Peru, Bolivia & Panama city

Peru, Bolivia & Panama city

3 week getaway into the world

 I couldn't wait to go to Peru. Four years ago I promised one of my best friends Pilar that I would go and visit her in Peru in the next 5 years. I was planning to go since arriving in the states, even if my other great friend Marianna from Mexico gave me many good reasons to choose to go there instead. I will definitely visit her soon as well! I LOVE TRAVELING! My roommate and I decided to choose a pretty basic circle around Peru.

We flew from Chicago to Lima where we met up with a really great Couchsurfer Michael. He took us from the airport to his place using buses. Once there he hooked us up with a SIM card and a place to eat. We had some great beer and some Lomo Soltado. We chatted and drank a little Pisco to chill. It was a great time, but since we were leaving for Cusco the next morning we had to go to bed. Next day we were off to Cusco.

We spent 5 days in and around Cusco. The first afternoon we got there we were lucky enough to be next to the Christmas market and there we had some amazing desserts and a typical dish with potatoes and other vegetables. All were around 50 cents, we ate like pigs! Once full we headed to the city center that was very beautiful and touristy, but a perfect place to just sit down and observe the locals :). Of course hunting for Machu Pichu deals as well. We ended up taking a 2-day trip by bus for 85$ and 65$ for students, everything included (first mistake; should have gone around more, the cheapest was 60$!). We would depart the next morning at 7 am.

Cusco city

2 day trip to Machu Pichu by bus

Bus ride from hell, people puking and most of us nauseous. BUT IT WAS SUPER FUN!! We went from Cusco to Santa Maria by normal streets, which passes a 4200m mountain. From Santa Maria to Hydroelectrica there was a gravel road that was on the side of the mountain and of course a 1000m drop. Sounds exciting, especially when drivers keep passing other cars and it seemed like they didn't know the meaning of the work break! It all took around 6h and from there followed a nice 3h hike up to the little village under Machu Pichu called Aquas Caliente. The hike was nice with some interesting views and we had a chance to meet others on the way up.  We arrived in Aquas Caliente when it was already dark, luckily we found our guide and were put in rooms. We had a really nice dinner with the rest of people in the group, there was a very diverse group!

The next morning we woke up at 3 am and after stuffing our face with breakfast and Coca leaves we took a 2h hike to Machu Pichu, not the easiest hike with a 15kg backpack (second mistake). After sweating like a waterfall we actually arrived first in out group. The entrance opened at 6 am and after taking group pictures and funny pictures with a couple of Koreans we went inside. 

It was stunning, you get in on top and when you look at this majestic structure you need to take a minute and appreciate all that you see. Machu Pichu was actually like a university for Inka tribe, it is where all the scientists and professionals in their field met and educated. It also served as a sacred haven from Spanish invaders. Machu was one of the only places that the Spanish never discovered, it was a very well kept secret! An American discoverer found it in 1911. The city of Machu Pichu is in a shape of a Condor (bird), which is one of the three holy animals Inka cherished. Other animals were Puma (Cusco) and snake. The city which has a shape of a snake has not been discovered yet! We had a tour guide for 3h, who explained everything in great detail! It was simply breathtaking! A 3h hike down and 6h drive back to Cusco followed.

After finding a place to stay in Cusco we met with the local who owned the place. It was a nice lady and its husband, they were very kind and were trying to do anything we wanted.  We planned to visit  rainbow mountain the next day, but the lady called the agency and it seemed that the tour was around 110 soles and the tour left at 3 am. Since it was a little too expensive and we didn't feel like sleeping only 4-5 h and then hike above 5000m. So we decided to take the day off and just enjoy the city and charge the batteries.

Cusco was a nice city and we were lucky enough to somehow manage to come across the farmers market of San Pedro. It was full of locals selling homemade goods, fruits, vegetables, food, and much more. The best things was the price, it was incredibly cheap and we afforded lunch, fruit juice, and  yogurt desserts.

After the relaxing day and a chilling tour around the city, a couple of beers and an amazing sleep. The next day we took a trip around Cusco to Moray and the salt pans. We were taken to a place where they showed us how the made the clothes and how they colored it.  Next was Moray which was 70 soles to enter. Basically, it is an archeological found created by Inka, which has a circular pattern and it looked like aliens landed. We actually stayed outside, I kinda sneaked in and took some pictures...nothing special but definitely looks cool!

The next step was the salt pans. These were the coolest and interesting from the point of a chemist, just seeing the mountain that produces 70% salt solution and they made salt pans in which the water evaporates and where the collect salt.

