eduardplanting's blog

Day 19 - 21: Lima, Peru

Day 19 (28 December 2010)

We said goodbye to our hotel -Andean Wings- in Cusco and a short flight later we arrived in Lima again. A taxi to the Radisson in Miraflores, a quick change to shorts and sneakers and off to lunch.
Lima is so completely different then Cusco. The people look much more Latin in stead of Indian (or should I say Inca?) and the entire atmosphere is 'capital'. Although Cusco is quite a large city as well, it's almost impossible to compare those two, because it's almost another world. But great cappuccino's at my favorite coffee spot -Arabica- here in Miraflores,  so I don't complain ;-) After lunch we walked around a bit and went to see the pre-columbian pyramid of Huaca Pucllana. We tend to forget that the Inca's ruled only a for relatively short time. Before them there were also very interesting developments taking place and a lot of artifacts we now admire are from before Inca times. Time to see more of that tomorrow!

Day 20 (29 December 2010)

Still a few museums to see. We started with the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History on the Plaza Bolivar in the suburb of Pueblo Libre ('Free Town', so named by one of the liberators of Peru, San Martin). A very large museum with an interesting collection and a great overview of the history of Peru. The Nazca pottery is still among our favorites. And the brain surgery known as trepanation makes you feel greatful to live here and now ... It's also the colonial house of Simon Bolivar, the other and perhaps better known liberator of South America. So literally historical ground.

  

After that we followed the blue line that's painted on the pavement to the second museum, that of Rafael Larco. But first a nice lunch at the Antigua Taberna Queirolo, one of the oldest restaurants in Peru. It seemed like the entire neighborhood had the same idea ...

A wonderful old hacienda above a 7th century pyramid houses the private collection of Rafael Larco Herrera. It is considered by many to be the largest and most complete collection of pre-Columbian artifacts and relics in the world. More than 40,000 pieces of pottery and 5,000 pieces of gold and textiles, all visible online as well. There's also a (separate) section on erotic art and ceramics. The museum is very well maintained and even the warehouse (where you can see thousands and thousands of artifacts) is interesting.

Both photos by Mirari Erdoiza (more at fotopedia.com)

Day 21 (30 December 2010)

Our last day in Peru. But because our flight doesn't leave until 9 PM we've got plenty of time to visit another museum: Museo Oro del Peru. Again a private museum, this time divided in two completely different sections: Arms of the world and Gold of Peru. It's astonishing to see the enormous collection of weapons, including uniforms of several well known dictators, a sword of Pisarro and lot's of nazi stuff. Not your typical museum collection ... In the cellar something completely different: lot's of gold from the Inca's, including beautiful ceremonial daggers, crowns, masks, etc. So that was a great way to end our time in Lima. After a nice lunch in the neighborhood we went back to Miraflores, walked around a bit and then it was off to the airport.

       

Day 22 (31 December 2010)

A long flight to Madrid, where we arrived at 2 PM. The air conditioning of the plane wasn't working very well, so to the frustration of the crew it felt like a sauna. As a 'compensation' their temper was well below zero ... I don't think we'll ever fly Iberia again. Compared to LAN this was really quite disappointing. Then another flight to Amsterdam, where we arrived in time to celebrate the new year. It really was a great trip. In fact two holidays in one: one full of nature and one full of culture. At both we met a lot of great people, so we can recommend these destinations to everyone!

Galapagos Expedition 2010 - the home movie

Marque edited the video he made during our stay at the Galapagos. Have a look and enjoy :-)

 

Day 16 - 18: Machu Picchu, Peru

Day 16 (25 December 2010)
Another early wake up call, because at 6.30 AM we had to be at the Poroy trainstation to catch the luxurious train to Machu Picchu. There are two ways to get to Machu Picchu: the Inka trail (that takes about 4 days of hiking) and the train (only 3.5 hours). So we took the train, also because this is one of the most interesting train rides in the world, including a part where they go up/down the mountain in a zigzag way. It's a nice way to travel, especially in the narrow valley. When we arrived in the little village it was pouring with rain, so not the best of times to go up to the "lost city of the
Incas". Better to wait until tomorrow and enjoy a lazy afternoon in our (very nice) hotel, Sumaq. It's at the end of the village, next to the river that really makes a lot of noise with all that water bursting over the rocks, but who cares, this is nature at it's best.

