Another spring break, another adventure! This time, we (my friend Candra, my oldest son Avery, and me) are headed to Peru! Before we left, we had to fill out the health surveillance form and made sure we had our passports and vaccine cards (and you have to be boosted not just vaxxed!). Also, if you don’t have a KN95 mask, you have to wear TWO masks (so strange).
The flight was a 7 1/2 hour red eye flight so we were able to get some sleep. Also, Peru is in the same time zone as New York so luckily, we didn’t need to adjust to a new time zone. This was perfect because the itinerary I planned had us hitting the ground running!
After arriving at 6am the next morning, we took a 30-minute taxi ride to the Courtyard Lima Miraflores and checked in. We had a Peruvian food tour in Barranco that started at 9:30am so we took an Uber to the meeting point.
The first stop of the tour was Cipresso restaurant where we had a cold brew coffee and a huge empanada filled with chicken, cheese, onions, and chilis. The empanada was delicious, but the cold brew coffee was disgusting. Take my opinion with a grain of salt though since I think all coffee tastes disgusting.
Next, we walked to the Exquisito Peru office. Side note: on the way, we had our guide stop at a local money exchange shop and she exchanged money for us (and probably got a better rate!). The rate was $1 US = 3.7 PEN (Peruvian soles).
Our guide explained a bit about all of the fruits and vegetables that are grown in Peru, including more than 3,000 varieties of potato and 52 types of chilis. We then tried a wide variety of fruit, including golden berries and dragon fruit. We also tasted different types of chocolate. I didn’t realize that 60% of the world’s cocoa varieties are indigenous to the Amazon basin area and that Peruvian chocolate had been named the best in the world several times. I agree that it was quite tasty!
After the fruit and chocolate tastings, we continued walking down the streets of Barranco and stumbled upon some great street art.
Next, we stopped at Javier restaurant to have a traditional Peruvian dish called lomo saltado, a stir fry that combined marinated beef with onions and tomatoes, and served with rice and french fries. It was served with rocoto pepper sauce on the side which they said was spicy but actually wasn’t that hot. We also tried a drink called “chicha morada” which is made from boiled purple corn. It was SOOOO good…and Avery ordered it at every restaurant we went to after that!
On the way to the next stop, we passed an old church that had been completely taken over by vultures (that I promptly nicknamed “vulture city”). Interestingly, the church was damaged by an earthquake and instead of repairing it, they built a new cathedral called Iglesia La Ermita de Barranco.
Then, we walked to Republica Del Pisco restaurant. Here, our guide talked briefly about Pisco, a very popular alcohol in Peru. Like authentic champagnes that can only be made in the Champagne region of France or tequila that can only be made from 100 percent Blue Weber Agave produced in Jalisco, real pisco can only be produced in certain regions in Peru and Chile.
We also watched the assembly of freshly-made, authentic Peruvian ceviche which I didn’t realize had so many components! In addition to the ceviche, we also had causa rellena which is a popular appetizer served cold consisting of mashed potatoes, avocado, and chicken or tuna (though ours actually had trout and octopus instead). I wasn’t a huge fan of the causa but definitely loved the juice they brought out with the meal (of course I can’t remember the name of it!).
Then, we crossed “Puente de los Suspiros” (Bridge of Sighs). It is a popular spot for people to take photos on special occasions like their wedding or Quinceanera. Legend states that those who set sight on the bridge for the first time get a single wish if they can cross it without taking a single breath. Naturally, Avery wanted to try so he ran across the bridge holding his breath while making a wish.
Our second to last stop was a bar to see Juanito making authentic pisco sours. Candra and I devoured our delicious pisco sours, while Avery was quite content with his passion fruit juice.
The last stop was Crem De La Crem Gelataria where we were able to sample different gelato flavors. I landed on uva borgona gelato and granadia that tasted like passion fruit…both were really good!
The tour lasted about 4.5 hours but the time flew by. Our guide was engaging and knowledgeable, the food and drinks were delicious, and each stop was more memorable than the last. It was a great introduction to Lima and well worth the $89 price tag!
