Before I left for Peru I had very little idea of what there was to do there, being as prior orginisation is something I have never really understood our itinery was decided in around 10mins on the first morning we arrived in Lima.

The three things I did know about Peru was that there was a lot of rainforest, the deepest canyon in the world ( the [Colca Canyon] ) and of course [Machu Pichu|Machu Pichu].

• Lima
• Arequipe & The Colca Canyon
• Puno & Lake Titicaca
• From Puno to Cusco by train
• Cusco
• Ollayantaytambo & The Sacred Valley
• Machu Pichu
• Madre De Dios
• Summary

Lima

We started off in Lima and in our 3 weeks planned a circular route heading firstly to Arequipe by plane to see the canyon then on to Puno by coach to see the [Floating Island]. From Puno we took the train to Cusco to see the sacred valley and Machu Pichu and then headed off by plane again to Puerto Maldonado for the rainforest.

Lima did not really inspire us much when we arrived and it didn't get any better the longer we stayed. The only bit we really went around much was Miraflores which could pretty much be any big city anywhere in the world. You can eat out cheaply and there's plenty of places to drink. We escaped from Lima as fast as we could.

Arequipe - Colca Canyon

Our first real stop, Arequipe, was a much nicer city ( but pretty high up ), there's hundreds of good hostels in the old part of the town, a good nightlife based around the town square and plenty to do in the surrounding countryside.

[Arequipe] is the best place to take trips out to the Colca Canyon, there are a variety of ways you get there and numerous different options once you arrive. We went for 2 days staying in a small village overnight where they laid on some Peruvian folk music etc for us in the evening. However you get to the area around the canyon you will have to travel over the Altiplano which is basically a very high altitude plain, the road get's up to something like 4300M at it's highest so it is something of a shock if you are not used to these high altitudes. However the views more than make it worthwhile as you can see [The Misti] and numerous other volcanoes rising even higher from the plateau.

Our visit to Colca lasted 2 days, the first day leaving very early in the morning for a 3-4 drive across the Altiplano. There is a small cafe place on the road which sells Cocoa Leaves and they are very necessary to ward off the ill effects of the altitude. The descent towards the canyon is spectacular as you drop down towards the lush green countryside surrounding it. On arrival we went for a hike around the river which runs through the canyon ( although the place we walked it was not a canyon at all yet ) followed by a dip in some hot springs in the afternoon. Unfortunatley I was wiped out the altitude, exertion and early start and just slept in the afternoon.

The second day was another early start to see the [Condor] who rise on the early morning thermal's from their nests in the canyon walls. This truly is an amazing sight as the birds swoop in zig zags right above your head gaining height.

This is how we saw the Canyon but there are many options you can take varying the length of time you stay in the area. There are numerous villages and paths around the place so I think this would be an excellent area for some very scenic walking.

The bus journey from Arequipe to Puno takes around 5 hours, is very cheap and also goes over the Altiplano. The bus station in Arequipe however is a bit of a nightmare if you don't speak Spanish !

Puno - Titicaca & The Floating Islands

Puno it's self does not come across as being a very nice town. I think it may be that the streets just seem too small and crowded and everything is in shadow most of the time. It clings to a hill above Lake Titicaca and the lake is the reason we had come here.

Lake Titicaca is a the highest naviagable lake in the world, it is shared by Bolvia and Peru with the border running somewhere through the middle of the lake. Apparently the Bolivian's keep their Navy in their half of the lake. Which is suppose is better than keeping it in Perus half of the lake.

So the attraction of Lake Titicaca is not Puno but the lake it's self and the islands within it. Closest to Puno ( around a 10min boat journey ) are the impressive [Floating Island]s which are built out of reeds and a special kind of floating muddy roots and actually do float on the lake. They have houses on them built out of reeds and [Reed boat]s for travelling from one island to the next. All the islands have little watch towers in the shape of various animals. On the islands you will find the inhabitants eager to sell their various wares, these are the same kind of things you can buy most places in Peru but they did have some very fine rugs and drape things.

