LIMA

We left San Francisco early to catch a 5 hour flight to Florida where we had a short layover before catching another 5 hour flight to Lima. The most exciting thing about our day of flying was when we got to watch the sunset from the plane, pretty cool experience. We arrived really late so we headed straight to our hostel to get some sleep.

We stayed slightly outside of the city of Lima which meant we needed to catch buses in and out of the centre. The owner of the hostel was super friendly and spoke amazing English so was able to help us work out the bus system. I mention that she spoke good English because NO ONE speaks English. Yeah, I know its pretty arrogant to expect everyone to speak English but after 3 and a bit months of being in English speaking countries and another 4 months before that in countries that communicated a lot in English it was strange to be somewhere where it wasn’t common. Neither me or Ryan can speak a word of Spanish which meant a lot of google translate and pointing at pictures. I can honestly say that the Peruvian people are so nice, they are so patient with out incompetence and even try and use the little English then know to help us.

Our first full day in Lima we explored the Government Palace getting to watch the changing of the guard which is a lot more funky then the English one. A live band and a little bit of a dance routine to liven it all up. We strolled around the central plaza stopping off to have some food (again experiencing the extremely kind Peruvian nature), we also got a shock when we paid – we have been so used to American prices that when the total bill was £8 we thought something must be wrong. We then headed to the San Francisco Basilica where we joined a tour around the church and into the catacombs below. It was so cool and pretty eerie to stroll around the crypts and see all the bones that have been discovered there. Another exciting thing about out tour was that Dev from Coronation Street was in our tour group! My mum would be so jel.

The next day we took the slightly longer bus journey to see Miraflores which is right on the coast so you get great cliff side views over the sea and the surfers below. We walked along the coast though ‘the love park’ and the various gardens. There are these beautiful mosaic murals that run along the side of the cliff edge. Miraflores seems to be the more developed part of the city with plenty of business and tourists in the area.

HUACACHINA, ICA

Our last day in Lima we had an early start to catch a bus at 8:30am. We took a taxi through the morning rush hour – the driving skills are just as crazy as south east Asia in this part of the world. We had a 4 and half hour bus journey to Ica. The Peruvian bus companies but the British bus companies to shame! We paid around £8 for our bus ticket which included snacks and drinks throughout our journey and individual TV screens to watch movies on – of course they were all in Spanish, but that’s not the point.

Once we arrived in Ica we caught a taxi for the 10min drive to Huacachina. Huacachina is amazing. We had seen pictures of this desert town and it was exactly that. The town is basically in the valley of massive sand dunes that act as huge walls around all the buildings. Its also reallllyyyy small and can walk around the whole thing in 10 minuets. Of course there are plenty of backpackers passing through which means plenty of cheap accommodation and restaurants. Perfect little town.

Our first day in Huacachina was spent exploring the sand dunes. We started our morning off with a hike up to the top. It was sooo much hard work, hiking is hard at the best of times but try walking up soft sand that collapses under your feet. Needless to say we stopped off a few times but were happy with our efforts once we made it to the top. You get great views over the little town and also into the far distance you can just seem miles and miles of sand dunes. Walking down from the dunes took a tenth of the time it did to walk up because we basically ran uncontrollably down the sides. We spent the early afternoon grabbing lunch and chilling in the town.

The same evening we took a sand buggy tour into the depths of the dunes. Its crazy how far they go. The sand buggy experience was insane, we were all screaming for our lives and then laughing when we realised we were safe. We stopped off a couple of times to get some pictures and do a bit of sandboarding. Now me and Ryan had done some sandboarding in Australia so we were pros…. not. Clearly these sand dunes are a lot more steep which meant we both fell off – it was so much fun. Of course sand went everywhere and we will be finding sand for weeks. We even got to watch the sunset from the top of the dunes which was an amazing sight to see. Such a highlight and a must do if you ever come to Peru.

In contrast to our action packed day, our next day was way more relaxed. Huacachina is the prefect little town to chill in the sun, drinking beer and listening to music that is being played by a nearby restaurant. We spent the day organising our onward transportation and soaking up the Peruvian sun. Once it got dark enough we took another hike up the sand dunes – just as hard as the previous day – to get views of the town lit up at night. It looks even smaller at night. Also if you walk high enough and turn away from the light of the town you are in complete darkness so you can star gaze for a little while before it gets too cold and you half run the way back down.

AREQUIPA

Okay so I lied, our 12 hour journey turned into 13 hours but it wasn’t so bad because our seats fully reclined so we could sleep the whole night. We even got dinner, breakfast and drinks on our coach journey included in the bus ticket which was cool.

