Peru: Lima --> Cusco --> Machu Picchu

Drinking Pisco Sours in Cusco

June 28

We were told not to spend much time in Lima. However, we ended up really liking it and thinking we could totally live there! We stayed in (and did not venture out of) the Miraflores neighborhood.  It's a safer and very well off area.  Lots of rich people here.  Doug had mentioned that there was surfing in Lima, which I had no idea about, and naturally I pounced on the opportunity.  So we went over to the beach in the morning and a Brazilian dude gave us a lesson and then turned us loose to shred the gnar :) Now, we had been surfing once before in California (thanks Guerra!) and it didn't necessarily go so well so our standards weren't set high.  This time I think the waves were much more favorable and we were totally rocking it!  Of course there were some epic falls and we got destroyed by some waves multiple times, but we don't need to focus on that part (wish someone would have had us on video).  All in all, there were several hard laughs, shouts of jubilation in success (followed by a face plant in Doug's case), some exhausted arms, and a cleared out sinus system by way of forced salt water.

After surfing we walked around the Miraflores area and eventually had lunch at a recommended restaurant, Amaz, by a couple we met while scuba diving in the Galapagos who lived in Miraflores.  Lima is actually renowned for its good food and it did not disappoint.  After lunch we walked around again.  The large park in this area is called Parque Kennedy after JFK.  After looking it up, we found he was influential in starting up relations with Latin America again after some time of poor relations and loaned Latin America $20 billion dollars to help with poverty stricken areas.  Then we took advantage of Happy Hour and got a pisco sour (the drink of Peru) and a very large beer before heading to dinner.  Yes, this day mainly consisted of eating and drinking.  The restaurant we went to for dinner was a must-do according to our Peruvian friends again.  It was called La Panchita and I believe it was the best meal I have ever had in my life.  We had a pepper stuffed with beef, cheese, and peas, set over thinly sliced potatoes with some sort of delicious sauce - it was called Rocoto Relleno.  The next dish was called Aji de Gallina (very typical dish in Peru).  It consisted of shredded chicken in an aji sauce (typical sauce of South America that has different versions varying in spiciness) with rice and potatoes.  Both dishes were absolutely amazing and I want to go back and try everything on their menu.  I also had a sangria there that was more pineapple-based than orange juice-based and it was also very good.

Ritzy tennis club down by the beach. 

 Nerding out on the bridges.

Location where we shredded the gnar

Lima coast

June 29

We had a morning flight to Cusco and had to catch a bus at 6:00am.  Lima has a great bus service from the airport to the Miraflores area (about 40 min ride) for very cheap called Airport Express Lima.  I think we saw more people coming home from a night out than going to work at that hour (on a Thursday morning) which made the walk somewhat entertaining.  Once we landed in Cusco, we got set up with the trekking company we were using for Machu Picchu and then walked around.  Cusco is a smaller city in a valley with a lot to do.  It's more in tune with tourism than other places we've been to so far.  There are several Inca ruins sites around the city.  We walked up to Saqsaywaman (I think we've seen 5 different spellings for it but apparently it's pronounced like "sexay woman").  Instead of paying $25 to get in we found a road that overlooked the very unimpressive ruins and we were quite happy with this cheap find.  That night we had guinea pig for dinner (known as "cuy" in Peru).  Although the taste was good, similar to chicken, it was a pain in the butt to eat, there isn't much meat on them.

June 30

My dad arrived mid-morning! We headed over to San Pedro Market for some lunch after meeting up with him.  The market was filled with juice and smoothie stands, alpaca fur clothing, ceviche, chicken, and meat stands.  We got lomo saltado which is a beef dish with peppers and onions in a teriyaki based sauce. Very tasty. Outside the market along the building you can find your quintessential Peruvian women in bowler hats, long skirts, and colorful back sacks (for lack of a better word) trying to sell all sorts of things.  Most notably were the dead fully headed guinea pig, skinned and ready for cooking.  Thankfully we saw that after already having ate one! We proceeded to take a walking tour of the city which filled us in on a very interesting history involving Incan and Spanish rule. We squeezed in a stop at the Pisco Museo to have some pisco sours, the Peruvian national alcoholic drink.  After that we had to go to a briefing for our trek to Machu Picchu and then Big Mike took us out to a nice dinner.  I had an alpaca steak kabob that was very delicious.  The rest of the night was spent frantically trying to reorganize our bags for the trek.

