Just few hours here, and I knew I was going to love the city (not sure why so many tourists don’t show much affection for it?). Whether in the trendy Miraflores, the business center San Isidro, or the historic center, the capital seemed to have the buzz, diversity, and culture I had been craving on my trip, and frankly had not seen since leaving Buenos Aires. While the museums and theaters can’t match up to those of BA, they are still pretty good and you can easily spend few days here exploring the exhibits, strolling the streets, and sampling the [View Full Entry]

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Like I was already in the ocean, my ears were completely plugged from the change of air pressure as I stepped out of the bus that took me here from the mountains. It was foggy and cold in Trujillo; too cold for a beach town close to the equator. I immediately took a cab to Huanchaco, a small fishing (and nowadays also surfing) village just 15 km north since it was told to have great waves and laidback yet cool atmosphere. It was 7 am when I finally arrived at La Casa Suisa, supposedly a cool hostel frequented by surfers. [View Full Entry]

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Hiking in this mountainous region was fantastic - exhausting but deeply satisfying. However, Huaraz gave me mixed feelings. This town, arguably the trekkers’ capital in Peru, located in the proximity of perhaps two dozen 6,000 m peaks (including Huascaran the Peruvian highest mountain and Alpamayo, supposedly voted for as the most beautiful mountain in the world) seemed in a disrepair. The major plaza and many streets in the center were under construction, many restaurants marked in my guide were no longer there, and Edward’s Inn, a highly recommended hotel, was totally empty when [View Full Entry]

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Before heading to this deepest canyon in the world (yes, deeper than the famous Grand Canyon in the US, but admittedly less spectacular), I had an afternoon and evening to rest in Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city. Again, I was surprised by how nice and clean the city was. In fact, it is called the “White City of Peru”, given the use of strikingly white stone of volcanic origin in most buildings. But, what’s really most appealing about this town is its location in an extreme proximity of a 5,800 m high volcano. Here and pretty much anywhere else in [View Full Entry]

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We stocked up on food, rented hiking poles, and left Cuzco briskly, at 6:00 am. We had a private transportation to Mollepata, the starting point for our 6-day hike around Salkantay, at 6,200 m the 3rd highest mountain in Peru, and later joining the classical Inca trail leading to Machu Picchu. Strangely, our tour agency arranged a mid-size bus for just the two of us. Even more strangely, we had 4 locals accompanying us on the first part of the trip - a guide, a cook, an assistant cook, and a horseman - and 4 horses to carry our luggage [View Full Entry]

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I decided to arrive to Cuzco early, four days ahead of my scheduled departure for the Inca Trail, to take a rest before the trip and to soak in the atmosphere of the city. This former capital of Incas was, not surprisingly, said to offer a variety of culture, restaurants, and nightlife, all in a stunning setting of mountains and lush forests; enough to substantiate a longer stop in my journey. Already views from my bus window, as we passed through fertile valleys on the way from Puno to Cuzco, confirmed what I had read in my guide: Incas, their [View Full Entry]

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Shared between Bolivia and Peru and with 8,500 sq m, Lago Titicaca is the largest high-altitude lake in the world, slightly larger than the Lake Tahoe in California but smaller than the incredible salt flats in South West Bolivia (measuring 10,000 sq m). The 4 rivers flowing into the lake from the Peruvian side provide enough water circulation to make it a fresh-water lake, supporting a healthy (and very tasty!) fish population. Looking at the vast body of water reminded me of the Lake Superior in Minnesota, but the landscape here was even more dramatic with snowcapped mountains reflecting on [View Full Entry]

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Whoever came up with the idea to bike down the “Death Road” - officially the world’s most dangerous road, connecting La Paz with the jungle - was a genius. Imagine being taken to an overpass 4,000 m high, surrounded by snow-capped mountains hanging in the clouds, only to descend, on a bike, to a jungle in just 1,000 m in altitude. An unbelievable, adrenaline-rich experience. We had a quick breakfast and left briskly, at 7:30 am. Unbelievably, when chatting with the tourists in the group, I realized that one of them - a French/Lebanese national - will be my classmate [View Full Entry]

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When we learned that our flight to Rurrenabaque was to be canceled for the third time, we lost patience and decided to take the much longer and also adventurous bus ride there. Distances or rather driving times are mind boggling in Bolivia. A bus ride to Rurrenabaque generally takes 18 hours, while flying the same distance takes just 30 minutes. Well, in our instance, it took 33 hours to get there. The journey was truly spectacular, taking us first through high mountains and later, as we descended into the river valley, through the jungle. The road we took was declared [View Full Entry]

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Another long journey ahead of us: this time overnight from Potosi to La Paz. Surprisingly, even here they had a movie service, showing a movie with Arnie Schwarzenegger, my favorite childhood hero. We arrived to La Paz at 6 am and crashed in the closest hostel to catch up on the lost sleep. The Bolivian capital has a truly spectacular setting - it is situated in the attitude of 3,500 m and surrounded by the mountains as high as 6,000 m. Historically it was just a breakpoint on the journey from Potosi to Lima but over time the city grew [View Full Entry]

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