The Race to Machu Picchu

 Machu Picchu is one of the top sites in not only Peru but all of South America meaning that tickets to enter the site sell out.  It is even on the latest list of the "New 7 Wonders of the World". Unfortunately for some of our friends on the road they were not able to acquire tickets to see the site but were nice enough to make sure we understood that the sooner we book tickets the better the chance we get the tickets we want for the day and time we want.  Ever since purchasing our Machu Picchu tickets our timeline has been set in stone meaning that we no longer had the flexibility that we wanted.  That being said we still tried to do everything we wanted to do which finally caught up to us in this blog post.  This blog post is all about us rushing to Machu Picchu and only stopping for a quick flight around the Nazca lines.  Although we tried our best to explore all the areas between Huacachina and Machu Picchu our tickets and timeline did not allow for much deviation.

September 28^th – Better out than in

Kendra’s day started very early as she woke up feeling all the symptoms of food poisoning.  Our nice dinner out on the town had consequences for Kendra.  Paul had gone for a vegetarian meal for some reason so he was completely fine but Kendra’s meat lasagna came back with a vengeance.

We had originally planned to leave Huacachina to head to the Nazca lines with some of the people we had met but Kendra was in no state to travel, other than between the van and the bathroom.

 

So, we said goodbye to our fellow overlanders, paid for another night at the campsite/hotel, and hoped Kendra would feel better sooner rather than later. 

Paul took the opportunity to relax by the pool and update the blog while Kendra focused on the food
poisoning mantra that everything is better out than in at this point.  He only left the pool area to check on Kendra after watching her make a mad dash to the toilets and he graciously went to the store to purchase electrolyte drinks and ginger ale.  Thankfully hour by hour Kendra started to feel slightly better and keep some liquids in her body but we knew that it was better to take it easy today rather than make Kendra feel potentially worse by driving south all while leaving here without constant access to a toilet and garbage can (because they were both needed at the same time, ugh).  Unfortunately due to road conditions and the date of our Machu Picchu tickets tomorrow would have to be a long driving day.

While Kendra deliriously rested in the van, Paul made one final hike up the sand dunes for sunset, which did not disappoint again.  We really enjoyed our time Huacachina and would have stayed longer if time would have permitted.

 

September 29- Nazca Lines

She's alive!

After Kendra awoke feeling well enough to stomach some Imodium and to travel we decided to make our way towards the Nazca lines.  Kendra was excited to see the Nazca lines while Paul was indifferent.  He had spoken to a few other travelers each of which found them underwhelming, with the exception of one, but more about him later.  After Kendra had a breakfast of leftover ginger ale mixed with electrolyte drink, Imodium and probiotics it was time to hit the road.  The Nazca lines were only 2 hours south of Huacachina and some were viewable from the road, so we figured we would see the ones by the road and make our way east towards Cusco.

Palpa Geoglyphs

Rupert even joined us.

We stopped first at the Palpa geoglyphs to see some neat designs and then continued south towards the Nazca lines and geoglyphs.  Kendra had marked on her map all the ones that looked interesting; however, we could only see the lizard, tree, toad/hands, and cat from the road. The Fear of Missing Out began to set in as we realized the humming bird, condor and astronaut were not visible from the road.  This is when Paul started thinking about the one traveler who had enjoyed the Nazca lines, a Swiss traveler who had taken a private flight to see all the famous Nazca lines and who let him know that the cheapest and easiest place to get a flight was at the Nazca airport, something we were only 5 kilometers away from. Previously, we convinced ourselves we could skip them and be happy with what we saw as Kendra had worked up a great sweat (maybe a fever- who knows?) while walking to the cat, but the FOMO really kicked in which solidified our decision; if we are only coming here once, we need to take a flight and see the lines we wanted to see.

We arrived at the Nazca airport which was the smallest airport we had ever been in.  Everyone rushed us in the parking lot as we prepared the van to ensure it stays cool for Rupert while we took to the skies.  Paul settled on the least pushy sales person who encouraged us to enter the airport and see the prices; spoiler alert: the prices are all the same starting at $60 usd to see 12 lines/geoglyphs and increasing in price up to $100 to see others lines and historical places in the area. We settled on the $60 tour and were weighed and copies of our passport were taken.  However, this was a group tour meaning we would have to wait for another 3-10 people to fill the plane which could be an hour or more.  Most flights and tours left in the morning as the air was less turbulent meaning it could be quite a while until a few other random people like us wander into the airport. Lucky for us after a short wait we were told we could have a private flight for two people for only $20 usd more and see more than just 12 lines and formations.  With the dog in the car, we decided to charter a private plane and in 10 minutes we were taking off.

While this experience blew our daily budget, in hindsight it was worth it! We saw so many formations, our pilots pointed out all the ones we could see and circled around to make sure we got the photos we wanted.  It was amazing how large these formations were and how they are practically impossible to see from the ground.  They were designed within a grid system with starting points originating from hills and mountains.  They were likely created for religious reasons and were created by removing the darker desert material allowing only the lighter material to show through.

Lizard, tree, toad/hands

Monkey

Astronaut

Whale

Condor or Hummingbird?

We have never flown in a Cessna and had read and heard that they are more prone to turbulence meaning that although we enjoyed every moment of our flight we, especially Paul, were happy to be back on solid ground as a few extra minutes may have resulted in some clean up.  There were no motion sickness puke bags on our plane, (Paul made sure to check when we were 75% done the flight).  Luckily, Kendra doesn’t usually get motion sickness so she was able to hold her own on this flight.

The people who made sure we didn't die!

We had originally planned to drive as far as possible today, but we were still 14 hours away from Cusco and had spent way more time than planned exploring the Nazca area so ended up camping close to a highway toll booth.  We had read it was a safe place to camp but Paul mistakenly drove into a farmers field rather than the toll booth parking lot where people previously had camped.  Luckily the farmer was very friendly, and although surprised we would want to camp in such a cold mountain pass they did welcome us to their land.  We settled in for the night where Kendra ate her first solid food- ramen.

