A novel idea for Rail Companies...

22:49 mareku 1 Comments

This could be something for Dutch Rail (which is in trouble as usual for the winter delays nowadays): ask the conductor and his assistant to give a fashion show - complete with local carnival clowns!
It was hilarious - but the fun was short lived, because minutes after the show ended we ran over a person on the track and he was seriously wounded. We had a delay of 1 1/2 hours, but that didn't matter so much of course - as long as the victim was taken care of. Peru Rail really showed its good side and swiftly took action and at the first possible place (couple of hours later) an ambulance stood by to take him to a hospital. Quite an adventurous journey!

A day in the Jungle

22:48 mareku 0 Comments

Classic Peruvian Ingredients

22:46 mareku 0 Comments

The food in Peru is not bad at all - that is as long as you like chicken, rice, corn and beans. (which I do!)

Machu Picchu - Lost City of the Incas

22:25 mareku 0 Comments

The Sacred Rock

Entrance Gate

Way high in the mountains

Classic Money Shot...

One of the last "wonders of the world" still on my bucket list: Machu Picchu - finally!
The day began quite foggy, as we started early our journey back in time. It was nice to be on of the first visitors - so we had the place almost on our own with our guide. As this is hard core raining season, we were already very lucky that it did not rain, even better - later that morning the sun broke trough the clouds. We ended up doing the tour two rounds. This is a truly dramatic city situated high in the mountains, with terraces between two prominent peaks. From every angle the view is different and more enchanting it seems. The (Sun) temples in really good condition with the famous Inca walls. Luckily for us the Spaniards did discover it and only in 1911 it was "rediscovered" by Hiram Bingham, from Yale university.  No wonder that Yale still has more then 36.000 artifacts of MP (and that the Peruvian Government want them back by 2012).
Funny thing is that the whole thing reminds you a little bit of the pyramids of Egypt, although they were more then 4.000 years earlier. You think the Inca are an ancient tribe, but in fact we are talking about around 1500 - the time Gutenberg invented the book printing and Europeans were conquering the world. The Incas did not know the wheel or even a writing language. So they were pretty behind... Which is nice, because that's why we have MP! :-)))