Arequipa is a quaint little town with cobbled streets and beautiful arcitecture. Its surrounded by mountains and volcanos that are full of history. Once we had checked into our hostel we went for a wander around the streets. We headed to the main plaza which was only a few blocks away and were lucky enough to catch the end of a parade. Not really sure what it was for but there were lots of traditonal dancers and music playing in the square. We hung around to see a few groups pass before we headed to the Santuario Andino museum. We hopped on a english guided tour around the mesuem which holds artifacts that were found on top of the near by mountain from the 1400’s. The interesting this is that all these artifacts were found with mummified bodies which were presumably sacrificed to the mountain Gods. We learnt about the Inca history before getting to see the preserved mummy of Jaunita, the most intact of all the bodies recovered from the Inca period. It was a shocking sight to see but obviously really cool. Highly recommend a visit and for a couple of pounds it is so worth it.

Our next day started with a ‘bean to bar’ make your own chocolate class. We were lucky enough to be staying across the street from the cafe and shop that offers this class so when we saw it we knew we had to do it. We learnt a lot about the South American orgion of the cacao beans and all about the process on how to make REAL chocolate. We saw everything from the cacao bean fruit to the actual mixing of the chocolate. We taste tested varities of real and fake chocolates in a sort of quiz (best quiz ever). We also got to create our own organic chocolate using different ingrediants to spice (literally) it up a little. The morning was such a highlight for obvious reasons but also because our teacher was full of energy, he really made it an enjoyable couple of hours.

After lunch we headed to Mundo Alpaca (Alpaca World) which has live alpacas strolling around. The exhit guides you through the wool process and even get to see Peruvian ladies making the wool into beauitful designs. Its a free attraction and an interesting stop off. We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the market stalls and enjoying the views of the mountains from the city.

PUNO

Another 7 hour coach journey meant another early start. The majority of our day was spent on a coach either sleeping, eating or checking out the view. On the way to our next destination we saw wild alpacas, llamas and flamingos which were all pretty cool and something you have to go to the zoo to see in England.

Puno is approxiamitly 12,300 ft above sea level which means its bloody high. We both suffered from common symtoms of altitude sickness the whole time we were in Puno with syptoms varing in strength. It pretty much knocked us out for our first evening but we made the effort to do a day trip of Lake Titicaca the next day – another early start.

Lake Titicaca is huge. It boarders Peru and Bolivia and is the second largest lake in South America. It is also the highest navigatable lake in the world at over 12,000 ft. It a surreal feeling to be on a lake that you have to keep reminding yourself is not the sea. You also get great views of the Southern Andes peaking through with their snow capped tops.

The day took us to visit Uros communties that live on the lake. They are unique in their lifestyle as they live on floating reeve islands. There are 92 islands which hold 3-9 families per island. We visited one of these communties where they taught us about their life and how they use the floating reeves to make anything they could possibly need. It was an interesting start to the day and an extreme contrast to our daily lives.

We then headed to the biggest land island on Lake Titicaca called Tequile. Once we docked we had to walk the tough road up to the top of the island which at such a high altitude was a challenge. Once we made it to the main plaza we had some free times to wander around and enjoy the views before we were taken for lunch. I had trout (! – I’m not a fish person) and it was sooooo good. We then learned about the communities that lived here and how they surrvive off what they grow, catch and make. The people of Tequile have an exceptionally long life expectancy with most people living past 100 – we were told they usually only eat meat on important occasions.

We finished our day with a 2km walk back to the our boat that was thankfully downhill! It was a tiring day and with the strength of the sun being stronger due to the altitude we were exhausted.

CUSCO

After our flying visit to Puno we then caught another 7 hour coach journey (another early start) to Cusco. Cusco is slightly lower then Puno but is still ridiculously high (over 11,000 ft) so we made a consious effort to battle our altitude sickness buying tablets and drinking cooca tea. Cocoa leaves are a remedy recommended by the locals to help with the altitude, you can chew the leaves or drink them in a tea. Cocoa leaves is what is used to make cocaine but do not have any similar effects.

We spent our few days in Cusco checking out the Plaza del Armas and the markets that are scattered across the city. We also spent a lot of time relaxing as we knew what we were about to go through was going to need all our energy.

We also managed to find Paddy’s Irish Bar which apprently is the highest 100% irish owned pub in the world which is pretty cool.

INCA TRAIL TO MACHU PICCHU

After our few days hanging out in Cusco city we joined our G Adventures tour to start the trek to Machu Picchu. Our first day was just a talk through orientation of what to expect and what to bring. We met the people we would be spending the next 5 days with and packed our bags to take on the infamous hike.

Our first day on the tour we left Cusco city and headed to the Sacred Valleys of the Inca’s. We had plenty of stop off’s at ruins and history lessons learning about the Inca culture. We were brought to the G Adventures Womans Project where we learned about how they make knitwear using alpaca wool and all the ways they naturally dye it. We ended our day in the small town of Ollaytatambo where we checked into a hotel to get our last night of luxury before our early start the next day.