  

Day 17 (26 December 2010)
Yesterday evening we arranged to meet our guide at 7 AM at the hotel, because we liked to be at Machu Picchu before it got to crowded. It was dry, but quite some fog, so it was a bit of a gamble. It's the raining season, so everybody advises you to take good notice of that (rain coats, ponchos, etc). The bus takes you in about 25 minutes to the entrance of the Park. Not very busy indeed, but clouds and fog are playing with us. Sometimes you can see the famous site and a minute later it's completely vanished. But after about 2 hours the sun started to win her battle with the clouds and yes, now we can see this great place as it should be, in all it's glory, surrounded by those wonderful mountains. A great experience indeed! We spend quite some time there of course and a few hundred photographs later we went back to the village. The weather was really great today, so no need at all for ponchos, but we could have used some extra sunscreen :-) What a wonderful way to spend Christmas!

Our first view of Machu Picchu

Ah, it's getting better ...

And that's how it should look indeed :-)

  

The 'Royal Tomb'                                                    Temple of the Sun

  

The Sun dial at the Principal Temple                   My dear friend, the Llama

Day 18 (27 December 2010)
Another day at Machu Picchu, because our train doesn't leave until 4 PM. So time enough to stroll around the river, enjoy the rain forest, see the Inca Museum and the Botanical Garden. And yes, a bit of shopping as well. It's still very warm today, so again we're very lucky. The train left right on time, and again it's a pleasure to see the river right next to the rails. That's not without risk because in the beginning of this year the track was closed for two months because it was damaged by the swollen river. An enormous set back for their income from tourism of course. But all went well, until someone was hit by the train in the dark. Not long before that incident the train attendants surprised us with a fashion show in the carriage, but now they suddenly had to show a different part of their job. That wasn't easy of course. Luckily one of the passengers was a trained nurse, so she could help. She kept the patient stable until the train could reach an ambulance. All in all we arrived more then 2 hours late, but our taxi driver was still there to take us home. A late night supper in "The Rooms", and then to bed, thinking about the incident and hoping that the patient was well taken care off.

Rain forest walk near the river

 

Day 13 - 15: Cusco, Peru

Day 13 (22 December 2010)
And off we go again! A short flight to Cusco, in the high Andes. The city is built on old Inca ruins on an elevation of 3500 meters. So lot's of people get sick when they go from sea level to this altitude at once. Luckily we only noticed the thin air while walking around, but no altitude sickness. Cusco is a very nice city, of course with lots of artisan markets again. We didn't do a lot, to get adjusted to the height, so that was nice.

Day 14 (23 December 2010)
It's raining season here and we heard that already during the night. Despite that we wanted to do a day trip to the Sacred Valley of the Inca's. So dressed for the occasion (new woolen hats of course) we got into the buss to Pisac. Of course there was a stop on the way at an artisan market before we arrived at the old Inca city. Suddenly the weather became much better, with a lot of sunshine after all. We strolled around the ruins with our guide. How wonderful to see how the Inca's built the terraces and their houses. After a nice domestic lunch we went to Ollantaytambo, another old Inca City. Again we strolled around and admired the ruins and the view of the Sacred Valley. We were a bit stupid to forget to put on our hats, so we got sun burned quite heavily. Of course we noticed that when it was too late already and on the way to our next stop we felt very sorry for ourselves :-)
Of course there were more artisan markets and demonstrations of how to dye wool, etc, etc. And finally we arrived in Cusco again at about 6.30 PM after a long day on the roads. But it was worth it!

