Peru – 2015

(June 6 – June 25)

The start of summer vacation/hiatus, I headed to Peru with my friend Joe and his college friend Dylan. We would stay in Peru for about 18 days traveling to Cusco, Machu Picchu, the Manu National Park (Amazon) in Madre de Dios, and Lima. It was an amazing trip filled with great food, culture, and company.

Lima

We arrive in Lima very late at night and would stay at the Wasi Aeropuerto B&B just to get some rest. We got picked up by the B&B service and also dropped off in AM. We would come back here to Lima on our last leg of our trip just to have time to explore the city and see what it had to offer. But in the morning we would fly out to Cusco and venture on.

Cusco

At the Cusco airport we were greeted by Ricardo, a young 20-something year old Peruvian who was super friendly and spoke great English. He would be our general guide and be our source of what to do and where to go to next. I had booked a tour with “CuscoPeru.com” tour agency and they were fantastic. It included tours both in Cusco and Aguas Calientes/Macchu Picchu; transportation; and hotels. In Cusco we would stay at Casa Elena. And in Aguas Calientes we would stay at Killa Inn 3. Both wonderful places with warm running showers.

Since Cusco was at a higher elevation of roughly over 11,000 ft above sea level, we were warned of altitude sickness. The Peruvian people had a remedy, Coca Tea. And as soon as we got to Casa Elena, Ricardo offered us some. It was great with their natural cane sugar and I’m sure it helped with the altitude. We got through some paperwork and then got to relax.

Day 1 of our Itinerary:
Around 1:30p.m Ricardo would meet us at our hotel and we would travel to the central part of Cusco which was about 3 to 5 minute walk from our hotel. A guide was there which would take us around the city and inside the churches/cathedrals and learn about Cusco history. We couldn’t take photos in the Cathedrals but they were extraordinary and elaborate. The Cathedral was built on a previous Incan palace containing paintings including a painting of the Last Supper with Peruvian twist. It had a guinea pig as the main dish in front of Jesus and his Apostles.

We then walked over to Koricancha (Qorikancha) which was about 10 minutes away.  It was originally a temple important to the Incan Empire dedicated to the Sun and filled with gold. But once Spanish colonists took it from them, they built the Church of Santo Domingo on top of the original foundation of the temple.

We then boarded a bus and traveled to Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, Puka – Pukara and Tambomachay.