Peru Round Up: Adventures Abound

Peru is a country that is blessed with a rich culinary world, breathtaking varied landscapes, and a complicated cultural history, with many sites of ancient ruin. The combination of all of these makes the country one of the top tour destinations in South America. We certainly enjoyed our time here. The following are the hits and misses that we had in Peru.

Hits

The Food
The food in Peru was fantastic. The adoption of techniques from around the world, combined with the freshness of ingredients created some wonderful culinary moments for us. From the ever powerful ceviche, to the intense Asian fusion flavours, to the fresh and ripe unique fruits, were coming out of Peru with many new cooking ideas to bring home.

Trujillo Day Tour
We had one day in Trujillo, and we spent it well. Even though we opted for the Spanish tour, and could only half understand what was going on, we had a great day. The tour was jam packed with good food, great ruins, and everything else in between. We saw a lovely sunset over the Pacific to end the day as well.

Huayhuash
This 8 day hike through the Andes was the most beautiful mountain landscapes we have ever seen. The journey was hard, but rewarding. Our group was fantastic. The landscapes, again, were near untouched natural beauty. An amazing week lost in the mountains.

Laguna Churup
The mountains around Huaraz are incredible everywhere you go, and this lagoon was no exception. The colour palate that this lagoon creates, from the intense blue of the water to the sedated greens and yellows of the vegetation, all on a grey and white glaciered background, made for possibly the most beautiful lake we have ever seen.

Surfing
Our teacher, Guillermo, was a beacon of positivity. We would leave every class exhausted, banged up by the ocean, but with big smiles on our faces. The ocean is a while different beast than the mountains, and we’re glad we got to experience it, even if we weren’t great at surfing.

Lima
Everything we head about this city was bad. It couldn’t have been more wrong. We found Miraflores to be clean and full of activity. The scenic views over the ocean were amazing. Each day featured incredible food. The history in the city was wonderful, and because of the size, there was so much to explore. This was the first city we visited that we could see ourselves living in.

Sandro’s Cooking Class
The best meal we had in Peru, and arguably on the trip, and arguably our lives, was made by Sandro for us in his apartment. The way he harmonized different flavors together to create a complete meal was amazing. The quinoa was incredible, the passionfruit ceviche had the right levels of everything. We learned so much from him, and had a very memorable meal.

Salkantay & Maccu Picchu
The 5 day hike to Maccu Picchu was a journey. It wasn’t easy, but you can’t get a better definition of feeling of accomplishment when you enter the ancient city for the first time, after walking 70km to get there.

Misses

The Food
We spent pretty much the entirety of Peru with some sort of stomach or appetite problem. We would constantly get mildly sick off of unwashed knives for cutting fruit, or toppings in a sandwich, or any sort of other bacteria that made its way onto our plate. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of restaurant health regulation, so everywhere we ate was eat at your own risk.

A lot of the catered meals that we got were not great as well. In Punta Hermosa we didn’t finish a few meals. The Indian food in general was not great. That could be expected though, as we are halfway across the planet.

Colca Canyon
Peru has a bit of an issue with over tourism, and nowhere else represents that better that Colca Canyon. It has a 5h bus ride to an underwhelming hike. But they break up that 5h bus ride with artificial stops like the condor lookout, where they have to feed the condors for them to show up, thus making the already endangered species more dependent on humans. Or the llama location where the animals are outnumbered by tour buses. The food offered wasn’t good at all. The trail was busy, and filled with people who had no business being on the trail due to their fitness. Overall it was a disappointing experience, with its only redeeming qualities being a couple of viewpoints.

Cusco
The city of Cusco on its own was a bit dirty and overtouristed. As a hub for day trips and adventures it’s location is fantastic, but the city itself was a miss. Constant interruptions by hawkers deny you any solitude. The attractions within the city are all very crowded as well.

Conclusions

Peru was a wonderful experience. The country is massive, and that size is felt within the culture differences between cities. Everywhere we went there was always something new to discover. The landscapes we witnessed were nothing short of amazing. Please enjoy some photo’s of our favorite moments in Peru!

Peru is a huge country. The 40 days that we spent there were not nearly enough time to explore everything. Here’s a list of other adventures that we would have like to done, but ran out of time. Itinerary for the next 40 days, lets call it.

Chachapoyas
Famous for the Kuelap Inca ruins, and Gocta Waterfall (3rd tallest in the world!).
More hikes in Huaraz
The Santa Cruz Trak, Pastouri Glacier, Laguna 513, among others. There is so much more there to explore.
Iquitos
A massive Amazon city. Lot’s of jungle to explore around here!
Ica
The base camp for the Isla’s Ballista’s (Peru’s Galapagos) and Huacachina (desert oasis), two common Peruvian tourist areas.
Nazca Lines
Some large ancient pictographs carved into the sand. Nobody knows why they were made, but they look cool from the air
Ayacucho
Some cool looking canyons in the area
Sacred Valley
Between Cusco and Maccu Picchu are many other Inca ruins, and a salt mine! There is a lot more in the area here
Asantunge
This 5 day hike includes Rainbow Mountain and the Red Valley. Another worthy adventure in Peru
Puerto Maldonado
Tambopata eco-lodge looks wonderful. A great place to animal watch in the amazon.