Mancora, Peru - Day 91-93

We finally were able to spend 3 more days at the beach. Mancora is a very popular surfing spot, and we were looking forward to doing some surfing. But, the surf is pretty low-key and the small area for surfing was very crowded with people taking lessons, so we decided to try surfing at the next beach we visit. Also annoying was due to the popularity of the beach, you couldn't lay out in the sun or take two steps anywhere before a crowd of people selling things swarmed in on you. We are hoping that next time we go to the beach it will feel more calm and relaxing! That being said, the weather was perfect, mid-80s during the day and mid-70s at night with low humidity, and we stayed in a really nice beach bungalow for 2 of the nights.

The 1st night we stayed at this party hostel, which was a really nice hostel, but filled with 18 year-olds looking to hook up, and we just weren't feeling it. We moved on to the bungalow for nights 2 and 3.

We walked as far down the beach as possible one day, to be turned around by a police officer standing guard, who told us it is too dangerous to go any further. It is great that they have security personnel everywhere down here, but a strange feeling to know that there is always a good reason for them.

People watching (or should we say escaping from the hoards of beach-sellers) and eating our last meal of ceviche before heading on to Ecuador. The ceviche was great in Peru!

Trujillo, Peru - Day 90

On our way from the mountains to the beach, we had an all-day bus layover in the city of Trujillo. So, we spent the day exploring the city and visiting nearby ruins. Trujillo had beautiful Colonial architecture and was warm and sunny, so it wasn't a bad place to spend the day. The neighboring ruin, called Chan Chan, covers 22 sq miles and is the largest adobe city in the world. Most of Chan Chan, which was built in 1300 AD, has been worn away by La Niña and flooding. The portion that we visited is one of the few parts that has been excavated, and was used for religious ceremonies.

Beautiful plaza in Trujillo...one of the few places that we have visited in South America that doesn't have signs or advertisements covering the buildings.

Chan Chan has a very complex network of rooms, long hallways, and huge plazas. These rooms demonstrate the erosion of the mud walls.

These structures are part of the restored areas. The people who lived here were very closely-connected to the ocean and carved many images of fish and birds into the walls. These walls all represent fishing nets.

One of the very long hallways. It most likely had much more detail and possibly a roof covering it.

Before they began to wear away, the perimeter walls were all 30 ft high.

Cordillera Blanca - Santa Cruz Trek, Peru - Day 85-89

We were finally able to do some more camping and trekking on our own in the second highest mountain range in the world, the Cordillera Blanca. We took a bus from Lima to the city of Huaraz, which is the jumping-off point to the mountains. Huaraz was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1970 which demolished 95% of the city and killed half of the population. So, although the threat of another earthquake always lingers, Huaraz continues to remain Peru's top trekking, mountaineering, and climbing destination.

Because we visited Huaraz in the middle of the rainy season, our options were limited. We chose to do the Santa Cruz Trek, which is the most popular trek in the area because of the beautiful scenery of snow-capped mountains rising up in every direction. We caught fleeting glimpses of the mountains, but most of the scenery that we saw were clouds. Normally this trek requires at least a guide and porters, but since no one wants to trek in the rain, they actually allow tourists to trek unguided in the month of January! The trek covers 30 miles in 4 days (all above 10,000 ft) and crosses over a pass that reaches 15,584 ft!

The first hour of the trek was through a beautiful village.

Campsite Night 1: 12,600 ft. A rare glimpse of blue sky can be seen here; it rained ALL night.

Typical scenery of our trek. Although the clouds threatened to rain the whole time, we never got rained on while we were hiking.

Here we are at the highest point of the trek (15,584 ft). It is extremely hard to hike up that high with a pack on; it felt good to take them off for the picture!

Stunning blue glacier lake.

Campsite Night 2: 13,700 ft, with mountains still towering far above us. Alpamayo Mountain can be seen in the background. It has been named the most beautiful mountain in the world.

Taking a well-deserved break and enjoying the rare sunshine after setting up camp.

Pretty view of the Santa Cruz Valley with lots of cows. We joked that it should be called Cow Shit Trek because there was more shit than dirt on the trails.

Campsite Night 3: 11,800 ft. We had it all to ourselves!...minus the cows, donkeys, and horses...and all of their shit.

Our hike out down the very steep valley.

We had time to kill the next day waiting for our bus to leave Huaraz, so we did a day-hike up to Laguna Churup, which sits at 15,100 ft.

Lima, Peru - Day 81-82

We arrived to blue skies and warmer temperatures in Lima. (Lima normally has terrible weather with a thick fog that hangs over the city for 9 months of the year, but we happened to visit during their very short and pleasant summer) Despite Lima being a really big city, we stayed in the Miraflores area by the beach and really enjoyed our stay there. The city has a very modern feel, and they are known for their excellent food, and we couldn't have agreed more!

Lima's very rocky beach.

Typical Peruvian food: Anticucho (beef heart skewers!), choclo (Peruvian corn on the cob, which is much easier to eat than our corn), pisco sour cocktails (very delicious drink with white wine brandy and egg whites)

And of course we had to try Cuy Picante (spicy guinea pig!) Take note of the head and claws still attached.

Machu Picchu, Peru - Day 79

Our first stop in Peru was the city of Cusco, which is the gateway to Machu Picchu. We spent a day planning how to visit Machu Picchu in the most inexpensive way possible. Normally, it costs at least $250 to visit Machu Picchu. We were able to do it for under $100. We took a 6hr bus ride on a spectacular and windy mountainous road from Cusco to a town called Santa Maria. From there, we took a one and a half hour taxi ride to a set of train tracks, and then walked for 7.5 miles along the tracks to the town of Aguas Calientes, which took an additional 2 hours; making it a 10 hour long journey. The next morning we woke up extra early to hike up to the ruins instead of taking a bus and chose to not hire a guide but to tour the sight ourselves.

Unfortunately, it was very rainy...

The only picture we took in Cusco, because it rained the whole time.

The town of Aguas Calientes with the raging river running through.

Rainy but still beautiful at the top. Bella modeling her new raincoat, because the old one stopped working.

Agricultural terraces

They had a pretty nice view from up here.

This is the only round building at Machu Picchu, which showcases the magnificent stonework. The top layers indicate that it was still under construction.

How the hell did they move and lift these huge boulders?!

Because of the wear-and-tear due to all of the tourists, (up to 2,500 people visit per day) Machu Picchu slips down the mountainside 1cm per month, causing many structures to fall apart!

Water pools and channels run all throughout Machu Picchu.

We paid extra to hike up neighboring Cerro Machu Picchu. It was the most difficult hike we have EVER done! We climbed 2,000 ft of steep Inca stairs in less than a mile. Machu Picchu can be seen below.

Postcard picture of Machu Picchu.

Our walk back on the train tracks. Machu Picchu can be seen nestled in the saddle between the two peaks; the peak on the right is Cerro Machu Picchu.