South America: Amazing Peru

My trip in South America is among the most memorable ever made. 

We backpacked in Peru, Chile and Bolivia for almost one month. We traveled by bus, colectivo (small local minibuses), train and boat. Always with locals. 

Many times we bought bus tickets from dodgy guys in the street that approached us with a sweet deal. And in the end we thought, OMG this will not work. Surprisingly it worked... Always. The only thing that didn't work was the bus class, "- Bus for tourists, no locals! Very comfy, lots of space"... Turns out it was the crappiest bus ever, very old, falling apart and crowded with locals trying to smuggle galletas and candies, avoiding custom duty.

Oh boy, that was something! But no regrets, now we have stories to tell. 

It was very easy for us to travel in Peru, we speak the language and we love the food. And the landscapes are breath taking. 

I would avoid to spend more than 24h in Lima. The capital doesn't have anything to see, it's very polluted and not particularly interesting. The nicest thing there was an exhibition about the Sendero Luminoso in the Museo de La Nacion. We learned more about Peruvian contemporary History. And that was useful to understand better the country and people. We also had a great dinner in Miraflores with a dear peruvian friend.

I recommend other areas like Canon del Coca, Cusco or Arequipa. All of them are nice.

Machu Pichu is a must see. But that you already know. What you need to know is that the closest city to the site, Aguas Calientes is a tourist trap. A shabby town full of crappy hostels and "wanna be western" restaurants. Other relevant info is that you'll need a very efective repellent and maybe consider pants instead of shorts. A little bit of my legs was showing and these damn bugs ate everything they could... 50 blisters in a 5-8cm space in each leg!

When we were crossing the border from Chile to Argentina we met two travelers that went there before and they had their legs covered by huge mosquito bites. I have to say that my first thought was, "how naif to come to South America without a repellent". But these mosquitos are tough and pesticide is a stroll in the park for them. Try citronella oil. 

If you are planning to go to Waynna Picchu you have to wake up very early in the morning... 5am. All the crappy hostels serve breakfast around 5am.

Going up is tough because of the elevation, it's hard to breath. But going down is not that easy either, it's very steep.

This area is covered by a dark cloud in the early morning. So the best time to go to Wayna Pichu is the 2nd or 3rd shift. Otherwise it could ruin your purpose to go there to see the views over Machu Pichu.

I always wanted to see lamas. I saw so many during this trip. But when face to face with them I gave up of trying to hug them (I hugged a baby one... Rui had to pay 1 sole for that extravaganza). They looked a bit intimidating. They are taller than me...

During our trip to Machu Pichu we stopped in Ollantaytambo. It's a small city with very well preserved ruins. We had lots of fun there.

Another extravaganza was flying over the Nasca Lines. Rui really wanted to do that since he was a little boy (some kids want to go to Disney, Rui wanted to come to the Peruvian desert...). It was pricey. But well worth it. I highly recommend it. We could see all the figures. The other passengers in our flight were greek but the captain thought that we were all Italians (only God knows why) and he spent all the time saying italian words like bello, ragazza, ciao.... At certain point the greeks started playing the same game. It was really funny.

After that we took a night bus (lots of fun... Not!).

Paracas was other of the destinations on our plan. We went there just to take a boat to see marine life. We knew that the city didn't have anything to see... And we were right! Nothing to see and few places to eat. But the next morning tour was awesome.

We went there in August and we needed warm clothes in some areas, a light fleece coat was enough for me.

Don't stop taking the altitude sickness medication. I stopped while in the lower areas and I felt terrible when we went up again.