A motorcycle trip through Peru offers every kind of landscape imaginable. At the same time, it is a unique opportunity to get really close to the country's original Indian population, who are descended from the Incas.

"See! A duck condor!” exclaims our Peruvian motorcycle guide, Coco. His pointer quivers and bristles into the air in the direction of a huge, black shadow that comes gliding from a distant, craggy mountaintop and on across the mountainside to the green valley where we stand and enjoy the view. Our gaze follows the condor until it is like a tiny dot on the horizon, slowly disappearing. And just as quickly as it appeared, this scavenger, with a wingspan of approx. 3.2 meters and a weight of 15 kilos, now gone again.

We are in the middle of the Andes in Peru, the ancient kingdom of the Incas, and behind us are our Suzuki and Honda 650cc motorcycles, which have taken us from the Pacific coast and here up to a mere 3,000 meters as easily as nothing. "The Incas had three sacred animals in their faith", Coco tells us, and we gather around him here on the hillside, here in a crossfire of a baking sun from a deep blue sky and a cool wind blowing up from the glaciers. “The condor that represents the sky and the gods. The puma, which symbolizes the earth and the people, and the snake, the symbol of the underworld and the dead; the ancestors. This, mis amigos (my friends), was the trinity of the Incas”, he concludes.

We thank. It's a pleasure to learn so much about the history and culture while riding a motorcycle. We agree on that - with an appreciative nod in the circle. It is quiet here in the Andes, no traffic, fine asphalted roads and right now and here only the silence, the calm and the wind rushing by. But it only lasts until we turn on the machines, which roar like mountain cougars. The helmets click, the zippers zip, and soon we too are gliding through the mountains, in the direction where the duck condor disappeared.

Free as an Andean condor

Who wouldn't be envious of someone who has chosen to use their saved vacation weeks and savings to ride off on a motorcycle under the peaks of the Andes, past volcanoes and azure mountain lakes and experience the freedom you can only experience on a well-oiled motorcycle? And then in such distant and exotic regions as South America. As we drive, we can smell flowers and grass in the valleys, the fresh rushing water of rivers and waterfalls and the tantalizing smell of wood smoke from fires in the small villages where juicy, yellow corn-fed chickens are being grilled.

The interaction between the heat from the valleys and the cool, refreshing mountain air on mountain passes for approx. 4,000 meters high, while you alternately tear the motorcycle from side to side, from right to left in the many bends on the winding mountain roads, makes your body tremble with travel happiness and driving pleasure. This is probably the closest you can get to a sense of freedom when the motorcycle makes dreams come true and releases the longing for foreign horizons and motorcycle adventures. And we are blown away by the magnificent landscape as desert, highlands with wild, grazing tawny vicuñas, a camel, and jagged gray peaks of granite slide by. And everyone who rides a motorcycle knows that once you've got petrol in your blood, well, there's no turning back. Because if you can choose how you want to experience the world, who wants to get into a big enclosed tourist bus? Not us bikers!

And we also see that when we overtake a tourist bus, where the travelers sit like fish in an aquarium and send us long, stolen glances. When we stop at a rest stop to borrow the toilet, the tourists from the US, France and China ask us where we are from, take pictures of us and selfies of themselves with our motorbikes, and they want to know if we has driven all the way from Denmark? We feel like rock stars for a while, but the feeling only lasts until we see that there are other travelers coming down the road on mountain bikes, but all their luggage in the side bags! Yes, then we have to surrender, because they are so cool when they can take that trip at a height of 4,000 meters on a rye bread engine!

Mummies and mysterious patterns in the desert sand

A skull looks up at us from a hole in the desert with what looks like a grotesque, petrified smile. We have parked our motorbikes in the sand by the city of Nazca in the northern part of the Atacama desert, one of the driest places in the world. And the sight of the empty eye sockets gives chills, even if the temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius. All around there are other tombs from what is called the Nazca civilization. It was in this way that they buried their dead, our guide tells us. Sitting up, facing the sunrise, they were given corn and chicha, the Inca's answer to beer, to the afterlife. It is one of these civilizations that the Incas stand on the shoulders of, he continues. The Incas were just one of many highly developed societies before the Spanish arrived.

In addition to these tombs, this Nazca civilization has left some lines and formations in the surrounding stone desert that can only be seen from an airplane. Of course, we have to experience that too, so we go to the local airport, where there is no security check, so you go straight onto the runway and board a small propeller plane, where all passengers have window seats. We are given headphones, and as soon as we are a few kilometers up in the air, we hear the pilot's voice in the screeching speaker: "Hummingbird scrat-crat on your right!! Hummingbird scrat-scrat on your right!!” (Hummingbird on the right side) And indeed, on the right side of the plane, down in the stone desert, we can see a clear drawing of white lines on a black-brown background, representing a hummingbird with the characteristic long beak.

But we have hardly reached for the camera and switched it on before a "VRUUUM" sounds, and you have to hold on tight to the seat, as the propeller plane turns 180 degrees, and the pilot's voice cracks again: "Hummingbird on your left! " (Hummingbird on the left side), and now it is the passengers on the left side of the plane who have a view of the drawing of the hummingbird. And so it continues for the next approx. 25 minutes: We see figures that look like monkeys, condors as well as geometric patterns like triangles, rectangles and spirals and a small bizarre man-like figure that the pilot refers to as an "astronaut". We land again on the ground, slightly hazy after the intense flight, while the questions rumble in our heads: Why did these people from the Nazca civilization, for approx. 1500 years ago, so much for creating these formations in the desert that could only be seen from the sky? What was the purpose of this though? The answer blows in the dry desert wind.

