At long last, the 9th of August arrived! The three musketeers left Des Moines for 2 weeks of adventure in Peru! Connecting flights were really tight but thank God we made it without any problems. Jun even almost had to miss out on the entire trip because his flight home to Des Moines from Connecticut was delayed by a day! But....we made it :)
The 3 backpackers of sorts (from bottom)
U-Xinn,
Amy and
Jun!
We got into Peru at about 11.30 pm at night. We had reservations at a nearby hostel and were greeted by Dennis who welcomed us with a
picket!
Arrived at
Pay Purix Backpackers Hostel where we spent the night. Here’s a picture taken in front of the hostel (which was taken the next day).
The private room that we slept in for the night. It was pretty spacious but they did not have hot water at night so the shower was freezing cold.
Anyway, there was not much to do at night and so we chilled around a little enjoying the facilities a little before going to bed.
The next day, we had free breakfast at the hostel! We learned in the next few days that many
hostels in Peru serve breakfast for free, a treat we were not expecting. Eating my egg accompanied with freshly squeezed orange juice.
After breakfast, we took a cab to downtown
Lima. Our first stop was
Plaza de Armas. Known as Plaza Mayor in English, this is the main square in Lima. We only had half a day to walk around so we made full use of it.
The
Government Palace of Peru. Honestly don't know what it is for but it was a very pretty building and the guards change at noon everyday.
As we were strolling around taking pictures by this fountain, a group of
Peruvian school girls approached us and started speaking in rapid Spanish. Not knowing what to do, we took a picture with them! = )
After more sight seeing, we decided to visit the close by
China Town. Taking a customary picture in front of the arch. Wonder if they have the same 4 words as they did in San Francisco.
The restaurant that we had lunch in.
Roasted Duck and
Salted Chicken.
After lunch, we headed over to the bus station to catch our
bus to Cusco - the next destination city. The ride took about
22 hours but we opted for a good bus company that had "luxury" seats.
The buses were indeed comfy. Almost like first class on an airplane! The seats could recline about
90 degrees! Only
$53!
Day 3
22 hours later, at noon, we arrived in
Cusco -
ancient capital of the Incas.
Because we were starving, we immediately had lunch at a close by restaurant which was SO cheap! For
$2.17, we got the following:
Devil Egg looking appetizer.
Soup.
A
herbal drink.
Chicken rice entree.
And a dessert!
After lunch, we headed over to a travel agency to find out what else we could be doing.
We signed up for a city tour which brought us to ruins around Cusco.
Our first stop was the Temple of the Sun - Qorikancha.
Got to see up close the architecture of the Incas. I am still amazed at how they built buildings without any mortar or cement! It is pretty mind boggling!
The next stop was
Plaza de Armas, Cusco. Yes, this is a different plaza from the one in Lima although they have the same name. I later found out that Plaza de Armas means main square and a lot of cities have them!
After walking around and taking pictures, we left for our next destination -
Sacsayhuaman which used to be an Incan fortress.
How did they move around a rock so huge? There are only guesses even till today but nobody really knows!
More ruins. One thing to take note of is that you should definitely visit ruins like these with guides because they can explain the history and/or significance of these buildings. Or else, it really is only old rocks.
When we were leaving Sasquayhuman, we took a picture with
alpacas (which we later ate)!
=)
After that, we stopped at a few more places but I personally liked
Tambomachay the best.
Situated 3765 meters above sea level, it was a great way for us to get acclimatized to the altitude. I was honestly out of breath after a few steps on a slope!
Tambomachay used to be the rest point for weary travelers. But it is no wonder that they are tired! The route to Tambomachay was kinda steep and especially difficult for us who were a little out of shape. Haha.
We checked into our hostel for the evening -
Hospedaje Turistico Recoleta.
It was again a private room with our own bathroom which was kinda nice.
After washing up, we headed back to the Plaza de Armas for dinner. We found a semi-fancy restaurant by the square,
Papillon Restaurant.
I ordered
Alpaca Steak, something I have never had before. It tasted like regular steak except that it was a little tougher. The sauce was really good though.
Pisco Sour - a Peruvian alcoholic beverage. It is a must-try if you visit Peru.
Day 4
The next day we took a bus to yet another ruins.
The ride there was really nice. The scenery was gorgeous.
A few pictures of the ruins of
Pisac. It was actually a whole Incan village back in the days!
Our guide and our group !
More pictures of the ruins!
After that, we stopped at
Pisac market - a local crafts market. Shopped for little trinkets and bought a new (cowboy) hat!
After not having food the whole day, we finally stopped at
Inka's House for lunch!
It was a
Peruvian Buffet! Really exciting : )
Our final touristy stop was
Ollantaytambo. The last of our ruins visit before the biggest one of all!
