Peru
At the end of the WCOB Brazil Summer course, I flew from Brazil to Peru
Recife à Rio à Lima à Cusco
arriving on June 10, 2012.
Charishma and I at Machu Picchu
Charishma, my feisty and intelligent Indian cousin who will be my travel companion for the remainder of the summer, had arrived from Arequipa earlier the same morning after her travels in other parts of Peru. I actually only participated in less than half of the Peruvian travels that she experienced, but she really enjoyed the other places she visited.
Charishma:
Lima à Huacachina àArequipa àCusco
For any travelers reading this post, I’ll mention the highlights of the beginning of her journey, just logistical things- she can fill you in on the good parts J
Lima
Transport: Spirit Airlines
Hostel: Puriwasi and Kokopelli
Activities:
Sightseeing in Miraflores and Barranco,
Peru vs. Colombia futbol match on huge projector screens in a bar district
First Pisco sour
Salsa club
Travel from: Chicago
Total Time: 3 days
The nightlife is good, but there’s not much to do during the day.
Standard Peru prices for shopping.
*Know how much you’re paying for a cab before you get in and agree on a price with the taxi driver.
Huacachina
Transport: Lima à Ica à (cab) à Cruz del Sur (bus)
Hostel: Desert Nights
Activities: Sandboarding
Travel from: Lima
Total Time: 1 day
Arequipa
Transport: Cial
Hostel: Wild Rover
Activities: White water rafting
Museum
Club with live music (some famous Peruvian band)
Most disgusting pizza she’s ever eaten
Travel from: Ica
Total Time: 3 days
*Cial is the worst bus she’s taken so far.... until Bolivia
We met each other in
Cusco
Transport: Taka Airlines/ Oltursa
Hostel: Loki
Activities: Machu Picchu
Travel from: Lima/ Arequipa
Total Time: 3 nights
Date: June 10-12, June 14
Cusco’s center, Plaza de las Armas was bustling and bright and we were fortunate to have great weather during the day. The town's economy is centered on tourism; travelers stay there for a few days on the way to Machu Picchu mostly to adjust to the high altitude. Cusco was close to bankruptcy while Machu Picchu was closed to the public for 6 months due to flooding in 2007.
Peruvian people are friendly. The locals are happy to have tourists [and their money]. The vendors may become a nuisance at times but harassing would be an overstatement. As obvious foreigners to Peru, Charishma and I had many, many people try to sell us things if we stood still for too long in the streets.
We never felt like we were in danger –but our wallets probably did!
Charishma and 1,000 scarves
Tell me someone has seen the South Park episode about the Peruvian flute bands!?
...I was interested to find a toy guinea pig amongst the scarves.
Conspiracy...?
Kids dancing in the Plaza de Armas
Cusco’s birthday is coming up this week, but the festivities had already begun in the streets while we were there. Children would dance and sing traditional Peruvian songs around the square in their school uniforms. During the day, traditional food such as roasted guinea pig or chicken with potatoes and vegetables was sold on the streets.
It is much colder in Peru than in Brazil.
I’ve had to buy all kinds of gloves, coats, leg warmers, socks, jackets, hats, etc to keep warm. Luckily, the prices are low enough to not break my bank and I’d left enough room in my backpack to accommodate extra clothes. Every other store in Cusco had a very nice selection of North Face and Columbia jackets (the official North Face store claimed they were fake, but I’m skeptical.) Apparently we weren’t the only ones who didn’t anticipate the cold.
The first two nights in Loki, Cusco –an Irish owned chain of party hostels- was a fantastically rude introduction to the life we are about to share for the next 8 weeks.
For anyone who has never stayed in a hostel:
It’s an amazing experience to meet people from all over the world. Many of our hostel-mates were glad to see Americans out of our own country. They know American geography surprisingly well (Kansas City? Arkansas?) and all ask about frat parties! It’s like an urban legend J “uni” (college) isn’t quite the same abroad as it is in the US.
Campus life is exceptionally uncommon.
