South America At A Glance: Peru

Out of all of the countries I have traveled to, Peru is by far one of the most unique. It seems to have everything in terms of landscape: the coast, the towering sand dunes of the desert, the jungle and Amazon river, and the most majestic mountains you will ever find. To add to that, the food, the culture, and the people will be the reason you will want to stay. Seriously, I have never felt so welcomed in a foreign country before.


The Highlights:


Huacachina: The Desert Oasis

I had arrived here at night, so when I awoke the next day to step outside to have a cup of coffee, I was absolutely mesmerized. I was surrounded by giant sand dunes, which was so crazy to me because I had never been in the desert before. Huacachina is definitely a tourist trap, but it's a unique tourist trap, so it's definitely worth seeing. 

Things to do: Definitely go sand boarding. Most hostels there will have boards that are free to use, just make sure someone gives you wax, otherwise you'll just be stuck in the sand. 

The dune-buggy trip is also something I reluctantly recommend doing. It costs less than $10, and basically an underage driver drives like an absolute madman through the desert while you and a group of 15 other people hold on for dear life in a dune-buggy with rusted old seat belts that don't always work (and sure enough, mine didn't). I could compare it to a roller coaster, but I think I'd feel a little safer on a roller coaster. Still, it was definitely an experience. 

Cusco

Cusco is one of those cities where you plan to stay for a few days, and then end up staying for a couple of weeks. There's just so much to do in and around the city that it's hard to find a reason to leave. The food is fantastic and the markets are so beautifully colorful (and cheap), so it's a great place to souvenir shop. The Sacred Valley is also located here, but unfortunately I didn't get the chance to visit.

 Because Machu Picchu is relatively close to Cusco, it's a necessary stop. Just take some time to get used to the altitude. Cusco lies at 11,152 ft above sea level, and after walking around for about 20 minutes, I fucking felt it. Altitude sickness was a common problem for me on this trip, and Cusco was the start of it all. So, stay hydrated and drink a lot of cocoa tea. That stuff is magical, so keeping it handy throughout a backpacking trip through Peru is strongly recommended. 

Place to stay: Pariwana Backpacker's Hostel.

Reasons to stay:

1. They have a ping pong table.

2. They have karaoke night every monday and wednesday. 

3. It's a party hostel, but only at the bar, so if you want to spend a quiet night in the room, it's still entirely possible. And the beds are super comfortable. 

I can't express in words how much I loved this hostel. Totally worth the price (which was about $12). 

Machu Picchu

For many people, Machu Picchu is the high point of their trip, and usually the reason tourists even visit Peru in the first place. However, though it is magnificent, mysterious, and beautiful, Machu Picchu is a pain in the ass to get to and it way overpriced (It costs about $50 just to get in). Still, not going is just not an option.

Getting there: I opted to take a bus there because it was clearly the cheaper option, however, after driving for 5 hours on steep mountainous windy roads and stopping several times for people to get out of the van to vomit, in hindsight I would totally spend the extra money to take a train there and back. It costs over $100, but it's definitely a smoother ride. 

What I did, and what most people do, is stay in Auguas Calientes (which is the small town located at the base of Machu Picchu) overnight. Then, you wake up at 3:30am and either take a bus to the top ($30 roundtrip) or walk up the stairs to the entrance of Machu Picchu. 

And at last, you reach the postcard perfect setting of the Incan ruins. Get there as early as you can, otherwise you'll be swarmed by mobs of tour guided groups wielding dangerous selfie sticks that will be sure to smack you in the face. 

Rainbow Mountain (Montana de Colores)

It was at this point in the trip that I finally realized that Peru wasn't going to be some walk in the park, laid back vacation. No, in fact, this specific trek made me realize that if I wanted to see something amazing that I had never seen before, I had to fucking work for it. And that's exactly what I did.

For starters, the altitude is at 16, 466 ft. Yeah, just let that sink in for a second. 

Even though I was fairly acclimated to the altitude from my stay in Cusco, this trek was a struggle to say the least. The one-day trek that I had joined took nearly 6 hours to summit the mountain, and that's not because of the distance, but because for every 10 steps I took, I was gasping for breath for nearly 10 minutes until I could continue. Not everyone can do a trek like this, and it is especially important to go very slow and not try to keep up with the group if people are ahead of you. 

At one point, I did lose consciousness. My vision got all blurry and I saw all of these black spots and when I woke up I realized I was on the ground with a bunch of people surrounding me. No worries though, someone gave me some oxygen and someone else gave me some cocoa leaves and I was as good as new.

This is me summiting the mountain shortly after I passed out, weee. 

From what I could understand from our guide, the rainbow mountain looks the way it does from the result of different layers of rocks forming on top of each other, somehow creating this multicolored mountain range. The trek has been a long kept secret for a while, but it has just recently opened up to tourism. It is likely that this trek will become very popular in the near future, so being able to trek it before it becomes widely popular seemed like a privilege to say the least, especially after spending time at Machu Picchu. It's truly magnificent, so if you're in decent physical shape and are up for a challenge, I highly recommend this trek.

Arequipa

Nicknamed "The White City", Arequipa is a beautiful colonial-esque city. The city is overlooked by misty mountains and volcanos. In fact, many of the buildings are even made from white volcanic stone. If you feel like having authentic Peruvian cuisine, this is the place to do it. 

Mount Chachani

This was the figurative and literal high point of my trip: summiting Mount Chachani. At 19,872 ft, Chachani was the highest point that I have ever reached, and making it to the top was worth every gasp of breath and every painful step. 

The bouncy, three hour car ride led us to the start of the trek. We hiked for about an hour until we reached the base camp, and already I was struggling to keep up with the group. We helped set up the tents, had dinner, and went to bed around 6pm. The night was cold and we hardly slept, and at 3am we got up and began our ascent up the mountain. We walked slow and steady, but I still struggled the whole time. However, we still managed to summit the mountain around 9am. I have no pictures from the view of the top because it was so cold that both my phone and camera died, but the moment of finally reaching the top after so much physical and mental turmoil was enough for me to remember for the rest of my life. It was one of the most rewarding feelings ever. 

Overall:

Peru is a fantastic and beautiful country and I can definitely say with confidence that I will be back there soon. There were so many things to see and do in the short amount of time that I was there, but the local Peruvians were the reason that I really loved it there. The people were just so helpful. Even though I don't speak much Spanish, the people always went out of their way to try and figure out what exactly it was that I needed. I actually found myself wishing I knew more Spanish, not because I needed it to get around, but because I desperately wanted to make small talk with these lovely people and not just say, "No entiendo," the whole time. 

The food, the culture, and the language are all reasons why I will return to Peru in the near future. I will continue practicing Spanish here in the states, and hopefully one day I can live in Peru in the hopes of becoming fluent. The country is vast, beautiful, and unique, and so far it is one of my favorite places in the world.