We left Ollaytatambo just as the sun was rising and took a short bus journey to kilometre 82 – the start of the Inca trail. DAY 1 was straight forward enough and we had plenty of stops for us to get used to the trek. Nothing too strenuous. We started to experience the scenery we would be seeing for the next few days when we arrived at our lunch spot.

If you don’t already know how the Inca trail works when you are part of an organised tour then you should know that we are extremely lucky and all our belongings are carried by the amazing porters. These men who range from age 18-60+ manage to take on between 20-30kg and tackle the Inca trail at full speed. They run ahead of the group and set up our campsite for the night, prepare all our meals and basically take care of everything. I have no idea how they do it – we were all convinced they are from another planet.

We were served an amazing three course meal which consisted of a noodle soup starter, battered trout and rice for main and jelly dessert before we headed off for the second part of our day. Looking back on it, it was an easy enough day or as our guide would say ‘a peice of cake’. We arrived at our campsite just as it started to rain and were given bowls of warm water to wash up just before dinner.

Now, we were warned about DAY 2 and we all agreed it was the hardest day. We woke around 5am to start a 5 hour uphill trek. When I say uphill I mean STEEP uphill steps which increase to a ridiculous altitude. Of course you can stop whenever you like and there are a couple of snack breaks along the way but it is relentless. Without doubt the hardest part of the 4 day trek. Our hard work paid off and we made it to the highest point on the trek – Dead Womans Pass. At over 4,200m above sea level it made breathing hard and plenty of people said they felt sick. It’s a constant battle throughout the Inca trail – the altitude – so even the fittest person in the world would be effected. At the top of the pass we witnessed crazy good 360 views and appreciated how far we had come. We were all excited for the downhill however we weren’t warned about the knee breaking steps that caused agony the whole way down, still way better then uphill.

We arrived at the camp at 1:30pm due to the early start and were welcomed by the generous claps from the porters – something that became an undeserved habit seeing as they were the ones that deserved the claps. We had our amazing lunch and headed for a siesta before being woken up for ‘happy hour’ which were cups of coffee, tea and hot chocolate served with biscuits. We were so well looked after, it’s a joke. Early dinner and then to bed before 8pm in order to get a full 9 hours before our next full day.

Another early wake up call with our daily coca tea served by the porters for DAY 3 of our hike which happened to be the longest, a total of 9 hours covering 16km. However, it was probably the best day of the trek. The whole day was filled with amazing scenery which varied from the jungle bush to the cloud forest. For lunch we stopped in the middle of the cloud forest to basically have lunch in a cloud – pretty cool experience. As this was our last lunch with the porters they surprised us with a freshly baked cake. Keeping in mind EVERYTHING is cooked on a gas stove in a pop up tent that is carried the whole way on the Inca trail. These porters and chefs are magic. It was such a nice treat

The second part of Day 3 was filled with more Incan sites where our guides spoke about all the history of the Incan period learning what each site was used for and all about their culture. Day 3 was by far the most beautiful with views that a camera lens does not do justice to. I can’t explain what an amazing feeling it was to have achieved what we had so far and being where we were reflected our hard work. Our last campsite was shared with all the other hikers right by the check point for the next morning. Just a little info – there are only 200 tourists who walk the Inca trail a day and there are an additional 300 porters who hike it too.

We were all in bed by 7pm so we were ready for our 3am wake up call where we all rushed to get ready and head down to the check point to wait in line for 2 hours. The reason we got up so early is so that we could be one of the first groups to go through the check point – it also meant we had a covered seat for the two hour wait. Once the check point opened it was a bit of a stampeed to Sun Gate- the first place we would be able to see Machu Picchuu. It was a total of an hour and half remaining before we hit Sun Gate which combined rolling flats and steep up hill inclines. Let me just say – our group was crazy, we decided we would run and be the first group to be at Sun Gate where we got a climpse of Machu Picchu through the low hanging clouds.

Once we took our obligatory pictures before heading the last little bit down to the site. It was such an amazing feeling to have made it. We were both so proud of ourselves, such an achievement we will remember for the rest of our lives. We were given a guided tour before being let loose to explore ourselves. Sooooooo a 3am start means very tired travellers so we did our best to appreciate where we were. Once we had done our fair share of looking around we caught the regular bus back to Aguascalientes where we met up with the rest of the group for our final lunch together. We all then boarded a train to Ollaytatambo where we caught a coach back to Cusco. The ending to our tour.

I can without doubt say that the Inca trail was by far the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. Me and Ryan had done NO training in our 8 months travelling but even the fittest people on our tour struggled due to the altittue and the unforgiving mountains. We were so lucky to have such a fun group – SEXY NO NUTS – which made the 4 days that little bit better keeping the mood light and always having a laugh. We achieved something incredible together so it was surreal to say goodbye to everyone at the end. Thankful to our guides who kept the PMA up.

Needless to say my legs still hurt from our amazing trek but I wouldn’t change a thing. So so proud. Not sure I would ever do it again but definetly something off the bucket list done.