Peru - from glaciers to deserts

Video about my trips in Peru in 2016/2017

Peru is one of the most diverse countries I’ve ever been to. Glaciers, jungles, and deserts are only a few hours away. Peru is also famous for its delicious food.

Peru is divided into 3 major zones:

• Costa (Coast): The coast of Peru is full of beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, the water is very cold, due to the Humboldt Current, a cold current that comes from Antarctica. It only gets warm when you arrive in Mancora, almost at the northern border with Ecuador. But for surfing most of the beaches are perfect!
• Sierra (mountains = the Andes): the mountains are between the coast and the jungle. There are very nice places to visit, like Cusco, Huaraz, Arequipa, and Puno/Lake Titicaca.
• Selva (jungle): the jungle is in the Northeast on the border to Brazil. I didn’t have the time to visit the Selva, because I spent a lot of time in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia, but it’s still on my list. Some nice spots are Iquitos, Puerto Maldonado and Oxapampa.

Lima is the capital of Peru and is located on the coast. I lived here for one year. I would recommend staying 3 days in Lima to see everything. For me, it’s an amazing city! It’s super huge but still very green with a lot of small parks. I really love this city!

Things to do in Lima:

• work out at the Malecón: Lima is actually built on a "cliff". You have to imagine the Pacific Ocean, then a little beach, then a big street for cars and then a cliff which goes 100m up. On this cliff, the city begins. The Malecón is a place with green parks and sports trails directly on the cliff near the ocean, where you can work out or just relax.
• watch the sunset at the Malecón: my favorite activity in Lima. You can get some snacks and sit at the Malecón and watch the sunset. Sunsets in Lima are beautiful.
• visit the “Parque de las Aguas” (waterpark): This amazing water park has a lot of fountains with different colors and music. There is even one fountain where they make a show of Peru
• visit the historical city center: the city center has a lot of big nice buildings and also shops for souvenirs. If you want to buy souvenirs buy them in the city center and not in Miraflores or Barranco (because they are 3 times more expensive there).
• have a walk through Barranco and visit the "Puente de los Suspiros": Barranco is an alternative quarter located directly on the Malecón. You can walk around (there is so much street art) and visit the famous bridge "Puente de los Suspiros". 
• go shopping at Gamarra: Gamarra is a place that you will never forget in your life. There are so many shopping malls and you can get everything here - from shoes to clothes, and underwear. The clothes are usually very cheap but be careful with your stuff. Due to the crowds of people, you can easily get robbed. Maybe you should go with a local the first time. The place can be dangerous although, in my opinion, it’s not (I went there several times, also alone and without a cellphone, and nothing happened.)
• surf in the Pacific Ocean: the beach in Lima is not a beach for sunbathing, because it’s made of rocks. But it’s amazing for surfing. There are a lot of surfing schools that will also rent equipment to you.

Trujillo is located in La Libertad, 9 hours by bus from Lima. I recommend taking the bus overnight. In Trujillo, you can visit a lot of different sights from very different cultures that lived in this area before the Inkas. Some examples are the “Huaca del Sol”, “Huaca de la Luna” and “ChanChan”, which is a world heritage site. There are tours offered at the “Plaza de las Armas” (main plaza) which take you on a day tour to see all of the sights. We took a tour like that and it was perfect.

We went to Ica by bus from Lima (5 hours). Then we slept there at a hostel and visited the city the next day. We also took a tour and learned how “pisco” (the Peruvian national alcohol) is made. We were also able to try pisco several times, so we were kind of dizzy already at noon but it was so funny!

From Ica we went to Huacachina in the afternoon. Huacachina is an oasis in the desert. As far as you watch you will only see sand. This was totally crazy because I didn’t expect that in Peru. It was my first time in a desert for me. We rented a hostel, which was a little bit expensive, but which included a tour through the desert in a buggy. To be honest, I was a little scared, but nothing happened. We also did sand surfing. That was funny! Unfortunately, I got pleurisy on my rips after that :( 