Artisan market on the way

The Inca terraces of Pisac

It all fits beautifully together, without using mortar

After a heavy climb at Ollantaytambo

How to dye the Alpaca wool

Day 15 (24 December 2010)

This is a special day in Cusco, because it's time for the yearly Christmas Market in the Main Square. Never seen so many artisan stuff together ... And lots of Peruvians as well. They all buy their attributes for Christmas Eve, including a lot of fireworks. So it will be a noisy night ... We also visited the several museums of the city, including the Dominican Monastery that was built right upon an Inca Temple, now partly restored again so funny to see how those two combine with each other. All the churches were closed today, so we have to do them another time. The entire city is bursting with activities, so we came on the right moment. Still, we needed some time to update our blogs and because it started raining, that's what we're doing now :-))

Inca Temple and Monastery in one ...

Busy, busy, busy thanks to the yearly Christmas Market in Cusco

And a lot of Peruvians from the countryside as well. Great characters!

Day 9 - 10: Galapagos, part 3

Day 9 (18 December 2010)
A lazy start of this last full day at the Galapagos. During the night the ship sailed to Espinoza, the oldest island in the archipelago. Again it was a rather rocky night, but we got used to it already. All we did in the morning was a wet landing at the beach and spend and hour or so wandering about and lying at the beach between many, many sea lions. They were as lazy as we were, except for a few very playful and nosy young ones. They keep on enchanting you with those big brown eyes :-)

After lunch we had an interesting lecture about whale-sharks by Matthew Potenski, a marine biologist that had won this trip with a great photograph he made of a whale-shark. And after that we landed at another spot on Espinoza to have our final walk. And what a great walk it became! This island again has some endemic species, that only can be seen here: large lava lizards, very colorful Christmas Iguana's (so called because the males turn red and green during the mating season that starts around Christmas), a special mocking bird and next to that it's the breeding ground of the Waved Albatross. And we saw them all in all their glory, some mating, some trying to get off their first flight, etc. But we also saw a lot of Blue footed Boobies again, very, very close. We couldn't get enough of all these wonderful creatures, so we saw a great sunset while we rode back in the Zodiacs to the ship. Another special day of this wonderful trip.

Day 10 (19 December 2010)
Our last day on the Galapagos. An early rise, everything packed and everybody a bit reluctant to leave the ship to go to the airport. A part of our travel companions went further to Quito, so we had to say goodbye to them in the plane. Back to the Hilton Colon in Guayaquil we went for some shopping in the mall and on our way back we saw a tiny hummingbird. So still some wildlife :-)
We had dinner with Tom and Karen, their daughter Meg and son Mason. We had done so very often during the last week and that was always a great pleasure and so was now.

Day 6 - 8: Galapagos, part 2

Day 6 (15 December 2010)

This day will bring us to Isabela and Fernandina Islands, all the way up north and west, crossing the equator twice: once in the night and once in the morning. As usual that's worth a little celebration :-) The northern part of Isabela has relatively cool waters and is therefore home to the Galapagos penguin and sea turtles. Not many people come here because it's rather remote. The Zodiac ride along the cliffs already made us feel aroused: lots of blue footed boobies, marine iguanas, crabs, penguins, sea turtles, the large Mola Mola fish, fur seals, sea lions, flightless Cormorants, etc etc.

After a short break we changed into our wet suits and then went snorkeling among all those wonderful creatures. Awesome! Really, really awesome! Swimming with all those turtles and playful sea-lions makes you feel exited and humble. This is their territory, they love it and they accept us in it. Isn't it a shame that most humans are so selfish and demand to be the centre of attention ... Nobody wanted to leave, but lunch was already waiting. Can things become any better? In the afternoon we sailed to Fernandina Island, one of most active volcanoes in the world (but not today).

We had a dry landing on an irregular lava flow at Punta Espinosa. There we could admire hundreds of marine iguanas with some of the males already in their mating season colors. But also the inevitable sea lions, next to flightless cormorants, Galapagos penguins and many other birds that now already look familiar.