We went back to the hotel for a few minutes then walked to the nearby Inka Market. There were wall to wall markets filled with every kind of souvenir you could think of (from stuffed animals to textiles to jewelry to alcohol and everything in between!). We bought a few souvenirs (tip: remember to always negotiate!) and also tried Maracuya pisco and another drink that tasted like Baileys. The funniest part was when one of the vendors was looking for a glass for me to try the drinks. She couldn’t find one so she just took one of the shot glasses she was selling from the shelves and poured it right in there! The germaphobe in me was shocked but the adventurer in me had no qualms about guzzling down that free alcohol in a glass that had been on that shelf for God knows how long!
On our way back to the hotel, we noticed a park (Parque Kennedy) and walked through looking at all of the vendors selling arts and crafts.
After dropping off our souvenirs at the hotel, we walked about 10 minutes to have dinner at Panchita. I wanted to really love the restaurant but the service was extremely slow and the waiter changed about four times throughout the meal so it was hard to keep track of who was who. Despite that, the food was decent even though they did not having two of the dishes we were going to order (one of which was the broiled scallops). We had the tequenos panchita (spring rolls), panceta crocante (pork belly), chuleton criollo (flank steak that was really juicy), and picarones for dessert (tasted like donuts but made from sweet potatoes and Peruvian squash…really yummy!). And, you know I’m all about my cocktails so can’t leave that out! I had the aguaymanto apasionado (which included pisco quebranta, golden berry, passion fruit, and orange juice) and that was really good.
The next day, we had an extremely early start for our full day tour to Paracas and Ica. Despite our long day ahead, I was really excited for this tour. I’m an early bird so our 5am pick-up time didn’t faze me. The part I didn’t like though was that it was a REALLY full tour bus with about 20-25 people despite it being touted as a “small group” tour.
Our first (brief) stop was to Asia market for everyone to grab something to eat. Luckily, the hotel had prepared breakfast boxes for us so we were set on that front. The next stop wasn’t for another two hours later but when we arrived, we were in Paracas, a beach town on the southern coast. There, we took a boat to the Ballestas Islands, a group of small islands nicknamed the “poor man’s Galapagos” or the “Peruvian Galapagos” due to its famous sea lions and over 160 different species of marine birds living there.
We also passed by the Nazca lines which is thought to be created by the Nazca people about 2,000 years ago. There are hundreds of individual figures ranging from simple lines to intricate birds, monkeys, spiders, and other animals. And, because it rarely rains in this area, the lines are really well preserved.
A few minutes later we made it to the Ballestas Islands and saw TONS of seagulls, sea lions, and Humboldt penguins. We were able to sail around and get a 360-degree view of the animals. My favorite was seeing the penguins jump into the water and the mama sea lion teaching her baby how to swim.
On our way back to the dock, I was still on cloud nine thinking about all of the incredible animals that we saw when our boat suddenly stopped in the middle of the ocean. Lord have mercy! The workers on the boat were running back and forth trying to get it started but to no avail. Finally, some coast guard-looking folks arrived along with an empty boat. I think we ran out of gas but they wouldn’t say when I asked. Luckily, the boat started up again so we didn’t need to be rescued after all. I swear these things only happen to me!!
Then, when we got back to the dock, we saw a crazy lady (who we later discovered was part of our tour group) trying to take a picture of a seagull. She was SUPER close and the bird looked ready to attack. Fortunately for her, he must’ve been in a good mood and just ignored her but yea, that seemed like a pretty dumb picture to risk a limb for!
After Paracas, we drove another hour to Huacachina, the only desert oasis in South America. First, we walked to where there were dune buggies waiting for us. We went dune crashing and I have to say…I HATED EVERY MOMENT OF IT. The entire time I felt like I was on a rollercoaster (which I’ve grown to strongly dislike as I’ve gotten older) and was screaming at the top of my lungs accordingly. The bumps, twists, and turns had my heart racing a mile a minute. Thank goodness we were in the back and couldn’t see much because I can’t even imagine how I would’ve felt if I could see all of the steep dunes coming. Don’t be fooled by the smile in the pic…that was taken before we started!
