Cusco

The sight of Cusco from a bus window as you are winding down from mountain roads is incomparable. I think the fact that it was a 16-hour, bumpy, sandy (read our post on Huacachina), overnight bus, makes this sight even more spectacular. Nevertheless, the large cluster of stucco-roofed buildings surrounded on all sides by mountains is a beautiful sight.

Where do I start with this city? It is bursting with life. There is both a large presence of foreigners (mostly on their way to Machu Picchu) and locals going about their daily life.

Cusco is truly a fascinating city.

Take the San Pedro Market for example. You can buy a beautifully woven alpaca sweater and a whole pig head in the same place.

Want to mingle with the locals? Simple. Just sit down at one of the many almuerzo stands and order a lunch for 5 soles (about $1.75 USD). You will be sure to make friends with the woman serving your food and the many locals packed on the bench beside you.

If you walk a bit further to the San Blas district, you can buy crafts directly from the artists themselves.

You can also have your hair wrapped by one of the street artists like I did!

It seems as if very city in South America has a “Plaza de Armas”. But the one in Cusco is famous – ranking as one of the top plazas in the world, and for a good reason.  

It’s stunning.

We were in Cusco the week before Easter, known as Semana Santa or Saint’s Week. During this time, the plazas were filled with carnival games and stands selling exotic looking sweets.

I forget the name of this pastry, but it was a bit like a shortbread cookie baked into parchment paper. Strange, but surprisingly good.

Aside from being woken up nearly every night in the large dorms by other travelers, the hostel we stayed at was excellent. There was something going on each night, whether it be a ping pong tournament (which Ben almost won!), live music, or a toga party, we were never bored. 

Pariwana Hostel by day... a much quieter scene than at night.

One of our most memorable days in Cusco was our last full day in the city. We didn’t spend the day doing any of the activities listed in the guidebooks. No, instead we decided to abandon all maps and take a hike to some ruins we had heard about from a friend. We knew the ruins were in the hills above Cusco, but didn't have much of an idea beyond that.

So, along with our friend Emma who we had met on the Inca Trail, we set off that afternoon in search of these enigmatic ruins.

At points during the day, we were on our hands and knees crawling up the side of hill, hoping it would lead to a path.

And eventually it did.

We did finally did find our ruins – hours later – but the search for them was an adventure none of us will ever forget.

View of the city from above. You can't tell from the picture, but at this point we were crawling on our hands and knees.

We finally found our ruins! 

...and we discovered a cave...

... and Christo Blanco. Literal translation: White Jesus.

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In total, we spent eight days in Cusco before and after our trek. We were able to explore the city, relax and meet other travelers, and when it came time to leave it was hard to say goodbye.

More of Cusco...

This is where the locals shop.

Prickly Pears: Delicious, but as the name implies, prickly! Learn from my mistake and only let the professionals handle them.

Llamas EVERYWHERE!

It's normal to take your llama to the store, right?

Sandy, Sandy Huacachina

This tiny oasis in the desert is a stop on most backpackers’ itineraries. The town consists of a handful of hostels, restaurants and artisan stands. There really isn't much to do in Huacachina itself aside from relaxing on a hammock and drinking pisco sours. So why does it attract so many people, you may ask? Well, for one thing, it is a good stopping point between Lima and Cusco. But the real reason people stop here is to go sandboarding.

Yes, you are imagining correctly – it is just like snowboarding… but on sand. Well, you don’t have proper bindings or boots; but it is more or less the same.

This was my second experience sandboarding in Huacachina, and it was much different. We stayed at the same hostel, took the same dune buggy, and even saw the same driver I had two years before. The difference was in the size of the dunes.

Two years previous, the dunes they took us on were massive. In fact, my friend and I both sprained our wrists, another friend broke her foot, and a guy in our group blew out his knee. If you were about to embark on something this dangerous in America (or in many other countries), you would at least have to sign a waiver. But here in Peru they just took our money, then we buckled our makeshift seatbelts on the dune buggy and headed off on a crazy ride. 

I was a bit apprehensive as we headed into the sandy horizon. I was imagining hiking the Inca Trail with a broken foot, but to my relief, the first dune was much smaller than my last time there.

