After just one night in Guayquil, we set off on the 26 hour bus journey down to Lima, Peru. Leaving behind the green hills of Ecuador, we passed in to the desert landscape of Peru, until we reached Lima the next afternoon.
We opted to stay in Miraflores, an upscale district of Lima and enjoyed the parks, beaches and just a little bit of shopping.
After two nights in Lima we jumped back on to an overnight bus and travelled further south to the city of Arequipa, which lies in the Andes mountains at an altitude of 2380 metres.
We arrived in the city for breakfast and spent the rest of the day exploring our beautiful surroundings in 'The White City'; named after the white volcanic rock many of its colonial buildings are made from.
The next day we ventured further afield and into the area surrounding Arequipa; visiting colonial churches and houses,
viewpoints of the three Arequipan volcanoes and a Llama farm.
It was soon time to move onwards and upwards to Cusco to give us time to acclimatise in preparation for our Inca trail trek. We huffed and puffed our way around the city for a couple of days, because at 3300 metres any hill seems like a mountain. Cusco is another stunning place and we spent our time enjoying its attractions. We chilled out in the sun in the Plaza de Armas,
visited the local market and hung out with a cool Peruvian bloke.
To wet our appetite for the delights of the Inca trail we also visited some of the Inca ruins nearer to Cusco, including Sacsayhuaman a walled Inca complex high above Cusco.
If you think Stone Henge is impressive this place would blow your mind; perfect engineering to fit these huge stones together so closely that you couldn't fit a pin between them.
The view over the city wasn't bad from up here either.
A few more strangely named temples later and it was time to return to the city for a final carb-loading meal and a good nights sleep in preparation for our 4 day trek on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
We opted to stay in Miraflores, an upscale district of Lima and enjoyed the parks, beaches and just a little bit of shopping.
After two nights in Lima we jumped back on to an overnight bus and travelled further south to the city of Arequipa, which lies in the Andes mountains at an altitude of 2380 metres.
We arrived in the city for breakfast and spent the rest of the day exploring our beautiful surroundings in 'The White City'; named after the white volcanic rock many of its colonial buildings are made from.
The next day we ventured further afield and into the area surrounding Arequipa; visiting colonial churches and houses,
viewpoints of the three Arequipan volcanoes and a Llama farm.
It was soon time to move onwards and upwards to Cusco to give us time to acclimatise in preparation for our Inca trail trek. We huffed and puffed our way around the city for a couple of days, because at 3300 metres any hill seems like a mountain. Cusco is another stunning place and we spent our time enjoying its attractions. We chilled out in the sun in the Plaza de Armas,
visited the local market and hung out with a cool Peruvian bloke.
To wet our appetite for the delights of the Inca trail we also visited some of the Inca ruins nearer to Cusco, including Sacsayhuaman a walled Inca complex high above Cusco.
If you think Stone Henge is impressive this place would blow your mind; perfect engineering to fit these huge stones together so closely that you couldn't fit a pin between them.
The view over the city wasn't bad from up here either.
A few more strangely named temples later and it was time to return to the city for a final carb-loading meal and a good nights sleep in preparation for our 4 day trek on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
1 comment:
Really great blog, can't believe there aren't more comments here!
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