 Plaza del Armas in Cusco (main square)

Plaza del Armas

 We found an Alpaca!

 Cusco wide-shot

Lots of stairs in this city!

Saqsaywaman: The unimpressive ruins on the right; Jesus statue on the left. I prefer the mountains in the background.

Guinea Pig Dinner

San Pedro Market

July 1

A bright and early 4:30am departure had us arriving for breakfast in the town of Mollepata.  From there we switched to a rather bare back of a truck in which we picked up random locals on the way needing a ride into the fields for work. The first part of the trail was only a couple hours of flat hiking but the views were still stunning.  We arrived at our campsite for lunch. Aside from our guide Russell, there are 2 chefs who carry the tents, our big bags, and all the food and cooking supplies. Sebastian and Alexander (the chefs) were already at the campsite and had everything set up for us.  As we soon came to find out, they are quite amazing chefs and we had a four course meal for every lunch and dinner they cooked. Definitely did not expect that while camping. Although we were stuffed and probably could have done with a solid siesta, we hiked up to a nearby crystal clear lake. I did some extra exploring in the area and got super high up for a great panorama pic. After the hike, we got a snack followed by yet another stuffing meal for dinner and then hit the hay in prep for a 5am wake up to start the biggest climb we would do.  This night was quite cold, I wore every piece of clothing I had in my bag.  We were at Soraypampa which is at an elevation of 12,600 ft.

Prior to starting the hike in the town of Mollepata.

Starting off with Day 1 of hiking!

At the lake at our first campsite.

July 2

Despite having a violent dry eye attack in which my eye wouldn't stop watering aggressively for 2 hours, we set off for Salkantay pass.  The high point is at 15,255 ft which is certainly the highest elevation we have ever been at.  It took a couple hours to climb the 3,000 ft but we made it to the top! Unfortunately the weather was not in our favor and we had no view of the surroundings but it was still cool to get up that high. Our chefs, who left at least an hour after us, caught up to us while we were descending on the opposite side. The speed at which these porters can hike at that elevation is quite impressive. We had lunch in a small village, and by village I mean a flat land area where the population of cattle probably outweighed the population of the humans occupying the handful of huts there. The rest of the day was all down hill in a slight drizzle and ample amounts of mud and donkey poop.  In all, we were quite exhausted from the days hiking and happy to arrive at our campsite. Our group on the trek consisted of our guide Russell, my dad, Doug and I, and our new Dutch friend Vincent.  That night we taught Vincent Euchre for a dose of some good ole Midwest US culture.  He (rather unfortunately for Doug and I) caught on to the game quite quick and my dad and him were the champs that night. I was much warmer this night as we were at a far lower elevation of 9800 ft in Collpapampa.

At the top of Salkantay Pass.

I-L-L at a high altitude!

July 3

This was an easy day, all down hill through the cloudy forest. We passed serveral waterfalls and followed a river the whole way.  There were coffee plantations and several fruit farms throughout.  We arrived to our next campsite in the small town of La Playa at 6,700 ft around 11am, ate lunch and then headed to some hot springs via local transportation.  The ride was a very bumpy one with several opportunities to fall off a cliff but we made it to the pools in one piece. After a few days of no showers, the springs felt very refreshing, especially when paired with a cold beer :) However, upon exiting the pools, we were swarmed by bugs and just when we thought we had finally put the bug bites of Nicaragua and Costa Rica behind us, we gained them all back -_- on the ride back to the campsite, we were lucky enough to find the Peruvian national bird which is apparently very difficult to come across. Then before and after dinner, my Dad and Vincent continued their card playing dominance over Doug and I (I blame the terrible cards being dealt to us).

