Wehrell-ed Travel

My final day in Peru…it comes with relief and sadness.

I’m ready to be sleeping in my own, comfortable, warm California King bed. I’m ready to drink water from the tap, not worry if water gets in my mouth when showering, and to not have to pay for bottled water. I’m ready to flush my toilet paper, wash my hands with hot water, and have soap readily available when I need it.

I’m sad to be going back to work.

I think that’s been the internal monologue going on for me the past day or so. We fly out this afternoon at 4:30 p.m., which gives us a short afternoon of last minute exploration. Yesterday was our last full day in Cuzco, and we spent it relaxed. Our first stop of the day was the Inca museum, just behind the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. Many of the exhibits were diorama and looked like high school science projects, but they had an awesome mummy scene that was incredibly creepy. Almost all of the information was in Spanish, so I missed a lot of it, but it was a way to pass the morning, and for s/10, not a terrible way to do it.

I also held a baby lama, and yes, it was worth the s/2 to do it (especially because Jenna paid).

The rest of our day was spent lounging around (Zac, anyway), and shopping (the three of us ladies, anyway). I bought the ugliest alpaca sweater I could find. I’d been on the hunt for it since we arrived in Peru. I don’t want bright colors that blend in a beautiful display of art on cloth. No, not for this gal. I want the tacky sweater that gets passed around as a white elephant gift. I found it. It’s too big, but it was the smallest size they had. I’m confident I will one day grow into it.

I also bought myself some Peruvian hammer pants.

In the evening Coco opened his bar again. We all labored, slicing limes in preparation of the pisco sours and seeding them before Zac and his sausage fingers juiced them. I soon started feeling really crummy, so I went upstairs to bed, missing out on the festivities. I’ve never had so many issues with my stomach while traveling. I felt like I was going to throw up, so the thought of downing some pisco sours, no matter how delicious, just wasn’t appealing.

On the plus side, I got a great night’s sleep.

Now I’m awake, ready to check out, all packed up, and this of course means it’s time to reflect on the trip. I’ve included some of my favorite pictures taken, many of which are terrible, silly, or awkward.

Cuzco: This is a city for tourists. It was once the capital of the Incan Empire, at which time it was twice its current size. The Plaza de Armas is modest, but beautifully set in the valley of high mountain tops and seemingly endless blue sky. I like Cuzco more on my second long stay. The weather has been more cooperative and we’ve done more exploring. Our hostel is about a fifteen minute walk from the plaza, and the dusty roads and heavy traffic make it a less than scenic fifteen minutes. However, the San Blas neighborhood behind the plaza is really beautiful. Long cobblestone roads narrowly sway uphill through shops, restaurants, and art galleries. It’s a nice area to walk around and explore.

Cuzco is the gateway to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is surely the highlight of anyone’s Peruvian adventure. The sheer sight of the ancient ruins reaching nearly to the heavens is breathtaking, and worth whatever travel one has to do in order to see it. This was the highlight of our trip, certainly, and one of the few places I would say that everyone would enjoy. Pictures cannot even begin to capture the beauty and wonder of Machu Picchu. Video can’t capture it. It can only be experienced through witnessing it personally.

To better maximize our time we stayed in Aguas Calientes, rather than taking the train each day from Cuzco. Aguas Calientes is a town built for tourism. People lived in the area before Machu Picchu was introduced to the outside world, but tourism has taken over and thus this small village has blossomed into restaurants and hotels tucked in the mountainside, with the purpose of serving those who trek up to the ruins every day (about 2,000 per day). This is the last stop on the train from Cuzco or Ollantaytambo before Machu Picchu, and upon departure one must catch a bus (or hike) up to the ruins. It was much easier to stay in Aguas Calientes and catch a bus up in the morning before hordes of tourists disembarked from the Cuzco train.

Puno: Don’t go. Lake Titicaca is best explored from the Bolivian side. I don’t even need to spend more time talking about this place—even the Peruvians consider Puno to be the shithole of Peru. It’s sad that we wasted three days here. It’s like going to Spokane on your vacation; sad and unmentionable.

Arequipa: Wow. Arequipa was such a welcome relief after Puno. It’s the second largest city in Peru behind Lima, and it’s certainly more cosmopolitan than Cuzco. The city is beautiful and the people (generally) friendly. There are some great restaurants, and when one leaves the main tourist center surrounding the Plaza de Armas one can experience a great world of real Peruvian culture. I would visit this city again, which wasn’t something I found myself often saying in Peru.

In Summary: Peru has been a nice vacation. It’s not my favorite country, and I wouldn’t even put it on my top five list, but we’ve all had a good time, some good experiences and adventures, and Machu Picchu was worth every miserable minute I spent in Puno. I’d sum it up as a good vacation, and I’m glad we came. Will I come back? Likely not. If I were to return I would prefer to do it when visiting Ecuador, and likely stick to Northern Peru and go to the jungle. Would I encourage others to go? Absolutely. The world is worth seeing—good and bad.