---

Silly, of all the countries in South-America I had the greatest expectations of Peru, home to Machu Picchu, beautiful beaches, the high Andes mountains and the highest lake in the world, Lake Titicaca, with its floating islands. Unfortunately travel in Peru is marrred by many inconveniences. First of all there is the hot water issue. We stayed in about five different hotels and guesthouses in Peru, and NONE were able to provide the promised hot water. When you are at sea level in a tropical temperature, taking a cold shower is not that much of a problem, but when you are high up in the mountains the temperature drops dramatically and a cold shower becomes unbearable. It got so bad that We climbed this mountain next to Machu Picchu when buying a bottle of cold water in a shop I said 'Agua caliente por favor' by accident. In many places there was sometimes no water at all, which means you can not even go to the toilet. Most of the time the staff in the hotels has absolutely no clue how the water system works. When you complain at first they try to ignore you or say 'just wait half an hour'. After that they start turning valves at random, more than often resulting in shutting down the other half of the hotel. Also most hotels and guesthouses have a totally inadequate infrastructure. We have been in places where the warm water tank was 20 liters for the whole floor. In another place they had electric showers with wiring that was barely capable of feeding a couple of lightbulbs, but certainly not a single electric shower, let alone the whole hotel. Result, you turn on the hot water, the whole hotel loses power! In another place the staff had taken the gas tank used for warming the water and not replaced it nor bought another one. Now maybe I was unlucky, but unless you check into 5-star hotels that are run by foreign companies do not expect hot water in Peru. The postcard view of Machu Picchu Second on the list of inconveniences is the local transportation. It is not that I mind that the buses are old and roads in need of repair, but more that the roads are sometimes just not there anymore. In the Andes mountains massive deforestation has led to an increase in landslides to the point that when it rains, some of the roads are just wiped away. And instead of really repairing the road and preventing that it happens again, instead the 'African' solution is applied. Just wade knee-deep through the mud river that the road has become and board the bus from the same bus company on the other side of the gap before it turns around and drives away. Otto on top The road from Cusco to Puno And of course I could rant on about the food, giving me a stomach infection, making bus rides so much more interesting, the aggresive child beggars in Cusco and the rip-off mentality most Peruvians seem to have towards foreigners, charging you up to ten times more than locals. Especially Machu Picchu is used to bilk tourists, of which several thousand still show up every day. Still I am happy I have seen the country, with its beautiful nature and amazing history. Just a shame the current inhabitants make such a mess of it. View over Cusco Beach in Zorritos, Northern Peru The Nazca lines. Is this an alien landing strip or an ancient religious drawing? Central Cusco Some other travelers seem to be loving mud slides too