BACK IN GERMANY

16. July – 28. July 2011

After a rather long flight from Lima via Panama City I finally arrived in Germany. My parents picked me up at the airport in Frankfurt (DANKE!!!) and after a good breakfast we were on our way home. Home to me means the house that I grew up in Lissa, a small village north of Leipzig in the East of Germany.

Most of the time in Lissa, I spent relaxing, going for walks with the dogs and jumping around on the trampoline with my niece Fiona. After a little more than a week, I took the bus to Munich. Someone said that I traveled too long in South America if I travel by bus in Germany. It's not very common to travel long distances by bus and usually people use the train. But the bus was cheaper. I had a good time in Munich. Besides some sightseeing and shopping for our upcoming road-trip, I hung out with me sister and met friends. Of course I enjoyed a few good German beer in a typical Biergarten.
Beatrice – thanks for taking the time to meet me, for lunch, cafe and beer and tour guiding through Munich. It's always good to hang out with you.
Micha – it was great seeing you!
Bine – thanks for lunch and a good time.

SUMMER 2011

I know, my last blog post is rather old and is about things that happened two months ago. But that doesn't mean that I stopped traveling nor blogging. I'm just a bit lazy with writing and organizing pictures. But I'll try to get the blog updated as fast as possible.

Since July I spent some time with family and friends in Germany, went on an Europe road-trip with my sister and visited friends in Egypt. At the moment I'm in New York on the way back to Ecuador. The plan is, to stay there for a while. Live at the beach, learn surfing and explore more of South America.

In the next days, I'll try to catch up on the blog and hope you'll keep on checking in. As always, I'd love to get some comments.

10 MONTHS IN SOUTH AMERICA

After 309 days it was time to leave South America. At least for the moment. There were countless great experiences and I hope I will remember most of them. I had a great time and enjoyed it a lot.

I traveled by bus, plane and boat

I slept in hostel beds, hammocks and at friend's places

I hiked a snow covered volcano in Chile and partly up volcano Tungaruha in Ecuador that erupted a few days later

I got sick on a four day hike near Quilotoa in Ecuador and wet on a ten day hike in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.
I saw sea lions, eagle rays and turtles on the Galapagos Islands, penguins in Argentina, pink dolphins, caimans and aras in Bolivia and condors in Chile

I tried to dance salsa, merengue and samba (have to go back to improve my dancing)

I went running at the beach, went snorkeling and tried surfing

I learned about the production of coffee in Colombia, manioca in Brazil and sugar in Bolivia

I explored cities, the rainforest, mountains and deserts
I ate lots of rice, chicken and shrimp
I went to the markets in Cartagena, Colombia; Belem, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia and many more
I ate mango in Ecuador, acai in Brazil and pomelo in Bolivia

I listened to Sandra on the ferry between Argentina and Uruguay, Boney M in La Paz, “Moskau, Moskau,...” in a taxi in Portoviejo, Ecuador, and Modern Talking all over Bolivia

I listened a million times to Don Omar's “Danza Kuduro”, a thousand times to Aventura and a hundred times to Shakira
I traveled with good friends, met lots of people, made new friends, fell in love and said goodbye to too many people

I learned lot and had a great time

PERU AGAIN – ILO, NAZCA, HUACACHINA AND LIMA

6. July – 14. July 2011

After a great time in Bolivia and a short stop in Chile we went back to Peru. I had just booked a flight back to Europe, leaving from Lima. But we still had a week to explore the south of Peru. First we went to Ilo at the coast for a night. There was absolutely nothing to see or to do. Still, we enjoyed eating seafood after weeks far away from the coast and good seafood.

From there we went on to Nazca. We stayed in a very nice (but still budget) hotel with a great, big room with balcony. The morning was spend relaxing and in the afternoon we took a tour to the Chauchilla cemetery near Nazca. There are ancient mummies can be seen in their original graves. Strange but interesting. The next morning we went on a sightseeing flight over Nazca with a tiny little Cessna. Around the city are the famous Nazca lines, old geoglyphs created by the Nazca culture. It was interesting to see these 1500 years old figures from above. The lines are figures were created by removing the upper red soil to show the lower layer of white soil. It is amazing that after such a long time, it is still possible to see these figures.
The next days we spent in the beautiful village of Huacachina – a small lagoon surrounded by sand dunes. We took a tour with sandbuggys (you have to do this) and tried sand-boarding. I wasn't very successful but it was fun anyways. We next day we walked up one of the dunes and relaxed at the hostel pool.
On the way to Lima we stopped in Paracas, where we went on a short boat trip to the Islas Ballestas. Unfortunately there was only one sea lion but we saw thousands of birds and a few penguins.
Back in Lima we enjoyed Starbucks and a few relaxed days before it was time to say goodbye.