Category: Peru

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Peru South America

Lima

After a 6-hour trip –inclusive of stopping by the Colorado Tambo Ruins- we arrived in Lima after 10pm. Luckily we get dropped off close to our accommodation and thus it’s just a few blocks to walk. The Colorado Tambo Ruins dates to 1500s and was on the Inca Road that travels through the entire Incan Empire. It was used as a market and housing . 

I have been to Lima on my previous trip to Peru, so I do not have any major sightseeing plans, but thought it would be good to do a walking tour as a refresher. I arrived at tourist information a while before the tour was due to start, so thought I could quickly get a haircut. The hairdresser faffed around enough to make me late though and I missed the group leaving (the ONLY tour that actually left on time in South America in my experience!) I ran the 4 blocks to catch up with the group to realise that it was huge! 40 people! As we all met in the suburb of Miraflores we caught a bus to old Lima /Downtown area where the tour would commence. The large group definitely didn’t work though! We then arrived at the Plaza de Armas to discover it had been cordoned off due to the fact the one of the ex-Presidents of Peru had committed suicide early that morning. He had done so upon the police arriving at his home to detain him for corruption charges. The reason to cordon off the place is the fact that the Presidential Palace (where the current president resides) is on this Plaza, thus for his protection in case of protests/ riots.

The following day I walked to the Larcomar Mall, it is a pleasant outdoor mall off the side of a cliff. There are conglomerate cliffs all along the Lima coast. The view of the ocean and the breeze is refreshing. I did some shopping and had lunch, then continued my walk to the Barranco neighbourhood. It can be considered as Bohemian, with many cafes and good street art.

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Peru South America

Paracas

Paracas is a small town on the coast, thriving off fishing and tourism. I was hoping for a quiet village feel and got accommodation next to a restaurant that liked loud music!

The Paracas Reserve was set up to protect the desert landscape. It is unique in that the dunes are multi-coloured. There are look outs around the reserve and we went to three of them. The first stop was at the Cathedral – however after a powerful 8.4 earthquake, the top of the Cathedral has fallen into the sea. The scenery is dramatic and stark- with a contrast of yellow sand and blue Pacific Ocean!

There is also a stop known as Red Beach due to the tiny red volcanic rocks that have washed up on the beach from past eruptions.

Ballestas Islands are the most popular reason for visiting the town. They are referred to as the Poor Man’s Galapagos. With that name I wasn’t sure what to expect so I was floored by the amount of birds, sea lions and even a few Humboldt Penguins. Seeing penguins in the bright hot sun is strange- but it helps to remember that this part of the Pacific is really cold due to a cold current passing past the coast here. There are many pelicans, turkey vultures, beautiful Incan terns- that have small white feathers that look like earrings, boobys, cormorants and more.

There is infrastructure on the island that is used for several months a year to collect guano (bird poo). It is literally a gold mine at a ridiculous 350 USD per kilogram! There was not much guano around when we were there but the smell was really potent and nasty! The ocean is actually really frothy due to the waves washing against the rock surface, washing off the guano and mixing it with the salty sea.

On the large island there are thousands of birds visible- and as they take off the sky fills with dark waves of hundreds of birds- it’s pretty amazing. 

On the way to the island we get a view of the huge 170m long Candelabra pattern in the desert- no one knows why it is here or for what reason really.

There are a large amount of sea lions and pups on the beaches too!

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Peru South America

Huacachina

I took the bus from Arequipa to Huacachina…one that ran over 2 hours late. So a 14-hour bus trip it was! At least the trip had a few stops- one for lunch in Chala and one for the Nazca lines. Three of the many hundreds of shapes/lines can be viewed from the viewing tower. As we were running so late we nearly missed the lines due to the fading sunlight, luckily, we were the last group up!

The whole trip is a sparse, harsh desert landscape that meets the Pacific Ocean. There are varying landscapes of towering dunes/ sedimentary mountains and volcanic flows. The one thing in common is a complete lack of vegetation on the mountains. As a stark contrast though, the valley floors are irrigated farmlands.

Arriving in the early evening in Huacachina it was dark and thus I just went straight to the place I was staying and settled in for the night. The next morning, I went up to the terrace for breakfast and was taken aback by the scenery – the tiny little village oasis is surrounded by giant sand dunes! It is a rather different sight- a little lake in the desert, complete with palms, surrounded by offices and restaurant and hotels… not many people stay here but it is quaint. Popular activities include sand barding and dune buggies.

Part of the bus perks was also getting a free Pisco tour. It was fun and interesting tour that was held at El Catador. We also had a tasting of 6 wine and pisco shots. The wine is super sweet!! As the Peruvians like suck sweet drinks and due to the minimum European immigrants’ influence it has remained so for hundreds of years. The other countries’ tastes and wines were influenced by millions of European immigrants into the respective countries. The grapes have really hire sugar content here due to the very dry and hot climate, which concentrates the sugar. More sugar=more alcohol % too!

The fermentation process only takes two weeks in the heat around Ica! Due to the fact that there is no oak around Peru the Spanish used local Incan pottery to ferment the wine in. Incans used to ferment their local maize drink- Chicha in these types of vessels. 

