Peru = Summer 2010

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In the summer of 2010 I traveled to Peru for a month.

I arrived in Lima and explored on my own for a few days. Then I met up with my tour group for the next two weeks. I chose to travel with a teacher travel group based in (but not limited to) the United States. The organization is called "Global Exploration for Educators Organization" or GEEO. You need to be a teacher to travel with the group but you are allowed to bring along a friend or significant other with you. GEEO uses G-Adventures tours and adds on school visits for us! There are other perks and requirements. Check it out: http://www.geeo.org/

In addition to the school visits, the major highlight of my time with GEEO in Peru was hiking the Inca Trail for 4 days. I've never done a more satisfying hike! And I am so grateful for the porters that carried our food, tents, and personal bags of clothes. Each morning, we left the camp first, while the porters packed up. Midmorning they would trot past us with 75 pound packs and have lunch cooked and waiting for us by the time we got to our midday break spot. Ditto for the afternoon routine plus in addition to dinner ready, they'd have our tents set up, and warm water in a shallow pail ready for us each to wash our face and feet.

After my two weeks with GEEO, I traveled on my own around Peru for 10 more days. I went to: Puno, Arequipa, Nazca, Ica, Pisco.

I flew from Cusco to Puno. There, I joined a one day/one night tour on a boat to an island in Lake Titicaca where we did a homestay. It snowed on us there!

Arequipa was very Spanish feeling (although I haven't been to Spain yet!) with lots of white buildings and old European architecture with cobblestone streets.

I was in Nazca just for a day to go up in an airplane to see the famous Nazca lines. So cool!

I did a 3 day, 2 night hike into the Colca Canyon. We had to carry in all the water we would need. Water is heavy! I needed a massage after this hike! We also went to sit, wait, and watch condors soar through the canyon.

Ica is an oasis in the middle of the dessert that is famous for sandboarding in Huacachina. Sandboarding is when you go out on a dune buggy in search of a great hill. Then you strap a snowboard on your feet and fly down the hill. My pockets, hair, nose, and ears were full of sand by the end of the day!

Pisco was gorgeous! In Pisco, Paracas National Park is where the dessert meets the ocean and the views are incredible. I went on a boat tour to the Ballestas to see the pelicans congregate to feed on fish. They know how to "cheat" and they follow the fishing boats!

The route I took was based on ideas from travel guide books and I did run into some same people over and over in the different locations. Public buses (Cruz del Sur or Soyus) were easy and inexpensive to navigate. Arequipa to Nazca was an 8 hour overnight bus. I felt totally safe.

10 days on my own felt a little long and all future trips I never spend more than a week alone.

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Photos

Machu Picchu
After 4 days of hiking up and down, up and down, Machu Picchu was SUCH an incredible sight to see!

Huacachina in Ica
Oasis in the desert

Rural home stay in Ccaccaccollo 45 min from Cusco
Red hats mean single ladies. Married ladies wear brown hats.

Alpaca
I bought some alpaca scarves to bring home.

Along the Inca Trail there were ruins like this to see
Circle in center represents the sun and arcs on sides represent the moon.

Incan ruins right in Lima
Huaca Pucllana. You can walk there within Lima's city streets. Look up what day they are closed though. I recall walking there on two separate days before they were open!

Paracas National Park
Where the desert meets the ocean.