The Ballestas islands are just a few kilometers off the Peruvian coast. They preserve a great abundance of birds and sea animals. It's referred to as the Peruvian Galapagos and whether it deserves this description or not, it's a miraculous experience to admire such a great amount of pinguins, birds and sea lions.

The next day I head off to Nazca, famous for the so-called Nazca lines and geoglyphs in the middle of the desert. For those who never watch Discovery Channel: the Nazca figures and lines were created by ancient civilizations over periods of thousands of years. The lines and figures are supposed to be enjoyed from the air. Many tourists visit Nazca just by taking a $100 dollar flight over the lines. I consider this too much for thirty minutes of fun and decide to admire them from the viewing tower. A bus drops me off at the Panamerican highway, in the middle of the desert. A small iron tower, about 4 floors high, leads to a platform from which two huge figures can be seen: a tree and a pair of hands. It's incredible how the lines, only one foot deep, have been conserved for so long in this dry desert. Almost for a century research has been done on the origin of the lines. According to Maria Reiche, a German mathematician who researched the lines for sixty years, the lines were built to lead the way to underground water aquifers. The lines are thus a collective notebook leading the way to the scarce water sources for the people in the desert. Besides, some of the lines are supposed to have marked the sun's position at the beginning of a new season.

One of Maria Reiche's friends and former assistants, Viktoria Nikitzhi, gives one-hour lectures about the history of the lines. I'm visiting her lecture and meet here with a French guy. She appears to have interesting viewpoints, a bit deviating from general opinions. 'I'm from the cosmos', she answers upon our question where she is from. During her presentation, two of her little cats jump into our laps. 'The lines are in great danger, because people don't respect nature', she repeats several times. It makes me feel frustrated and surprised at the same time. 'Why would the lines be in danger after lasting thousands of years,' I question. But obviously, as she explains, nearby natural destruction has significantly risen the risk of floods. 'Floods could destruct the lines in just a split-second. Very few funds are available for conservation and research,' she adds. 'Tourists just come for a day and take a flight and visit the planetarium that just brings up the feel-good stories.' It makes me feel humble, to be able to enjoy this marvellous yet vulnerable piece of history.

The day after these new insights I straw around in the peaceful and sunny town of Nazca. The Peruvian national selection play the quarter final of the Copa America and win, so cheerfulness is omnipresent. In the evening I decide to go to the 'controversial' planetarium, where an astronomer gives an interesting, slightly different, outline upon the background of the lines. We go outside to look through a telescope and look at different constellations. It's really interesting, because the Southern sky is totally different from the stars we see on the northern hemisphere. I can now easily pinpoint the Southern Cross! We can also see Saturn with two of its biggest moons and through the telescope I take a gorgeous picture of the almost full moon. In the end planetarium, though a bit touristic, proves a nice experience.

That night I leave Nasca for Arequipa, Peru's second largest city. Arequipa is the city of the eternal blue sky. 360 days a year the sun shines here. And it seems to be true, as I did not encounter one of the five annual non-sunny days. From Arequipa I book a tour to the Colca canyon. This is said to be the world's deepest canyon and worth three days of exhaustive trekking. It's an extreme site, as it gets hot at days with hardly any shade, whereas at night it freezes deeply into the negatives Celcius.

On our first day we're picked up at 3:00 a.m. Yeah, that means it's early. We drive for three hours to our breakfast and then another good hour and a half to a viewpoint from where condors can be admired. But I don't see anything. Our guide explains us the condors will show up once the sun rises over the canyon. We set off to the crowded but magnificent viewpoint. Then around 9:00, out of nowhere, the first pair of condors appear. As having just checked their Swiss watches they silently traverse the canyon, making use of the ascending air currents. We continue our tour and start hiking at around 10:00. Our first day mainly goes downhill. Although that doesn't sound that intense, it really is as the trail is full of rocks and the sun is burning high in the sky. At night we stay at a lodge on the slope of the canyon, withstanding the incredible cold.

On day two, the route is more or less flat. Our guide Steven, has been a guide for nine years, not just in Peru, but in many countries in Latin America: in Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. He tells me about his passion for mountaineering and he says he has plans to travel to Europe. He has been saving money for nine years now, to travel to Europe next year and spend a few months here. Touched by the way he aspires and lives his dream I invite him to Amsterdam to show him around. A girl in our group tells me she used to have two full-time jobs to be able to travel around the world. 'That sounds crazy, why did you do that?', I utter. 'Because it's my dream,' she simply answers. It's the only true reply and I realize that everyone in our group is doing the same. Each of us has the desire to explore, to experience new things, to see the unknown, to challenge himself. Everyone is here, not just to see and enjoy, but to chase his dream. With this intriguing insight in my pocket I move on on my tour through the canyon.

The third day of the trek is by far the toughest. We get up at 4:45 to start hiking at 5:00. This is essential, as we have to go all the way up, before sunrise. It's a tough and steep climb, many people end up sitting casually on a mule's back. We arrive at the top by 8:00, just at sunrise. Three days of trekking have exhausted our bodies, but have enlightened our spirits. Full of new energy to spark my dreams I happily return to the city of Arequipa.