We’ve met people from Ireland, England, Wales, Germany, Holland, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Austria, Russia, Israel, Japan, Canada, and South Africa – and we’re only 2 weeks in! The rest of the world seems to be more inclined to explore other corners of the earth. This being said; all of these people speak English. I can count on one hand the number of non-Americans I’ve met that are traveling South America that know more than 5 words in Spanish.
Body language is universal, so they get by.
Irish people at the hostel being loud, drunk, and Irish
Hostels are really interesting to me.
Cramming anywhere from 4-16 guests in one room, they staff maybe 3-5 full time employees, and hire locals for the manual labor. The bar staff is made up of backpackers like us who are taking long trips and have time to stay stationary for a few weeks in exchange for free beds.
Loki Cusco in particular is located at the top of a HUGE hill 10 minutes walk from the city center. Seems like a great location on mapquest, but no one wants to walk the hill! The hostel becomes like a black hole you can’t escape from: there’s good food, drinks, hot guys with accents… where else would you want to be?
It’s a trap!–
...a good trap ;) but it gets you.
...a good trap ;) but it gets you.
Charishma and I never went out in the city of Cusco. [Like I said, the hostel sucked us in.] We had a great time there and saw everything we wanted to see but left fully aware of the hostel-game, armed and ready for La Paz.
Customer review?
Loki was fantastic!
The food was cheap but tasted great. The staff was friendly and there’s always something going on. We even used the in-house travel agency to gather information on Machu Picchu travel (although we arranged it ourselves for a lower cost) they helped us book our bus to Copacabana. The rooms are big, beds are above average, and they supply lockers both in the rooms and at reception w/ outlets to charge any electronics. (I love the Internet so it was slightly annoying to me that the wifi is only available in the bar, but I also met more people that way, so no complaints.) Laundry services are available right across the street, cheap and speedy. The atmosphere in general is laidback and ready to party.
Ironically, it’s kind of like a frat house.
Ollantaytambo
Transport: Van ($10 BOB)
Hostel: none
Activities: catching the train to A.A.C.C., and back to Cusco.
Travel from: Cusco
Total Time: 1 hour
We only briefly passed through Ollantaytambo on our way from Cusco à Aguas Calientes, the base town for Machu Picchu. We took a cab in Cusco to the van station where we were told the 1:00 van would get us to the town in plenty of time to explore and enjoy the ruins (available for a price). However, as we quickly learned, the things that should happen in South America rarely occur the way you’d like to expect.
For example: no van will leave the location unless there are butts in 90% of the seats available
so sit next to who you would like to sit by when you first enter the van; it will fill up!
Charishma and her sleepy Peruvian friend
We waited until 1:45 before the van was filled to the driver’s liking then began the hour and a half journey along the windy Peruvian roads to Ollantaytambo.
About an hour in, the van broke down on the side of the road.
[All we could do was laugh]
Its just part of the experience
I honestly began considering walking/hitchhiking after half an hour of no progress (the train tickets are pretty expensive, we didn’t want to miss our train) but the van kicked to life around 2:30 and successfully delivered us to the town with just enough time for lunch before our train left.
Another quirky thing about van travels in Peru that we could only laugh at was the driver’s lack of regard for the passenger’s agenda. If he has an errand to run, you will wait in the car.
“Sir I have a train to catch” (In English or Spanish) doesn’t faze him.
He needed to get something in that store over there…
Aguas Calientes
Transport: Inca Rail
Hostel: Pirwa
Activities: Machu Picchu
Travel from: Ollantaytambo
Total Time: 1 night
The whole town is a glorified market.
*Know your power as a consumer here! That leverage allows you to set your own prices at restaurants, request free drinks, and shop around.
If the 500 tiendas, 100 restaurants, or 50 hostels weren’t there, the only thing in the whole city would be the bus/train stations and the hot springs (which we did not visit).
The Inca Rail
An alternative to the train is to do a few days hike to AACC
(We didn't bring our camping gear or anything so we just took the train)
There wasn’t much to do besides spend money in A.A.C.C. so we purchased our bus tickets to the mountain (although some people hike from here) and our tickets to enter the ruins and climb Machu Picchu Mountain.
*Students with an ISIC card get half off the attraction! (Score!)
We went to bed early and had our own room with peace and quiet.
