Final concert, Peru, 20th birthday

Hello dear everyone,

After a slow January and with my motivation for teaching fading away, February went by quickly and eventfully.

In the first week, we played my final concert with our students. Although I am only leaving for Germany soon, my actual project phase ended in early February, as I had to travel a lot and was on the road, making regular lessons impossible.

The concert was similar to the others, familiar and a nice meeting with all the students and a farewell dinner. What made me particularly happy this time was that my host mother was present for the first time, as she is usually not very interested in the project. During my farewell speech, I actually shed tears and there were many hugs, thank-you speeches, and even some small gifts from some students.

One day later, we took the night bus to Peru, where I met Simon (my best German friend) in Lima and we started our two-week trip.

However, my camera was stolen on the bus, so I didn't enter the neighboring country in the best mood.

After 2 days in the capital of Peru and the third largest city in South America with 10 million inhabitants, we continued to Huancayo, a smaller city in the Andes. We spent our days in Lima sightseeing and surfing, but honestly, I didn't want to stay there any longer.

In Huancayo, we explored the city on the first day, ate Peruvian ceviche, and then went to bed early because the next day we had a tour in the Jauja Valley. On the tour, we took a bus to the village of Jauja and visited various businesses along the way, such as a dairy, a trout farm, a family business that knits sweaters and hats from alpaca wool, and a jewelry factory. At the end, we had trout in a restaurant, which was freshly caught and delicious.

Then we took the night bus to Cusco. However, the journey was longer and more complicated than expected. We had to change buses twice and spent more than a day traveling in total. Finally arriving in Cusco in the morning, we went to the Loki Hostel, a famous backpacker party hostel chain in Peru. With our arrival at 6 a.m., the last party animals from the disco returned, and I knew "this is where I want to sleep".

After booking our Machu Picchu tour for Monday and Tuesday, we finally had the chance to explore the beautiful city. I have to admit that many South American cities are simply ugly with their half-finished concrete houses and sheet metal roofs, and it's rare to find beautiful and clean corners. Cusco was actually the first city that impressed me and surprised me. The whole city is built in the same architectural style and stretches between the Andes. All the houses are made of red bricks and are intersected by the famous Inca walls. The main square is surrounded by historic buildings and everything is very clean. If we had more time, I would definitely have stayed a few more days, but unfortunately, our schedule was quite tight. After the city tour, we went back to the hostel and listened to the band that was hired by the hostel, while enjoying all-you-can-eat pizza and a beer for $7.

After a bit of partying, the next morning we headed to Machu Picchu with only 5 hours of sleep. We took the bus tour because the train is actually unaffordable for young backpackers. In total, we paid $100 for the bus transfer, entrance fee, food, and accommodation in Aguas Calientes. The bus journey took nearly 6 hours through mountains and valleys until we reached the village of Hydroelectric, from where we could only continue on foot or by train. Of course, we chose to walk and arrived in the village of Aguas Calientes, at the foot of Machu Picchu, after a good 2 hours. We were quite tired and went to sleep quickly, as we had to get up at half past 4 the next day to climb Machu Picchu. At that time in the morning, with muscle aches in our legs, the ascent was quite challenging for me. To reach the Inca village at the top, we had to climb stairs for an hour straight. With Simon as a hiking freak, I hardly got any breaks, and I arrived at the top sweaty. We had 3 hours to explore the wonder of the world, as we had to be back in the village of Hydroelectric at half past 2 to catch the buses back to Cusco. Therefore, we didn't have much time to rest at the top, as we wanted to explore as much as possible and take those classic "Machu Picchu" pictures. Around noon, the weather cleared up and we had a beautiful view of the incredibly impressive and mysterious Inca village.

In the evening, back in Cusco, after nearly 8 hours of hiking without many breaks, I was quite exhausted and was glad that we could finally sleep properly for the first time on our trip.

From there, we flew to Lima and then took a bus to Huaraz. I really liked Huaraz and found it easy to navigate. From Huaraz, we started the hiking tour to Laguna 69, which is 4,600 meters above sea level. The ascent took about 3 hours, and we noticed that the air was getting thinner. But once we reached the top, the view was absolutely worth it. Surrounded by snow-covered mountains, there is a crystal-clear and naturally freezing mountain lake. I have never seen such naturally blue water before, which is probably due to the high phosphorus content that hardly changes due to the lack of vegetation.

On the same evening, we took the bus back to Trujillo, our last stop in Peru. There, we met the other volunteer Jelto and went with him to Huanchaco, a famous surf spot and tourist destination in Peru. Feeling happy to be back by the sea and in the heat, we went surfing for a few hours and ended the day with a beer on the beach. Since we ran out of money and couldn't find an ATM, we couldn't rent surfboards on the second day and instead peacefully returned to Trujillo, from where Simon and I headed back to Ecuador and Jelto continued on his way to Lima to meet his friends.

The bus ride was the last challenge, as we were on the road for almost 20 hours and just barely made the last bus to Olon.

In the end, I missed Olon more than I thought and was even happier to be back home in my small village by the beach. The last week with Simon we spent in the typical Olon vibe, with lots of surfing, beach time, eating, and partying. Since it was my birthday during this week, there were plenty of reasons to celebrate. So we celebrated on the beach with my friend and the other Germans, and the next evening we had a typical Ecci party with lots of rice, whiskey, beer, and an overly sweet birthday cake with my family.

Furthermore, on my birthday, Simon and Carlotta gave me the gift of paragliding, which was a lot of fun despite having a hangover. After reluctantly saying goodbye to Simon, my last 3 weeks here in Ecuador began.

My last trip here in Ecuador was last week with a volunteer from Playas and my friend, 2 days to Baños. There, my athletic skills were challenged one last time during a 60 km bike tour. On the second day, we went rafting, and even though I fell into the water 3 times, we still had a lot of fun.

Now I only have 11 days left, and I'm starting to feel nostalgic. Of course, I'm also looking forward to Germany, my family, and especially the food, because I'm really tired of rice. However, I will really miss my family here, my students and friends, the sea and surfing, and simply the beautiful and relaxed atmosphere. Simon's last words were just 'Oh Henning, you have it really nice here. I just got used to the relaxed life here and don't want to leave yet.' And it's true that everyone who comes to Olon falls in love a little with the calm village filled with positive energy and good vibes.

Therefore, I am even more grateful that I was able to be a part of this community, accepted and treated like a true Ecci, and that I can travel back to Germany with so many positive impressions and a sense of serenity.

So to everyone who will be in the Westerwald in the next few weeks and has nothing planned, my schedule is still open!

Until then,

Love