Destination Guide: Peru

Destination Guide | Peru

The lands of llamas, ancient citadels and Pisco Sours!

A Note to the Reader

I’ve been meaning to repost some of my favourite travel adventures on this new website, but held off due to COVID-19 since it wasn’t the time in the early stages to post about a past travel experience. Now that there is light at the end of the tunnel, I thought I’d re-share now to help build up that wanderlust once again!

WHY PERU?

Peru is the 3rd largest county in South America and definitely satisfies traveller’s wanderlust. For instance, Peru has one of the key bucket list items on many people’s travel list: Machu Picchu. But, the fun does not stop there. From the mesmerizing views of Rainbow Mountain, to the cute and historic city of Cusco, to llamas, to Lake Titicaca, the country will keep enticing you to explore!

In September 2019, I spent approximately a week in Peru as part of a 3-week group tour of 3 countries in South America. Apparently, I am all about the 3’s. You can read about my experience in Bolivia and Chile (coming soon) in Destination Guides. For now, let’s dive into Peru!

CUSCO

After departing from the chaos and noise that was Lima, Cusco was a reassuring stop that I had arrived in a wonderful touristy city. Immediately from arriving at the small regional airport, you can see orange and brick-like roofs, sandy coloured hills, and glimpses of stunning architecture. Once settled in the City-centre hotel, we were ready to explore. We immediately felt some altitude sickness (elevation is 3,339 meters) with some shortness of breath and feeling very low energy. With a comfortable cup of Coca tea, we immediately felt better.

As soon as I arrived to the main street, I was greeted by neatly cobbled stone sidewalks, historical-looking buildings and looming hills. The city also showcases museums, high quality restaurants, cafes, a cooking school, stunning cathedrals and more. It’s impossible to get bored here, really. I took a fun cooking class that included a tour of the San Pedro Market with a local chef. It was an awesome experience!

One of many Inca history murals in Cusco, Peru.

OLLANTAYTAMBO, SACRED VALLEY

You know the place between the mecca of destinations? Well this one was just that, a stepping stone to Machu Picchu. The town Ollantaytambo still had a lot going for it, with beautiful landscapes complete with Inca terraces (steps in hills) and narrow stone-streets with plenty of shops. There is a ton of Inca history. You can’t miss it with ruins in spitting distance of the main town centre. Probably because of it’s ancient history, Ollantaytambo was definitely not built to handle large-size tour buses, which made walking and crossing the streets difficult. I felt this definitely ruined the ambiance of the town.

MACHU PICCHU

I didn’t realize how big of a deal it is to go to Machu Picchu until I was there. I naively thought that it would be seeing ‘some ruins’ and that is that. It was so much more.

Machu Picchu is the lost city of the Incas and that carries some mystic. A brief history lesson - Machu Picchu was built in the 15th century as a refuge for the Inca aristocracy. Strategically and defensively located, the citadel was located as the perfect spot for the high ranking members of society to live out of harms way. Yet mysteriously, the city was abandoned in the late 1400s, before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. Why this happened can be pinpointed on the fact people had to be apart of high circles to know of, much less visit Machu Picchu. Knowledge of the citadel simply vanished as these members in the know died. Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 by American archeologist and professor, Hirman Bingman. It wouldn’t be until 1913 with the help of National Geographic that Machu Picchu was revealed to the world, and thus spurring a tourism boom that has not died down.

As for my experience, we made our way to the city of Machu Picchu (below the ruins) by train from Ollantaytambo. The train was surprisingly beautiful and modern with its spacious windows providing us with a near panoramic view of the surrounding areas. Here is where people can depart for the Inca trail trek.

Our tour guide told us the best time to visit Machu Picchu is early in the morning. We had a 3am start and took the first bus at 4:30am in the town centre. And no, we were not the only people lining up at that un-Godly hour... The bus ride took about 30-45 minutes to reach the top. Once we got to the base, you can see glimpses of the terraces, which are those famous steps. Once you line up with your passport (in Peru you oddly need your passport for everything), you are admitted inside Machu Picchu. Here is where the show begins.

It is really mesmerizing and even almost a spiritual moment to see those famous ruins and structures appear before you. With the early morning hour and no hoards of tourists at your elbows and ears, you can take a moment to enjoy Machu Picchu to yourself. It after all has a deeply religious and spiritual significance to the Inca people.

We spent about 2-3 hours at Machu Picchu going further and further into the citadel. We viewed the Inca bridge (an ancient escape route), remains of residences, the sun temple, and got a deeper history lesson from a local guide. We even spotted the cutest llamas that were quietly grazing, clearly very bored and undisturbed by all the tourists.

RAINBOW MOUNTAIN

After the high that was Machu Picchu, we got another jolt of wanderlust by hiking up Rainbow Mountain. The original name for Rainbow Mountain is Winikunka. We returned to Cusco for this adventure and got up even earlier for a 2:45am start. Oh, I really felt that one…

Once we had breakfast and began to wake up, we arrived at the base of Rainbow mountain where we could spot some snow on the hill sides. We felt the bone-chilling cold once we got out the comfortably heated van and I immediately wished I had worn longer pants and my Canadian-cold weather approved jacket.

We were given a short orientation on the hike, equipped with walking poles, given a sniff of some home-made smelling liquid to combat altitude sickness and were on our way. I’m not sure what was in that mixture, but it really helped! The altitude at Rainbow Mountain is a painful 5,086 meters… You can also rent a horse that will take you 2/3 of the way up the mountain. The last 1/3 of the hike (the worst part) is too hard on the horses; you have to do it yourself. That’s saying something…

For the record, I didn’t rent a horse and successfully completed the hike on my own steam! BUT, it definitely was a challenge. The altitude kept getting worse and worse as we got closer to the top. The trail itself actually isn’t hard - relatively flat with gentle rolling hills most of the way until the last 15-20 minutes. That part was a real struggle and I had to dig real deep into myself to keep going and make it to the top. I wanted to see those rainbows, now that the snow had melted! Myself and others could only go a few paces, before needing to stop for a breather and/or drink water. This repeated itself until we reached the top. I was very happy to reach the summit, so I got a stamp in my passport for it!

PUNO

We were all definitely on sensory overload with both Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain under our belts, so it was a welcome reprieve to take a 7.5 hour bus journey from Cusco to Puno. This city is unique because the people here celebrate everything, literally everything. There were spontaneous parades through the centre of town, complete with marching bands and colourful costumes.

LAGO TITICACA

We spent the next full day boating across the largest lake in South America and visited some floating islands. On these islands, Indigenous communities live a very different life from the mainlanders. Their lives are made harder by fighting against the elements (the wet season in particular), to keep their island, you know, floating! Some of these communities want nothing to do with tourism and others welcome them with open arms, selling handmade goods. Here we got to spend a relaxing day in the fresh air and rest a bit. We had a stunning lunch here overlooking the lake. Truly picturesque and peaceful!

NEXT COUNTRY PLEASE

After Puno & Lake Titicaca, we were off to Bolivia. This was our first boarder crossing, in which we got a stamp out of Peru (salida) and into Bolivia (entrada). Check out my next post on Bolivia.