After this really great tour we headed back and went for a celebration dinner before our night bus to Puno. Cusco was around 3300m above sea level and in order not to have headaches we had to have coca leaves. I didn't have much problem with it, except for mild headaches which would come and go. After around 3,4 days they went away and I didn't have any problems at all. Min had a slight fever in Puno which was around 4000m above sea level, it took him the whole afternoon to come together but he became well soon.

Puno was a nice small city on lake Titicaca. We took a day there to get Min his visa to Bolivia and visit Uros Island or known as a floatable island.

The islands were something special of its own, but they have become too touristic for my taste and all the selling techniques were a little too known and annoying. Luckily we met these two amazing women from Venezuela, had a great lunch and enjoyed the afternoon together just chatting away! It was a pleasure of ours to meet them but soon enough it was time again to take a bus to La Paz through Copacabana beach.

It was a nice beach, but mostly it is a pit stop for travelers. Many touristy bars and restaurants with a chilled atmosphere and where you could unwind. 

After 2h of chilling at the beach we packed our bags and left on the bus to La Paz. We arrived there on Christmas eve and we found a nice hostel to stay in, took a tour at night around the city center. We came across some crazy soccer fans in the center fighting and riots happening. I guess it is quite normal for drunk fans, but not much to do at night I guess. The next day we went to around the center and some tourist sites. Our favorite was the cable cart on the yellow and green line. You could get a view of the whole city. A great place to scope the city. I like the city because it nested in between multiple mountains in a valley. 

Next place was Uyuni and also my favorite part of the trip. After a night bus from La Paz to Uyuni we teamed up with two great German girls in order to get a cheaper deal. After negotiating for hours we found a deal for 650 B including everything and unlimited supply of water. The latter was important because it has been known for people to be really thirsty and there was no place to buy water. We took a 3D2N deal from Uyuni all the way to Chile and back. 

I will let pictures do the talking and I will explain each part of the trip under the pictures. Have fun

This was the first thing we saw, an abandoned trains and some other for tourists to play with.

First Salt lake feeling

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Funny pics

The first volcano I have even seen, the beauty

German/Slovenian/Chinese group

There was a lot of lagoons scattered around the dessert and this is my favorite, better pictures below

Geysers on the last day on about 5000m

LLAMAs, we were taking to a special little place where the rocks were formed from volcano eruption and there was this little patch of grass there. We saw ostrich, llama, birds, ducks...it was realy nice

The before mention valley with many animals

The whole experience was amazing and I felt like on another planet. Desert, volcanos, dust, gravel, different shapes of rocks and surroundings kept changing every hour. Simply stunning and definitely worth all the money!

After a really hard trip, we came back and together with the German girls headed to Arequipa. This was done by a night bus to La Paz (90B), La Paz-Copacabana (30B), Copacabana-Arequipa (35B). It took us approx. 26h to get to Arequipa. I actually don't mind buses, so it was really not that bad, but te bed in Arequipa was soft as a cloud, slept like a baby.

Arequipa turned out to be my favorite city on this trip, mostly because of the breakfast we had. It was in the hostel on the rooftop overlooking the city center and in the close vicinity there were three volcanos surrounding the city! It was a little foggy, but even that couldn't have ruined the amazing feeling of the circumstance! We took a free Arequipa tour for around three hours and were shown all the great places around the city with some historical information. The city architecturally reminded me of old Spanish buildings, except that all the buildings here white because of the material the used. That's why it is also referred as a white city in Peru. We tried the famous local Arequipa cuisine in the farmers market, couldn't skip the cheese ice cream and of course the freshly squeezed juice. The remaining of the day we spent going around some tourist spots and later that evening joined the German girls for some card games!  One day I will definitely return, until then goodbye Arequipa.

This is where our adventures part of traveling ended and just the relaxing and enjoying good company from there on. I met one of my best friends in Lima (a friend I met in France). We came there on the last day of 2016 and we had planned to celebrate it together. We ended up going 3h out of Lima to a latin music concert by the beach and we came across a bunch of problems, but still managed to there and have an amazing party, dancing night. The next day we were all hungover and in need of sleep, but the day after that we took a trip to Ica, a region known for its wine and the desert in the middle on the city with an oasis in the middle. We went buggy riding and boarding down the sand hills...it was an incredible experience!!LOVED IT!!

The last day we spent with Alvaro, my friend's bf. He was really awesome and took us to the beach and to see some Lima tourist spots and before we knew it our last supper and an amazing Chirimoya/Champagne cocktail prepared by my friends mother and off we were to Panama. Imiss you PILAR!!

 

PANAMA CITY

We only had one-day layover in Panama city but it was enough to meet some really nice locals that helped us A LOT. Checked the beach, old city, Panama canal and we also met this nice Norwegian couple that kept us company. I think I already said too much in this blog, so enjoy the last couple of pictures and Panama is another place I have to return to and discover some more!! Love you all, until next time :)