is actually one of the many things I have learned in Brazil. Stay calm, don't worry, ofcourse be happy (that's not just for Jamaicans to say), see what will happens and eventually everything work out well.

Many phrases in this post, and maybe many of the things I have been talking about at this blog, tend to have, one way or another, something to do with money. Some might know me as an extremely greedy, frugal person. I know how to safe money and spend even more. However, when I adopted my plans for Brazil I have started to safe a lot of money so I would never regret not doing certain things because of a lack of cash. In Brazil I have not yet been on a spending spree, for several reasons. First of all the life here isn't so much different as it is, money-wise, in Holland. Prices tend to be the same and I always end up spending an average which can be compared to the Groninger life. For half a year I am not earning any money which makes me saving so much. Last but not least, I have, in no way, the intention to come back to Holland empty handed (again money-wise that is).
Furthermore, I like everyone to get an idea of the life here and ofcourse money is a part of that.

I have learned a lot today. A few wise lessons by Macy, not to take the Brazilian lifestyle to the extreme, it is possible to travel between the two airports within an hour and a half, Belo Horizonte is a very nice city afterall which I definitely tend to discover some more and traveling on my own isn't so bad and I will do just fine. In Peru and probably anywhere else in the world (languages for the win!). And I met a great new friend with a lot of experience in life who has given me a lot of things to think about. Oh, and I probably made at least one Paulista cab driver very happy.

Peru, here I come!

Oh and little brother of mine, sorry for naming this post after you but I wanted to internalize you.

Pictures will be posted to my Flickr account when I get back.

This topic has been made available by: one hundred US dollars, TAM, Expedia.nl, Mercator Central, HH Picchioni Corretora de Cambio e Valors Mobili, Macy, Marco, Mauro, Michaël and ABN AMRO.

Trip to Ouro Preto

Visitar Mariana e Ouro Preto

I have just finished planning my trip to Peru. Tomorrow I will leave Brazil for the first single trip of my life, to a foreign country, approximately  4000 kilometers away. I am thinking of visiting Machu Picchu (like every other tourist that visits Peru) hence it might be my only chance to ever go there. Going there will take at least three days though and I am not sure the time is on my side. Got a big list of other hot spots from Thiemo, Silvana and Stephanie (thank you guys once again!) so I am sure I won't get bored during my stay.

Convite

So two weeks ago I got invited by one of my Mexican class mates to join her for a trip to Ouro Preto. We had a few days off (Brazil has so many férias and other free days you just won´t believe it) which gave us the perfect opportunity to make another trip. A trip to a city nearby which was worth visiting at least once (and now I have been there I cannot wait to go there once more). Edgard has asked me to join him for a trip to his old student city many times hence he has lived there in a república and knows many people (just as he does in Viçosa). We have had plenty of opportunity to go and hence there are so many of these houses there's at least one of them celebrating something in a huge party every week. However, study based obligations made Edgard bail on this one. He did, however, hook us up with a place to stay (in his former república) which was great, cheap, dirty but an awesome experience after all.

Preparação

So I got invited by Paulina. I never really got to talk to her, hence we just saw each other twice a week during class and yet I was welcome to join her and the other travelers. I was in doubt because of several obligations internship-wise but later that night I found out she had already bought me a bus ticket. This time it didn't leave at 7 o'clock next morning but the day after .. at 07:00 am. Ouro Preto is considered quite cold since its situated at an elevation of 1.200 meters. I packed my jeans, a sweater, my iPad and some Dutch candy and I was good to go.

Espanhol

Where my previous trip was full of American-English, lots of indecisive discussions, beaches and parties this one was about Spanish, jokes, culture, cerveja and some more Spanish. Paulina and Sarai are both Mexican, Stephanie and Frederico are Colombian and Manuel Costa Rican. Even though Paulina, Frederico and Manuel speak English, of course the main language was Spanish. A perfect opportunity for me to train my sixth language. Very confusing, yet another language to switch from but hey, you've got to communicate right? It turned out very well and I am not so much as worried at all to visit Peru on my own (even though a Spanish dictionary might come in handy).

Herança

Ouro Preto used to be the capital of the state Minas Gerais, before they changed it to Belo Horizonte. I guess the reason the state is called Minas doesn't need any explanation. Ouro, however, means gold, Preto means black. They used to farm a lot of coal Ouro Preto also has a rich history of gold mining. A history I will not elaborate about during this post but for those who are interested, remind me when I get home. The city is one of the largest student cities in all of Brazil and has a rich colonial culture and an official UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its many Baroque architecture. During the trip I have collected, partly thanks to Paulina, over a thousand pictures all worth checking out. Moreover, it is also the number one city regarding the consumption of alcohol and marijuana (Viçosa is number two; would that really be due to all the students?!) in Brazil.