Further out in the lake, past the reed infested area around Puno there are more islands which you can visit, we visited the islands Arimantani and [Taquile Island]. We booked a 2 day visit which started off visiting the floating islands and then motoring out to Arimanatani which takes around 4-5 hours. Out on the lake the views are spectacular ( [Water, Reeds, Mountains] ) across and the sun is very fierce - I got very sunburned !

We arrived on Arimantani around mid afternoon and met the local family and their [Kids] we would be staying with, the locals apparently do not speak much Spanish ( excepting the Children ) but their own Indian language and on the way their we had been taught some of the words we might need to use, e.g. "these potatoes are delicious". The family lived in a little mud brick enclosure surrounded by 3 huts, one of the huts appeared to be their living quarters, the 2nd their sleeping area and the 3rd hut was the [Guest Suite] where we were quartered. It gets very cold on the Island at night but we were very well provided for by a huge mass of blankets in the huts.

You are fed by the family on, what I presume, is their natural diet of various kinds of Potatoes so after a meal of potatoes and vegatable and potato soup we set out to the climb the [Big Hill] in the centre of the Island. At the top of the hill ( which is lined by more Indian sales people ) is a sacred Inca temple and fantastic views across to the distant Bolivian Andes.

In the evening ( after a filling meal of fried potato garnished with potatato's ) you are kitted out with poncho's and hats and get to take part in a [Fiesta !] in the islands village hall. This is great fun, the Indian's really seem to enjoy their dancing and there is no way to avoid joining in whole heartedly. If you have taken part in barn or folk dances you will have some idea of what to expect here except the Indian dancing is perhaps even less sophisticated ( if this is possible ) then barn dancing and very quickly degenerates into a crazed running around the room dance hanging on for dear life to the person in front of you. The dancing ends around 9pm and everyone goes off to bed since there is no electricity on the island to speak of.

On the second day we visited [Taquile Island] which is pretty close to Armantani and little more developed - Arimantani has no paved roads and hardly any brick or stone buildings ( it does have a volleyball court though ). During the morning we had a very pleasant walk around the coastline of the Island through the main village square where everyone was at Church and down some very steep steps to the docks.

Our guide for this trip was very knowledgeable indeed about the islands and the islanders ( having been born on Taquile ) and did an excellent job of bringing this knowledge alive for us tourists. All in all ( although I forget exactly what we did pay ) this was a very cheap and very enjoyable 2 days.

Train From Puno To Cusco

Our route now took us from Puno to Cusco on [The Train], this is supposed to be the second most beautiful train journey in Peru and we were looking forward to it. The trains themselves are nice and comfortable and offer rather expensive meals and refreshments - we preferred to bring our own. The journey is slightly longer than it would take on the coach but it really is a nice journey. From Puno the track begins by hugging the side of the Lake and then peels off through a few towns and villages. In one of the towns ( Juliaca ) there is an amazing market built right next to the train tracks which stretches for over 2 miles, it sold an amazing selection of merchandise from every kind of food you could think of through to washing machines, computers, motor bikes and a mind boggling array of spare parts for unguessable machinery. From here the track starts to climb into the Andes passing through desolate looking ( but obviously farmed and inhabited ) countryside until you are rushing along next to towering black peaks cracked by glaciers.

At the top of the pass there is a passing place where the trains have to wait to pass the train coming from the other direction since the there is just a single track line for the rest of the journey. Shortly after this the train stops at what appears to be a station ( called La Raya ) which is quickly turned into an outdoor supermarket as the passengers disembark to stretch their legs into the waiting arms of the local sales people.

From here it's the start of the downhill run into the sacred valley and [Cusco], at the top of the pass the line runs next to a tiny but fast flowing stream which it follows down until by the time you reach the valley floor it has turned into large and fast flowing Vilcanota River. The Sacred Valley is a very beautiful area and heavily culitvated so the scenery during this stage of the journey is all farmland and small Indian farm's - lot's of old women herding cattle around, dog's etc.

The train arrives around 4-5 in the afternoon which is plenty of time to go and find somewhere to stay from the huge selection of hostels available in [Cusco].

