Peru

  • Peru

    Kuelap

    July 2, 2015 - By 

    Day tours from Chachapoyas to Kuelap, the largest pre-Incan ruins in South America, must only appeal to people with little time; they depart every morning and return every evening for 6 hours of just driving roundtrip.  After having spent the past 2 days on night buses, we preferred to explore Kuelap on our own account which ended up being a much more interesting journey than we anticipated. Not long ago before Chachapoyas had a main bus terminal, colectivos with different destinations were scattered throughout the streets.  After walking up and down the streets with fruitless attempts at finding any colectivos, it…

  • Peru

    Buses And A Waterfall

    July 1, 2015 - By 

    Although both situated in remote areas of northern Peru, I had to make the effort to visit both the Cordillera Blanca in the north and Chachapoyas in the far north due their sites.  While the Cordillera Blanca holds what some consider some of the best trekking in South America, the outskirts of Chachapoyas in the state of the Amazon boasts two main attractions: Yumbilla and Gocta, a couple of the tallest waterfalls in the world, and Kuelap, the largest pre-Incan ruins in South America.  Getting to the town of Chachapoyas from Huaraz was interesting, but getting to Yumbilla Falls and…

  • Peru

    The Cordillera Blanca

    June 29, 2015 - By 

    Upon looking at the calendar I saw that we were more than halfway into our 5-month long South American adventure.  Time was running out!  We quickly blew through the dismal capital of Lima and made it to the pretty, little mountain town of Caraz in the overlooked northern region of Peru. Most tourists who make it to Peru spend most of their time exploring the southern region: Cusco, Colca Canyons, Arequipa, Puno, The Amazon.  However the north is equally beautiful, if not more, in a completely opposite way.  With 722 individual glaciers, 33 peaks over 5,500 meters, and the highest mountain…

  • Peru

    Ica

    June 23, 2015 - By 

    Not far south from Lima along the coast of Peru lies the noisy, chaotic city of Ica.  My reason for stopping by Ica (and I’m assuming this is the same reason for most tourists) was to see Huacachina, a tiny artificial oasis smack center amidst giant sand dunes.  It was incredibly underwhelming once I finally set eyes on this gringo attraction, but we brightened our stay by sandboarding and dune buggying for the first time. Huacachina up close: And from a afar: We opted to stay in the city of Ica, 2 km outside of Huacachina, which was only a…

  • Peru

    The Inca Trail

    June 17, 2015 - By 

    The Inca Trail vs. Salkantay “Do the Salkantay Trek instead,” they said. “It’s much less crowded than the Inca Trail,” they said. “The Inca Trail was completely booked, so we did the Salkantay Trek instead, and we’re so glad we did,” they said. Perhaps those excuses were valid long ago, but not anymore.  Before arriving to Cusco, we met more travelers who said they were hiking Salkantay instead of the classic 45-km Inca Trail. While hiking the Inca Trail I even asked my guide, who leads both the Inca and Salkantay Trails, which trail was more crowded?  He didn’t hesitate…

  • Peru

    Cusco and the Sacred Valley

    June 15, 2015 - By 

    Everyone was right about Cusco. It’s a gorgeous, lively city. And it’s touristy as fuck. Machu Picchu to South America is like Angkor Watt to Southeast Asia.  Annoying touts, rip offs, lying tour companies, endless jam-packed tourist vans, and flag waving leaders.  If internationals from all over the world are coming to South America, it’s for Peru for about two weeks, just enough time to sample Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu, and maybe the Amazon. But despite all the noise, it IS a beautiful city with an overwhelmingly amount of places to see, food to taste, crap to buy, and trails to hike.  We…

  • Peru

    Arequipa and El Misti

    June 11, 2015 - By 

    The 6-hour bus ride from Cabanaconde to Arequipa was straight forward (and cheap at only 17 soles or ~$5) and by nightfall we arrived to what ended up being our favorite city in South America thus far. Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru after Lima but third most visited city after Lima and Cusco, has pleasant weather year-round like California. Beautiful architecture surrounds the Plaza de Armas, and three side-by-side volcanoes in the distance set the backdrop for the charming city. The lively Plaza de Armas: Beautiful Spanish architecture: Arequipa has a fraction of the tourists found in Cusco, making it a…

  • Peru

    Cabanaconde (Colca Canyons)

    June 4, 2015 - By 

    The largest city nearest to the Colca Canyons is Arequipa (4 hours away by bus), and the largest town within the Colca Canyon area is Chivay.  Along the mostly unpaved road west of Chivay that hugs the coast of the canyon are a number of tiny towns and villages, with the final one being the quiet, little village of Cabanaconde.  It is from Cabanaconde where condor watching is most convenient and where the major treks begin.   Getting There From Puno Little did we know that there had been ongoing strikes and violent protests between the Southern Peruvians and miners for the…

  • Peru

    Puno

    June 1, 2015 - By 

    Peru was literally a 30-minute bus ride from Copacabana and crossing the border was a piece of cake.  Four hours later we were in Puno, Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian side. To our amusement, Southeast Asian-like tuk-tuks or moto taxis can be found everywhere. For 4 soles (~$1.33) we got a ride to the town center. Rather than booking a group tour to the famous but touristy islands off the coast of Puno, we simply showed up at the port early the next morning around 7am to find a boat that would take us to Las Islas de Uros and Isla…