Judging from the title, 
I’ll let you guess where I am right now, writing this blog post…
It’s my last full day in Peru and as promised I’m going to share some of my favourite cafés with you. For those of you who might want to come to Cusco one day, I can only recommend you checking out one or more of these caffeine-relaxation hot spots, have some delicious food, some great coffee or just enjoy the atmosphere. The past weeks, besides exploring Peru and working at the Hostel, I put myself to the task of finding the cutest, friendliest & most-delicious-coffee-serving cafés in this city. It’s been a tough job, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right ;) Luckily, I’ve been a more or less serious café tester for years and have gathered experiences in various countries and cities. Therefore, I hope you’ll enjoy my little collection of Cusco’s most lovely cafés as much as I did. Sometimes I went with friends for a brunch, sometimes just for a quick coffee to recharge my energy levels, and sometimes for entire afternoons, reading, writing and enjoying the calm, relaxing & lazy atmosphere that these places can offer you. Because sometimes, when you’re worn out from hiking, going on trips or working at the bar, all you need is a good coffee and maybe a little sweet sin to get you back on track and make your heart happy. Indulge in those moments & treat yourself.
“Adventure in life is good, consistency in coffee even better.”
– makes for a perfect combination, in my opinion.
12000 km2, from 1cm to 10m thickness, it would take 10 days to walk across it: Salar de Uyuni, the stunning salt desert in southwestern Bolivia – the largest salt flat in the world!
Saturday, July 30th – 9 am: sitting on the big terrace of our hostel, overlooking the beautiful lake Titicaca and the other houses that are spread out all over the cliff that emerges from the water. Yesterday, we hiked up pretty far with our backpacks to get to this place but this amazing morning view makes up for it once again. In the evening we had dinner at a little place called “Inti Jalanta”, eating Trucha (Trout) and Quinoa Soup (both of it was so good!) and again, sitting on a terrace, overlooking the still water of the lake and watching the sun set behind the mountains on the mainland. If it wouldn’t have gotten so cold, we could’ve spent ages there, just enjoying that view. Right now, the sun is beginning to warm up the air but chilly winds still make it too cold to take off my jacket. 
Let me start this post with a traveller fact: no matter what happens or how messed up a situation seems, in the end everything ALWAYS works out – promise. So, even though I didn’t get picked up at 3:30am yesterday morning, like I was told at the tour agency (they also didn’t come at 3:45 or 4am), I didn’t stress out about it. With a certain composure for situations like these that I adopted last year in Asia, I asked my friend at the reception to call the agency and ask if they might’ve forgotten me. They assured that they didn’t forget me and that someone was on their way to pick me up in around 10 minutes – of course I knew that they had forgotten me, but as long as someone picks me up, I really don’t care all that much anymore. 
“KOKOPELLI is a fertility god, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player, who has been venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwest of the United States.” He is also said to walk around from village to village, playing his flute and collecting songs in his bag. This habit kind of reflecting the life of us backpackers, Kokopelli became the symbol of the Kokopelli Hostels in Lima, Paracas & Cusco.
I don’t even know where to begin. There are no words that could possibly describe the feeling that place gives you. Seeing MACHU PICCHU, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, was simply amazing. Standing on top of that hill, looking down on the ancient Inca city (which was never finished, because the Incas abandoned it during the Spanish Conquest), being surrounded by these huge mountains, which seem so unreal, you feel really small and humble all of a sudden. ‘Overwhelming’ would probably describe it best. 
It’s my 14th day here in Cusco and yesterday, I realised that I only have one more month in Peru, before flying to Texas. It’s crazy how time flies when you’re travelling and experiencing so many new and exciting things every day. After about two weeks in the city, I have developed some kind of routine, or at least some sense of direction, when walking the streets. And that fact really strengthens the feeling of having found yet another home somewhere far from my actual home even more. 
Cusco, with it’s southeastern location in Peru, lying within the Andes, used to be the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th century Spanish conquest and is today considered to be the historical capital of Peru. The ancient name of the city means “navel of the world”, due to its many roads that connect the city with almost all of South America, from the south of Colombia to the north of Argentina. Since I haven’t been to any other countries or places in South America, I can’t really judge this city in comparison to others. But what I know for sure, is that Cusco got me hooked from the very first second I arrived here. 
I always enjoy visiting local markets: you find the freshest and most delicious fruits, vegetables, bread, sweets, nuts – really, anything you can think of. And at the same time you’ll most definitely be surprised by some crazy things or dishes you’ve never seen before. It’s always a little adventure to go and explore the food and typical ingredients of the locals, plus: prices are unbeatable! Every time I go to a market, I wish I was actually living in my own apartment somewhere in the city, so I could go and buy fresh ingredients every day to cook amazing local dishes myself. Unfortunately we’re not allowed to use the kitchen at the hostel to cook ourselves, so I’ll just have to stick to buying dried fruits, nuts, fresh fruit & sweets, which I am also perfectly fine with. My sweet tooth always gets satisfied while travelling ;)
If people were to ask me what I like most about backpacking and travelling, the answer would be simple: everything. I mean, what’s there not to like? You get the amazing opportunity of seeing places you’ve never been to before, you meet different great and open-minded people every day and through that make friends all over the world, every moment is an adventure, you wake up thinking ‘so, what am I gonna do today’ – no stress, no responsibilities, no worries. The only things you actually worry about are: what & where am I going to eat, did I just pay too much for that sweater, should I do this tour or not, when’s the next cool event or party, will there be wifi, and most importantly… will my money last until the end of the trip? Besides the last question (which I guess many of us are asking ourselves on a regular basis anyway), those are pretty chill problems to worry about, don’t you think?
lenacatherine 