Travel Story «In depth story of travels in Peru»

Peru | 0 Comments 07 February 2005 - Last Update 07 October 2006

For anyone interested in travelling to Peru:


Peru is divided in three major zones:

- Sierra, the mountains, the Andean part that takes up the biggest part of the country

- Costa, tha part by the coast, a very long strech for about two thousand kilometers

- Selva, the jungle

Lima

Capital of Peru, actually more than twenty different parts who all form together Peru's largest city.
A place of contrasts, some areas are very rich and very clean other areas are very hectic, need to take a lot and not always so very clean.

I stayed six consecutive months in Barranco, the 'artistic' neighbourhood of Peru with a lot of bars, nightclubs, musicians playing everywhere... a nice part of Lima actually.
I must say as a Belgian arriving in such a place is quite an experience, driving around in aplace like that is certainly am exciting experience, cars everywhere on the road, police stopping you trying to get your money.... nice one.

Fortunately I met some really nice people, just before leaving I met Renatto, who has family living in Callao, the harbour part of Lima and I got to know Silvana and her family who took good care of me the whole time I was staying there, I found a room near their house when I was forced to leave the other house I was staying in and went to their house every day, but unfortunately I found it impossible to live in Lima forever so I travelled around the country, kept my room in Barranco and after a good ten months went back to Belgium.

South Peru

Arequipa

The 'white city' in the south of Peru, near to the coast. Behind the city is the volcano 'Misty', the houses and buildings are made of white sand hence the name 'white city'. Very nice place, the center is absolutely beautiful, very nice cathedral.

Also the starting places for hikes to the Canyon de Colca, a magnificent place with stunning nature and a few little villages in the bottom of the Canyon.

Further away there are other beautiful places, less known to tourists but also more remote and harder to reach.

 Lake Titicaca

To get to Lake Titicaca, it's the easiest to go to Puno and then from there go on an excursion on the Lake, this trip is definetly worth all the effort, it's a very strange place with floating islands of Uros and a few very nice islands. The floating islands are touristic, at least the parts you can visit, the other parts are for the locals only, but it is absolutely stunning, check it out.....

 Cuzco

The 'Inca Capital' of Peru, in the heart of the Sierra. The best known place in the country because fron here you can start your journey to Machu Picchu, the most famous Inca ruins, maybe even the most famous ruions in the world!!!

Cuzco itself is also a very nice place with a lot of interesting places to visit, nearby you have for instance Sacsayhuaman, one of the many ruins in the area. It's also a gringo hangout place, lots of people from all different countries stay there for a longer period of time to learn Spanish, to chill out or to explore the areas in the neighbourhood. I stayed all together about three weeks in the areas, I visited of course Machu Picchu and also made an adventurous trip to Manu, a beautiful national park in the jungle.

North Peru

Moyobamba

A town in the Selva or jungle part of the country, also a very place with interesting sites, naturewise that is. I met up with family of Renatto with whom I spent a nice time and showed me around the place, celebrated christnas and newyear.

Chachapoyas

One of the may places I read about was the 'ruins of Kuelap' in the area of Chachapoyas, I took a bus from Moyobamba and for the last part I went with a collectivo to Chachapoyas.

The town itself is very small but the area surrounding is absloutely beautiful, I met a few of the local people, we went with taxi for a ride and stopped at the local prison and belive it or not we got in!!!! The prisoners offered us their goods they make and I bought some of the most beautiful souvenirs of my entire experience in Peru, one of them I gave as a wedding present to a friend.

Kuelap itself is also very nice, the area is huge but on the contrary to Machu Picchu not as well preserved but certainly wirth a visit.

Huaraz

In Lima I met a few Belgians, David and Nelita, they were at the time occupied with a project in Huaraz and invited me to come and visit them when I had the chance, of course an oportunity like this I cannot skip!!! And amazing it was, I arrived at their place, they invited me to stay there, I met the local people there, they told me all about their projects and were very hospitable. We went to lots of different places in the area and I done a hike with Nelita to Santa Cruz, four days of enjoyment and extreme laughter in one of the ;ost amazingly beautiful areas I ever seen in my life. In total I stayed there for about two weeks, if you read this David or Nelita, thanks for those wonderful two weeks!

Huaraz is the basis to go and explore the Cordillera Blanca, with the highest peak in the Peruvian Andes, a must for anyone who loves the mountains.

More information to come soon......