 

September 30- On the Road Again

Today we drove all day.  We only stopped when we had to typically due to construction zones or for food.  At one such construction zone, where we were stopped for over two hours, we met a nice Peruvian man from Lima who leads mountain biking tours and was travelling with the owner of a giant blueberry farm (Jumboz Blueberries) a few hours north of Lima.  After getting us excited for our time around the Cusco area (specifically the Sacred Valley) he gave us two containers of massive blueberries and had us tell which one we liked better.  He sells them to the USA so he wanted to do “market research”. When we say jumbo blueberry farm, we are sure the land mass is large, but the blueberries are giant! If you ever see Jumboz in the grocery store you can have a taste of Peru.

A sweet quinoa road snack

The blueberries were delicious, we ate a couple from each container, told him which we prefer (we were not in agreement) then tried to return the two massive containers of blueberries but he refused to take them meaning we had tons of blueberries as road snacks for the rest of the day (and likely enough for tomorrow as well).

Just some photos from the day

We thought that we could drive 10 hours and make it to Cusco, but after 12 hours on the road and being 3.5 hours away from Cusco it was time to stop for the night.  Kendra debated between stopping at a hot spring or a canyon, but the canyon was closer and had amazing reviews so we spent the night with some beautiful views, sleeping only 40kms away from Machu Picchu as the crow flies.

Not a bad view to end a long day

October 1- Another day…

Today was Paul’s birthday and he didn’t want to do anything special for it.  We started driving around 8:30 am with the hope of making it…somewhere.  The goal was really to drive all day and get as far as possible.  We’ve realized that driving in Peru takes forever! Google and Waze are quite inaccurate with approximate arrival times and travelling 200 kms will take close to 5 hours.

After driving and driving some more we arrived in the town of Urubamba.  We have heard there is good coffee here, but we had other priorities.  We needed money from the bank (which like Peru driving took almost an hour to withdraw due to a machine that Paul swears was powered by Windows 95), and Paul wanted a Birthday Beer.  We stopped in at Yucay Brewing for beers and lunch and then it was time to head North towards Machu Picchu.

Birthday Beer

We had been a bit worried about the drive towards Machu Picchu because we have heard horror stories of single lane roads, sharp turns and too many switchbacks to count, these seemed to be confirmed by our navigation maps which looked like they’re creating their own Nazca Lines. 

Thankfully the drive was uneventful other than some rain although there were too many switchbacks to count.  We were stopped at a police check point and Kendra had our papers all ready to show them, but the police didn’t care about the papers.  They only asked where we were from, where the van was from, and about Rupert. They didn’t care about our names or anything about us, they only wanted to know the dog’s name. We are pretty sure they were just bored. We have read stories of corrupt police in Peru but still haven’t had a corrupt encounter yet, but we are okay if we leave Peru without one.

Another part of this drive we were concerned about was the last 50 kms or so; from the town of Santa Maria through Santa Teresa and onto Hidroelectrica. This road is notoriously a rough mud and gravel road that narrows down to one lane at multiple points meaning Peruvians will start playing a game of chicken to determine which vehicle will allow the other to go (we refuse to play and just pull off the road or start reversing).  We have realized many Peruvians don’t know or at least minimally use their brake and reverse features of their cars, so had mentally prepared ourselves for a long drive.  This road is also currently under construction so it shuts down multiple times throughout the day and opens from 9-9:30am, 12-1pm, 3:00-3:30pm, and after 7 pm. We would have to time our arrival accordingly, but since it was a Sunday it was a free day and the road was open at all times! We can only imagine the chaos as two directions of traffic are open for a short amount of time; only in Peru!

Some bread we picked up for $3CAD.

We made it to Santa Teresa as the sun was setting and had a nice night in. Paul ate the last of our Besos (our favourite Peruvian chocolate snack, think caramel wafer with soft marshmallow covered by milk chocolate) and Kendra stomached some rice Paul had made.

 

October 2- Hidroelectrica

The road to Hidroelectrica
(the non-river portion was 
open for us on the way  back)

With our Machu Picchu ticket entry date quickly approaching we awoke happy to be only 30 kilometers from the archaeological site. With the road being closed Kendra decided to have a slow start to the morning and take the 12-1 opening to hopefully avoid traffic too.  We organized our bags and Rupert’s things for our 11km walk to Aguas Calientes (the town created for tourists visiting Machu Picchu) and headed into town to get some more water before lining up for when the road opened.

We had again heard horror
stories about the road from Santa Teresa to Hidroelectrica but we were pleasantly surprised, after 20 minutes of driving and only one deep water crossing on the official road we arrived Hidroelectrica. We found a camp spot for the evening, met a tattoo artist from Toronto who was surprised to see a BC plated vehicle, and got eaten alive by sand flies and small mosquitoes.

 

October 3^rd – The economical hike to Machu Picchu

The start of the hike

Anyone who has been to Machu Picchu may be acutely aware that it is not a cheap endeavor.  Technically there are four ways to reach the famous Incan city of Machu Picchu all with different price points and difficulties.  You can take the famous Inca trail, a four day hike that is supposed to be absolutely beautiful, but requires a guide that usually is booked months in advance.  You can also take the Salkantay trek, another 4 day hike which can be done without a guide and is a favourite of many who want to trek independently and cheaply.  Most people who visit the site will take the train but for both of us the return trip cost is minimum $340 CAD to leave from Cusco.  The biggest issue for us though is not the hikes or the cost, it is that none of these options are pet friendly meaning our only option is to enter Machu Picchu the same way locals typically enter it, as the train is prohibitively expensive for them.  We had to walk along the train tracks from the last station accessible by a vehicle on an access route called the Amazon Route (still not sure why it is called this as we are no where near the amazon).

Kendra questioning her life choices

Kendra was still a bit sick and Rupert was quite lazy meaning the 10 kilometer hike took us a little longer than planned.  Rupert hardly walked it as after a couple kilometers he decided he wasn’t interested in walking any more and quasi demanded to be placed into his backpack.  The hike wasn’t ugly by any stretch of the imagination, it even gave us a view of the site from the river below the mountain that it was built upon. 

Our first view of Machu Picchu from below

The train we didn't take

We made it!

