Floating Village

Inside Iquitos lies Belen, a floating shanty-town, and home to 7,000 inhabitants. I rented a canoe for a couple bucks, and got a great view of the town. Leaving the port
The main strip


Some kids washing some clothes

Local salon
Belen Cathedral
Street off the main strip

Iquitos

Iquitos, the worlds largest city inaccessible by road. Its located in the Amazon Basin, and its the main starting point for jungle excursions. This is probably my favorite town in Peru, it feels like a strange mix between S.E. Asia and the Bayou.

Casa de Fierro (Iron House) designed by Eiffel, the famous creator of the Eiffel Tower. The building is not really that magical. In the photo you can also see a couple motocarros, which are similar to tuk-tuks in S.E. Asia, and are the main mode of transportation in Iquitos.
A worn down government building just outside of my hostel
local church
A Texan owns a bar/restaurant in town, and has it all decorated with dead animals and Lone Star memorabilia - go figure.
The best ice cream flavor in town.

River Rafting the Urubamba

Here are some photos of my river rafting experience on the Rio Urubamba just outside of Cusco, Peru. Loading the boats up
I´m in the front on the right side.

Shortly before the boat tipped completely over - As you can see I´m already swimming.
After being thrown out once, I decided it was best to duck down for the next set of rapids.

Inca Trail Day 1 and 2

If you go to Peru, you have to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. It´s the only thing that I have had to book in advance on this trip, and it forced me to travel all the way back to Cusco. It´s also extremely expensive relative to other S. American experiences. My four day hike, set me back about $420 USD. In the end, the trip was completely worth the money. The company I chose, Llama Path, was great and the guide, Freddy, both knowledgeable and ridiculously funny. Our group, was fairly young, American (only two German students), and everyone got along great. The hike itself can be a bit tough at times (not even close to climbing Huayna Potosi), but the views are spectacular. The ruins that you visit along the way - are obviously not as impressive as Machu Picchu, but each one is interesting in its own right and they add more to the story of Machu Picchu and the Inca people themselves. Its been quite a few weeks since I hiked the trail, so the names of specific ruins and places might not be right on - so I´ll apologize in advance.

Here´s the Group
The original Inca Trail can be seen on the right.

Me with Llactapata

Nevado Veronica (5750m)

A Shepherd at heart

The big climb also known as "Dead Woman´s Pass" (4198 m). This is the most difficult section of the trail with about a 1000m elevation gain.

Bastian and I on the top of the pass. I believe this is the stupidest pic of me yet. Coming down from the Pass

A bunch of pictures of Sayaqmarka (Dominant Town) chilling in the fog

A small Inca ruin just below Sayaqmarka.

Finally, the sun broke through for a few hours.

Inca Trail Day 3

After too many days of fog we were treated to this view in the morning.

Here I am with the World Record holder for the Inca Trail. This guy is a porter for one of the local tour outfits, and ran the entire Inca Trail (27.5 miles) in under 3 hrs and 45 minutes. Even more incredible is that he´s 46, and did the race in sandals. I think Nike could make a hell of a commercial with him.

Here´s the Llama Path team taking down the camp.

A spider orchid

Another orchid A Lady Slipper

Photos of Phuyupatamarka (Town Above the Clouds)

A bird in the window

Some interesting fungus

Another bit of peculiar fungus

Our guide took us to a recently discovered set of ruins that none of the other groups went to - I forgot the name (sorry). National Geographic is paying loads of cash to clear out all the vegetation and also get first dibs on the photo op, and so we were told not to snap any shots. I of course did not listen.

Some kind of orchid

A very colorful flower

The trail turns into a cloud forest jungle

Intipata

Winay Wayna (Forever Young) named after the orchid that blooms here year round.

Freddy (our guide) and I being Super Cool (his favorite phrase)