14 Machu
Picchu

Where Peru is now located, the mighty Inca Empire (Tahuantinsuyo) still ruled from the 14th to the 16th century. Cusco, my next destination, was the capital at the time and the empire had enormous potential until the Spanish occupied several countries in South America, including Peru. In the 19th century, a major revolution took place under the leadership of the Venezuelan Simon Bolivar, which led to the independence of many South American countries. In the years after independence, there was considerable fighting between the South American countries (Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile) to arrive at the national borders that Peru has today.

Cusco, it is very busy. The bus drivers are assisted by someone who sells the bus tickets, who hangs out of the door and calls out to pedestrians all the stops that are yet to come. All roads and bus lines pass through the central square, Plaza de Armas, causing traffic to come to a standstill. It is unbelievable. A metro line would be a solution here, you think. Market vendors along roads wave long plastic sticks in the hope that people will stop. I stay in Packers Hostel for the first few days and for the first time in 4 months I meet tourists again, such as a Dutch couple who have been traveling in a camper for three years. They tell me about the latest hype among digital nomads who travel with a camper: Starlink, an internet system that you place on your camper, where you have access to high-speed internet even in the depths of the jungle. Cusco is at an altitude of 3400m and the first few days I had a big headache. At the hostel they were kind enough to make me a cup of coca tea, which they say helps against altitude sickness. Strangely enough, these are the same leaves that are used, among others, by the Peruvian terrorist group VRAEM to make cocaine. The Dutch government has therefore issued a red travel advisory for the Peruvian areas around the Apurimac River.

Veronica, the Peruvian lady I met in the north of Peru, is visiting Cusco for a week and also has Peruvian DNA. She has a chat on every street corner. Sometimes I have to sigh, but secretly I am also very happy about it, because we always know exactly where we have to go. We take a taxi. Veronica tells me to stand behind a lamppost so she can get a better price. It works. The taxi has space for another person and so the driver does everything he can to fill that one spot, by honking at countless people on the side of the road. We have a wonderful week together and visit Vinicunca, a beautiful mountain, striped in so many different colored shades of earth that they called it the rainbow mountain. Traveling takes a lot of energy because of all the talk on the street, the buses and taxis, but it is all worth it. The area around Cusco is truly incredibly beautiful.

How special is it that you meet someone from Peru with whom you have such a good connection? Veronica and I both love to travel and plan the trip ourselves. Even in her own hometown she has all kinds of places she would love to visit again. What a wanderlust and I haven't heard her complain about a thing. In the center of Cusco we started talking again with passers-by who were about to go to a salsa band. We joined in and had a wonderful dance there. Also when I told Veronica about my visit to the coworking office, she was enthusiastic and wanted to go there. So we worked together as digital nomads for a day until the doors closed at 10 p.m. Now that the distance is increasing, it is becoming increasingly difficult to visit each other as we were able to do in Talara, Tarapoto and Cusco. Letting go is also part of traveling, but this lady doesn't make that easy. We'll see how things will go. We have very nice memories together and who knows what the future will bring.

Veronica has left and I travel to a village outside Cusco, in the direction of the mountain range where Machu Picchu is located. Upon arrival at the hostel I notice that there are hardly any other backpackers. The political chaos in Peru last year has deterred many travelers. Several vans take me to Mollepata, the starting village of the 5-day Salkantay trek, where you end the hike on the last day with the iconic mountain village of Machu Picchu. I start in Soraypampa at a high altitude in the cold and snow. You climb over a mountain pass and walk along the edge of a long, split valley no less than 3000 meters down where you constantly see the landscape change from dry, barren mountains to moss and shrubs until you have descended so deep that you reach the moist, dense jungle. you have ended up. There I see that each tree carries perhaps 100 other plants, such as various bromeliads that I had once seen in David Attenborough's nature films.

One night I sleep in a large glass ball with a view of the stars. Along the way I meet very friendly people from America, Ireland and Belgium and even a couple from Barcelona, who live in the same neighborhood where I lived. Because of the fixed route you always bump into the same people, each with their own story. An American soldier tells me, with two days to go, that he has been dropped there and is on a special mission. I also meet the 2 meter tall inexhaustible camping German Jens who tells me that the name of the country New Zealand has its origins in our Dutch province of Zeeland. The Llactapata Lodge is a must see if you are ever here. You have a beautiful view of Machu Picchu from a distance. And without hundreds of people with selfie sticks, you can take a quiet moment here to take a good look at the wonder of the world.

On the last day, with Machu Picchu already in sight, I suddenly become ill for the second time in a short time, probably because I am so stubborn to drink water from the tap everywhere. After this trek I will buy a Camelbak water filter bottle in Cusco as soon as possible. Just before the arrival in Aguas Calientes, the last village before Machu Picchu, I bump into the German Jens again and together we get tickets for Machu Picchu the next day. Later an Irish couple joins us, who are kind enough to give me some tablets against the traveler's flu. Now that tourists are arriving from all over the world, with Bluetooth boxes, crop tops and taxi vans, I am only too happy that I am still with this foursome from the Salkantay trek. A wonder of the world is of course something fantastic in itself, but if you can also do it together, with such a beautiful walk beforehand, then that of course completes the experience.

Finally the big day of our visit to Machu Picchu arrives. With all those tourist facilities it is tempting to take the bus up, but after all those days of walking we naturally want to finish it on foot. For years, the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu had not been discovered until 1911, when the city was found by the American Hiram Bingham. Machu Picchu is located in an area with huge steep mountains and is surrounded by a river like a horseshoe. The four of us climb the mountain on which Machu Picchu is located and the first view is immediately indescribably beautiful. The ruins, and the pointed mountains in the background. The overall picture is so incredibly beautiful that it even crosses my mind whether what I see is not even more beautiful than the Great Wall of China or the Taj Mahal that I have ever seen before. But of course you shouldn't want to make that comparison at all. The ancient ruins show how the 750 Incas used to live here in harmony with the earth and the heavenly bodies around us. The sun and the bird the Condor were given a separate temple and there were solstices, benchmarks that made it clear when there was the most and least light, so that people knew at what time of the year they were.

Tourists regularly ask what I do and I tell them that I am a digital nomad. They often respond, wow, that really is my biggest dream. I think it's a really great experience and I wouldn't have missed it for anything, but people often forget that it's not just always fun when you're always in one place for a month, like me. What I put on this blog are mainly the beautiful things, but that is usually only a small part of the time, and the rest of the time can sometimes be quite challenging and lonely. I have been a digital nomad for 4 months now. Traveling from place to place, finding your way there and meeting new people can sometimes be difficult. Your friends and family who you can only reach by telephone, and few contacts with people for a longer period of time. You are not really one of the tourists, but also not one of the locals. I even read about digital nomad burnout on the internet, and I'm not surprised that it exists. So what do many digital nomads do? They stay in the same place a little longer by, for example, doing volunteer work. So I may well try this out soon. But more about that next time. Thanks for reading and see you next time!