Hello! I’m back from 3 weeks in Peru! I just wanted to share some of my impressions and notes in case others are also looking to do a similar trip like this.
Our goal was flexibility so we opted to do the whole trip solo without using a tour company. I reached out beforehand to local guides in the cities we were visiting to set up private day tours (all were very affordable), other than that transportation/food/accommodations were on us to figure out. Overall the trip was very rewarding and special yet a bit exhausting, especially towards the end of the trip.
One thing we did notice was an absolute inundation of tourists in the most popular sites of Peru like Cusco and Machu Picchu. While we were in Machu Picchu there was some push back by the local residents against the influx of this overtourism, especially since the Peruvian government doubled the amount of tourist allowed in Machu Picchu this summer. However, once we got out touristy parts of Peru, to lesser known towns like Trujillo the ambiance was much more relaxed and less tense.
Here was our itinerary, we wanted to mix in the well-known sites with more off the beaten path destinations:
Lima (3 nights) – day trip to Caral Pyramids
Flight to
Cusco (4 nights) – day trip to Sacred Valley
Train to
Aguas Calientes (3 nights) – visit Machu Picchu
Train to
Cusco (1 night)
Train to
Puno (3 nights) – visit Lake Titicaca
Flight to
Trujillo (3 nights) – day trip to Moche and Chan Chan
Flight to
Lima (2 nights)
Impression and notes:
Lima
On our first day we went to Central, recently named the second-best restaurant in the world. We had to reserve months ago but it was well worth it and relativity affordable. You just need 2 hours to enjoy the 12-dish tasting menu that represents Peru different ecosystems from sea level to more than 12000 feet, every dish told a story. It was a very special culinary experience and again really not that expensive compared to what you would find in Europe or the US for the same caliber. Some dishes tasted so good to me that I would eat again and again, others may be less so but the work and the research behind each dish is beyond belief.
The next day we spent time visiting Lima including the palace of "El Presidente", we also saw images of history of Peru projected on special 3-d water fountain show, beautiful colonial era balconies and there is even an old 16th-century mansion of one the original Spanish Conquistadors, still owned by his descendants, 17 generations later!
Next, we did a day trip to Caral, the site of the oldest civilization in the Americas. Their pyramids are 5000 years old, around same time as the great pyramids of Egypt. Only recently discovered in the 1990s forced the rewrite the history books so to speak. Interesting fact is that they used of bags of rocks inside the walls that acted as anti-seismic technology for earthquakes! Caral is quite remote and mysterious, we drove through a very dense fog to find it sunny and warm and overlooking a green valley.
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