One thing to note: everything you read about deserts in school is true. Mainly, it is hotter than the devil’s balls! Definitely make sure you wear sunscreen, a hat, and light clothes. We also bought these balaclava-looking ski masks to help protect us from the dust.
After the dune bashing, we went sand boarding down a big dune and a smaller one. I’d been sandboarding before in South Africa but still was a little nervous (chalk it up to old age…lol). Between the three of us, we definitely covered the spectrum of emotions. Avery wanted to be the first one to go down and loved every second of it; I was screaming so loudly that I forgot to close my mouth and ended up with a mouth full of sand; Candra was extremely scared to do it so opted out of the activity altogether.
After the sandboarding, we finally were at the “oasis”.
We then drove about 15 minutes to the restaurant. By this time, it was after 3pm and we were STARVING since we hadn’t eaten since morning.
At the restaurant, I tried a traditional Ica dish (I think it was called sopa seca carapulcra). It was dry noodles seasoned with different herbs and spices accompanied by some sort of stew. The noodles were good but the stew tasted a little burnt to me. Both Avery and Candra had the arroz verde peruano (think arroz con pollo but with rice that tasted like it was flavored with cilantro) and it was really good (though they were a bit stingy with the chicken).
There also was a little show that was really cute.
After that, the adults had a wine and pisco tasting which was a lot of fun. They played a few games with the tourists which turned out to be hilarious! And of course, we made new friends 🙂
After all of that excitement, we were knocked out for the 3.5-hour drive back to the hotel. It was a long sixteen-hour day but definitely worth it!
The next day we were headed to… Cusco! Our flight didn’t leave until 1:05pm so we were able to grab breakfast at the hotel restaurant downstairs which turned out to be really good. It was buffet with an a la carte option so we got a little bit of everything: eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, pastries, lomo saltado, and lots of fruits Including fresh soursop and prickly pear…and let’s not forget avocado! Needless to say, we ate really well!
Our taxi arrived promptly at 10:30am and after we printed out our domestic boarding passes at the hotel front desk, we were ready to go. It was a pretty smooth process going through security and dropping off our luggage. The flight only lasted a little over an hour and we were served a chocolate bar and some water. When we arrived, we noticed a ridiculously long line outside and found out it was for the bus to the city center. We walked a bit further to the gate leading outside the airport since we had a prearranged taxi but after waiting awhile, we realized he wasn’t going to show up. There was a guard at the gate who wasn’t letting anyone in or out. We were confused, tired, and frustrated so just got a taxi on the fly who charged us almost double what we should’ve paid… but desperate times call for desperate measures. The taxi driver kept talking about protests blocking the roads but we didn’t fully understand what he was talking about. My original plan was to stop at Moray (a circular depression of concentric steps, similar to the Greek amphitheaters) and Salinas Maras (popular for its pond of salts) but the taxi said we wouldn’t be able to access those roads because of the protests. Still oblivious to what was going on, we did have a chance to briefly stop at Chinchero, a town known for weaving.
We continued on our way and finally understood what the taxi driver was trying to tell us. We began to see rocks blocking the street…and then a tree trunk…and then bushes being lit on fire with hoards of people blocking our way. I’m not going to lie…it was scary as hell. The scariest moment was when three people broke off and started walking towards the van we were in with their arms full of sticks. They then threw it right in front of our car and lit it on fire. I was legit panicking and started planning our escape (though we couldn’t get far since the driver took the keys).
Our taxi driver tried to convince them to let us pass but to no avail. There were no other cars on the road, but eventually other cars came behind us and THEIR drivers tried to talk to the angry mob as well.
Finally, after about 30 minutes, we were granted permission to pass. All of the drivers ran back to their cars and drove through before the group changed their mind…only for us to come upon another blockade! This time with HUGE tree trunks blocking the road.
