Peru is a country of geographic extremes. While it has the highest navigable lake in the world and some of the world’s highest and most spectacular mountains, it also has the driest desert on earth and this is the region we were heading to first.
Arriving back in Lima after our short stay in the Amazon we were looking forward to starting our Essential Peru tour through Intrepid.
The first night we met our group which consisted of a great mix of Aussies, Kiwis and two sisters from Texas. Our tour guide Jorge took us out to dinner for some team bonding to get ready for the next 20 days.
Day 2 we made our way to Downtown Lima to visit Chinatown, the local markets and the Palace of the President to watch the Changing of the Guard.
The ceremony was much more elaborate (dancing, gun twirling, and marching) than the one at Buckingham Palace and is only performed every Sunday.
We enjoyed a free afternoon to explore the Mira Flores district of the city, including the beach, town square and a shopping centre built into a cliff.
The next morning we were up early for a four hour bus ride to Paracas, a small fishing town south of Lima along the coast which is famous for it’s wildlife (seals, penguins and flamingoes), as well as the picturesque coastline where the desert meets the ocean.
Arriving mid-morning, our group took a tour of the Paracas desert. Our guide was a little eccentric and enjoyed explaining how the desert came to be – pointing out shell fossils and coastline views, including one of only five red beaches in the world – Playa Roja.
That night we enjoyed a seafood dinner by the beach and soaked up another beautiful Peruvian sunset.
Unbeknown to us, an earthquake struck off the coast of Arequipa that night so the next morning’s boat tour to the nature reserve was cancelled. Instead we settled for a milkshake and a walk through the markets.
Later that day we were back on the bus heading for Nazca, a town famous for the Nazca Lines.
German Mathematician and archaeologist Maria Reiche dedicated her life to preserving and studying the lines. We learned about her theory of the lines aligning with certain constellations at a planetarium named in her honour. The planetarium is in a local hotel she called home for more than 25 years, before passing away age 95.
The next day we took a sand dune buggy through the Nazca desert to admire some ancient ruins of the Nazca people – including an aqueduct and a pyramid – before having a little fun hooning through the sand dunes and taking on sand boarding!
Later that day we had our first holiday mishap…
We were suppose to be boarding a bus that afternoon to Araquipa, however the aforementioned earthquake had caused a landslide along the highway.
With no other way there, we skipped Araquipa and painstakingly endured a 15 hour overnight bus to Cusco (mountain ranges and switchbacks had us feeling rather green), arriving three days earlier than intended.
While it wasn’t part of the plan, it gave us more time to explore the region’s many wonders we’ll share with you soon!
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