Huaraz is located in the Ancash region in the Andes. Fortunately, we took the bus from Lima at night (8 hours), so I couldn't see the steep slopes, I was just sleeping. We arrived in Huaraz at 6 am. After we had breakfast we went to the "Pastorouri glacier" at an altitude of 5,200 m (the highest point in Europe is Mont Blanc with an altitude of 4,800m - so we were higher than all of Europe). The glacier could be visited earlier, but no longer today. You can only see it from afar. In a few years, it will likely no longer exist. It was incredibly cold and I wasn't prepared at all (I only had a light jacket and thin pants). So if you go to Huaraz – bring winter clothes. In addition, at this altitude, you already notice that breathing and walking are getting difficult. There are coca leaves or coca candies everywhere (these are from the coca plant, but they have nothing to do with cocaine because they are processed in another way). The coca leaves are used against headaches and what Peruvians call "mal de altura" (altitude sickness). Unfortunately, I got this, and let me tell you that it’s not funny at all. I never had a headache like that in my life. I didn't want to eat anything anymore, just sleep.

The next day we had our big tour of the famous Laguna 69. At 4 am we had to get up and get on a bus for 3 hours. Then we were dropped off at Laguna Yanganuco. It was a very beautiful green-turquoise lagoon, but the more beautiful lagoon was still waiting for us. Then around 9 am, we arrived at the parking lot. The guide told us we had 6 hours to walk to the Laguna and get back. This is actually enough time. So we walked 3 hours up and down until we finally arrived at Laguna 69. The lagoon is beautiful - blue and surrounded by glaciers. We strengthened ourselves a little there and then walked back. It’s crazy that we drove 6 hours and walked another 6 hours on that day just to see this lagoon for like 30 minutes! But it was totally worth it.

On the last day, we went to thermal water and chilled for a bit. Then we went back to Lima. The drive was pretty exhausting because this time I didn't sleep, but saw the mountains and slopes over which the driver crashed at a very good speed. I am glad nothing happened. 

Cusco is a city in the Andes at an altitude of 3,400m. From my trip to Huaraz, I knew about the “mal de altura” and that’s why I had already eaten coca candies before entering the plane. In Cusco, you can visit the city (which is kind of the capital of the Inka empire) and do a lot of day tours to different super cool places around the city. I wanted to do two tours:

• Montaña de los 7 colores (Vinicunca, Rainbow Mountain): This mountain of 5,200m is very colorful and really looks like a rainbow. It’s hard to get up because you have to walk a bit – but it’s totally worth it
• Laguna Humantay: this is a beautiful lagoon with blue water

Unfortunately, both tours got canceled due to some protests. Anyway, I hope I will be back soon to do these tours. From Cusco, you can easily get to Machu Picchu.

There are several ways to get to Machu Picchu. You can hike there on a 3-5-day trip or get a bus and sleep somewhere nearby. I took the “most tourist” one (also the most expensive) because I didn’t have too much time. The train leaves from Ollantaytambo, where you can get easily by bus from Cusco. There you take the train to Aguascalientes (the village from which you can get to Machu Picchu). The train takes 2 hours but is super expensive (like 60$). I slept at a hostel in Aguascalientes and went to Machu Picchu really early in the morning (which I recommend). To get from Aguascalientes to Machu Picchu you have two choices:

• you can take a bus (a bus drive of 30 minutes, but you may have to wait really long because the queue for the bus is endless!!!)
• you can walk (2 hours) for 800m of altitude

I actually wanted to take the bus, but there were too many people (at least 1.000) that it would take me hours to wait (Due to the protests Machu Picchu had been closed for 3 days and this was the first day it was opening again. So it was really crowded). I decided to walk at 6 am – which was a great decision in the end. It took me 2 hours and it would have been the same time with waiting + bus drive. I would really recommend walking. I joined a group of Paraguayans who were also walking. It was very nice to walk up, suddenly you could see Huayna Picchu (the famous mountain of Machu Picchu) from the side and also the sun rising over it. I spent at least 3 hours or more in Machu Picchu – there were many cute Lamas :D Then I went back to Aguascalientes by bus this time (30 minutes). From there I took the train back to Cusco and stayed some days at a friend's house in Paucartambo (a village near Cusco where they were celebrating a traditional festivity). I really enjoyed Cusco, especially because it was the first time I was traveling completely alone.

For information on Peruvian traditions, food and celebrations click here