Trem

So we took the bus, at seven o'clock (which, of course, showed up quarter past eight) and drove to Mariana, a small town nearby Ouro Preto. Here we got off the bus to both visit the old town and continue our travel by train (one of the very few in the state of Minas Gerais). The railroad, called Trem da Vale, was originally build to transport all the miners and mined materials but the build was only finished after the gold rush reached its peak. Mariana prepared us for the things we could expect in Ouro Preto. A lot of igrejas, ancient architecture and gold flickering paving everywhere. And steep and small roads. A lot of small, steep roads. After spending a good morning walking, having lunch and making a tremendous amount of pictures we boarded the train to our final destination. A ride which, for the second part when I finally decided to switch sides and not just facing a wall of bushes and trees, was both amazing and breath taking because of the view and the sights we got to see.

Chegada

After arriving in 'Black Gold' we decided to walk to o centro da cidade and find ourselves a proper hotel. We were told hotels would be expensive but even the local Youth Hostel was way above our budget. I decided to redeem the rain check, which Edgard gave me if I ever needed a place to stay, and eventually this worked out very well. In his républica Arte e Manhã was still place enough for the six of us and it would cost us less then half the price of spending the night in a hotel. Easy choice, so to say. Besides there wouldn't be much sleeping hence we met Neil and Kamila who had stayed in the same house the night before and would visit the birthday of another república later that night before returning to Viçosa. Neil and Kamila helped us get a cab which brought us to our place to sleep which was located far from the city center, nearby the university. The area was filled with big student accommodations which all seemed to be hosting parties that night. If we'd only knew what to expect. After meeting Pasamou, fixing ourself a mattress (it wasn't much more than that) and watching a (Portuguese) episode of Family Guy while the girls did their girls business, we left for the party.

Jantar

After a 15 minute walk and a 10 minute bus ride we got back in the city center. We knew the party would mostly be about drinking so we decided to find ourselves a place to eat first. We met some weird restaurant managers, customers and waiters but after 1,5 hours, and running away from two places we ordered a huge amount of food, we found ourselves a bar where they served both beer and the best hamburgers in the world. That last phrase might be a bit influenced by the six noisy stomachs longing, no, yearning for food. After several unsuccessful attempts to learn my fellow travelers how to drink beer as integral student we left for the party, which happened to be just around the corner.

A noite

The party had started almost six hours earlier and most of the people were either drunk, very happy, very tired or had gone home. However, there was plenty of drinks, music and the six of us being really thirsty. We saw people getting the housedog drunk, do crazy stuff on the dance floor, tried to build a pyramid of empty beer bottles, had conversations with complete strangers (a few of them professors at the university), met tons of new people and eventually got kicked out of the house because it was getting dawn. After finding ourselves a random bus ride which took us almost home we could finally enjoy our beds for at least a three hour sleep.

Manhã seguinte

A three hour sleep hence we wanted to see a lot of the rich culture Ouro Preto is famous for. We skipped the breakfast we were promised, made sure a big pile of banknotes would cover the expanses for having us and left the house before eight o'clock. We took a bus and decided to get off at the bus station. A decision, after half an hour and seeing all of Ouro Preto, that got us at the bus station with the best view ever [click here for one of the many pictures I took]. We got our breakfast (and later that day our lunch) at a restaurant at Praça Tiradentes, the main square of Ouro Preto. The place served lovely food for almost no money; a good beginning of the day. We visited all of the museums, ancient buildings, churches and peculiar stores we could find. Ouro Preto is famous for its churches and mining. When the Portuguese settlers were afraid for the farmers and landlords to start revolting they introduced faith, religion and a lot of churches to keep the people happy and influence them during the missions. I was looking forward to visit a gold mine and after making an excursion trough the slums we managed to find one of them, Mina do Chico Rei. The tour felt more like visiting a cave and it must have been horrible back then without artificial light and fixed oxygen. Part from gold they would also delve the three main colors most of the buildings in Ouro Preto were painted in (gold/yellow, red/brownish and beige/white).

À tarde

On the way back to the center we found sugarcane which, apparently, had a very nice, not too sweat taste, is very healthy and is supposed to work as a natural teeth whitener. After a battle between my pocket knife and the stem we were all enjoying our afternoon delight. We visited a lot of shops, did some souvenir shopping and visited one of the oldest and most precious churches, Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar, famous for its rich decoration of gold. It is forbidden to take pictures in many of the museums and almost all of the churches but who cares if there's Google! We joined a few of the tour guides who told us a lot about the history of the church and the meaning behind all the symbols, relics and frescoes. Hence we would take the last bus home we had some time to kill and went to look for a place to get ourselves a drink. We found a lovely bar named O Passo Pizza Jazz with live music and a wide variety of cocktails and beers. My Bavaria turned out to be Canadian but was pretty tasteful nonetheless. After a well deserved rest we started a 45 min walk to the rodoviária while spotting a perfect clear moon, Mars, a beautiful skyline at night and locals using horses instead of cars.

The trip had been a wonderful experience, especially for those that weren't familiar with the European architecture, culture and ancient villages and I will definitely visit Ouro Preto again.

For pictures of this trip check out my Flickr.