Honestly, I hardly slept.
Machu Picchu in the morning!?!!
I’m such a child lol too excited to sleep.
Machu Picchu
Transport: Bus
Hostel: N/A
Activities: Hike Machu Picchu Mountain
Travel from: Aguas Calientes
Total Time: 6 hours
Sunrise!!
(haha I just noticed that my outfit is ridiculous)
We go up at 4:00am to pack and get ready for the day at M.P. We were on the 3rd bus that reached the mountain and some of the first people into the area. In our first pictures at Machu Picchu we are wearing every layer we had packed. It was very cold before the sun came up. We pet the alpaca grazing around the grass before latching onto the back of a tour group (cheap?... or genius?) and listened to some of the history until the sun rose.
It was astonishing to witness.
Andes Mountains
"HOW?" was my consistent thought.
But that's why it's a World Wonder, no one knows...
North Face.
Pay me.
They say you can’t take a bad picture at Machu Picchu. I think they’re right because we took about 250 of them.
I couldn’t get over it.
Sergio, my Alpaca friend
(kinda function like cattle)
There are multiple treks available at Machu Picchu. The most popular Inca Trail takes 3 days to complete, the most difficult Waynna Picchu must be reserved months in advance, and the most awesome (because it’s the one we did) is climbing Machu Picchu Mountain.
Charishma, hiking MP Mountain
We started our hike at 8:20am. By 8:30 we had shed our first layer of clothing. By 9:00 we were in tank tops. It took us an hour to reach the top; we believe the altitude had something to do with how out of breath we were.
We ate crackers and bananas, finished our water, took a video and about 30 more pictures before heading back down. The people we passed were sweating bullets since the sun was reaching high noon. We were laughing and telling inappropriate jokes, talking about “how bad I need a massage after this” when I saw it !!!! .............
Catching the Cusco flag at the top of the mountain
oh... lost it...
...whatever.. yay we climbed the mountian!
The ruins from the top
(I had been looking for critters all day long and all I’d spotted was a spider and some mosquitoes… and the alpacas.)
The path was only about six feet wide with a steep ascending hill on the left, and a steep descending hill on the right. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the creature, 20 feet in front of me, the size of Romeo (my giant dog/horse), all black but with larger paws and a shorter snout.
It was a baby black bear.
I tiptoed up to it, careful not to step on anything that would startle the beast. I have experience with this size animal, so I first offered him my hand to sniff, making him aware I am not a threat. I kept eye contact as he examined my offer, as Hagrid has taught us, great creatures such as this do not tolerate disrespect. He slightly snarled before taking four short whiffs of my left palm. I knew he could smell the crackers we ate at the summit. I motioned to Charishma behind my back to hand me a few he could eat. He appreciated the snack and scoffed. We were friends, not foe. I touched his coarse fur and rubbed his ears just as I would to Romeo, who is basically a small bear himself. We had a short photo shoot and he introduced us to his parents.
...and that’s how Charishma died.
J Can you guess which part of that is bullshit?
But for real, I saw a bear!
Some German guy hiking up saw him too, but the bear ran off before I could get a picture.
At the ruins in the middle of the day
The ruins were buzzing with tourists by the time we returned to the base.
We'd spent a total of 6 hours at M.P.
Best. Day. Ever.
We took the bus back to the train, and the train to Ollantaytambo where we got back in a van. The van took us to Cusco where we walked up the hill to Loki, and spent one more night in the hostel. This time in a room with 5 Israeli dudes and 3 guys from the UK who helps us drink a proper farewell to the frat house.
Peruvian delicacy, guinea pig, in the square
South Park episode makes since now... I mean, as much as South Park ever makes since
Our last day in Cusco was my other favorite. Sore as all hell, we stood still in the city square for as long as it took until someone came to offer us a massage.
Full body, hour-long massages for the equivalent of $5 USD!
Heaven.
We even tipped (for the first time in South America) and felt relaxed after the 3hour hike up Machu Picchu Mountain.
We took a night bus (booked through the hostel) to Copacabana, Bolivia.
…But that’s another story.
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Thanks for reading! Bolivia will be next.
-Cj