Pictures at Ollantaytambo. It was still very hard for us to walk up those stairs because of the altitude. We got
tired SOOO easily -
especially Amy :p
We then got a ride to the train station where we took the train to
Aguas Calientes - the city by the foot hill of
Machu Picchu where we spent the night!
Day 5
The next morning, we woke up at
2.45am to get in line to wait for the bus (which only leaves at 6am). We already had our entrance tickets to Machu Picchu but we wanted to get the pass to hike up Wayna Picchu. Since there are only 200 passes for the 8am and 10am hikes respectively, we wanted to make sure that we got ours.
Even though we got on the first bus, there was already hardcore trekkers who were waiting in line at the
entrance of Machu Picchu. These people obviously did not wait for the bus but chose to hike up instead!
We're on the right track!
Yay! We got our
passes for 10 am!
Pictures of Machu Picchu, one of the
new 7 wonders of the world. Often referred to as "
The Lost City of the Incas", being there was a surreal experience. Definitely redefined the word '
breathtaking' for me.
After seeing enough of Machu Picchu, we took a break and got our
passports stamped with the Machu Picchu logo!
Finally, it was time for the big challenge - hiking up
Wayna Picchu!
The peak that we had to conquer. Remember that we were still not accustomed to the altitude yet so we degenerated into a
panting party with every few steps. Lol.
The treacherous hike.
Almost at the top when we stopped for a group picture.
And finally, we reached the peak! Taking a
well deserved break from all that walking.
Taking in all that Incan gorgeousness.
We made it down alive and proceeded to check out different areas of the Machu Picchu. Apparently, the government allows these
llamas to roam freely to eat up the grass. Still do not think I can tell the difference between a llama and an alpaca though.
One of my favorite postcard quality shots of
Machu Picchu. You can actually see
Wayna Picchu in the background too! Looks intimidating yes, but we hiked it : )
After all that amazingness, we took a train back to Cusco where we spent the night.
Checked into "
The Point" in a dormitory style co-ed bedroom. Only $7 per night!
Since we were hungry, we roamed around the streets of Cusco in search of food. We stumbled across this girl selling
assorted meat on a stick and opted to try some. I feel like this was the
start of my diarrhea for the remaining of my trip. Haha.
Since we were still hungry, we found a restaurant to dine in.
Inca Kola. Peru's favorite soft drink!
More
Peruvian food! Unfortunately, I don't remember their names. But it was a meat dish, a pasta and an egg dish.
Found yet another road side vendor selling
herbal drinks. Couldn't resist so I had to wash everything down with the
$0.30 drink.
Day 6
Today we left for Puno, the 3rd city of our trip. En route to Puno, we made a few stops at different places. However, I thought this to be the most boring day of our entire trip.
These few pictures sums up the entire day! Yup, it was that bad. The baby llama was so cute :)
Arrived in Puno in the evening where we checked into our hotel which was provided as part of our package.
"Downtown" Puno looking for food! Something funny was how all menu prices are ridiculously high. But when you tell the waiter (this is all before you sit down) that it is expensive, they whip up a
"tourist" menu which is much, much cheaper!
In the end, we found this fancy looking restaurant with a very affordable "tourist" menu. For a drink, an appetizer, and entree and a dessert, I had to pay
$5! Isn't that a steal? Anyhow, I ordered
Coca Tea as my choice of beverage. Speaking of Coca Tea, allow me to digress - Coca leaves are used to make
cocaine but they are 100% legal in Peru. The locals chew on coca leaves to help with
altitude sickness. Also, coca tea is a very common beverage in Peru. Honestly, it doesn't taste like anything crazy and you do not hallucinate after drinking it. It really is just tea!
Back to dinner, my appetizer -
wantan of some sort.
My
Alpaca Steak entree!
Finally, my
chocolate mousse dessert
Day 7
Today we visit islands on
Lake Titicaca! Lake Titicaca is located on the border of
Peru and
Bolivia, sitting 3812 meters above sea level. It is the
highest commercially navigable lake in the world and the
largest lake in South America! Boarding the boat.
Notice the plants on the side? They are known as
Reed and you will later find out how useful these plants are.
Our first stop was the
Floating Islands of Uros. These islands are
MAN MADE and people actually live on the islands.
We stopped at one of the islands where the man
demonstrated how the islands were constructed using Reed, the plant you saw earlier.
Reeds are very useful in that the people also
eat their roots.
A typical home on the Reed island. Thanks to tourism, these people can now afford electricity in the form of
solar panels which are safer for them than conventional electricity.
A better view of the surrounding Reed islands from the top of a watch tower.
After checking out the island, we opted for a ride in a
traditional boat, made of dried Reed.
Amy who lost balance and got her
whole foot wet. Lol.
Messing around on the boat!
And then taking a break and absorbing all that
Vitamin D.
Our next stop was
Taquile Island. The people on this island are excellent weavers! Also, we could see Bolivia in the background! Too bad we needed a visa to cross the borders!