To celebrate our arrival into Aguas Calientes (also known as Machu Picchu Pueblo) we headed straight to a brewery and Paul tried some Alpaca, it tasted very similar to beef (Kendra’s not sure she can stomach meat yet).

Our next tasks for the day were to purchase bus tickets from Aguas Calientes to the actual Machu Picchu site, an easy task just quite expensive.  Return tickets for the next day where over $30 CAD each for a 15 minute bus ride in each direction. At least we didn’t have to hike up hill to Machu Picchu. 

Our last task was to find our hotel which we later learned had rebranded from a hotel with a 1 star rating on Google, requiring the assistance of a local bartender to show us where it was.  As thanks we promised we would head to his bar for a drink after we explored the town a bit.  We ended up heading to his bar for dinner, the food was good but the Pisco Sours he made were out of this world.  If the quality of Pisco Sours in Peru were the same as we had at  Tony’s bar we would probably order them more often.

Aguas Calientes was a purpose built community made for those wanting to visit Machu Picchu.  It was unlike anywhere we had been in Peru thus far and showcased an idealized, yet false version of Peru to tourists.  Most communities in Peru are extremely poor, especially rural and/or indigenous ones.  Many communities under 10,000 people have no electricity in some houses, lack of potable water within the entire community, shared bathrooms located in small buildings between houses, and crumbling infrastructure mixed with garbage.  Even those who have some of these amenities struggle to pay for them meaning that they are shut off.  Obviously there are exceptions and not all communities face these issues, but a common issue amongst smaller communities was little to no cell phone reception.  Obviously there wouldn’t be cell service everywhere but Peru has been particularly bad with the only places with decent cell service being big cities.  That being said the entire rail line and community had great cell service…go figure.

That being said we were looking forward to acting like tourists, speaking a bit of English and socializing with other travelers.

 

October 4^th – To Machu Picchu

People lined up for the bus

Our hotel had a free breakfast which was disappointing.  It consisted of stale bread with close to frozen butter and instant coffee.  Although we thought about grabbing something more for our time in Machu Picchu we decided instead to load our bag with granola bars we had packed and head to the bus.  It was here where we said goodbye to Rupert as the actual archeological site is not dog friendly. While we were exploring he slept in the hotel bed awaiting our return.

The line up for the bus was long with many people trying to sell you things or their services as a guide.  We had been told that we should not get a guide for a few reasons. They are expensive at, on average ~$100 CAD, but we had also heard that due to the lack of information or history on the site that many guides will make up information.  On top of that some guides have their English sales pitch down to a science but their English skills quickly diminish as soon as they start the actual tour.  Other issues we had heard were that the guides want to return to the bus stop as soon as possible to sell their services again to another traveler that they will rush you through the site.  Finally we were told that because so many English people do hire guides it easy to freeload off of them by just hanging around an area for a bit, we were told it is very easy to eavesdrop.

Before we knew it we were on the bus and having our tickets validated for the site and the circuit we were doing.  There are 4 circuits but you can only do one, they go in different areas of the site, but all 4 give you that famous view of Machu Picchu.  It is wildly believed that circuit 1 or 2 are the best with circuit 3 being the least desirable as this is the circuit large tour groups are required to take meaning it is very busy and hard to get good pictures.  Because of when we purchased our ticket we could choose any circuit we wanted so we choose circuit 2.

We had chosen an early morning ticket with a 7 am start, which we are still slightly conflicted about as the site is often cloudy and when we first arrived the mountains around Machu Picchu were not viewable.  While you are only supposed to have 3-4 hours in the site, we decided we would walk very slowly until the clouds cleared a little. Thankfully within 30 minutes the clouds started to break giving us the mystical cloudy view we had secretly hoped for.

We were happy with the circuit we had chosen seeing all the major spots and picture points at the site.  We were also extremely happy that we could wait and stop and take in the site waiting for the right time to take the photo we wanted.  We did eavesdrop on many English tours and it was interesting the little differences they would talk about from tour to tour and how obvious some of the things were that were discussed (“this is a rock”, “they cut the rocks to build the wall/house”, “this is a two level house”, “this is a water channel”).  In general, it seemed to us that a lot that is talked about is based on information learned from other Incan sites and generally applied to Machu Picchu.  It was a lot of general information about the Incan (Quechua) people and their building techniques.

 Overall, it seemed like the tour guides did discuss what archaeologists assumed each area was used for and if any bodies or interesting items were discovered in that area.  We arrived at the entrance for the Temple of the Condor 25 minutes before the rope would drop to allow us in so we got to hear a lot about the two story houses and roads and how the windows are in perfect alignment as 10+ tour guides escorted their groups past a portion of the ruins we were willing to wait for. I think if we were to have done it again we probably would have got a guide if only to ask questions as very few groups seemed to ask any specific questions of their guides.

All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Machu Picchu, we explored every inch we could and took so many pictures.  The landscape and greenery complemented the site perfectly making it aesthetically striking and although a lot is still unknown about the site it was an important Incan settlement for at least one emperor/king.

The best advice we can give to anyone planning to visit Machu Picchu is to go slow, take your time and wait to get that perfect photo. Also, with the circuit system you can only travel in one direction on the circuit.  If you want to go back for another photo you cannot go back.  We heard so many people being whistled at trying to go the wrong direction to get “the photo”, but we were lucky that we could stand and wait as long as we needed to get the photos we wanted.

All good things have to come to an end so eventually we made our way back to Aguas Calientes.  After walking the dog we decided to check out the hot springs that the community is named for which we can confidently not recommend.  As the only other main thing to do in the area it is extremely busy and due to the pool side bar (which we have never seen at a hot springs before) the water was disgusting and smelled horribly like urine.  We did soak for a bit and even ordered a celebratory cocktail but left pretty quick to have a hot soapy shower back in our hotel room.

After doing some souvenir shopping at the artisanal market we met up with some friends who had just arrived into the community. We spent the night swapping stories and laughing until enough wine and beer was consumed that it was time to head to bed. 

 

October 5^th – Doing what we want, when we want

Our checkout time of our hotel was 9am so after another disappointing breakfast (it was free breakfast so we can’t really complain) we started our walk back to the van.  For some reason we were all hiking like rockstars, even Rupert happily did 7 kilometers before letting us know he was ready to be carried.  We happily walked down the train line talking about the last couple days before reaching an organic coffee plantation that we had passed a couple days ago.  Knowing we had a couple hours to kill before the road leaving Hidroelectrica would open we decided to stop in.

