Today, the last day of my Peruvian month on my travel blog. I hope, you enjoyed these few pictures.
My trip to Peru was relatively short; I just had a chance to go there, after visiting Chile and Argentina, so thought “better short than nothing”. Hopefully, I’ll have a possibility to visit this beautiful country once more.
Tomorrow, a new adventure starts; stay tuned! 🙂
My trip to Peru was relatively short. If I have a chance to go to Peru once more, I won’t say no. 🙂 There a few places I really would like to visit, e.g., I’d love to see the Nazca Lines!
You can go to Peru basically all year round. However, the best weather for visiting Machu Picchu should be between May and September, or even between June and August, but then you have to be prepared for crowds.
I was in Peru at the end of March/beginning of April; and in some places you could still experience the power of last raining season (on the picture).
Peru’s climate differs a lot, depending on the region. There are places where is always warm, and others where temperature below 0C are completely normal. At the end, there are jungles and high mountains in Peru.
What to drink in Peru?
-Inca Kola, of course. 😀
It’s a Peruvian version of cola, however doesn’t taste like coke at all; it’s rather kind of lemonade.
Thanks to beautiful traditional Peruvian clothes, Peru (and Andes in general) stay in my mind as a very colorful place. Almost everywhere, you can buy clothes, ponchos, hats, blankets, bags, etc., it just looks so nice, happy and friendly.
It’s really nice for tourists to see people wearing their traditional clothes. In Peru, like in many other countries, younger generation usually wears modern clothes. However, you can still find many Peruvians wearing traditional clothing related to their ethnic background; and it looks really beautiful and colorful!
I’ve already showed you once this funny rabbit-like animal; viscacha or vizcacha.
You can spot them quite easily in Peru. 😉
There are a few options how to get to Machu Picchu, i.e., on foot, by bus or by train.
Hiking the Inca Trail is very popular, however, it actually may be quite crowded and other hiking routes are also possible.
Bus or train are good options as well; you can even combine them and then take a shorter hike; all depends on you, how much time you have, how fit you are or what season you’re traveling.
I chose the train (but it was 2011 – so I’m sure some things changed), because I had very little time, and March/April is not the best season in Peru for hiking.
Machu Picchu is located in mountains at 2430 m (7970 ft) above sea level, so it’s much lower than Cusco (3400 m above sea level). Because of that, altitude sickness shouldn’t be a problem in Machu Picchu, but can be in Cusco!
Machu Picchu, The Lost City of the Incas, is an impressive ancient Inca city.
There is a very good reason that Machu Picchu is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It’s simply amazing ruins located in a wonderful scenery.
Being in Peru and not seeing Machu Picchu is like not being in Peru at all… However, keep in mind when you’re going there, it can be very crowded.
I was in Peru in April 2011, and it wasn’t crowded; just the weather wasn’t perfect, anyway, I still enjoyed it a lot.
In Peru, you’ll find many archaeological sites; from Cusco you can visit quiet a few of them, e.g., Machu Picchu, Sacsayhuaman, Puka Pukara, Qenko, Sacred Valley or … Rainbow Mountain (well, not exactly an archaeological site but still very nice).
Sacsayhuaman (Saqsaywaman) is an archeological site just outside Cusco.
Sacsayhuaman was an Inca fortress and its remaining ruins are very impressive. It’s a very nice and interesting place, definitely a must-see while being in Cusco.
Cuzco is a beautiful town, definitely one of the biggest attractions in Peru and a starting point for many attractions like e.g., Machu Picchu.
When you’re planning to visit Cusco, don’t forget that it’s located quite high, at 3400m above sea level, and altitude sickness is a common problem there. So take it slowly and react immediately after you see first symptoms of altitude sickness!
Cusco (Cuzco or Qosqo) was the capital (religious and administrative) of the Inca Empire.
Now, it’s a lovely town with many attractions for tourists.
I had an idea to write some basics about the Inca Empire. Longer I was thinking about it, I got kind of overwhelmed… More I was reading about Incas, more I was shocked, surprised or impressed. 😉
Inca Empire is quite a complex topic, there are so many different aspects I’d like to talk about, so many details, so many positive as well as negative things. One was clear to me, I’m not able to write a short post and include everything I’d like to. It’s a travel blog at the end, so I decided to skip this idea, and I’ll just point you one interesting website that describes the Inca Empire quite well and quite compact at the same time.
Check, e.g., ancient.eu.
Spanish invasion brought Catholicism to Peru, and these days, about 80% of the total populations are Catholics.
Spanish is mostly spoken in Peru, however Quechua, Aymara and other indigenous languages are also official languages of Peru.
If you don’t speak Spanish at all, visiting Peru may be quite complicated; e.g., people from my hotel in Cuzco didn’t speak English… Well, it’s somehow manageable, but may be challenging.
Coca is a plant that contains variety of nutrition.
When we hear something about “coca”, we usually connect it with drugs.
You change your mind once you visit South America, especially, the Andean region.
People in the Andean region chew coca leaves or drink “coca tea” mostly to overcome altitude sickness!
You can try “coca specialties” while being in Peru, but don’t try to bring any of them to Europe or North America, it could cause some problems with authorities…