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Peru South America

Colca Canyon Trek

There are two different Colca Canyon trek options: 2D/1N or 3D/2N. The difference being that in the 3D option the first day is split into two, after the long downhill section into the canyon you get lunch and rest up at shared accommodation. The last day remains the same. The accommodation is very basic, and by basic I mean basic! A bed, half completed walls and ¾ of the glass in the window- easy access for the cats :).

After a delayed 03:00 pick up- some people waiting until 04:00, we headed off on the long trip towards to start of the trek. Breakfast stop at Chivay was only bread and jam- not particularly filling! We stopped at the condor look out, along with approximately 25-30 other small and large buses!! (Note it is not even high season here!) We were lucky to spot four condors gliding on the thermals. We headed back on the road after 30min.

We finally started our downhill trek at approx. 10:30- in the heat of the day! It was to warm up to 26°C- a normal temperature all year around in the canyon. The trek is literally all downhill across pretty rugged terrain! The views are really great though- the canyon is the fourth deepest in the world, and hence draws many tourists. The number is actually up to 300,00 per year! Most come during the European summer holidays. We only make it to our accommodation and lunch stop in San Miguel village around 14:00 due to some members not feeling well and us taking lengthy breaks. We have a small lunch and everyone except me takes an afternoon nap.

Dinner is also not very filling, and we are all glad to have bought some snacks! We have a bit of a chat after dinner over some beers and head off to bed before 21:00- well all are in bed by 20h00 but that is way too early for me. 

Breakfast is ready at 07:00 the next day, nice but not very filling pancakes and a few slices of banana. Before we commenced our hike our guide told us he had some bad news. The bus that was bringing the next group through this morning had a serious accident and rolled over. Some tourists were badly hurt; others were not; luckily no fatalities. This really concerned some of the group as they knew people on the bus. Later on in the day they were confirmed to be uninjured! This was the same bus and driver that brought us in- just one day earlier! This did not go unnoticed by us!!! I saw photos of the bus on its side, just a few meters away from the canyon edge- a miracle it did not go over!!

We have a day of uphill, flat and downhill into the village of Sangalle where we will sleep. Here we can see how the mountain sides have been carved into terraces where the villagers farm maize and other crops. The size of the canyon is again apparent, from a different angle and we can see and hear the river that has carved this natural wonder. We can see Sangalle from afar and note all the swimming pools in the village- a draw card for tired tourists. The village is also an oasis with palm trees to boot.

I think most of us enjoyed this day of hiking with the variety of scenery and terrain. We all hit the pool before lunch and then naps all around (except me again 🙂 ). Dinner is again small (by this time we are pretty hungry from lots of hiking and small meals). We head off to sleep at a very early 20:00 after checking out the great night sky- helped by a lack of electricity to the village on this night.

The last day is the toughest. Another early morning wake up at 04:00, quick banana, as breakfast will only be served on top of the canyon. We are off at 04:36. The estimated time of uphill slog is 3 hours. Some of our group make it in 2 hours 20 minutes, I took 3 hours 10 minutes. The night time walking is actually nice as it is cool- not like the heat of the day walking we did before. You can also not see what is ahead of you- which helps! It starts getting light at about 05h30 and the German couple that I was walking with and I were happy when we saw our progress. The path is very uneven, rocky and full of high rock steps, it is also shared with mules who carry out supplies, rubbish and tourists. As we start to reach the top and after the sun peaks above the rim, we also note the thinner air, as we huff and puff even more than before. The rise in elevation for the day is over 1,100m! Once we arrive on top we have a 20 minute walk into the town of Cabaconde and the restaurant where we have our first filling breakfast of scrambled eggs and bread.

The rest of the day we have a stop at the thermal baths to rest tired muscles, lunch and great terrace viewpoint and drove past the crashed bus, which was now back on its tyres. The Volcano lookout was unfortunately not clear due to cloud over.

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Peru South America

Arequipa

The border crossing between Bolivia and Peru went smoothly. The bus trip continued from Copacabana to Puno. We had a group dinner in Puno, which is a nice way to get to know the other travellers on the bus and not having continuous feasts of junk food if you are on the bus all the time.

The bus I was on continued to Cusco, so around midnight we met with the bus going to Arequipa and the people headed there got off grabbed luggage and swapped. The bus arrived around 6:00 and I was lucky that I could check into my hostel straight away. I had a shower and nap and then went off walking around the city centre.

It is probably one of my favourite cities that I have been to on this trip. It was clean, and the architecture is very unique in that many buildings are made from a white sillar volcanic rock. The main square hosts the cathedral, which is built along one whole side of the square, it has an impressive size from the outside, runs long and narrow though.

I did a walking tour at 15:00 and learned a bit more about the importance of Arequipa and its history. Arequipa is surrounded by three volcanoes- Misti being the closest at 17km. It is over 5,800m tall! 

Unfortunately, I didn’t spend more time in the city as the next day I was headed off to do the Colca Canyon trek, pickup commencing at 03:00!!