This was definitely the right decision as we not only received the best cup of coffee we have had in Peru but were given a tour of the very small plantation and garden by an extremely friendly family.  We also ended up sharing our coffee with a couple of backpackers who arrived just as we were being served.  Although we didn’t know each other we ended up chatting like we were old friends resulting in us losing track of time and needing to rush the remainder of our walk back to the van to time out the road opening correctly. 

This coffee is definitely organic!

The drive was thankfully uneventful from Hidroelectrica to Santa Teresa, this time we didn’t even need to fjord a river.  We had slightly missed our window from Santa Teresa to Santa Maria (where we would return to the Sacred Valley and an actual highway) so we decided to check out the hot springs nearby. 

The Cocalmayo hot springs just outside of Santa Teresa were amazing and are now our favourite south American hot springs.  Although established and developed pools, it felt more natural than most with some walls being mountain side and a rock/pebble bottom.  On top of that the pools were clean and smelled like nothing (as we would expect).  The temperatures of each pool corresponded perfectly we the temperature of the area both in the heat of the day and in the middle of the night.  There seemed to be a pool for every temperature.    Hours melted away and our chances of leaving Santa Teresa disappeared.  It's amazing that taking a photo of a hot spring that we actually enjoyed never crossed our mind. Since we were no longer in a rush to be anywhere this self imposed “choice” seemed to be the perfect reminder that we are entering a new chapter of the trip.  We have no one visiting us, we have no wedding to attend nor vehicle shipping deadline or tickets to far away sites.  We can do what we want when we want.

The Highs and Lows (in Altitude) in Central Peru

After a week of being separated we returned to the van to start driving south once again. In this blog we finished exploring the Trujillo area before driving to Huascaran National park home of the Cordillera Blanca mountain range to do some hiking at high altitude and break the van meaning a return back to a mechanic.  We also explored Peruvian wine country, Paracas National Park before decided to camp near the centre of a real desert oasis where we jumped in a dune buggy and completed some sandboarding.

September 14- Reunited!

Paul arrived back in Trujillo/Huanchaco early in the morning of September 14 (6 am to be exact). He made his way to the hostel and settled in for after a long day of travelling.  He was able to rest as Kendra had both a private and a group Spanish lesson today meaning Paul slept until it was time to met up with her which happened to be on the beach.  It was nice to catch up on everything we had done and Kendra was excited to hear how Paul’s time in Edmonton was.  We went out for a nice street food dinner of papas rellenas, meat skewers and patrones with a glass of chicha morada.

Although tonight was going to be our last night in the hostel, we decided to stay one more day before hitting the road again to allow Paul to rest and to explore the greater area of Trujillo.

 

September 15- Chan Chan

After eating breakfast and dropping off laundry we got a taxi to the ancient archaeological site of Chan Chan.  Northern Peru is full of the archaeological sites of ancient Inca and Chimu cities with Chan Chan being one of the largest and most significant. We had a joke related to Chan Chan (and many other sites in northern Peru) as many had large blue signs indicating it was an archeological site but because we always saw so much garbage near these sites we joked that the signs actually indicated that this was wear you would dump garbage.  We honestly thought we had missed something in translation because every time we drove by an archeological site sign there was garbage all around.  Luckily once we turned off the highway and into Chan Chan there was significantly less garbage and we were able to enjoy this ancient city.

After exploring Chan Chan Paul joined Kendra for a final group Spanish class. After learning some more Spanish we then headed to the beach where Paul paid to rent chairs and an umbrella and we enjoyed watching the sun slowly set while sitting, talking, and watching the surfers go by. As a celebratory dinner we had pizza and a bottle of wine. The pizza was half Hawaiian (which was some of the best Hawaiian pizza we have ever had- we think the fresh pineapple is what made it great) and a supreme pizza which had salami, which was more like sliced hot dogs. We spent the night eating pizza in bed and watching mindless youtube shows. While we have enjoyed our time in a hostel, we are excited and nervous to get back to the van.

 

September 16- On the road again!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Fill a North American
propane bottle in South America!

We woke up, packed up and ate breakfast.  While Kendra settled up her bill at the hostel Paul got the van and reconnected the solar and battery. Success!!! Unplugging everything meant that our battery didn’t drain while we weren’t using it (like what happened when we shipped from Panama to Colombia). After reconnecting everything and repacking the van we picked up our laundry and completed a few errands. 

This was the route Google wanted
us to take

Our first task was getting gas where we paid some of the cheapest prices we had seen in northern peru (we had seen as high as $2.50 CAD a litre, but paid $1.85 CAD a litre). Our most important task was to refill our propane. We had read online that many gas stations also sell propane, so we checked if we could get our propane tank filled, but were unsuccessful at the gas stations because they didn’t have a nozzle or connector that would fit our tank. Our last chance to fill our tank in Trujillo was LlamaGas a large propane company. It took longer than any other tank to fill, but we left with a full propane tank thanks to some forethought to purchase a special adapter while we were in Ecuador.  We spent the next 20 minutes reloading the tire, propane tank and jerry can on the roof of the van and then we were off. Our plan was to get to the community of Caraz, about 6 hours away according to Waze and Google Maps.

Our only stop was for some ceviche before leaving the coast (where again we will probably be on El Hacienda’s social media page since they asked to take a picture of us).  We went from driving on the actual Pan-American highway with its smooth asphalt and double lane divided highway, to questioning whether the road should be called a highway.  We were on a two lane road which shrunk down to one lane sometimes through tunnels and on corners, but were surrounded by a beautiful canyon. After about 6 hours of driving, we were still 2 hours away from Caraz, so we slept at a wild campsite just off the “highway”.

