Peru I

Peru. Wonderful Peru.

Must visit. You must visit! Full stop.

Peru borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and the Pacific Ocean.

Peru is an extremely biodiverse country with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west to the peaks of the Andes mountains vertically extending from the north to the southeast of the country to the tropical Amazon Basin rainforest in the east with the Amazon river.

Land area - 1 285 216 km2  (Estonia 45 000m2, UK 242 495 km2 with 65 million people)

Population - 31 826 018 people 

Language - Spanish

Religion - 80% Catholic

Capital - Lima

We spent 4 weeks in Peru and could of easily spend even more. The country is huge and there's no many interesting and diverse sights to visit. We took 2 internal return flights during that time and several bus journeys. 

Lima - Cusco- Lima - Ica/Paracas - Lima - Mancora - Lima

Lima

Lima is very developed for a South American capital. Skyscrapers, top end shopping, Starbucks on every corner etc. Our favorite part of Lima was definitely the Costa verde  -  Miraflores district. It's the safest area in Lima. We stayed every time at Casa de Baraybar hotel (https://www.booking.com/hotel/pe/casa-de-baraybar.et.html?aid=304142;label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggJCAlhYSDNYBGhQiAEBmAEuuAEHyAEN2AEB6AEB-AELkgIBeagCAw;sid=328397fbc733b4fc6a94fde8ada462e5) 45 min from the airport (take an airport official taxi!) It was with a perfect location, at the northern end of the beautiful Miraflores waterfront. Clean rooms and nice breakfast. More info and pics of Miraflores - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraflores_District,_Lima

Approximately 1h by public bus from Miraflores is the historical centre of Lima with colonial buildings and interesting street life. 

Just across the bridge, north from the historical centre, you can find a slum. Go and visit if you dare.

Cusco

Altitude - 3400m. Take your time to get used to the altitude. 

It is mainly a great colorful base for trips to Machu Pichu and all of its treks, Rainbow mountain and Red Valley and also Sacred Valley. More of Cusco - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cusco 

Our favorite place to stay in Cusco was the Cusco Jungle Hotel, there's plenty of hostels around too.  

 Souvenir shops and booking agents for all sorts of trips are at every corner and courtyard. Just pick and choose. 

 Some local restaurants provide live music :)

Cusco main square by night. Beautiful

The Sacred Valley

You can either get an organized day trip to the Sacred Valley or get a private English speaking cab driver to drive you around the Sacred Valley sights. We did it privately and really enjoyed it as the driver was over 80y old, spoke great English and had lots of interesting stories. You can either get one booked through your hotel or just flag one down on the street. Make sure you know what you will get and don't forget to bargain. To visit Sacred Valley sights you have to buy either a 6 or 12 sights pass from any of the sight entrance. Some sights are higher and lower than Cusco.

Above Cusco. 

There's a Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary near Cusco. Visit recommended! Lamas, vicuna-s (their wool is the most expensive in the world, a scarf costs 900 USD, no joking there!), condors, few monkeys, spectacle bears, parrots etc. 

 They make the birds fly over and you can see how wide their wings spread. Scary.

 They showall the options of natural coloring of the wool in the sanctuary. 

Theres also a group of guinea pigs in one of the big wooden boxes. They eat them in Peru. Yes, it's a tradition. 

Pisac archeological site

 Ollantaytambo archeological site and souvenirs

Salinas de Maras (salt ponds) 

This place was actually one of the coolest place we visited in the Sacred Valley. It provides the whole Peru with salt and back in the days when Incas found it it was considered as gold. 

 A quick shot of the locals gathering for the Day of the Dead celebrations by every cemetery. 

Moray archeological site