Ben and I both waxed our boards and strapped our feet into the Velcro “bindings” – if you can call them that – and rode down the hill. We went to several dunes, which got progressively bigger – but nowhere compared to the mountains during my first time there. (I did hear rumors that there were several injuries and they eventually had to start bringing tourists to smaller dunes.)

Regardless, we still had a blast, and came away from the experience injury-free – albeit a bit sandy!

Lima

This was my second time in the capital city of Peru, so I attempted to show Ben around to my favorite parts via my memory.

Once thing you should know about me and directions: I don’t do street names very well. I am better off with landmarks and better yet, feelings. Yes, you read that right. Sometimes I just feel like something is 3 blocks to the right.

Well, my sense of direction didn't work out so well in Lima. Yes, I was able to find the “Park of Love” and the seaside mall in Miraflores, but I was not able to find my absolute favorite thing in Lima – an amazing empanada stand that I have dreamt of ever since tasting that heavenly little pocket of goodness nearly two years ago.

After two hours of putting up with my, “I just feel like it’s this way!” Ben and I finally decided to call it quits. (Bless his patient heart!)

We ended up settling on two dodgy, half-warm empanadas from a supermarket. Not a good choice, I would find out the next day while I was stuck in bed with food poisoning.

It's know as the "Park of Love" for a reason!

Seaside mall

One of the highlights of our time in Lima was going to dinner with Cesar – my friend’s boyfriend, who I met when I was last in Peru.

Cesar took us to an incredible buffet. Now this was nothing like the endless metal trays of frozen foods defrosted and kept warm under heat lamps featured at buffets all across America. No, this high-end restaurant served all sorts of fresh and traditional Peruvian dishes such as Ceviche, Llomo Saltado (cooked to order right in front of us), Rocoto Relleno (spicy stuffed pepper), and Chicha Morada (a traditional drink made from purple corn) to name a few.

A few Peruvian delicacies 

After being stuffed well past our limit, Cesar drove us around Lima, showing us Lima by night. Being shown around by a local is the best way to see a city. 

Border Crossing: Ecuador to Peru

Border crossings are not exactly on my list of favorite things to do.  Crossing over from Ecuador to Peru wasn’t very eventful – but man, was that an uncomfortable journey. To begin with, we took an hour bus ride from Vilcabamba to Loja. We arrived 3 hours before our next bus, so we had to kill time in the extremely dodgy Loja bus station.

Spending hours in bus stations is also not one of my favorite things.

The 8 hour bus ride to Puiria was hardly more comfortable than the station itself. For starters, the bus left at 11 p.m., but this did not stop the bus operator from playing the loud Bachata music to which we have become accustomed on each and every bus ride.

This was a night bus, and naturally, people wanted to sleep. The problem was when someone reclined their seat all the way – as both people in front of us did – they were literally right on top of you. Not so comfortable.

"Firts" Class. One step above First.

At 3 in the morning, we had to get out of the bus, get stamped on the Ecuadorian side, and walk across the bridge to the Peru. The man who was supposed to give us stamps on the Peruvian side was sleeping, so a guard had to wake him up before we could go about our business.

This is what a 3:00 a.m. border crossing looks like. Pretty uneventful.

Getting stamped

We arrived in Puiria at 7 a.m., but this was no walk in the park either. Our night bus to Lima didn't leave until 3:30 in the afternoon. We couldn't very well lug all our bags around town, so we spent the day passing time in the tiny, un-air-conditioned terminal and taking naps in the extremely uncomfortable chairs.

We ate lots of "Bimbo and Snob" sandwiches while waiting for our bus.

Our bus that afternoon was leaps above any other we have taken thus far. Our seats on the second level were plush, and leg room was a-plenty. Dinner service was a perk, as was a friendly game of BINGO (which Ben thought we won prematurely and yelled out “BINGO!” then pressed the “call attendant” button, before realizing he wasn't a winner).

Apparently when playing BINGO in South America, they skip the "5 in a row" phase and jump right to "Black Out".

I was quite impressed with the bus food.

Finally, FINALLY, we arrived in Lima after two nights spent on buses. Walking into our hostel was like seeing a mirage in the desert – too good to be true. We got there well before the 1:00 p.m.check-in, but we were able to take hot showers and eat breakfast – luxuries to a backpacker.

Two border crossings down, one to go