• Perurail information page

Cusco

Cusco is really the heart of the Peruvian tourist business and is consequently totally geared up to cater for the large numbers of tourists arriving everyday. This is both a good and a bad thing, on the good side it's ridiculously easy to find places to stay, places to eat and drink and excursions to go on. On the bad side the resteraunt tout's, postcard sellers etc are a lot more persistant and do not seem to have such a good sense of humour as their counterparts in other Peruvian towns. In Arequipe especially although they would all try their best to lure you into their particular resteraunt or whatever they did so with a very good grace and were still more than happy to laugh along with you even once you'd turned down their resteraunt.

Cusco square is dominated by a 2 huge cathedrals ( [Cusco Cathedral] ) and in the streets around about you'll find everything you need to eat drink and be merry.

Cusco is also the place to book your tours of Machu Pichu, the Sacred valley and Jungle Trips. Walking or Trekking tours to Machu Pichu are incrediably popular and every second shop offers some form of package to do this. Only a certain number of people are allowed to be on the Inca trail every day so I suspect that a lot of these packages all end up with only 1 or 2 operators actually doing the trekking. If you spend a little time looking around you will almost certainly find some kind of package to suit your requirements and abilities.

You can also do things like Mountain Biking and White Water Rafting from Cusco - I think adventure sports are in their infancy in Peru but I don't think it will take long before they really take off in a big way.

We went for a days rafting ( again you can organise any number of different rafting trips lasting from 1 day through to 1 week or more ) and it was great fun. The rapids are challenging enough for total beginners like myself and the quality of the guides and saftey canoeists was superb. I fell in after around 15mins and the water is breathtakingly cold but within seconds a canoeist had arrived and I was being hauled back into the boat. Half way down the river you can jump off a suspension bridge into the water if you like and I enjoyed doing that immenesly ( especially since I was soaked through anyway ). The meal they provided at the end of the day was also very nice.

Cusco is a nice place just to spend a few days chilling out and sitting around in cafes and resteraunts watching the world go by, there are also plenty of museums, cathedrals and Inca ruins to fill in your time here.

Ollayantaytambo & The Sacred Valley

From Cusco I went to see [Ollayantaytambo] and the Sacred Valley whilst my friend Paul went off to do the Inca Trail, both of us ended up in [Machu Pichu] only he walked whilst I went by Train.

Getting to the other towns in the sacred valley ( Pisac, Ollyantaytambo, Urubamba and some others whos names I forget ) is very easy, you can either take the expensive tourist buses which leave early in the mornings each day or you can go to the local bus station and catch one of the very cheap and very frequent collectivos which visit all these towns. The bus station is surprisingly hard to find being as it's located behind high walls in a little courtyard - I guess all the buses coming in and out of it should have given me a clue but I still had trouble finding it !

I wanted to go straight to [Ollayantaytambo] is to see the [Inca Fortress] and [Inca Terracing] there. The bus journey was good fun as the drivers cram as many people as they can on the bus and then try and pick up as many more people as they can find on their way out of Cusco. The bus passed through a town who's name I cannot really remember ( it may have been Chivay I'm really not sure ) and then stopped in Urumbamba - a town built on the banks of the river. From here smaller, and far less crowded collectivos run up to Ollyantaytambo through some very spectacular scenery - this area of Peru is really really picturesque. I think the whole journey took around 2-3 hours once I'd found the bus station.

The [Inca Ruins] are Ollayantaytambo are impressive with lot's of great [Inca Stones] to marvel at. It take's a good half a day to wander around properly, the morning seems to be the best time to avoid the arrival of the tour groups.

There are a few hostels and 2 hotels in Ollayantaytambo, there is also a railway station where it is possible to buy tickets for Machu Pichu - they are rumoured to be a lot cheaper from here than they are from Cusco ( the station is on the line to Cusco ).

Machu Pichu

Machu Pichu ( like Ayers rock in Austalia ) is a natural magnet for tourists, I think everyone we met had visited it at some point in their holiday. None of them were, inlcuding myself, disappointed once they arrived because it quite simply is every bit as amazing as you expect it to be.

There are two routes to Machu Pichu, one is walking the Inca trail to arrive at sunrise which I imagine would be a stunning experience ( weather permitting ). I however took the easier route by train from Ollayantaytambo to Aguas Caliente. Aguas Caliente ( even I could read enough Spanish by now to know this means hot springs ) is the town at the foot of the mountain Machu Pichu is situated on. It is not a particulary nice looking town at all mostly consisting of an extended building site and a street market between the train station and the buses to Machu Pichu. I think this is because large parts of the town are regulary destroyed by various disasters such as mud slides and earthquakes which seem to occur frequently around the base of Machu Pichu.