After a long day of driving we were tired and as you many know nothing can go right when you’re tired! We decided on the quick and easy meal of ramen for dinner (we always have some ramen or macaroni and cheese just in case we are too tired to cook or if we haven’t went shopping for food in almost 2 weeks). When Paul hooked up the cookstove to the propane, nothing happened. He retried and again nothing happened. He had Kendra hook it up and again nothing happened. So here we were thinking raw ramen, like we always wanted as kids, would be an excellent dinner. While Paul tried and tried different things we started to figure out what was wrong.  Our propane tank was overfilled and the safety valve was being triggered whenever we opened the valve. Paul had told the people that the tank needed 10 kg (the normal amount for South American tanks) but according to the side of our tank, we only required 8 kg. Through some very careful manipulation of the valve we (Paul really) were able to get a tiny bit of gas flowing to the stove and cooked some dinner. During dinner we let some of the excess gas burn off and are hoping to do the same in the morning.  Slightly annoyed with the situation but too tired to care we crawled into the van and had our first night in the van in weeks.

 

September 17- Google Lied and will probably continue to lie to us

We woke up and realized just how hot the canyon we had camped in was getting; by 9 am it was 30 degrees. We woke up, ran the stove for a solid hour to try and burn off the extra propane, and drank a disappointing cup of coffee. Unfortunately (we had been warned) that once you leave Colombia and Ecuador that the coffee just isn’t very good.

We had bought coffee in Northern Peru and are really missing the coffee we had bought in Colombia, but it is a bit better than the instant coffee we’ve been served in some places in Peru. After loading up the van we headed down the canyon “highway”. Once again we questioned how this could be classified as a highway, but also know it is in rougher than normal shape due to a “Cyclone” a few months ago.

As we drove we had discussed about our upcoming destinations. We have tickets for Machu Picchu booked for October 4 (since the government website is selling out 6 weeks in advance), we want to see Laguna Paron, Lago 69, and Canon del Pato. As we drove we came upon tunnels and realized Google was wrong. We thought we’d have to drive thorough Huascaran National Park and head north the get to Canon del Pato, yet we realized we were in Canon del Pato, we had camped just outside of the area.  This area is known for its high canyon walls as narrow mountain tunnels and, being that it was enroute to future destination, was well worth our time. Well, that was one less destination on our must do list!

Tons of single lane tunnels on this "highway"

After 2 hours of driving in this gorgeous canyon we ended in the community of Caraz.  We tried to get some more money and some gas, but the atm was out of money and the gas stations we tried were closed on a Sunday. We went to the supermarket to buy fresh groceries, but it only had processed food so we headed for the municipal mercado. The first building was very quiet but we got the fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, and cheese we needed in the next buildings.  After a final stop for juice (Paul felt bad to the woman who was elderly hand squeezing oranges for our juice) it was time to decide what the plan was. Initially we thought we would camp just outside of town but decided to make our way towards Laguna Paron since it was almost free to camp at and we were short of money. After driving up numerous switchbacks we arrived at the gate for the park.  We are allowed to camp in the park and will pay 5 soles/person for today and 5 soles/person when we leave.

Laguna Paron was on Kendra’s must visit list.  It is in the northern part of the national park and is said to be just as spectacular and dynamic as Lago 69 without having to hike for 15 kms and be surrounded by tourists. It was said to be a “great hike” because you can drive to the lake and then walk 20 minutes to the mirador, so the perfect hike for non-hikers.  While we consider ourselves decent hikers, about 3 weeks ago a landslide wiped out the last part of the road to the final parking lot, where people have camped on the lakeside.  We knew we could still camp close by, but would have to add 1km onto the trip from where we would camp to the actual lake. 1 km usually does not phase us, but we knew Laguna Paron was at a high elevation (4,200 metres). This would be a good test of how well we can handle altitude, especially since Laguna 69 and Cusco and the entire country of Bolivia are at elevations that we are not used to. In Ecuador we discovered Paul gets sick above 3400 metres and Kendra has been unaffected with altitude sickness so far.

We arrived at our campspot due to rain settled in for the night.  We had talked to another overlander who was parked beside us, but she had arrived earlier in the day and was feeling ill from the altitude so wasn’t going to hike to see the lake.  Paul was feeling a bit of a headache coming on and a little nauseous, but this is to be expected, especially since we’re 700 metres above his safe no altitude sickness level.   We hoped tomorrow we’d be feel well enough to explore the area.

September 18- Is this view killing us?

Paul woke with his usual altitude sickness symptoms and Kendra awoke with a decent headache, from altitude sickness.  I guess Kendra wasn’t immune after all! 4,110 metres is the highest we have camped at/spent more than a few hours at, so this has been a good test (at least that’s what we’re telling ourselves in this moment). After realizing Paul couldn’t stomach our usual egg wraps for breakfast we ate half a pineapple and some peanut butter and jam on wraps with some tea (we couldn’t stomach disappointing coffee this morning).

Thankfully our propane has been working perfectly normal, so we have learned our lesson (which we may not remember when it needs to be filled in 3 months)!

Time to start our hike at Lago Paron! With neither of us feeling our best we set out on the trail. Well, the “trail” started with a road, then it became a trail, then we had to cross a river running down the landslide and back onto the trail, or at least onto a road that we then left and scrambled to an aqueduct that led us back to the original road and to the Refugio. This additional 1 km was never part of the official hike but 3 weeks ago a massive landslide occurred destroying the road to Lago Paron meaning it was up to us to route find our one way up to the lake.  This was only supposed to take about 20 minutes, but it was more tiresome than we could have anticipated.

We swear that we feel like we’re in some of the best shape of our lives, but hiking at altitude is a whole new challenge. After arriving at the start of the hike we figured we would go around the lake and see if we could make it to a second glacier lake. However, after reaching the end of the lake we decided we needed to push our pride aside and think logically. Hiking for 10 kms is no problem, but hiking at 4200 metres elevation (higher than the summit of Mount Robson) is hard. We decided it would be best to turn around since we were feeling the effects of the altitude.  Kendra still had a headache; Paul had a headache and was feeling nauseous and had slipped on the trail and landed on a rock right on his tailbone.  We didn’t want to but it was time to admit our defeat and turn back.

