Where to next?

I had five weeks left until the end of my trip. While I initially followed the motto 'no hurry', my travel pace had accelerated in the final stretch. I completed Colombia in just three weeks and also breezed through Peru.

This had the advantage that I could redistribute the gained time, so I extended my stay at Okidoki for three more nights. The unbeatable offer (3.50 euros per night including breakfast), the opportunity to pause and additional time to acclimatize to the altitude - a prerequisite for further travels through the Andes - were reasons for this decision.

Even before, I had heard from other travelers that Cusco is a city that doesn't let go of you so quickly. Stays of several weeks were the norm rather than the exception, both voluntary and involuntary. The hostel sometimes resembled a hospital ward, with guests on crutches, stomach problems, and chronically exhausted people who also stayed in bed during the day.

To distract myself, the city provided a wide range of activities (excursions, massages, ayahuasca, and more), which were certainly affordable when viewed individually, but would add up significantly when combined. After returning from Machu Picchu, I decided to take it easy. I climbed a viewpoint, wandered through the streets, and enjoyed my free time with coffee and croissant.

Furthermore, I embarked on a personal project that I had completely neglected so far. I explored the regional variety of fruits. Markets and stalls were full of exotic fruits whose names I didn't even know and which I had sacrilegiously ignored in favor of bananas, mangoes, and mandarins.