Since my flight arrives at night, I take it easy when I arrive in Lima. I stroll along the promenade of the very modern and beautiful district of Miraflores and browse through the local shopping center.
In the evening, I meet the very nice new group for the journey to Buenos Aires 😊
Lima
The next morning, we continue to Paracas for one night and then to Nazca with a stopover in Huacachina, an oasis in the middle of the Peruvian desert, for sandboarding. In the evening, we get a glimpse of the Nazca Lines at sunset.
Huacachina Huacachina HuacachinaNazca LinesSunset in Nazca
The next day, I use the time to visit the Pre-Inca cemetery of Chauchilla before taking the overnight bus to Arequipa.
Pre-Inca cemetery of ChauchillaPre-Inca cemetery of Chauchilla
In Arequipa ("the white city") I fall in love immediately, such a cute city at over 2,300 m 😍. After a city tour, I visit the Santa Catalina Monastery. In the past, the second-born of wealthy Spanish families used to live there before Pope Pius IX sent a nun to reform the monastery and gave the nuns the choice to either live in the convent or leave the monastery. 🤓
Santa Catalina Monastery, ArequipaSanta Catalina Monastery, ArequipaArequipaArequipa
From Arequipa, we continue over the Andes to Chivay, where we stop at a viewpoint at almost 5,000 m. My dizziness confirmed the low oxygen level. We also see countless alpacas and llamas.
Chivay
The next day, we visit the Colca Canyon, which is much larger than the Grand Canyon. We enjoy the time at the so-called Condor Cross to observe the large birds with a wingspan of 2-3 m, using the thermal wind at the edge of the canyon.
Colca CanyonCondorCondorColca Canyon
Colca Canyon
From Chivay, we then return to Arequipa for a leisurely afternoon before taking the overnight bus to Cusco. In Cusco, we stroll through the city and various markets and gear up for the Inca Trail with coca sweets and gloves. We also visit nearby terraced salt flats in the Secret Valley (sacred valley of the Urubamba River).
In Ollantaytambo, we use the afternoon before starting the four-day hike for a small warm-up exercise at the viewpoint.
Ollantaytambo
And then the day has come and we start the Inca Trail at kilometer 82, which means a total of 45 km in four days to Machu Picchu through the Andes. We had 13 two guides and 30 porters who carried our luggage as well as tents, tables, chairs, and food for us along the way, and they were always much faster than us and did it all without multifunctional clothing and in sandals. 😳 Along the way, we pass by beautiful Inca ruins and have breathtaking landscapes. Day 2 is very challenging as we cross the Dead Woman's Pass, the highest point of the Inca Trail at 4,215 m (1,800 m higher than Machu Picchu itself). Day 3 leads through the rainforest and is the longest in terms of distance with 17 km. Then, we have to get up at three in the morning for Machu Picchu. The gate opens at 5:30 am and we hike the last 6 km during a beautiful sunrise to the Sun Gate. When we arrive there, unfortunately, there is a complete wall of fog and we can only guess the first glimpse of Machu Picchu, but we can't enjoy it. So, we continue on our way to Machu Picchu for another 45 minutes and take part in a guided tour of the Inca site. Later in the morning, the fog clears up and we can see the complete extent. All in all, it was a successful four days with great weather (rain only at night), delicious food, physical challenges, and great views over the Andes. Following the motto "The journey is the reward," I liked the Inca Trail better and had more fun than the overcrowded Machu Picchu. We were all exhausted and after returning to Cusco in the evening and taking a long-awaited shower, we ordered pizza and slipped into comfortable beds.
I use another day in Cusco to visit the chocolate museum and make my own chocolate. 🍫 😍
Then, I continue to Puno and from there to Lake Titicaca, the largest freshwater lake in South America (15.5 times the size of Lake Constance), located at 3,812 m. We visit one of the 42 man-made floating islands and spend the night with a host family. In the morning, we spend time herding the sheep to pasture and playing with the younger of the nine children. Back in Puno, we enjoy the last evening in Peru before continuing to Bolivia.
