Peru - a conclusion

In Peru, due to recent events, we traveled around for only about 2.5 weeks instead of the planned month. Unfortunately, we had to skip Lima and the northern part of Peru. However, this last country of our trip also deserves a final post:

Favorite place / city

Tim: Arequipa with a beautiful small city center and a good bar and restaurant scene

Tabea: Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley - a very small, peaceful place in the historic part of Peru.

Best accommodation

Tim: Selina Hostel in Arequipa, nice and well-kept property with a garden and outdoor pool

Tabea: Selina Hostel in Arequipa, because everything was just right here.

Best restaurant / café

Tim: Buda Profano, a small vegan restaurant in Arequipa. After sometimes monotonous food (at least for vegetarians) in South America, there was some variety and interesting and delicious dishes here

Tabea: Green Point in Cusco

Favorite local dishes / snacks / drinks

Tim: Queso helado, an ice cream with a slight cheese flavor (although there is no cheese in it) from Arequipa. The combination sounds strange, but it surprisingly tastes really good, especially after a long stretch without decent cheese

Tabea: Chilcano! This is a cocktail made with ginger ale, lemon and pisco, which I honestly prefer over a pisco sour.

Coolest nature experience

Tim: Our hike through the Colca Canyon with various landscapes as far as the eye can see and few other tourists

Tabea: Everything we were able to experience at and around the Colca Canyon/the Colca Valley was just wonderful.

Most beautiful overall experience

Tim: The visit to Machu Picchu impressed me deeply. This Inca village in the middle of a hill, surrounded by other mountains and jungle, offers simply beautiful views

Tabea: Observing the clouds on the mountain Wayna Picchu, drifting over the Inca village of Machu Picchu like misty clouds.

What surprised me

Tim: How much tourism in Peru differs from the other countries we visited. Everything here seems to be much more geared towards tourism from the first glance, which has both good sides (e.g. organization of tours and attractions) and bad sides (e.g. prices and perceived "tourist rip-offs").

Tabea: I did not expect the culinary diversity and great quality of gastronomy in Peru at all.

The people in Peru are...

Tim: In my opinion, they are quite distant from tourists. They were mostly friendly towards us, but it was difficult to interact with them.

Tabea: More distant towards travelers than in other parts of South America. Unfortunately, you often get the impression that they either don't want to talk to you at all or only want to get money from you.

Peru is...

Tim: a country with incredibly many major tourist highlights that can be easily traveled and is well prepared for tourists from all over the world.

Tabea: Overall, a very poor country with many problems, which has partially developed tourism to perfection in certain areas. A very fascinating contrast.

A thought on traveling from the time in Peru

Tim: Similar to all of South America, the bus network works excellently, although there are noticeable differences in quality, especially compared to Chile. Maybe it was just bad luck, but the fact that our bus broke down on the first trip in Peru didn't really inspire confidence...

Tabea: Through guided tours, you can get to know other travelers and immerse yourself in different lifeworlds through conversations. Especially after traveling mainly as a couple for two months, this was a great change of pace.