Day 7 (16 December)

We sailed to the southern part of Isabela Island, where we had a long walk in the morning. We saw some colorful land iguanas and even saw the very shy Vermillion Flycather (it was 6 years ago our naturalist saw his last one!). This was a marine reef that in 1954 suddenly was uplifted, so now you can see large remains of coral in the middle of the land. After that we had a quick swim with a nosy pelican and went on board again for lunch. One of the naturalists had spotted a group of dolphins in the bay, so we rode to that spot. It took quite a while before they were spotted again, but then it was really great. We (or they?) came very close to the Zodiacs, and there was even a baby :-) During lunch we sailed to the most southern part of Isabela, between the Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanoes. In the afternoon we did a Zodiac cruise along the coast line, where we saw four kinds of rays, which was really exiting.

Day 8 (17 December 2010, our 24th anniversary together)

It was a long and very rocky sail to the next destination, Floreana Island. First we had a pre-breakfast wet landing at Post Office Bay. There you can pick up postcards and letters people left for delivery by hand. No stamp required, just a friendly fellow countryman that takes it home and delivers it himself. So we left two postcards and took three with us that we will deliver in The Netherlands. This is a tradition that started in 1793, so we have to keep that in honor of course! The waves were still rocky, so we all became very wet in the Zodiacs, but after breakfast time for another ride at another spot: Champion. A little island, home to the only approximately 200 surviving Charles Mockingbirds. We saw them, and also some beautiful Tropic Birds (with their long white tails) and of course ... Sea lions ;-) back to the ship for our wetsuit and a snorkeling session with a lot of fish and the friendly and curious sea lions. The sea was a bit too rough for my taste, but still, I had a good time. Finally some time to check phone messages and e-mail. Always nice to know that it snows heavily back home, while we're enjoying the tropical weather :-) In the afternoon we did a hike at the island in the hope to see some flamingos. Well, there was one indeed, but only that one. It didn't really matter because the rest of the walk was nice, especially the quiet beach at the other end of the Isle where sea turtles lay there eggs at night. Some of them were already present. On our way back to the ship we witnessed a beautiful sunset.

Day 3 - 5: Galapagos, part 1

A wake up call at 5.45 AM was the beginning of the day. After breakfast and a short ride to the airport we started to get acquainted with our fellow travelers on the Lindblad / National Geographic expedition to the Galapagos. Two hours later we landed at Baltra airport, a small strip, build in the Second World war and now used as a commercial airfield. Another hour or so later we boarded the Zodiacs that brought us to our home for the next week: The  National Geographic Islander. A nice ship, 46 passengers and 31 crew. It was great to see the first wildlife before boarding, that's promising for the rest to come.

By the way, not too many photographs for now on the blog, because it takes quite a while with the satellite. It's wonderful enough to be connected, isn't it ;-)

Immediately after the necessary briefing and lunch we sailed to North Seymour Island. There we got our first real Galapagos nature experience: frigate birds, blue footed boobies, land iguanas, and lots of sea lions. The trail took about two hours and it was really wonderful to see the animals so close by, not shy at all. A great beginning of this trip!

    

The next day we woke up in the bay at Bartolome Island and we did a pre-breakfast landing followed by a walk to the top of the summit where we had a wonderful view of the bay with it's famous pinnacle. After breakfast we went snorkeling. Not as many fish as in coral reefs, but still, it's always nice to see them in the natural habitat. During lunch the ship sailed to another spot where we had a wet landing on a black volcanic beach with lots of sea lions, crabs, marine iguanas and of course lots of birds. A naturalist took us for a walk to the other side of the island where we spotted fur seals in the deeply carved see-level grottos. The rough see was spectacular and we had great fun looking at all the wildlife. Amazing that this is only the second day on the Galapagos and already so many great creatures!

During the night the sea got pretty rough, so it was good we had an early night :-)
The third day is dedicated to the giant tortoises. First a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island. There we saw "Lonesome George", the last living tortoise of a specific island. Also "Diego" was there, who returned to his native country from the San Diego Zoo. Nice to see them so close, but still, they're in captivity and that's not what you want to see here of course. So in the afternoon we went by bus to the highlands and there they were: giant tortoises in their own habitat. Impressive. Not much movement of course, but still it sometimes looks like they're posing for the pictures. We also visited two large pit craters, overgrown with Scalesia trees on our way back to the harbor. The weather in the highlands is much more moist and damp, so a completely different vegetation again, including an endemic orchid.