  

We had lucked out with a beautiful clear sky day and had great views of the lake and surrounding mountains and glaciers so we weren’t sad to turn back, just frustrated with our own limitations. After stopping along the trail numerous times for snacks and water we made it back to the start of the trail.  While Paul looked like he could die, Kendra ventured to the mirador (according to the internet 20 minutes up hill [which was a lie]). The mirador offered a few different views of the lake and some mountains but took Kendra an hour to do it on her own.  This may have been because she was already tired, but it was a worthwhile hike. 

While Kendra hiked Paul and Rupert laid down in some shade hoping the effects of the altitude would magically wear off. When Kendra returned it was time to hike the 1 km back down to the van.  A downhill hike of only 1 km should be nothing to be scared of, but we had to climb around the landslide, cross over rushing water and then navigate our way to the van all while feeling exhausted.  This was a nerve-wracking hike, luckily we made it back safe and sound. Kendra cooked lunch while Paul chatted with a local driver who was bored while waiting for other hikers to return. Then Paul took a nap in the van while Kendra typed out our happenings for the last few weeks. We are looking forward to seeing what other adventures Peru will offer us and decided to stay one more night at our 4100 metres campsite to hopefully start to acclimatize to higher elevations for future hikes.

Spot Kendra!

Kendra's view

 

A typical Quechua home made the
same way for generations

September 19^th – Minimizing our time at lower elevations

Surprisingly we felt better today and believed we were starting to get over our altitude sickness.  Kendra’s headache was gone and Paul was no longer nauseous but still had a horrible headache.  Since our plan was to hike to a high elevation lake tomorrow we wanted to minimize our time at low elevations as spending too much time at low elevation can undue any tolerance to high elevations we had built up.

We returned to Caraz and finished all the errands we were unable to complete Sunday.  We got more water, food from the market and most importantly more money and gas for the vehicle.  After getting everything we needed we quickly started our ascent to the main section of Huascaran National Park (The Cordillera Blanca).

Not a bad view for $24 CAD

We purchased a 3 day 2 night pass for the national park for $24 CAD per person which included camping.  We made our way to the large campground and were excited to see other overlanders from all over South America.  Although we did talk about hiking and exploring we decided against it believing it was in our best interest to take it easy and continue our plan to acclimatize.

We did; however, make sure to make friends with the local wildlife i.e., a bunch of friendly donkeys!

 

September 20^th – The most popular day trek in Peru

The Beginning

Paul woke up feeling better than he had felt for the last few days.  This was great news as he was seriously considering not attempting the 16 km hike to Laguna 69 and Kendra didn’t want to do it alone.  Kendra was feeling fine.  It seemed our plan to maximize our time at elevation had paid off!!

The Middle

We rolled out of bed made breakfast and some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and started the hike.  We had been told the hike was breathtaking for more than one reason.  It was difficult, if not almost impossible if you were unfit and unacclimated but the views would take your breath away. 

We were told the hike can be categorized in 4 sections: the first, a flat section in a valley; the second, and uphill climb with views of glaciers; the third, an alpine valley; the forth, a grueling kilometre up to the alpine lake called Lago 69; so called because it was an unnamed lake when the national park was created, so they numbered a few of them.  Well, the first section was not flat, it had a constant incline and worried us when after 4 kilometres of this “flat” hike we were already breathless.  The second section was definitely uphill but not as difficult as we had worried, however the views were subpar due to the cloud coverage.  The third section the alpine meadow was nice but too short, only lasting maybe a kilometre. Here we stopped at a small lake for a peanut butter and jam sandwich before continuing on; hoping some food will help us continue. The final section was horrible having us wonder if we had made the wrong choice to do this hike.  If it wasn’t for its short distance I think we may have died.  However, we did do it and although the views at the lake weren’t great when we arrived after catching our breath (for 2 hours) they did improve.

The End

The hike down was breathtaking as the clouds were now gone and we had a clear view of all the mountain tops and glaciers around us.  Although we debated if the work was worth the reward for this hike, the picture always trump how we feel (or felt).  We were glad we did the hike to Laguna 69.

When we arrived back to the campground we put up the awning and collapsed in our chairs.  We were proud of what we had done but were happy to relax for the rest of the night.

 

September 21^st – Mechanical issues on top of a mountain

Just a typical Peruvian Mountain "highway"

We decided to take the long way to the main city of Huaraz, the starting point of many tours and where most backpackers stay during there time in Huascaran National Park.  Our route consisted of driving up to one of the highest mountains passes in the Cordillera Blanca Mountain range, then driving down to some communities on the east side of that national park then back up to another mountain pass and finally down into Huaraz.   We didn’t know the quality of the road but were told it was a beautiful drive.

The drive up to the first mountain pass, had what felt like 30 switchbacks, offered us all the views we were looking for of the valley we had slept in for the previous two nights and as we approached the pass the temperature dropped and the area began to cloud over; it was evident we were at a very high altitude, but the van never wavered in its power.  The roads improved slightly as we drove down towards the village of Yanama where we had a decision of what road to take, a more direct road south or a longer, but potentially more used road heading north that would eventually take us south.  We opted for the shorter route and started down the road.  This road was rough and in terrible condition, the idea of going any faster than 25 km/h was unthinkable and even going that speed resulted in a familiar thud sound when we turned a corner.  We knew instantly there was something wrong with the sway bar, AGAIN!!! 

We did think about returning the same way we came as the road behind us was okay and our navigation assured us that the way we had come from was in fact the fastest way to get to Huaraz, but decided to trudge forward be it at slower speeds.  It was a stressful, if not frustrating drive but we eventually made it to Acochaca where we found pavement.  It wasn’t even broken or in disrepair like so much pavement we had encountered in Peru.  It was a good road!

The highway brought us back up to another mountain pass with a few viewpoints that demanded to be viewed, they also gave us the opportunity to view other tourists be harassed by cows either looking for food or trying to convince the tourists to leave their immediate area.

By the time we made it to Huaraz it was mid to late afternoon so instead of going straight to a mechanic we decided to try to find a spot to camp.  This was one of the hardest places to find somewhere to camp on this trip as every camping spot on iOverlander was locked up or closed.  Usually by Plan C we have a place to stay but today we ended up doing something we haven’t done since L.A.; sleep on the road. 