Lunch was served on this island. This soup is made of
kinua - a local source of calcium. Apparently it replaces the nutrients a person would need from milk since the Incas did not have cows.
Fried Trout fresh from the waters around.
Following lunch, the locals put on a
dance performance for our group.
And of course, everyone got involved.
:)
The final island we visited was
Amantani Island where we spent the night with a local
Quechua family! As you can see, I am carrying
Amy the Strong's bag because she was out of breath
;)
Our cute
Peruvian family! It was SO difficult talking to them! They knew NO English and we spoke no Spanish or Quechua! But we survived.
We had a
candle light dinner because they did not have electricity! It was definitely a unique experience.
A dish really similar to fried rice. They eat really little, don't they?
After dinner,
Rufino, the father, dressed all of us up in traditional costumes. Here is Rufino trying to fit the
poncho on me.
The 3 of us looking very Peruvian.
The whole group that we came to the island with. There were people from all over - Spain, Colombia, UK, USA and France.
We attended a party that the locals threw for their guests.
Dancing with locals!
Day 8
The next morning, we were served some
Peruvian pancake for breakfast. And after breakfast, Jun and Amy opted to
go back to bed because they were not feeling well.
I opted to join the others in a scenic hike to one of the highest points on the island.
Views on the way up and down.
For lunch, we were served some weird looking adventurous food. At this point, we've all had
diarrhea for a while.
Unable to stomach the food but not wanting to let the family feel bad, we decided to pack the food
"to-go" (
tapao).
Jun looking victorious with his
bag of gold. Haha.
It was then time to head home to mainland Puno for the night.
During the trip, the American girl told us that
Peruvian Chinese food was really good. Also, we have been seeing a lot of "
Chifa" restaurants around and later found out that it means Fried Rice. Since we had a craving for Chinese food, guess where we ended up for dinner??
Day 9
The next day, we left Puno and traveled back to Cusco for the night. Upon arrival we checked into our
Pirwa Backpackers.
It was another co-ed dorm styled room at $7 per night!
Feeling hungry, we went searching for food! Ended up at this restaurant by the square which served a
local delicacy :) As Jun put it, "
Lookin' delicious". Lol.
The highlight of the meal -
Cuy/Guinea Pig!!
Honestly, it tasted like chicken with rubber skin.
Amy effortlessly looking like the
dead guinea pig. Lol. Must be long lost twins.
We ordered a local drink called "
Chica Morada" which is fermented purple corn. It tasted pretty good!
I think this was
Papas Relleno. Some sort of potato with filling.
At night, we watched a
cultural performance. It was not really exciting but ...
... I think the hostess was the
prettiest Peruvian I saw in the entire trip!
After being bored of all that dancing, we decided to do something else. Jun was still feeling sick so he chose to go back to the hostel to sleep. Given that this was our last night in Cusco, Amy and I wanted to check out the night scene - and so we did !
Inka Team!
Amy and I
practicing our Spanish with our
Peruvian friends!
Day 10
After all the adventurous gastronomical delights yesterday, we decided that we wanted something familiar today. So we stopped at good ol'
McDonald's!
Quadaro something which I suspect was a
Quarter pounder=)
After lunch, we braced ourselves for the 22 hour bus ride back to Lima. Bye Cusco!
Day 11
Our final destination of the trip was actually Miraflores, the 'uptown' district of Lima. Upon checking into our hostel, we decided to hop right into action and we did ......
..... PARAGLIDING!!!
Getting ready for
take-off.
And I am off the ground!
Views from
above!
Amy and
Jun!
A random lady taking a
picture of me from the ground.
The
landing process!
The guy who took us up.
After all that adrenaline rush, we decided to have lunch at a restaurant recommended by the owner of the hostel. There, we got to try
Ceviche - the dish Lima is famous for. Ceviche is basically raw fish "cooked" in lime. It actually tasted like sushi to me (which I liked) so I give it a thumbs up!
More
Chica Morada.
And more
Pisco Sour.
A beef dish whose name I forgot.
And
Octopus! It was really, really delicious!
=)
We then went to the famous shopping mall of Miraflores called
Larcoma. It was very "American" and stuff there were really pricey.
Peruvian bar to end the night!
Day 12
Our last day in Peru, we decided to take things easy. First stop was brunch to kick start the day.
Tried a different type of
Ceviche.
Deep fried seafood.
And a
Saucy Seafood dish.
After lunch, we went for a
Bike Tour of Miraflores!
Several pictures taken along the way.
The famous
kissing statue of Miraflores in
Lover's Park.
Some roadside food that we wanted try for fun!
And finally we got dinner at a
Peruvian fastfood . The burgers were actually pretty good!
As all good things must come to an end, so did our Peruvian escapade. I am sure I speak for everyone (who went on the trip) that we all had a great time! I am personally looking forward to more
South American adventures :)
Random fact: I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays!!
