Exploring for me is gathering the essence of a place, this includes places that some people may find irritating, annoying or not worth seeing. Well, I am here to experience the world in all its diversity and nuances. Here I provide you with my best shots from exploring the Peruvian town Arequipa - one of my favorite places of the world.
The fences of the neighourhood
Spiked walls for security
In my first days in Perú I was quite disturbed about seeing a lot of spikes, fence and barb wires. Now I think it looks worse than it is. Here are some impression right from the road about Peruvian security measures. In Peruvian towns it is common that certain areas are locked during certain times, usually these areas are also guarded. I never experienced any problems, although it can be quite irritating if you see it the first time.
Bridge Crossing
The Eiffel bridge oneway today
If this bridge looks familiar this might be due to the fact that this was built by Eiffel - yeah the same guy who built the huge tower in Paris also known as Eiffel Tower ;). This bridge is really interesting, it is really long. Yet, nowadays it is kinda funny and maybe a bit unpractical. From far away it looks really impressive - and it still is - but when you stand on it and realize that it is one way for cars, well yeah… not that practical. They view from there is great, I could take pictures of housing areas I usually would not dare to walk into.
Working Peasants
I also discovered some peasants working near the roads, they had a cute dog “watching” the area. I really liked this sideroad. The first time I went down it, I was a bit scarred and then there appeared several eagles. Later on I discoverted the peasants and could take some of my favorites shots.
Men at Work
Later on I headed back into more urban areas. There I found a large road, which I had to follow. From a bridge a saw a repair shop. They took care of a police car, as you can see from the picture the police is armoured. I took some shots of the workers to capture such an authentic situation first hand. Then they registered me and began waving friendly, hence I took some more shots. I prefer honoring the hard-working people with my time and attention, than museums or statues.
After I went along the large road up on a hill, I discovered that this was one of the local breweries.
This one of the best experiences in my life. A rafting trip for 3 days in a canyon near Cuzco (Perú). It was amazing the landscape, the adrenaline and the team. I think rafting is awesome for team-building, on the last day one guy fell out of our boat in the rapid, two of us pulled him out in a matter of seconds, whereas the others continued to steer the boat through the rapid.
One way. One road to the most diversity of view from Argentina. Once away from San Miguel Tucumán, the capital of the province of Tucuman you take road 55 to Tafí Viejo. You may be surrounded by a dense green forest completely far away from crowd. You may be ecstatic with this green panorama till the next way around from the mountain that you find yourself in a desert. Few moments later, you realize that you’re not longer in road 55, you’re in national road 9. At first the sight, you won’t notice anything but then everything changes, from a desert to a valley of red mountains. It’s amazing the different color of this mountain range. You may stop in the “Garganta del Diablo” (Devils Throat) - the heart of the mountain. Just silence and fresh air, it’s really worth to see! Then, arriving to Salta, there is a change in the color of the mountain, they are more modest but not less stunning. Once in Salta, you may find be surrounded by vegetation again.
While I was staying in Tucuman I planned to go to Salta by bus. Luckily, I met two french women in my hostel, who wanted to do the same, yet with a car. Hence, we teamed up, rented a red “Volkswagen” (German car) and headed north through some of the greatest landscapes I have seen so far.
The whole trip was safe, we had no troubles at all, nevertheless we always tried to put our valuable stuff in our rooms or when exploring cities or areas to keep them with us. The roads were most of the times quite safe, even the dirt roads were easy to drive. We passed various landscapes, including the desert around the ruins of Quilmes. Also we had a new “Volkswagen” , which are very durable.
Here are some of the best shots from the trip, drop me a comment or mail for feedback, questions or recommendations, thx!