It wasn’t too bad as we parked in front of a hostel that allowed us to use their bathroom and most importantly their shower, but it wasn’t the relaxing night we had hoped it would be, so to make things a little better we walked into town and had a nice meal and some craft beer.

Rupert loved that the table was
at his level

 

September 22^nd – Forced downtime

After spending money at an “American style” café in Huaraz we made our way to a well rated mechanic on the outskirts of town.  As this is the 4^th time we have had issues with our sway bar and the 3^rd time in a Spanish speaking country so Paul knew the words to communicate the issue: “tengo un problema con mi barra estabilizadora”.  Very quickly they confirmed my suspicions were correct and let us know that the part would take at least a day to arrive from Lima.  We would be forced to have some downtime.

The sway bar was not our only issue as our brakes sounded terrible and we were concerned there was an issue we would need to correct, thankfully the sound was only a piece of metal rubbing on the rotors that could easily be bent back.  Unfortunately, they found another potential issue, a suspected leak in our transmission cooling lines.  Paul did ask if they could fix it but they said that it is very difficult to fix this issue and the parts they would need would be difficult if not impossible to source here in Peru.  We left the mechanic with them promising to do there best to fix or find solutions for every problem and we hoped that tomorrow we would be given some good news.

It was exciting being able to choose a hotel to stay in for the night as there were so many options and levels of quality.  In the end we splurged a little bit, spending ~$50 CAD for a penthouse jacuzzi suite a 10 minute walk from the downtown area.  It was awesome!!  This suite gave us views of the mountain and the jacuzzi was designed for two people.  The TV in the room was placed in such a way that no matter where you were in the room, on the bed, on the chair, in the jacuzzi or sitting on the toilet you could watch anything you wanted so we got Netflix up and running and put on the 2^nd season of The Office.

We did leave our paradise to get some dinner only to encounter a parade with multiple marching bands that we ended up following to try to figure out what they were celebrating.  We still have no idea.

It contained at least 3 marching bands

After we ate a delicious dinner and purchased bottle of wine we returned to the room to continue our vacation away from the road.

 

September 23^rd – Repeat

Before leaving the mechanic yesterday we were told that they should have our problems fixed by 2:30pm, the issue with this is that we had plans to drive as far south as possible today with a minimum goal of driving south of Lima.  If our vehicle was done for 2:30 we would only have a couple hours of driving time and there were no places to camp roughly 2 hours down the road.  We had enjoyed our time in our Jacuzzi suite so we decided to repeat our night and book another day and plan of leaving very early the next day to drive as far as possible.

Thirty minutes after paying for another night the mechanic called; the van was ready- at 10 am.

This was a bit frustrating as it was still early enough to do a good driving day and debated leaving and wasting the $50 we had just paid but in the end decided to continue our vacation from the road.

We decided to pick up the van around lunch time so that we could time it out with going for a celebratory beer and food at the local microbrewery 20 kilometres north of town.  We picked up the van, everything looked great and everything felt correct while we drove north.  We think/hope the van is good to go for the next 10,000 kilometres.

The brewery was fine, but they didn’t serve any food and they didn’t seem to care if we had a beer or not.  To get a couple beers we ended up chasing the waitresses and asking multiple times for a drink.

The lack of food gave us the opportunity to go out for a nice lunch at a famous CUY restaurant in the area.  Cuy for those who are unaware is a Peruvian delicacy eaten for special occasions and is typically found in cages and as a pet in Canada.  It is guinea pig.

Paul did have some reservations about trying cuy as he had owned guinea pigs as a kid but he also wanted to take part in this cultural meal.  It was surprisingly delicious with our favourite part of it being the skin.  The meat itself was similar in consistency to dark turkey meat but its flavour was rich and bolder.  We had heard people describe the taste like chicken but that isn’t quite correct.  For those we have been to south east Asia and tried rat the taste is similar.

We returned and soaked in our hotel room until it was time for dinner.  We didn’t stay out late and didn’t stay awake much later once we returned as our goal was to drive as far as possible tomorrow.

 

September 24^th – Conquering Lima traffic

As planned we left early and drove as far as possible.  The only thing that we were slightly stressed

This is how we conquer the roads!

about was our drive through Lima as many overlanders had horror stories of crazy traffic and crazier drivers.  According to google Lima has some of the worst traffic in the world.

We are happy to say we did it, we survived and didn’t crash as we drove through the big city.  The drivers were crazy and a few times we were convinced a bus was going to hit us but they never did.  Interestingly, two areas of Lima recently went into a state of emergency due to crime and we did notice that some areas of northern Lima felt very rough.  Beyond that Lima suffered from issues that lots of Peru has, garbage everywhere.  Unfortunately, garbage really seems to be tainting our experiences of Peru.

As we were warned it took us forever to drive from the north side of Lima to the south side meaning that 50 kilometres south of Lima it was time to stop for the night at a lovely beachside town known as Rock Point.  Unfortunately, we were too tired to enjoy the community, but luckily all the shops and restaurants and bars closed when the sunset, so we don’t think we missed too much.

 

September 25^th – Exploring wine country

We left early to maximize our time in the Peruvian wine country.  We were quite excited to purchase cheap delicious wine as we have positive memories of every wine country we have ever been to in our lives.  We had faith Peru would deliver us some delicious wine.

We only stopped 30 minutes outside of where we camped for some well reviewed bread (it was delicious and Kendra found a sandwich that felt made for her- avocado and olives on fresh baked bread) before driving straight to Pisco where we assumed we would be able to purchase the Peruvian brandy made at wineries named for the city/river, Pisco. Pisco was a normal Peruvian town and we learned that there were no wineries in the immediate area so after a bit more research and after dropping off some laundry we traveled back north to the community of Chincha Alta, the heart of Peruvian wine country. 

