Peru, Lima, Arequipa, Puno, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, Nasca

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After a month of traveling around Peru with my husband I think we have good tips for your travel around Peru...

When

I highly recommend traveling during low season, between mid-March and end of April, it is the end of the rainy season in the highlands, and you will have marvelous green mountains as landscape, and also very important, you will avoid long queues and overpopulated streets. Otherwise the best time “weather wise” for the highlands is from May to October. If you are planning to travel along the coast you should consider that May-October time is winter, dry, but very cloudy time for the coast.

Where

After arriving in Lima, I recommend staying there at least two days for you to have time to get to know the city and get used to jetlag (in case you are arriving from Europe or Asia). The Lima city tours are light and not that long. If you are jetlagged I highly recommend taking the night city tour, the old town by night is wonderful! If you are not used to spicy food take it easy on your first days. Some of the typical food to try while in Lima are: Cebiche (raw fish marinated in lime, served with corn, onions, sweet potatoes) best places to try it are: Cebicheria La Mar Av. La Mar 770 - Miraflores, ALFRESCO alfrescoperu, Aji de Gallina, Anticuchos, Causa Rellena, Lomo Saltado, best Lomo Saltado at Jose Antonio restaurant JoseAntonio and the endles list of seafood. Bon apetit !



If you like a good and relaxed time at the beach, I recommend going to the North of Peru (as E. Hemingway did years ago), you can either fly to Tumbes or go by bus. If you fly to Tumbes to go to Mancora, have in mind that it is almost a two hour ride by taxi, there are local buses but they are not too reliable. If you take the bus to Mancora, there are very comfortable “bed-buses” that travel over night to all North beaches. The buses have better routes; they stop in almost all of the famous northern beaches. Mancora is a popular spot to go to, party, surf, relax and enjoy wonderful seafood. I recommend the hotel casa de playa at the Pocitas beach. In Mancora you have several activities from learning how to surf, windsurfing, back horse riding and fishing, more info on: vivamancora



Another wonderful destination is Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. Arequipa is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. Don’t forget to visit Juanita a sacrificed young girls’ mommy found in a glacier of one of the surrounding volcanoes. In Arequipa there are many tour operators for visiting the Colca area, be careful that you know what you are paying for, if it says all included ask if all taxes are included, especially the Chivay entrance tax. On your way to the Colca area, you will pass by one of the national reserve of Vicunas and Alpacas, do not try to approach them as they are protected by a national law and by non-visible armed farmers. The highest point during the trip is at the "Mirador de los Andes" at 4910 m.a.s.l. If you are staying at the Chivay area, there is a nice and clean hot springs La Calera to go to. During your stay in Arequipa you should try to eat its traditional dish Rocoto Relleno, it is a Peruvian chili filled with cheese and ground meet, lovely!



From Arequipa you can travel to Puno, Puno city is not too interesting, it is a commercial city as it is near the border of Bolivia, but from here you can go and visit the floating Islands of the Uros. The Uros lifestyle is pretty rough, but it wonderful to see that they continue with their traditions after thousands of years. Nowadays their main income comes from tourism, they are fisherman and their women live from their crafts and farming, you will be amazed to see potato and quinoa plantations in their floating islands. After the Uros island you can go to Amantani another island in the Titicaca lake, the view and its people are amazing, this island does not have electricity nor roads, great peace and quietness will be found in this island! Here It is a good idea to stay one night if possible with one of the families, this should be organized before your arrival as families and tour agencies have agreements, the agencies pay the families per group or person staying with them, I highly recommend to bring some extra things to the families, like notebooks for their children, and products they don’t produce like rice, tomatoes, oil, candles etc. At the family we stayed at, the beds were clean and had a proper toilet outside the house, each family needs to have a certain standards to be able to host tourist, the local government provides them with a certificate if their house qualifies. Here the family will provide you local meals, we had an amazing Quinoa soup for lunch, and delicious pancakes for breakfast! In the Puno area it is typical to drink Muña tea, as the coca-leaf tea, it helps digestion and to clear headaches, it is simple DELICIOUS!! After Amantani you continue to Taquile. This Island is famous for their people’s textiles. This Island is more developed than the other two, some like it and others like me doesn’t. Here we had lunch, and were served fresh fish from the lake, really nice! One of things I will recommend, and here people might call me crazy, is that in Amantani and in general in Peru, you shouldn’t let the kids to impose you to buy something. They should learn to respect the costumer in this case the tourist. I know that what they are asking is not too much money, but it makes me think that if they are like that since they are very little, when will they learn?



From Puno you can go to Cusco, either by air or by bus. We took the bus ride First Class (yes, that is the name of the company), it is around 9hrs, but we took the service that takes you to 6 different Inka and pre-Inka archeological sites. The bus has toilet and nice warm blankets. In case of rain during the tour they provide you with rain ponchos. You leave Puno around 7am and arrive in Cusco around 5pm. In the price of the ticket it includes entrances to the museums and lunch (buffet).




