Lena and Anders' Diary

An Online diary inspired by our plans to go on a longer holiday to South America and NYC in March and April 2015

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a greeting to all of our family and friends who have been waiting in anticipation for our little girl to arrive.

Clara Elisabeth Theut was born

02:40, 29th January in Berlin Germany

3480 gr, 49 cm

Monday the 1st February we brought her with us home, after three nights in the hospital.

  Lena and Clara are both doing fantastic. Clara is eating and sleeping a lot and gaining weight rapidly. I am learning about the science of baby poo, and have learned how happy and proud you can bee when your baby’s poo turns colour as it supposed to.

We have welcomed Clara to the world a greeting to all of our family and friends who have been waiting in anticipation for our little girl to arrive.

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Cuzco, Peru - day 30-44

Cuzco, Peru – day 30-44

We stayed for almost a full week in Cuzco, the Jaguar city of the Inca”s. It’s a wonderful place to hang out, easy and convineant to stay as a touris, which is both good and bad depending on what kind of traveller you are. The tradeoff for the conviniennce is the authenticity. This post i about our stay in cuzco and our tips for anyone who is consiering spending some time in Cuzco as part of a…

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Inca trail, Peru - day 32-35

Inca trail, Peru – day 32-35

Our trip to Peru started witht the Inca trail and for this piece we focus on that experience, preparation and a bit of tips.  Content 1) What is The Inca Trail 2) Planning to hike the inca trail 3) How to get there and around 4) Our trip overview and experience / pictures 5) What did it cost 6) Tips 1) What is The Inca trailThe Inca trail is one of the most famous and beloved hikes in the world…

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Mendoza, Argentina - Day 26-28

Mendoza, Argentina – Day 26-28

There were two things we were looking forward to when we arrived in Argentina; STEAKS and good RED WINES. Fruity full bodied reds stored on French or American Oak. To drink the sweet and famous Malbec, next to the field where it was grown. Mendoza has other offerings as well, but we went there for the wine, thus this blog has a focus on that. Content 1) Wine making in Argentina 2) How to get…

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Salta and Jujuy, Argentina, day 22-25

Salta and Jujuy, Argentina, day 22-25

Arriving in Salta City

Salta is a city in the utmost north of country bordering Chile aswell as Bolivia. It has a national airport so can be reached via flight and serves as a good base for some Northern Argentina explorations.  Salta itself is as high as 1000 m,  at the foot of the andes, a green and often rainy valley. Its main attraction is the old colonial city center, with beautiful…

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Looking for monkeys in the Amazon, do you see them?

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Eating sea food at the pacific ocean in Lima

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Lena and me looking at the sunny Pacific ocean in Lima, miraflores

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Lamas chasing each other in peru

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Buenos Aires, Argentina - day 12-14 and 20-21

Buenos Aires, Argentina – day 12-14 and 20-21

Buenos Aires and why i fell in love

Tango, red wine, enormous juicy steaks, a slight european flair combined with macho  and gauco culture,  these are probably the first images Buenos Aires is well known for. And yes, all of it clearly is part of what Buenos Aires is all about, but my love for this beautiful, unique place in South America comes from something else. I think it is the pleasant warm…

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Delayed on time, only with peruvian airlines

Today we had the odd experience of being delayed on time....yes our ticket said 12.10, upon arrival in the airport we were asked when our flight was, we said 12.10. Time passed, there were discussions and confusion among the staff at the counter. They printed a boarding pass with our flight number that said depart 9.55. Then they crossed this out and wrote 11.10. Confused? So were we, so we asked what had happened. Apperently the flight had changed to take off one our earlier. By then it was 10.35, so we rushed through the airport only to arrive at the gate to be told that the plane had been delayed to - guess what? Yep 12.10.... We chatted a bit with another confused passenger who lives in Peru. He assured us that this was quite normal with peruvian airlines. Apparently he had never experienced a flight on time with this airline. On the countrary the norm was between 1-2 hours delay, worst case 3-6. So word from the wise, only book peruvian airlines if you have time to spare, and enjoy hanging out in airports. They are only a little cheaper, had I known how unorganised I would have booked with LAN. Unfortunately we have 2 more flighgs booked with them, maybe we will have more storiea to share when we fly with them to the jungle.

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From our trip to San Telmo, Buenos aires, tango milonga. With other regional folk dances being danced.

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Peruvian cooking class; alpaka saltado in the making; the tomatoes, Pisco and lama is the Peruvian touch to typical asian wok. Also served with rise and fries.

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Peruvian fusion including catch of the day with Pisco mouse, chili, passion, coriander. Bruschetta with scrimp and parmesan. Meat crazyness (Lamb, beef, lama) on lava stone with potato purre of potato, peanuts and chili - finally chocklate madness. Me and lena very happy. Local syrah to go with it. At restaurant Uchu - all for 70 euro.

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The making of Encantoni; aperol, cynar, campari, encantoni pisco, angostura, stirred and infused with coca leafs and cinemon smoke in a frosted bottle. Served in a lowball with round ice cube and lemon scent and peal. Enjoy smooth and round body taste!

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We have now spent more than 2 weeks in argentina and have got aqquented with the local currency situation. We already knew before we entered that argentina's monetary policies had let to a black market for dollars. Before the governments policies forbit argentinians to deposit more than 250 USD, USD was the preffered currency for larger transactions; relestate etc. People would buy their house in USD rather than pesos. Today all deals with USD are forbidden and the Pesos has an artificially maintained rate against the dollar (and other currencies), to hide the real inflation. The unofficial rate, also referred to as the "blue rate" we observed was much lower (lower than 30%). As a tourist we observed how you could get as much as 12,6 pesos for the dollar on the street vs 8,7 in the bank or on our credit card transactions. The street and many shops will change any currency for you against an unofficial rate. USD is the biggest currency, and give  best rate, and you will get best rates on big notes; 50 and up. From small to large we observed about 0,4 ( fx 12.2 vs 12.6). But if you live in EU you can also bring euros, however USD has the benefit that the "blue rate" is so official that you can use it for paying in shops, taxis etc. with good transparency on what margin they are charging on the exchange itself. there are even websites and twitter tags to observe dayly trading value. Seeing how the black market works is all very strange because it is out in the open and seem very official. And of course something we would never exploit. Question is how long argentina can keep their current policies afloat or how long it will take the street to change enough USD to built up a whole shadow econony dealing in USD only - if it is not already there? They say argentinians are stacking USD under their pillows, not surprising if you have experienced what they experienced in 2001, when they devaluated the pesos.

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Sao Paulo - day 9-11

Sao Paulo – day 9-11

From Paraty to Sao Paulo it’s about 300 km. We took a bus from Paraty to Sao Paulo, that took us there in about 6 h for approx 40 eur. Busses are a convenient form of transprtation in the region; roomy, aircon, punctual. We also got to see the beautiful landscape driving along the cost. You start to wonder how blessed brazil is with white beaches and beautiful mountains.  

selfie from within bus,…

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