Three hours later (it was only supposed to be about 90 minutes), we finally made it to Tambo del Inka hotel in Urubamba, Sacred Valley. Upon check-in, we were offered coca tea and given a tour of our room that was really spacious. It also had a patio area that extended directly into the “backyard” of the property. The hotel was definitely the relaxing respite we needed after such a crazy day!
The one good thing was that none of us were being hit too hard by the altitude…we all experienced a slight headache and some lightheadedness but that was about it. I had read so many serious symptoms of altitude sickness (vomiting, chest tightness) that could happen and all of these precautions you should take (pills, etc.) but didn’t want to subject my body to all of that. Honestly, that was what I was most worried about for the trip and thankfully, my concern seemed to be unwarranted.
Between the plane ride and long drive, we were STARVING when we got to the hotel. I had planned for us to walk to El Huacatay restaurant (only 7 minutes away), but we found out that it was actually closed. Instead, the hotel concierge recommended Casa Colonial, a restaurant near the main square about a 10-minute walk away. OMG, everything we ordered was soooo good! For the appetizer, I had the anticuchos de alpaca (alpaca skewers), while Avery had the chupe de camarones (prawn chowder). For entrees, he had the lomo saltado with fettuccine while I had the risotto with prawns and they both were delicious. For dessert, we had the trilogía de postres peruanos (a trio of Peruvian desserts) which were all equally yummy.
By the time we were done with dinner, we were ready to pass out but of course, there was another hiccup. Since the protests were scheduled to continue tomorrow, our Machu Picchu tour had been cancelled and would need to be rescheduled…but we had tours on the other days we would be in town, too. My original itinerary was planned so perfectly, but alas you have to go with the flow, especially when travelling! I made a few calls and thankfully was able to get things moved around.
On Tuesday, we had the buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant and it completely surpassed my expectations. There was a wide array of fruit and pastries as well as additional items that could be ordered a la carte. Predictably, I ordered the eggs Benedict with trout and it was delicious! I also discovered this pastry with fruits on top and a lovely tasting cream inside.
Our pickup to the Skylodge was right on time at 10:15am. What is this Skylodge you ask? Well, me being the crazy person that I am, I found the most adventurous activity to do in Peru. First, we climb up the side of a mountain via ferrata. Then, we have a four-course lunch while suspended over 1,300 feet in the sky. Finally, we take a series of ziplines to get back down to where we started.
The climbing took about 2 hours…and we were hot and tired the entire time (it was definitely a work out), not to mention the wind was STRONG! Some parts of the mountain were a straight vertical, others were tricky to navigate where to put your feet, and to top it all off, there was also a scary suspension bridge we had to cross. Before you start, you are able to book the services of a photographer in case you don’t want to take your own photos and video. I’m glad we did that because it allowed us to just concentrate on the climbing!
In what seemed like years later, we finally reached the vertically hanging transparent capsule where we would be served lunch. We had a 300-degree view of the Sacred Valley, and it was pretty amazing to look down and see how far we climbed!
By this time, we were famished and immediately dug into our four-course meals accompanied by unlimited wine and water. Since we had to put in our orders well ahead of the tour (they have to carry all of the ingredients up to the capsule and cook the meals from scratch everyday), I made sure to choose different items for Avery and myself in case one of us didn’t like something. For the first course, we had Urubamba style quinoa soup with vegetables and Andean cheese and leek and potato cream soup with fresh cheese and pore pieces (which were both very tasty). For the appetizers, we had the chili chicken salad and trout tartare (again, really really good). For the main course, we enjoyed the alpaca tenderloin in a maca-malt beer sauce with quinoto (quinoa cooked like risotto) and the roasted chicken breast with creamy gnocchi (both SO delicious!). We barely had any room for dessert but found a way to eat some of the cashew passion fruit cream with mango. They definitely knew how to win back my heart after I was ready to kill someone after that arduous climb!
