We had meant to include these videos in our Adventures in Peru post, but the internet wasn’t cooperating (apparently a common problem in Bolivia). So here they are, a little later. The first video features only the Choquequirao to Machu Picchu trek, while the second video features everything else from Peru (the song we chose to play in the background was muted by Youtube for copyright reasons, so there is currently no sound. Once we find a suitable alternative song, we will re-upload!).
Enjoy!
We spent 31 glorious days in Peru, June 2nd to July 2nd and have totally fallen in love. We knew there would be some great moments (hello, Machu Picchu), but we were surprised be the diversity of breathtaking landscapes, the colorful culture, and the indescribable food. Here is our run down of Peru including totals, highlights, and notable experiences.
A collection of some of our favorite photos from Peru, one for each color of the rainbow. Click on the first photo to view a slideshow. Check out our Flickr page to see all our photos from Peru. Also, check out our photo collections by color.
First off, this post was totally ready to go on Monday night, but the internet in Copacabana, Bolivia couldn’t handle uploading photos. So here we are on Thursday in La Paz with good internet. Ok, back to the post.
Peru – Puno – Lake Titicaca – The Birthplace of the Sun
We spent the first few days of this week resting in Cusco after our 8-day trek. Then we made our way to the largest high altitude lake in the world, Lake Titicaca, which straddles the boarder between Peru and Bolivia. We spent a few days on each side taking in the sights and exploring the islands.
This week we completed one of our pillars! We did an eight-day/seven-night trek from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu. We fear that words cannot explain the wonderfulness of this adventure (so we will use mostly pictures). We signed up with Alpaca expeditions after reading reviews online. We were a little nervous about how it would turn out, but it exceeded all our expectations. We liked that they are environmentally conscious and hire locals only. The entire staff at Alpaca was professional, gracious, and friendly. Our guide, Herlin, was especially knowledgable about not only the history of the area, but the flora and fauna as well. We found ourselves in many spontaneous lessons along the path.
The hike itself was demanding enough to make our legs shake and lungs struggle, but the vistas made everything worth it. As an added bonus, we easily made friends with our travel companions – Phil and Davis, a father/son pair from Seattle. Both are strong hikers and easy travelers with open minds. Phil came up with the perfect description of our journey:
“We are crossing canyons, climbing mountains, and chasing condors.”
Nomadic Cadence 