Day 1 & 2: Amsterdam to Guayaquil

After a very busy period in the gallery it's finally time for our trip to the Galapagos Islands and Peru.

The day started early with a flight to Madrid (2.5 hours), a transfer to the next Iberia flight to Quito, in Ecuador, (11 hours) and after a short stopover over there a flight to Guayaquil (0.5 hours), our final destination for the day. Our chauffeur was already waiting at the airport and after a nice light dinner at the Hilton Hotel Colon we finally went to bed exactly 24 hours after we got up at home.

By the way, I had a nice start of the day at Schiphol airport, because in the lounge I read the great article by Bertjan ter Braak in our national newspaper De Telegraaf about Aernout Overbeeke, my current exposition in the gallery.

Our second day we spend quietly in a warm, but clouded, Guayaquil. This was once one of the most dangerous cities of Ecuador, but since the enormous alterations at the end of the 1990's a pleasant stop. So we strolled the "Malacon 2000", the newly built boulevard along the banks of the muddy river at which this city has developed. After that we visited the old neighborhood of Las Peñas (very touristic, but a great view over the city from the lighthouse). Then a bit of shopping and we're ready for our next destination: the Galapagos Islands.

  High above the ocean ...                                        Stop over in Quito

Me, during our lunch on the Malacon 2000

    

The Malacon 2000                                                    "El Faro" - The Lighthouse - at Las Peñas

A Dutch touch in "El Faro"

A view from the top 

Long weekend in Stockholm - Part II

And here are some more impressions of Stockholm. Of course the Stadshuset (City Hall) is worth a visit, so is the National Museet (where we saw a great exhibition about Napoleon, always a favorit of mine), The Moderna Museet (showing a lot of photographs by Kertesz and Rodchenko among the classics and new stuff in the current exhibition), etc, etc.

And don't forget the opera and the premiere of "En handelsresandes död" (Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller) with Krister Henriksson (who we of course all know better as Kurt Wallander). And a visit to the house of the famous writer August Strindberg. And dinner at Sturehof and Rolfs Kök. And ... so many other things. Even in this time of the year you won't be bored in Stockholm :-)

     




  4 times the Stadshuset

 

The Royal Opera House at night (Kungliga Operan)

 

   

August Strindberg (he wasn't home) & dinner at Rolfs Kök

 

6.30 PM, rush hour in Stockholm ... Okay, okay, it was on Sunday

This is the Kungs Trädgården Station

Let's end with me in the Stadshuset (Prince Eugen's Gallery) ...

and the wonderful Krister Henriksson as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman (to be seen in Dramaten).

Restaurant F12 in Stockholm

We had dinner in F12, based in Fredsgatan 12, hence the name. They have one star in the Michelin Guide. And what a pleasure it was! Great atmosphere, fine food, very nice service and yes, the accompanying wines were very tasteful as well (blind tasting for the first four!). In our opinion they deserve an extra star. This was our menu:

1. MAINE LOBSTER «COCKTAIL» with carrot and ginger

2. CABBAGE «CHOUCROUTE» with caraway bread and syrup

3. FOREST MUSHROOM «PRESSÉ» with sweetbread and pumpkin

4. BRAISED CHEEK OF PIG with figs, wild pepper and potato brittle

5. DUCK’S LIVER «BONBON» with grilled plums

6. SPICE SAUTÉED GURNARD with beer, browned onion and fennel flower

7. YOUNG RED DEER FROM BROKINDS FARM with truffle from Gotland, cranberries and salsify

8. ROVE DES GARRIGUES «GLACÉE» with walnuts and red beet vinaigrette

9. ROSEHIP «LOLLIPOP» with roasted almond

10. COMICE PEAR «AFTER EIGHT» with wild mint and bitter chocolate

11. APPLE MOUSSE with cottage cheese and cinnamon

I've tried to photograph them, but that's not easy in the dimmed light and using an iPhone ;-)

                We were quite early, so it's still a serene atmosphere

                      

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