There was a 10-minute short hike to the ziplines, but we needed every minute of it to work off that meal! There were a series of 7 ziplines, some of which were pretty damn long! I’m not gonna lie, I was a little nervous at times. Even though I’ve done it in about 10 different countries, I really hate ziplining (though probably not more than Candra who was terrified the entire time!). None of this fazed Avery though because he left us in a heartbeat and was ready to tackle zipline after zipline.
Overall, the tour was AMAZING. The guides were very patient, funny, and helpful. They definitely went above and beyond to keep us safe, including separate guides staying with Avery and Candra to make sure they had the hang of things. The price was almost $250/pp (so definitely on the expensive side) but I feel like it was totally worth it!
There is actually an option to stay overnight and sleep in one of the capsules but it was sold out for the days we were going to be there so we didn’t get a chance to do that. We arrived back at the hotel around 5pm and even though we had a full day and all of my muscles were already aching, Avery had energy to go in the pool (where do kids get all of this energy from?!?).
Since I knew the day was going to be strenuous and we probably weren’t going to want to go out for dinner, I had made reservations at the hotel restaurant, Hawa, for 7:30pm. It was highly rated on TripAdvisor so I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the whole experience was terrible. The service was slow and bad. We didn’t get bread plates. Candra’s shrimp was way undercooked (to the point where she could’ve become really sick). They brought me the wrong meal (an entrée that wasn’t even on the menu). And the list goes on and on…They ended up comping most of the meal but I was very disappointed in what I thought was going to be a superior dining experience.
On the way back from that terrible dinner, Candra found the nearest couch and sat down so fast it made my head spin. I thought she was just being dramatic so I went ahead to the front desk to see if we could extend our stay another night. Since we had to shift our itinerary because of the protests, we now needed to stay at the hotel an extra night. After I arranged that, I went back to the front lobby to get Candra…only to find her hooked up to an oxygen machine! She had fainted in the lobby and couldn’t even remember how she got on the floor. Clearly, we misjudged the effects of the altitude paired with the climbing and definitely took it easy after that!
The next day was the day I had been waiting for: Machu Picchu! The “lost city” (considered as such because the Spaniards never found it when they invaded the region) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and classified as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. For years I had read and heard about what a magnificent sight it was and couldn’t wait to see it with my own two eyes.
Our pickup was scheduled for noon and the car ride to the Ollantaytambo train station was about 25 minutes from the hotel. Ollantaytambo is the beginning of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu but is also a super cute and colorful town worth a visit.
There are actually trains leaving as early as 5am for those who want to get an early start. Originally, we were supposed to leave about 3 hours earlier. However, between the protests cancelling previous tours and people having booked months in advance, there was limited availability on the train when Venturia (the company who was handling our Machu Picchu tour) tried to rebook us so we had to take what was available. We went to the ticket window to see if we could change our return train to an hour earlier but since it was an Expedition train (instead of the Vistadome train), we decided to keep our original time at 9:50pm. Our original departing train was also supposed to be a Vistadome but because of the last-minute changes (thank you protests!), we had to settle for what was available which was the Expedition. The biggest difference between the two was the Vistadome was slightly more expensive but for the higher price, you get air conditioning, complimentary snacks, a live dance show, a fashion show with alpaca garments, and a panoramic view with floor to ceiling windows.
After we entered the train station, it was a madhouse! I can’t even imagine how crowded it usually is in the morning which is the most popular time to go. We had no clue where we were supposed to be going so we pretty much just followed the crowds and asked someone where our train car was located.
It was sweltering hot when we boarded the train and of course, our seats were directly in the sun. Thankfully, we were able to move because no air conditioning ever came on (I was definitely wishing for the Vistadome train at this point).
After about an hour and a half, we arrived in Aguas Calientes, now renamed Machu Picchu town.
We quickly found our tour guide Henry and took a 25-minute bus ride up to the citadel. We went straight to lunch at Tinkuy restaurant at the Belmont Sanctuary Lodge. It was buffet-style and really good though a tad bit salty.