Cusco. Magical city that deservers a chapter on its own, but I am not ready for such an adventure yet. There is only one thing I could say, where ever you stay or do in Cusco, you will have a great time! If you arrive to Cusco from having done the previous cities you won’t need that much time to get used to altitude, on the contrary you will be in great shape! One of the great things from Cusco is that they have preserved the colonial style of the houses around the main square. From the various churches and little streets to see, you have to visit the archeological sites that are around Cusco city: Kenko, Tambomachay, Pucapucara and Sacsayhuaman. There is a tourist ticket that includes these sites. Cusco is a small city (compared if you come from NY, London etc) all main attractions are in a walking distance. Me and my husband were so impressed with Cusco internationality, great restaurants, great lounges and bars, we recommend Fallen Angel FallenAngel In Cusco besides from having an amazing history, city and nightlife, we have the best CORN in the world! it is big, not so sweet as corn is known in Europe and USA, and when you eat it with melting fresh cheese, it is like being in paradise!



The Sacred valley is a must tour, it includes the city of Pisac which has a wonderful stop to the local market where you can find great handcrafts, our favorite piece was the chess made with the Inkas against the Spanish! Then you continue to the city of Ollantaytambo, where great stone walls and lost of stairs waits for you. If you have the time try to stay two days in Ollantaytambo, you can also arrange with a local family to have a horse ride to ruins that are a bit far away and that are not yet well included in the visits by the local agencies. In Urubamba, or well known Sacred Valley you can do various sports, like river rafting (highly recommended) kayak, mountain bike etc.



Inka trail for the lazy or for the “not enough time” people. Many people who go to Peru, go to Cusco, and if you are in Cusco you have to go to Machu Pichu, so if you have the time and the legs you take the Inka trail, if you don’t have the time, the spirit or the legs, you take the train to Machu Pichu, well my friends, there are no more excuses to avoid having a little hike to arrive to Machu Pichu just in the same way the Inka used to! The Mini Inka trail is called a two day trail or Sacred Inka Trail, it is just a 4hr hike, I won’t fool you, the short distance is still steep and very hard, and it is described as one of the hardest part of the trails. But it is only 4 hours! You arrive to Machu Picchu around 5pm, just when the site is closing, it is just amazing cause it is you and Machu Picchu, all tourist are mainly gone. If you decide to go for the mini Inka trail, you spend the night in Aguas Calientes. Next morning you take the bus up to Machu Picchu. If you decide to go for the Inka trail (short or normal) please be ware to book at least 4 months in advance, UNESCO has advised the Peruvian government that Machu Picchu can hold only 500 people per day, this includes people coming from the Inka trails.


Another wonderful destination to consider in your journey is Nasca, a few hours south from Lima by bus. Here in Nasca you will be able to fly over the Nasca_lines. These lines are famous around the world for the mystery behind them. It is just amazing to fly over the desert and find trapezoidal lines, and lines in different shapes, from hands to complicated monkey shaped ones. There is an observatory next to the highway where you can observe only the shape next to it, it is much better to fly over the lines, as you have a better angle to see them. There is not much to do in Nasca town, if you take the bus you will be arriving in the afternoon, have a good sleep as they pick you up pretty early to fly over the lines. After talking to the pilot and asking why we flew so early in the morning, he told me that the earliest the better, it is to avoid having the reflection of the sun over the sun on your pictures and eyes. On your way back to Lima there are a few stops you can make. The South of Peru in colonial times was famous for its “cotton Haciendas” and vineyards. Here in the South our national drink was born, Pisco. Pisco is a little town between Nasca and Lima. Here you can visit the different vineyards or “Fundos” as the [Fundo Tacama, or the HaciendaSantiagoQueirolo And other surroundings
Besides having had a great time hiking and partying in the Peruvian highlands, you should definitely be ready to what the Peruvian desert has prepared for you. You should stop at the Huacachina Oasis, here you will be able to have a nice and relaxed meal and of course you will be able to have the funniest experience while in Peru. It is time for some Dune Buggy From my personal point of view, this is a must do while in Peru. They drive you around the Dunes of Ica and have a few stops for you to try sandboarding, it is like snowboarding in wet snow! When I tried it the first time in these same Dunes back in the mid-80’s it was such a nice experience! The after a few years I was very surprised when snowboarding became popular, I thought they were copying Peruvian sandboarding! J

Continuing on our way back to Lima, we have the beautiful Paracas National Reserve to discover. This Reserve is a composed by different little Island that hosts a wide variety of birds, sea lions and penguins.

How

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Comments

[Ernie]

Is this for real???
Just amazing! and only a few hours down south from home. As you say It's a must! Please contact me for further info. Definetly, I want to go...