Local belief is that places such as Machu Pichu and the Mountains ( like The Misti near Arequipe ) are sentient entities who should be worshipped and appeased. The story goes that in return for being built on by the Incas and later the building of roads and damns on the river the mountain has decided to take a certain number of lives in payment. It is since the mountain decided this that the natural disasters have begun to occur.

All you have to do find the bus stops to the summit of Machu Pichu is follow the crowds and walk through the market until you arrive at a load of coaches, I think it cost around $10 for the return trip up and down the zig zagging track to the summit.

It costs around $40 to get into the Machu Pichu but it's well worth it. Once inside I made my way to a [Nice Terrace] with a great view over the town and down beyond to Huyanapichu at the far side. It was nicely deserted up there and you can just lie back and drink it all in.

Descending into the buildings themselves is a bit more of a hectic affair tring not to get caught up in tour groups etc and the [Inca Houses] are all very well preserved and I could certainly imaginge people living and working here - I would really like to see them growing crops on the terraces rather than just grass since I think this would change the appearance of the town quite a lot.

The focus of attention is the [Temple Of The Sun] in the middle of the town and this is where most of the congestion from the [Tour Groups] occurs.

You really have to see the place to appreciate it so I will not attempt to describe it any further.

Madre De Dios

Whilst in Cusco we sorted out our trip to the rain forest. It seemed there were two options on offer either the much talked about an praised Manu Reservation or various other locations along the Madre De Dios river. The trips to Manu seemed to us to be very expensive indeed so we opted for a 4 day trip with Eco Amazonia Lodge.

In order to join the trip we had to make our way to Puerto Maldonado where they would meet us at the airport, from Cusco the flight is only 30 - 45 mins so we arrived mid morning and duly were duly met by Victor - one of the guides.

Puerto Maldonado is a Jungle town and the last town on the road from Peru to Brazil, it was very hot when we arrived and stayed hot throughout our entire stay.

From the airport we had an hour or so to look around the market whilst we waited for the later flight from Cusco to arrive with more of our party who would be joining us in the lodge, once they had arrived we all headed to the river to begin our journey up the Madre Di Dios towards the Eco Amazonian Lodge.

The river it's self is an amazingly fast flowing for a river of it's size and the overwhelming sensation is one of the enornomous power of the water. The guide told us to look out for Caiman sunbathing on the banks and pointed out a few birds and things as we ploughed up against the current towards the lodge. In all the boat journey took around 2 hours I think.

The lodge it's self is built on the banks of the river from wood ( there is a lot of wood around to use ! ) and is very nice and comfortable. Wooden paths lead from the individual huts ( [The Hut]s, [Easy Street] ) you sleep in towards the communal eating area and bar. We were greeted with an interesting tasting fruit juice cocktail - we later discovered this contained a goodly amount of the Peruvian national drink: Pisco. Following the drink we trooped into the dining area for a very good buffet of cold meat and salad whilst we got to know the other members of our group.

The food at the lodge is all excellent quality, I am not a lover of "exoctic" dishes such as fish or rice but even I liked quite a lot of the stuff they served us.

After dinner we went off in the Canoe and [Into The Jungle] to see Monkey Island. You may have already guessed that the main attraction on Monkey Island is in fact monkeys - all kinds of monkeys from the tiny [Pocket Monkey], to [Spider Monkey]s and some very [Greedy Monkey]s. Victor the guide is obviously well aquainted with his monkey friends and lures them from the depths of the Jungle by loud shouting and the liberal distribution of Bananas. Before we left the Island we stopped to watch a fantastic [Sunset] whilst listening the Jungle sounds.

The evening meal was very nice, washed down by a lot of very nice wine and was followed by a little floating on the river looking for Caiman by torchlight and just sitting in the Canoe looking at the night Sky. There is obviously no light pollution at all in this area and the clarity and depth of the night sky is just wonderful. You can see stars, stars, more stars - stars behind those stars - stars even dimmer all on a backdrop of stars. The Milky Way is crystal clear.

