Peru – Adventure awaits.. (part 1)
There isn’t a person I know that doesn’t have Peru on their list of countries to visit and I was fortunate enough to have a friend join me on a last minute trip there. Our 2 week itinerary was haphazardly thrown together in under a month with neighboring Bolivia thrown into the mix. The main sights looked something like this and consisted of all manners of transportation:
Peru
- Lima
- Paracas
- Huachachina
- Ollantaytambo
- Machu Picchu
- Cusco
- Rainbow Mountain
Bolivia
- La Paz
- Uyuni Salt Flats
Transportation
To sum up the whirlwind of transportation options we went through; we flew into Lima > took a bus to Paracas > booked a Huachachina tour (and got stranded there > got a ride to an intercity bus > then took a taxi back to Paracas) > bus back to Lima for a flight to Cusco > taxi to Ollantaytambo > train to Aguas Caliente > bus up to Machu Picchu > train back to Ollantaytambo > taxi to Cusco > day tour to Rainbow Mountian > flight to La Paz > flight to Uyuni > 3 day jeep tour > flight back to Lima > flight back to NYC… crazy. This might need its own post.
Until then, onto Peru!
Lima
We flew into Lima, the capital of Peru, as our first stop. The city was not as crowded as I was expecting a capital city to be but that may have been because we were visiting during the off season.
Some of the main sights we visited in Lima are:
- The Plaza de Armas in the historic center
- The San Francisco Monastery
- Museo Larco
- Parque Kennedy in Miraflores
- Barranco district
- Larcomar shopping center
I’ll have to dig up some pictures to post for Lima but one that I vividly remember is this sandwich shop, La Lucha Sangucheria. Yes its stupid I know but it was really just that good. There’s 3 in Lima and we went to 2 of them. I’ll make it back to Lima one day to go to the last shop, you just wait and see.
Paracas
After Lima we took a bus to the beach town of Paracas. I was expecting a little more beach but sadly there was little sand to be found in the town itself. The resort provided us bikes and a lot of the days were spent riding around the town and waterfront. We had our fill of ceviche, lomo saltado, and Chicha Morada (purple corn drink) while here.We spent most of our time on excursions to the two main sites in Paracas:
- The Paracas National Reserve
- Ballestas Islands
The Paracas National Reserve
The Paracas National Reserve is probably the main reason we decided to make a detour to Paracas and it did not let us down one bit. We booked a tour and the driver picked us up in town and then drove us to the reserve. We then switched to ATV’s and were off! We rode for quite a while and took several stops to see that the ground was littered with seashells. The desert at one point was ocean and had receded leaving behind the shells. It was uncanny to see all the seashells so far inland in the desert and it felt like another world.
We kept riding to where the actual ocean now was and were greeted with one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. We started atop a plateau overlooking the sea and then rode down to a red sand beach. The landscape of this reserve is something that I’ll never forget.
Ballestas Islands
We booked a boat tour to the Ballestas Islands, which is the second main attraction in Paracas. These islands, nicknamed “The Poor Man’s Galapagos”, are a must see for those who love wildlife as there are many species of marine birds that call these islands home. You’ll also have a chance to see penguins, sea lions, and prehistoric geoglyphs dating back to 200 BC. “The Candelabro”, a huge geoglyph can easily be seen from the boat.
DT Tip: You’ll be in the sun for a while so make sure you have sun protection as there will be no shade.
Huachachina
One stop you may not want to miss in Peru is a trip to the sand dunes of Huachachina. Here you’ll ride a sand buggy roller coaster style through the desert, with a few stops to sand board down some dunes. I recommend taking the afternoon tour because you’ll most likely end with an amazing sunset. I wouldn’t say its magical but its definitely a nice bonus.
DT Tip: Word of caution, we booked a tour and although we were provided transportation to Huachachina we were NOT provided any transportation back to our hotel. This was not clearly communicated to us. Yes, we spoke no Spanish and we used a translator to book the tour but any booking agent should always put the safety of their customers first. I felt because of the language barrier and the pressure to make the sale, the agent just felt it was too much trouble to point out this little detail. So please please please make sure when you book this tour that you are provided transportation back or that the booking agent clearly provides you instructions on how to get back to your hotel.
Luckily we were rather chill about the incident and I found the whole mishap to be an adventure. And I can’t stress this enough, the Peruvian people we had contact with during our whole entire trip were kind and helpful in every way.
Next post Machu Picchu!