It was almost 3:30pm by the time we finished eating so we headed straight to the ticket gate since they stop letting people in at 3:30pm. Our tour guide told us all about the history of Machu Picchu and theories of what it was used for, including being a royal retreat of the 15th-century Inca Emperor, a hot spot for Holy Virgins, a functioning clock, and a retirement site. One interesting story the guide told us was about the city being covered in animal poop that germinated into plants which kept it hidden from the Spanish explorers. Who knew that poop could be so useful?!
We walked through the upper circuit since we wanted to take the usual pic in front of the citadel (note: you can’t backtrack, you can only move forward through the circuit you paid for). You are only allowed four hours to visit but for us, that was more than plenty of time.
We left around 5pm (it closes at 5:30pm) and even though we tried to beat those who were staying until close, the line for the bus back down the mountain was really long…and was even longer for those who came after us.
We went to the train station (which was hidden amidst a bevy of souvenir shops) to try and change our tickets and we were THIS close to getting the 6:20pm train when someone literally booked them a second before we did. Oh well, instead we changed to the 8:50pm train (which unfortunately was another Expedition train but at that point we just wanted to be on the first train back). Since we had a couple of hours to kill, we walked around Machu Picchu town. We stopped by the office where you could get your passport stamped but unfortunately, it was already closed for the day.
We went to dinner at Machupu restaurant which had an amazing view of the Urubamba River (though we couldn’t see much in the dark). There, I had the Pisco sour tasting and the cuy (Guinea pig) pizza. I didn’t realize they were going to do a whole presentation of me tasting different piscos to choose which one I wanted for my drink but I definitely got my money’s worth!
We headed to the train station around 8:15pm and they started boarding by 8:30pm. Interestingly, the train left the station a few minutes early, presumably because everyone had boarded. We arrived back to the hotel at around 11pm. Between the trains, buses, and car rides to get to Machu Picchu, we were exhausted but all agreed it was well worth the trek. FYI, there are also multi-day hiking treks to get there but we were short on time (and energy!) to do all that.
On our final day in Peru, I went to the spa for my 9am appointment for the “Gold from the Gods” exfoliation. I’m not usually a fan of spas or massages (weird, I know) but after randomly seeing this specific experience in a book in the hotel room, I was intrigued and wanted to try it… especially since it was only 150 soles (~$40) for 30 minutes. First, I stripped down and changed into a plush robe and slippers. Then, I met my therapist and before I entered the room, she told me to close my eyes and she circled me shaking a stick that rattled all around me. Some real voodoo type stuff. Lord have mercy! At this point, I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I entered the room and tried to relax as she massaged the cream all over. The massage felt sooo good I almost fell asleep! When I showered off, I still had all these gold flecks on my body kind of like when you put on bronzer. It was a very cool experience and I would definitely do it again!
Shortly after, we went to the lobby for our 11:30am Covid test appointment that we had the hotel arrange for us for 80 soles. We should be used to it by now, but boy did they insert the stick all the way up our nostrils!
At that point, it was time to check out so we grabbed our bags, stored them at the hotel, and took a short 7-minute walk to El Huacatay for our lunch reservation. The restaurant is definitely unassuming from the outside because we almost passed it, but when we entered, we were blown away! It felt like we had just stepped into a tropical garden. Our waiter was awesome and explained the different drinks and dishes on the menu. Both the food and drinks came out really really fast and everything was really delicious.
Our pick up to the airport was scheduled for 3pm just in case we ran into any protests/blockades on the way. We had received an email saying there might be another protest so wanted to err on the side of caution so we weren’t stranded! Luckily, we didn’t pass any and got to the airport well ahead of our scheduled flight. Interestingly, the Cuzco airport doesn’t have X-ray machines for the checked baggage so they had to manually sift through our bags before we could check-in. We had five hours to kill in the airport. Thankfully, we had that big lunch at El Huacatay because there were no restaurants (only vending machines!) in the gate area.
Finally, it was time to board our flight back (in business class nonetheless…gotta love those flight deals!). The trip was full of adventure and things we would’ve never expected but I would definitely rank it among my top 5 of all time. We had a blast and I can’t wait to return in the future!
Toya's Travels 