We saddle up and ride on our iron horses here on the edge of the Atacama Desert, like a small army of Spanish conquistadors. Not to conquer Inca gold, but to enrich ourselves with unforgettable motorcycle travel memories.

Long live the food revolution!!

"Viva la revolution" is a characteristic slogan for the history of the last centuries here in South America. Throughout the 19th century, the countries broke away from the colonial masters in Europe after long, bloody wars of independence, and the 20th century saw several revolutions, counter-revolutions and civil wars. One of the most famous Latin American revolutionaries of the 20th century is Ernesto "Che" Guevara from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who rode a motorcycle through Peru and other places, and his encounter with the widespread exploitation, inequality and poverty in 1950s Latin America made him a revolutionary.

He was later captured and liquidated in Bolivia by the CIA. But at the moment it is neither a socialist revolution nor a bourgeois counter-revolution taking place in Peru. It's a true food revolution that you eat your way through! Because the four climate zones and a terrain with coastline, mountains and the Amazon jungle means that there are virtually every imaginable type of crop, fish, meat and spices here in Peru. And within the last decade, Peruvian food has become popular eating worldwide, and Peru has become a true Mecca for food tourism. In the capital, Lima, several Michelin restaurants have sprung up, which specialize in cooking with exclusively local ingredients. Salt is extracted from hot springs in the Andes, and maize in all the colors of the rainbow is grown in the highlands.

Maize is used to make Chicha Morada, a purple-colored fermented drink enjoyed throughout the country. In Peru, there are more than 3,000 different varieties of potato, and the potato itself also originates here from the Andes and grows side by side with quinoa. The seeds of the quinoa plant look like millet and have been cultivated here in the Andes for more than 5,000 years, and it grows well here in the barren, cool and inaccessible regions. The Incas called quinoa the "Mother Grain", and for them it was sacred. Whole roast guinea pigs are served on festive occasions. They are kept in cages in the villages and are considered a delicacy and are an expensive and exclusive food in these parts. This special regional right is even depicted in a painting in a cathedral in the city of Cusco, where Jesus and his twelve disciples have communion and eat the last meal together. Because according to the painter, the Son of God should also taste the delicious guinea pig! Another of Peru's national dishes is Ceviche, a fish salad which consists of raw marinated fish with lime, salt, onion and chopped chilli. This dish is a little easier to get down than the aforementioned guinea pig.

After a long day in the saddle, we eat our way through Peru with an appetite like hungry mountain cougars. Coco, our guide, chops up a guinea pig, the skin is crispy, the head and claws are on the plate, and it tastes a bit like rabbit, we agree at the table as we toast local Peruvian, sugarcane rum and Pisco Sour. Peru's national cocktail is made with pisco, a local brandy similar to grappa, mixed with lime juice, sugar, whipped egg whites are added, so that the whole glory is served frothy, light and airy, sweet and fresh all at once. We also try grilled beef heart on skewers, confit, long-roasted pork with crispy skin, served with mash from sweet potatoes and beetroot. Also rose-roasted alpaca medallions. The alpaca is related to the llama, the meat is dark red and tastes like roe deer and is served with tri-coloured quinoa and nuts, so that it crunches, and with a special compote of berries.

Bon appetite! In addition to the fact that the current food revolution makes traveling in Peru a real pleasure, it also creates jobs and attracts tourists from all over the world. The Peruvian food revolution has the same concept as the new Nordic cuisine, where local, seasonal ingredients are used.

The Amazon - the green ocean.

We have ridden our motorbikes through Peru's spectacular desert landscapes and over mountain passes in the Andes, and now our final stretch is through the Amazon jungle. We start in the sacred valley of the Incas in the Andes, for approx. 2800

meters high, and we move over two mountain passes in dry, barren and rugged landscape, the hunting grounds of the mountain puma, until we pass a mountain pass with a view of the Amazon jungle, and an endless ocean of green jungle opens before our eyes. As if by magic, the landscape has changed. We drive further down into the dense wild-growing fog forest and are engulfed by its darkness. But can hardly see into the jungle, as there is like a wall of green and black. The clouds slide past the treetops, orchids grow on the trunks, and black-green hummingbirds drink sugar water from a liquid food feeder. Suddenly the buzzing sound of their wings is heard. The dry wind from the Andes has been replaced by a humid heat.

Machu Picchu. The Incas left the city

From the jungle, the trip goes back to Cusco in the Andes, where we park the motorbikes and take the last stretch by train to the abandoned city of the Inca kings, Machu Picchu. You cannot get here by motorbike. We hike towards the top, through dense forest of bamboo, and have the feeling of an epiphany as we look out over the ruins of the old Inca citadel. Machu Picchu means "the old mountain top" in Quechua, the language of the Andean region, and it is a magnificent sight, as the old citadel from the 15th century is surrounded by sharp mountains overgrown with cloud forest.

According to the archaeologists, it was a retreat center for the Inca aristocracy and clergy from Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire, and Machu Picchu is located approx. five days' walk from there. In Machu Picchu, the Inca aristocracy withdrew from their political life for approx. 500 years ago to worship their sun god, Inti. The site is still being excavated and explored by archaeologists. We explore the ruins and study all the details before taking the train back to the mountain city of Cusco.

Here we see the city, which is buzzing with both Native American marketplaces and Spanish cathedrals, and in the evening we go to the Ukuku venue, where frothy Pisco Sour cocktails are poured over the counter and a large orchestra sets the dance floor in motion, so that the Latino fever rises. And we toast to a magnificent motorcycle trip through Peru!