Peru was one of the countries in South America that we were looking forward to the most, and it did not disappoint. We had organised a tour for this leg of the journey and our friend Nath met us for the three weeks of action. We got lucky with a great group of people on the tour and it was really nice to spend more than just 2 or 3 days with people, even if it made the goodbyes sadder.
The tour started in Lima where we went a bit crazy on sushi and ceviche (fish cooked by the acid in lemon juice - delicious). We then moved on to Pisco, where we enjoyed a few Pisco sours - a local cocktail. From here, we headed to an desert oasis where James, Nathan and some others did some buggying and sand boarding through the dunes.
Our next stop was Nasca, home of the mysterious Nasca lines. Here, we took a short joy flight (in a very small plane) to get a god's eye view of the ginormous shapes made by a civilization over 2000 years ago.
The Hummingbird
From Nasca, we headed to a colonial town of Arequipa with the beautiful backdrop of Volcano Misty.
It was time to do some bird watching so we set off to Colca Canyon where the Andean condors can be best spotted. Nearby to hear is where the locals like to play and beat gringos at high altitude soccer.
Between Peru and Bolivia is the largest lake in South America - lake Titicaca. It was here that we said goodbye to hotels and spent the night with a local family on a small farm. Our family showed us how to dance and how to harvest beans.
Finally, it was time for the main attraction - the inca trail and Machu Picchu! Our group contained 12 people doing the trail and 24 porters and cooks to look after us and carry all our gear. These guys were amazing, our oldest porter was 62 and he did the trail, carrying 25 kilos on his back, in about half the time as us. The trail and the majestic Machu Picchu was worth every step (sore knees and all). We even made the extra effort to climb Huanapicchu mountain (this is the steep mountain in the background of many Machu Picchu photos) on the fourth day. This extra climb was short but steep and after three days of walking and not much sleep, It was also the most challenging. The view at top was spectacular, would definitely recommend it to anyone heading to Machu Picchu.
Day 2 of inca trail - walking uphill in the rain
Day 3 of the inca trail
The view from the top of huanapicchu
Despite exhaustion, we still decided to try white water rafting the following day. It was a pretty tame run but It was enough for me - it was still scary when I fell in the rapids for 30 seconds.
Guinea pig for dinner, it tasted alright!
Our final stop of the tour was the amazon jungle where we waded through mud and spotted some amazing plants, bugs and animals.
Nathan being an Amazonian monkey
The largest rodents in the world!
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