Crossed several bridges on Day 3 of hiking.

A much needed dip in the hot springs.

July 4

Happy America Day! It was quite odd being in a foreign country for the Fourth of July but I had brought my USA handkerchief to wear as a bandana to proudly support the red, white, and blue. We passed a few other Americans along the trail that day which prompted a good 'MERICA shout each time. The morning hike was all steady uphill. We stopped at the Peruvian Starbucks farm (not actually Starbucks but their sign claimed to be so) and were taught the old fashioned way of making coffee. Shortly there after we ran into an American group in which one of the guys we found out had gone to U of I and his son was currently there getting an engineering degree.  Naturally we all had to get a picture with the Illini flag overlooking the valley.  Once we reached the top, there were some ancient ruins and a great view of Machu Picchu in the distance.  The next hour was a steep downhill hike in which Doug, Vincent, and I got slightly too far ahead of my Dad and our guide and missed a turn on the trail. After waiting at a road bend for quite some time and seeing groups that we thought should have been coming after my Dad and Russell, we started back tracking.  I was halfway across a catwalk bridge when Russell pulled up in a taxi explaining what had happened and that he had a slight panic when nobody in the next town knew where we were.  Nonetheless, we had lunch at the Hydroelectric plant town and then continued hiking into Machu Picchu Poble for a solid 2 hours along train tracks.  This night we were staying in a hotel which meant taking very satisfying showers upon arrival! We ambled around the small town, I found a soccer field and watched a 7 year old boys practice which was thoroughly entertaining.  Everytime they scored in their scrimmage they celebrated as if they had just won the World Cup.  There was also a flea market where I was persuaded by a 7 year old Peruvian girl to get an Inca calendar ring from her mother's stand - she has future in the sales business.

Making coffee with the locals.

The top with Machu Picchu directly behind us.

The town of Machu Picchu in the valley (also known as Aguas Calientes).

The soccer field I found in the town.

July 5

We had an early wake up to get in an impressively long line to catch a bus up to the Machu Picchu ruins.  Luckily, we had awesome weather.  We were able to make it up there to watch the sun coming over the mountains to light up the city.  It's fascinating what they were able to build with zero technology.  After a guided tour of the ruins, we hiked up Huayna Picchu which was 600 meters straight upward.  The view was awesome though, well worth the climb.  If you have not made it to Machu Picchu yet, I highly suggest making it a top item on your bucket list.  You don't have to do any hiking to get there if you don't want to (can go by train). The ruins and the surrounding landscape are simply incredible.  After getting our I-L-L picture in, we headed back down to the town for lunch, followed by a train, followed by a bus ride which got us into Cusco for a late dinner.

Perfect weather day for our Machu Picchu tour!

Looking at Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu.

July 6

My dad took off this morning back for the homeland.  Doug and I had debated doing a Rainbow Mountain tour but once finding out we would have at to leave at 3am, decided against it.  So instead we lounged around and reconnected with the world of wifi.  I went for a run trying to find a soccer field for a potential pickup game but ended up going up a long flight of stairs for more great views of the city.  On my way back to the hostel, I stopped in a shop called the Meeting Place and had the best milkshake of my life - chocolate Oreo.  I was strongly tempted to get a second serving.  We lied low that evening, still recovering from all the trekking of the past few days.

The most delicious milkshake of my life.

July 7

Our flight to Rurrenabaque, Bolivia for our Pampas and Amazon tour was the next morning.  It was a one stop connection through the main city of La Paz.  When we got off the plane in La Paz, it was considerably colder - maybe 55 degrees. Our flight to Rurrenabaque was a treat.  We were in a very small passenger plane, maybe 20 total passengers.  We soared through the air feeling like we weren't going to make it over the massive mountains surrounding La Paz.  The highest peak there is close to 21,000 ft!  And then when we landed in Rurre, we could only laugh at the "airport".  It was more or less a small shack.

Massive mountains surrounding La Paz.

The "airport" in Rurre.

Jam packed into the plane.  Oh hey there pilots!

Tons of more pics on facebook if you want to see more!