First time in South America? You feta believe it. I’ve been consuming a lot of cheese lately, sorry/ not sorry. I met my cousin in Lima, Peru to begin our epic adventure.
Our route:
- Lima (1 night)
- flight to Juliaca Airport
- Lake Titicaca (2 nights)
- Puno (1 night)
- day bus to Cuzco
- Cuzco (3 nights)
- Inca trail (5 days/4 nights)
- Vista dome train to Cuzco
- flight to Lima
- Lima (3 nights)
arrival in Lima
A rough 12h and 30 minutes later about mid-afternoon, I arrived in Lima from Amsterdam. I exchanged my Euros for Sols at the airport. There were two exchange companies after baggage collection and in my dazed state I didn’t compare prices, I just picked one. I most definitely got gouged, but the next morning we were flying to Lake Titicaca and I didn’t have high hopes of finding a currency exchange on a reed island with no electricity in the middle of a massive lake.
Everyone told me that the area around the Lima Jorge Chavez International Airport is dicey, so naturally, I walked from the airport, over a multilane highway overpass, and down questionable streets to my accommodation.
One day not paying for a taxi will be my downfall, but it was not this day.
When I initially began walking towards the airport exit (it’s far right corner when you leave the terminal), a taxi driver blocked me to tell me not to walk because it was super dangerous. I hate when people are so negative and naggy.
When I arrived safe and sound with no incidents to report, I found out my cousin’s bag (with all her hiking gear) was lost somewhere between Vancouver, Los Angeles and Lima. Spanning a couple of continents, I wasn’t hopeful she would get her bag back before we left for the trail in 5 days.
Together, we walked to a market to buy her a toothbrush and underwear. Then, we went to bed to see what fresh fun tomorrow would bring.
onwards to Lake Titicaca
You’d thought I’d just skim over the whole Lake Titicaca thing? Titi and Caca. Why did you think we went?
We caught a morning flight to Juliaca Airport, which is the closest one to Lake Titicaca (hehe). It is a very small airport, and our bags (just kidding, my bag) was on the belt before we disembarked. We paid for checked bags when we booked all our flights in advance because although the weight of my bag was fine for carry-on, it’s a few centimeters over the size limit and we didn’t want to chance it.
Yes, my cousin paid for a checked back with the same airline (LATAM) that lost her bag so she paid for invisible luggage.
They offered a great spread of snacks onboard though. Amazing what a bag of crisps can do for my mood.
We hired a driver to pick us up and take us to Lucsay Titicaca Lodge located on a reed island. This was a smart move because there wasn’t much movement around the airport. It was quite desolate so I’m not sure what the public transport situation would be like.
I’m not sure what part of “reed island in the middle of the highest navigable lake” made me think there would be some creature comforts. We stayed for two nights, but one would have been enough. The novelty wears off pretty quickly when the toilet is a seated bag with cat litter in it.
It was cold at night and also during the day. The owner gave us hot water bottles and we had 4 thick wool blankets so heavy you could sprain your ankle when you heaved under the covers. We were told that one of the huts had a portable heater and that sounds like a much better time.
We did a half day (2/3 hours) tour around the reed islands by sitting in a boat the entire time, but we stayed away from doing long-haul boat rides or movement of any kind. We were nervous the altitude would creep up on us if we exerted energy.
At 3810m, you may need altitude pills. The funny thing about the pills is that the side effects of them are the same as if you had altitude sickness to begin with. So I’m not sure if it was the 12+ hour flight, 6 hour time zone difference, the altitude, the sickness pills or the fact that I’m in my 30s that caused my body weirdness.
Over a chicken and potato dinner with a French family, we chit-chatted about how we were feeling with the altitude.
Me, as I pop the last fry into my mouth and lick my fingers, “I think I may have a bit of altitude sickness”
French dad, “well clearly you haven’t lost your appetite so I think you’re fine.”
So who really knows.
After arriving back on sturdy land, there was one taxi that the person with the most Spanish out of the group bartered to take us to Puno center. The boat launch area is quite a distance from the town, not recommended for your legs.
This city of Puno had its moments- like flushable toilets and hot, running water.
upwards to Cuzco
We booked in April (about a month beforehand) our Sun Route day bus from Puno to Cuzco with INCAS PARADISE COMFORT. It was very expensive, but we weren’t sure what other ways there were to get to Cuzco with stops along the way. We had to pay an additional 50 sols for entrance to the sites. That burned more than my eyes from having to be at the station for 6:20am.
They did offer a bag of snacks though.
My body does this thing where motion makes me queasy (eye roll). On Google maps, the sharp curves and windy roads screamed motion sickness to me so we asked ahead of time if we could sit closer to the front of the bus. They said not really, but then we did get assigned seats that were towards the front of the bus. There were big windows and we stopped often so I didn’t feel nauseous. Small miracles.
Some of the stops/sights along the route were better than others. There was one at a restaurant/shop with a museum. We only wandered through the shop.
We arrived in Cuzco in the middle of nowhere residential area (I think it was around C. Carmen Alto), a lot of people had pre-arranged pick ups and we did not. We got the bus company to call a cab and arrange the price for us.
My cousin had a happy reunion with her bag at the Hosteria de Anita (lovely accommodation, great breaky).
cuzco I like you
Cuzco is fantastic. I pet a delightful doggie.
eat.
I recommend eating all your meals at San Pedro Central Market and the food carts outside it when it gets dark. Great prices, delicious yummies. I also got my synthetic Peruvian jumper from here.
Mercado “San Blas” is also good but much, much smaller with only a few spots to get a proper meal.
We ate many a picarones at Picarones Ruinas. What a goodie.
We shared one guinea pig (cuy) at Pachapapa. The place has a website, so we knew it was going to be expensive, but it was good. When people mentioned they eat guinea pig in Peru, I pictured those shows where the kid owns one and they’re running on a wheel or getting buried in a shoebox in the kid’s backyard but these guinea pigs are big- more rabbit sized. Cuy kinda tastes like crispy pork chops, with not that much meat on the bones and more rabbit/ dark chicken meat/duck in texture. We looked at pictures beforehand because we didn’t want a full headed/clawed cuy. It was too real.
cheap.
We didn’t go to Saqsaywaman so I’m not sure what that’s about. We went to Sapantiana Aqueduct and the nearby Siete borreguitos. Both free. Both delightful.
My cousin has Scotiabank so she wasn’t charged fees at the Scotiabank ATMs. I used Cajero BCP (Carmen Bajo 100) in Cuzco and still got charged, but it was less than the other ATMs.
travel.
Apparently, there are a lot of day hikes/ different hiking trails that leave from Cuzco. We didn’t want to push our luck so we didn’t go on any of them.
The night before we left on the trail, we quite rightly watched The Emperor’s New Groove. If you don’t do that, then why are you even going on the hike?