On subsequent days in the lodge we went out on a few walks around looking at the wildlife and having various flora and fauna pointed out to us by the guides had a fishing expedition up another smaller [River] which you could swim in - if you so desired!

The highlight was the trip to the [Lost Lagoon] where there are [Ananaconda], herons, bats and all manner of wildlife. The night before this trip we had stayed up very late to witness the most amazing thunderstorm and pouring rain so luckily the start time of this trip was put back from 6AM to 7AM. Breakfasts at the lodge are also very nice.

To reach the Lost Lagoon you must first trek through the Jungle for a couple of hours through a lot of mud, across a lot of rickety plank bridges ( [Walking - Arrgh] ). At the end of this walk is a very impressive looking [Treehouse] which you can climb up above the canopy for views across the treetops ( [Me In A Tree] ). You take a paddled canoe into the actual lagoon and our guide was able to locate 2 Ananconda and numerous birds and bats for us to look at.

Summary

And that was the end of our adventure in Peru. Both of us really enjoyed ourselves immensely and I would recommend to anyone thinking of visiting the country to go ahead and do it - you will not be disappointed ! ( If you do go and are disappointed I do not accept any liability by saying this ).

When To Go

• We had a lot of conflicting advice about the best time to visit since different areas of Peru are better at different times of year. However we visited in mid April and everywhere we went the weather was perfect - hot, sunny and very little mud or rain.

How much does it cost

• From the UK I got a flight from Birmingham on KLM for just under £400 which was the best price I could find anywhere - this was a few months before the actual flight day. In all for 3 weeks and including the price of the flight I spent somewhere between £1100 - £1400. I could have stayed in cheaper hostels and spent less but this amount enabled me to be live comfortably and do something touristy every day.

What's the food like

• I thought it was disgusting but then I am probably the worlds most finnicky eater and even I never had to starve myself. There are zillion cheap resteraunts around and they do at least try to cook most kind of dishes you can get in the UK.

How easy is it to travel about internally in Peru?

• By Taxi: Taxis are everywhere, according to the people we spoke to a lot of the doctors, teachers, nurses etc for whom there are no jobs in there chosen profession turn to taxi driving to earn a living. Consequently taxi's are quite cheap and there is a lot of competition between drivers for fares. We got a lot of taxi's in Lima and never had any problems. You can also get taxis from smaller places for longer journeys when the coaches / buses have stopped for the day for good prices. Obviously you need to make sure you agree the price beforehand to avoid any confusion but all the taxi's we got were perfectly honest and didn't indulge in a lot of the fare hiking UK Taxi drivers are so good at. OK they may have tried but my grasp of Spanish is so poor I probably wore them down by blank staring.
• By Collectivo: Collectivo's are smaller coaches or minibuses which you can get for shorter journeys ( or getting around town in Lima ), these are much much cheaper than coaches and usually packed to the rafters with Peruvians and their luggage. We used them in Lima where they mainly seem to go straight down the main roads stopping at every juction, you just tell the guy hanging out the door where you want to get off and pay him when you do - or at some point during the journey. In Cusco there is a kind of Collectivo bus garage which has small coaches serving the Sacred Valley, there is an extremley frequent and dirt cheap service to all the surrounding towns, the coaches only leaves once it's packed to the rafters with people and then drives around Cusco a bit packing in yet more people at every street corner - I thought this was a great fun way of getting about.
• By Coach: There seem to be a lot of coaches in Peru and you can get them from most place to most others, personally we went from Arequipe to Puno which is something like an 8 hour journey. To be honest the coach service in Peru is at least equal to, if not better than National Express in the UK, they are comfortable and quite cheap.
• By Train: Peru does not have many train lines and in general the coach is always faster and more frequent than the trains which are typically single track lines which means there is only one train a day. However the trains do travel through some spectacular countryside which you get a great view of out the window.
• By Air: Aero Continente is Perus internal airline and prices seem to be in the region of $50 - $100 between most Peruvian cities. It's more expensive than the coaches but then it only takes 30mins -2 hours between most of the main places rather than 12 hours on a coach so it's probably worth it if you want to pack a lot of things in