Roofs are made of stardust.

I took many blurry photos during my travel through Peru. I think they are somehow magical. This seemingly unreal grassland somewhere in the Peruvian Andes hides an equally magical secret. Do you see the cave? Take a close look! Do you see this bear-like creature secretly leaping out of the darkness? Ground sloth! The legendary Mapinguari! These mighty creatures, who dug impressive caves, are considered extinct. To this day, they are part of legends of the indigenous people. Their skin was riddled with bone plates and with their huge claws they were serious opponents. To be honest, I just added a small white dot to make it look like an animal. Don't believe everything! But thanks for the attention! 😜

I took many blurry photos during my 18 hour bus ride from Ica to Cusco. Here we drove through the Limatambo District in the Cusco Region at an altitude of around 2,600 meters. The people in the district are mainly indigenous citizens of Quechua descent.

I took many blurry photos during my 18 hour bus ride from Ica to Cusco. Here we drove through the Curahuasi District in the Apurímac Region at an altitude of around 2,700 meters. The people in the district are mainly indigenous citizens of Quechua descent.

I took many blurry photos during my 18 hour bus ride from Ica to Cusco. Here we drove through the Curahuasi District in the Apurímac Region at an altitude of around 2,700 meters. The people in the district are mainly indigenous citizens of Quechua descent.

Burning palo santo in front of a mirror.
I discovered this "holy wood" in Peru. Bursera graveolens beguiles with a sweet soothing scent and has a nice relaxing effect. It contains a lot of resin, so it burns very well. Palo santo is closely related to frankincense. Both belong to the plant group of torchwoods. The smell is quite similar.

The intensely fragrant smoke is supposed to drive away bad energies. Shamans and medicine men use it for ritual purification and healing. People use it to clean their homes of bad energy. In fact, mosquitoes and moths don't like it at all.

In Peru, no trees are cut for harvesting. The twigs and branches are collected from the ground. I don't know how this is handled in other countries.

Traditionally, coca leaves are consumed in the Andes. You get it offered on every corner in plastic bags. The original form of consumption is by chewing the leaves. Mate de Coca is something of a national drink in Peru. It's also available in small tea bags, but I always had loose leaves. There's even chocolate with coca leaves! Very often there are restaurants and bars that somehow refer to coca.

The leaves are used as a stimulant, as a dietary supplement, for ritual and medicinal purposes. They help suppress hunger, fatigue and cold and are very effective against altitude sickness as they improve oxygen uptake. Also, the coca leaves have always had a spiritual meaning.

I found it similar in effect to black tea. There are no known side effects and you won't get addicted to it. It would take about 300 grams of dry coca leaves to extract 1 gram of cocaine by chemical extraction.

And please don't misunderstand, I'm absolutely no friend of the drug cocaine. People who snort this in order to feel superior, thereby contribute to terrible atrocities such as murder and trafficking.

😂 When I waited in Santa Teresa for the bus to Cusco, I met a Swede. He was in transit and brought some rapé from the Brazilian Amazon. He couldn't tell me exactly what's in it. Tobacco and other plants, he said. It looked a bit like crack, so I just tried it. What should happen bad?😅
Shamans use it ritually to establish contact with the Great Spirit. You blow the rapé with a v-shaped tube into the nostrils. The shamans actually take longer pipes and blow each other's nostrils. It's very strong tobacco, which burns in the nose and goes directly into the head. Shortly thereafter, a deep relaxation spreads throughout the body. I found it very pleasant, so I got some on the San Pedro market in Cusco and brought it to Germany. I still have most of it. It is really strong! Always fun to offer it to my friends. 😜 But actually there is a much deeper meaning behind it. Those who are interested should search for "sacred rapé rites".✌☺

The landing in Lima, capital of Peru.

It's been almost a year. Actually, I wanted to return to Peru this year, because I really enjoyed it and there's still so much to discover. Won't work! But next year for sure (together with Ecuador)! Don't think that I'm done with the travel pictures. The ground sloth stream is like a timeless dream.

Sometimes I visit other planets. On Beta Carotene, everyone is invisible because they eat so many carrots.