We knew we were in the correct place as there were wineries everywhere so we went to the best reviewed one and bought a bottle of wine and a bottle of pisco.  We were unaware how wine country worked.  We didn’t know if it was like Spain where they won’t serve you if you drove to the winery or if it was more like Canada/USA/Mexico where they don’t care, as long as you are paying they will provide you with samples.  At the second winery we learned that they will allow us to sample any wine but we had to ask to sample them, they didn’t automatically offer wine flights or a taste.  This is when we learned that the quality of wine is very low. At one of the stops Paul tried the “dry” wine while Kendra tried the sweet wine. Paul’s dry was sweet even for Kendra’s palate and Kendra’s sweet was like poorly fermented juice.  For Kendra’s side of the family, we have learned that if Aunt Barb Racher opened a winery in Peru it would probably win all the awards and be proclaimed as the best winery in the region.  Just to confirm we love Aunt Barb’s wine and have made plans to make some pisco sours and have some deck drinks when we return!!

After filling our van with subpar wine we went to the market to purchase food for the coming days as well as ingredients to make our own pisco sours. The drive returning to the pisco area was a little scary as we drove through the busiest most densely populated area of Chincha but eventually we arrived back to the coast where we had hoped to enter Paracas National Reserve and camp near the beach.  This had been possible a couple years ago but we were surprised there were no recent reviews of anyone doing this.  When we arrived at the front gate and enquired about camping in the national reserve we learned why there were no recent reviews, it was now forbidden to camp in the area. The park was also closing in an hour so we thought we would do the park in the morning.

When we were driving to the Nature Reserve we ended up taking a wrong turn and saw a large grouping of overlanders camping near a beach meaning that being denied camping in the national reserve was not a big problem.  We drove to where we had seen the overlanders and they welcomed us to their beachside camping spot.  We spent the evening making pisco sours with different ingredients and amounts of each ingredient in the hopes of finding our perfect pisco recipe.  We aren’t too sure we found the perfect pisco recipe but we did find our way to bed after drinking a sizable amount of pisco.

 

September 26^th – Kendra’s off road adventure

After saying goodbye to our new friends at our camping spot at the beach we made our way to Paracas National Reserve known for its beaches, landscape and marine and avian wildlife.  Sadly the area is being plagued by the avian flu so there were many dead birds around the area and due to our dog we were unable to rent a boat and see any marine animals.  The beaches were beautiful and deserted as it is the low season in the area.  For many beaches, including our favourite Playa El Raspon you walked down stairs into small beach within a beautiful cove.

We checked out the must do sights of the park which included a Red Beach known for its red sand, various viewpoints that look out to sand dunes and the ocean, all other accessible beaches and a pink lake within the Salinas de Otuma area.

The famous red sand of Paracas

Kendra drove throughout the national reserve as it was her decision day and we believed it would be easier for Kendra to drive and just go where she wanted to go instead of Paul always having to ask her if he should turn or stop.  Kendra had driven to the viewpoint of the pink lake but had seen friends of ours drive right to the lake itself, the issue was we weren’t clear where the road would be to get close to the lake and our friends have a 4x4 defender, we obviously have a front wheel drive heavy dodge grand caravan that lacks 4x4 capabilities.  After some debate in Kendra’s mind, she headed towards the desert for an off road adventure much to the stress of Paul.  She followed any wheel paths she could find and to Paul’s surprise navigated and arrived at the pink lake.  It was definitely worth it as you can see by the pictures.

Kendra was able to successfully get us back to the road and out of Paracas National Reserve so we celebrated with some ceviche near the beach before picking up our laundry and getting a few more groceries.  We’re not sure if we’ve mentioned it before but Peru has a divine snack called Besos de Moza. These delectable treats have a creamy marshmallow filling bathed in chocolate and taste like a smore.  You may be thinking that we’ve described a viva puff, but besos are 100 times better than a viva puff. Next it was time to start driving south again to Huacachina; an oasis in the middle of the Ica desert.

The reward for our
 offroad adventure

We arrived just before 6pm where we met and befriended new overlanders and ran into other overlanders we had not seen since Colombia.  The town was like a mirage with a lake in the middle of some of the largest most dynamic sand dunes we had ever seen.  The lake was surrounded by greenery and restaurants.  The town didn’t look like any other Peruvian town we had ever been to and with our camping spot having not only a pool but a swim up bar we felt like we were in a resort.    

We had noticed that everyone in Huacachina leaves the city for sunset and hikes up the sand dunes for pictures of the oasis town backdropped by a setting sun.  Rupert is not allowed on the sand dunes meaning we hung around by the lake instead.  It made sense to us that if sunset is spectacular sunrise must be equally beautiful so we decided to set our alarm for an early more wake up.

 

A real oasis overshadowed by sand dunes

September 27^th – Dune buggying and Sandboarding

Not the sunrise we had hoped

Morning came quick and once we were ready we started our hike in the early morning light up the sand dunes hoping for a nice sunrise.  It was very cloudy and at best we saw the area get lighter, but we never saw the sun.  You win some you lose some.

Yesterday our new friends had mentioned that they wanted to go on a dune buggy and sandboarding tour which sounded amazing to us.  Paul did a bunch of research and found what be believed was the best most reputable tour company and after booking our tour we were able to convince our new friends and old friends from Colombia to all do the tour with us. 

The tour was a sunset tour so we spent the day wandering around Huacachina and relaxing by the pool while tolerating some of the wine we had purchased in Chincha.  Time seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were walking to the meeting location for our tour.

The tour was awesome with the dune buggy driver understanding exactly how exhilarating a tour like this should be.  After a couple stops for pictures we drove to the highest sand dune in the area and he got out some sandboards to use as toboggans.  We can not overstate how fun this was, the speed and adrenaline we felt going face first down a massive sand dune was well worth the cost of the tour.

Foolishly Paul, immediately after getting his sand board, hoped on it and boarded down the sand dune followed shortly by Kendra.  We did not hear the safety talk nor see the proper way to go down the hill.  We could have just stayed at the bottom until everyone had come down and waited for the dune buggy but we wanted to go again and do it properly since everyone went faster and further than we did; so we hiked up the sand dune which was exhausting but made worth it once we tobogganed properly and reached maximum speed down the hill.

The tour operator brought us to two other locations for sand boarding, each as fun as the previous and before we knew it, it was time to drive up to another high point in the Ica desert to view sunset.  It was the perfect way to end our desert adventure.

To celebrate such a good day, we decided to go out for dinner and spent the evening talking to other overlanders until we were the only people awake in the campground/hotel signaling it was time to go to bed.