Peru

Peru, colourful, beautiful, extremely diverse. A country with habitats ranging from the arid desert plains of the coast, to the peaks of the Andes mountains, to the tropical Amazon Basin rainforest. I have wanted to visit this country since my teenage years. I went with my partner Will, and my dear friend Tia. In fact, Tia was the push I needed to make it happen. It was definitely at the top of my bucket list, so checking this off was pretty surreal. We spent our first week traveling by bus, stopping at a different location each day. Paracas, Huacachina, Nazca where we took the flights to see the famous lines, then on to Arequipa. It was tedious, and as we discovered, probably not the ideal form of transportation. Had we been traveling for months at a time, then sure, it would have made sense. Needless to say, we did it, saw some stuff, and after having our overnight bus break down not once, but twice, keeping us on that thing for 20 hours, we skipped our last stop and fast tracked to Cuzco. Once there, I instantly felt and saw the Peru I imagined. This beautiful city in the Andes sitting at 3,399 meters, was once the capital of the Inca Empire. The Spanish influence is incredibly evident within these parts. Inca masonry has been incorporated into Spanish Colonial structures, the streets are narrow and made of cobblestone, giving it a very European vibe about it. I just loved the traditional textiles and clothing the local ladies wore, as you will see in many of my photos.

Bear with me as I walk you through these images. It may be long, but I figure a little insight as to what we were doing, will help form the stories behind this trip.

Cuzco was our ‘home base’ for the next 2 weeks. Sacsahuayman is a 20 minute walk from the main square so a must do if you are staying here. For me personally, this is where the most impressive stone work lies (a few shots just above to show you the scale). We hired a taxi and explored the Sacred Valley, which was definitely a wise decision on our part. We left at 4am, which got us to Ollyantambo before the sun rose over the mountains, and the crowds developed. In fact, we managed to walk the grounds for over an hour, alone, before the next visitors arrived. I imagine that doesn’t happen all that often, so pretty lucky our driver was on top of it. The rock work is always incredible to see. The sheer size of the stones used at the Sun Temple there, just mess with your mind. How they managed to move and perfectly fit these rocks together is still a mystery. From there we checked out Pisac, and 3 smaller ruins. What I learned was how farming was such a huge part of their culture and life, hence most of the archaeological sites are terraces, up high on the mountains, close to the sun, away from the risk of floods. The following day, we woke at 4am once again, to get ourselves to Moray and Maras (the Inca salt flats) before the crowds developed. Yet again, we lucked out and got the places to ourselves. It rained pretty aggressively this morning, but cleared once we were at Chincero. As the fog and clouds parted over the Inca site, you could see fresh snow on the mountains in the distance. Was one of the most beautiful landscapes I saw the whole trip. My photos don’t do it justice.

The main event of this trip, was South America’s most famous hike, the Inca Trail. A 4 day, 3 night trek through the Andes mountain range, the trail passes through amazon jungle, the cloud forest and alpine tundra. 45km of trail starting at 2,600 meters, ascending to it’s highest point, Dead Woman’s pass, at 4,200 meters. Settlements, tunnels, and many Incan ruins are located along the trail before ending at the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu mountain. It’s not unusual for people to get altitude sickness here, so giving yourself enough time to acclimatize in Cuzco is highly recommended. I was really worried about the altitude affecting us upon arrival in Cuzco, but surprisingly, I only had a mild headache the first day. Walking up the steep roads the first 2 days was hard on the lungs, but we became accustomed to it quickly. I’m thankful that we gave ourselves 4 days in Cuzco before. The 2nd day of this trek is said to be the hardest. I think the 3 of us had all mentally prepared ourselves for a grueling hike. The beginning of the day starts with what they say is a 4 hour hike straight up. I was imagining climbing the Chief in Squamish for 4 hours. It wasn’t nearly as bad. The rocks steps, are much smaller, therefore my legs didn’t burn after 20 minutes like they normally do when I’m hiking the Chief. The last 100 meters or so before reaching the Dead Woman’s pass, I could feel the altitude on my lungs and it was harder to breathe, but it didn’t last long. In saying all that, I imagine if we didn’t live in the mountains, and weren’t used to hiking or biking from the valley floor to the alpine (which is a normal occurrence), then we would have struggled a lot more. Our lifestyle at home, helped us tremendously. From what started as a beautiful sunny day on that 2nd day, ended as we descended into the cloud forest, bringing fog and slightly damp conditions. This stuck with us for the remainder of the hike. I actually LOVE fog and mist. It brings a different kind of beauty to landscapes. The only thing I was cursing, was hiking to the Sun Gate on our last day, hoping for that glorious morning light on Machu Picchu in the distance, and it was an absolute white out. It really wasn’t looking all that promising as we were walking down, but over time, the fog and clouds lifted, and revealed Machu Picchu in all her glory.

This trek was incredible. If you are thinking of doing it, I highly recommend that you do. We went with Alpaca Expeditions, and I cannot say enough good things about this company. It was actually started and owned by an ex-porter/guide. Staff receive a better salary, more respect for porter welfare, while giving back to the community with social programs. The team behind our hike, made this trek what it was. We only carried a day pack. Everything else, is carried by your porters. The organization, the efficiency, is beyond anything I’ve witnessed. I would pop in to use the washroom, and once I opened the door, the whole camp would be dissembled, put in bags, and on their backs. These bags were not only heavy, 28kg, but massive in size. Food, water, tents, sleeping bags, even portable toilets, were carried by the ‘Green Machine’ on their backs. I won’t forget our guides either. Victor has been working as a guide along this trail for over 20 years. His knowledge was incredibly appreciated, and our tail guide Edward was super helpful as well.

We had a few down days in Cuzco after the trek to indulge in food and cheap massages. Our last tour of the trip would be to the Ausangate mountain region of the Peruvian Andes to hike to Vinicunca, otherwise known as Rainbow Mountain.  It has an altitude of 5,200 meters (pretty similar to Everest base camp to put that in perspective). The mountain peaks sediments and minerals are what give these mountains their uncommon colours, terra cotta, lavender, and vibrant turquoise. We opted to hire a horse, to save our lungs, and give us more time at the top. Best $20 I’ve spent. That last 200m off the horse to get to the peak, was rough on the lungs. The thin air caused me to move slowly and breath heavy! I personally found the valley behind Rainbow Mountain to be more impressive, hence my photos of the valley and not the typical shot you’d see.

All in all, this country, is a stunner. The landscapes are vastly different depending on your region and beautiful regardless of where you are, the mountains are huge, the energy, the animals, the people, and the history. We moved around a lot, yet we hardly saw all that Peru has to offer. South America is calling me again. Ending this post with a portrait of Tia’s friend, the music man.