Lesson Learned: Multi-city airline tickets

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Jenn

Back in the beginning of July, Jason and I made the decision to purchase a multi-city airline ticket that would bring us through the countries we wanted to visit in South America.

When we first left Canada for our travels, we had nothing planned. Two weeks in, we had a rough idea of the route we wanted to take through South America: Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. So we purchased a multi-city airline ticket that would take us through the major cities in those countries. Although it locked us into set travel dates, the money we saved purchasing a multi-city ticket (vs. purchasing the tickets between each of the cities separate) seemed like it was well worth it.

Leg 1: Bogota (Colombia) to Lima (Peru)
Leg 2: Lima (Peru) to Santa Cruz (Bolivia)
Leg 3: Santa Cruz (Bolivia) to Santiago (Chile)
Leg 4: Santiago (Chile) to Buenos Aires (Argentina)

At first things were going well – we caught our Bogota (Colombia) to Lima (Peru) flight without any incident. Although we didn’t know it at the time, things started going awry when we decided to skip our Lima (Peru) to Santa Cruz (Bolivia) flight.

When it was time to catch our Santa Cruz (Bolivia) to Santiago (Chile) flight, we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We had spent the majority of our time in Bolivia in the city of La Paz but we were scheduled to fly out of Santa Cruz, so we caught an early flight from La Paz to Santa Cruz. We arrived in Santa Cruz at 8am but our flight to Santiago was at 5:30pm – so we had about 9 hours to kill. Little did we know, it would the most stressful 9 hours of our travels so far.

We were lucky that the Santa Cruz had some good food options, bank machines, travel agents, internet/phone kiosk. We’ve been stranded in worse airports before.

We tried to check-in electronically since our airline ticket counter was still closed. We received an electronic message saying that there was no record of our reservation since it had been cancelled.

My immediate thought was that our flight was cancelled, but a quick search showed that our flight was still set to arrive as originally scheduled.

So then we had to call the customer service line of the company we booked our multi-city airline ticket through: CheapOair (I know, sketchy-sounding company, eh? But we’ve used them before without incident). Problem was, we had no cell phone. Since we were travelling for 6 months, we had both put our cellphone plans on hold. There was no stores in the airport that sold SIM cards either. Luckily, there was an internet/phone kiosk in the airport.

Internet/Phone Kiosk in the Santa Cruz, Bolivia Airport

The Internet/Phone Kiosk in the airport. Jason spent a lot of time in the phone booth here.

Jason got on the line with CheapOair and found out why flights booked through them were so cheap – their customer service sucks! 1-800 and 1-888 numbers do not work outside of North America so we had to call their number for International callers. Companies that provide good customer service usually provide collect call services for their international callers. CheapOair did not. So we had to bite the bullet and call long-distance. They immediately put Jason on hold and at the 20-minute mark, we decided to drop the call as we were quickly racking up long-distance costs without any idea of how long we’d be on hold.

The airport had free WIFI, so we decided to call CheapOair via Skype. Granted, the WIFI was spotty, but at least the call would be free. Jason waited on hold for 30 minutes before a customer service rep got on the line. Fifteen minutes into the conversation, the call dropped – the WIFI had cut out! Jason called back when the WIFI came back on and had to wait on hold for another 30 minutes for another rep. The call dropped again after 10 minutes. This painful cycle repeated itself several times before we were able to get the whole story.

Apparently, the airline (Avianca Air) that we flew with for our Bogota-Lima flight had cancelled our reservation for this flight. The CheapOair rep told us that we had to call Avianca and resolve the situation ourselves. Jason was pretty annoyed at this and argued that, since CheapOAir was acting on behalf of us as a travel agent, they should be responsible for resolving the issue with Avianca. CheapOair shrugged (or at least it sounded like a shrug over the phone) and said there was nothing they could do.

Jason called Avianca and talked to a customer rep there. Luckily, Avianca had a toll-free number that worked in South America, so we were able to use the land-line phone for this call (i.e. no dropped calls because of spotty WIFI). Avianca told us that it was, in fact, CheapOAir that had called THEM to cancel the flight reservation! They had a very detailed activity log outlining dates and times of CheapOAir’s activities regarding our airline reservations. They also informed us that, as an airline, they do not cancel a customer’s airline reservation unless instructed to do so by the customer or the customer’s travel agent.

We were livid! CheapOAir was giving us the run-around. By then, it was almost 2pm. We should’ve be checking into our flight.

Jason got back onto Skype and called CheapOAir. Let’s just say there were a lot of heated words exchanged in that phone booth. The rep who took the call said that Avianca cancelled our reservation but we knew he was lying as Jason had already talked to Avianca and they had an activity log of CheapOAir’s instructions. Jason finally convinced the rep to call Avianca themselves to straighten it out – and then the call dropped AGAIN! Jason called them back, waited on hold, and got another rep. This one told us that we had to talk to LAN, the airline that would be flying us to Santiago (Chile) at 5:30pm. Sounded like another run-around. Jason stayed on the phone with them while I went downstairs to the LAN ticket counter to talk to them.

I was still in line when Jason joined me downstairs. The call had dropped again and he was sick of having to call them back and waiting on hold. He was getting nowhere with them.

We finally got to a ticket agent. We told them that our airline reservation had been cancelled and that we couldn’t check in. She was incredibly apologetic for the inconvenience and told us that she would help us out. FINALLY! A helpful customer service rep!

After a couple of keyboard clicks and some digging around, she told us that she could see our reservations but that there were no airline tickets attached. She called the manager over for help. Some discussions in Spanish ensued and the manager took over. The manager apologized again for the inconvenience and asked whether we had missed the second leg of our multi-city airline travel. I didn’t have a good feeling about this: ‘Yes, we did but we still need the third leg of our airline travel‘ She sadly informed us that we cannot skip any leg of a multi-city airline ticket. Once we skip one, the entire ticket is then null and void – apparently that’s the policy for multi-city airline tickets.

We stood there flabbergasted! We tried pulling the sympathy card (‘But we were never informed of the policy!‘) but the manager couldn’t do anything. We had no airline reservations to Chile and even our fourth flight to Argentina has been voided. She suggested that we can talk to the airline’s head office on Monday (it was currently Saturday) to try to plead our case, but nothing was guaranteed. She gave us a sympathetic look and called for the next customer in line.

We were numb as we wandered away from the ticket counter. We had just lost two flights and a LOT of money – almost 10% of our travel budget! I tried to stay positive but Jason was having a pretty hard time. We let ourselves wallow in our misery for a few minutes. But then I forced us to get past it and start thinking about the options in front of us.

Stay in Bolivia until Monday to talk to the head office of the airline.
1. Pros: we might be able to recoup our flights
2. Cons: we’d have stay in Bolivia for two additional nights and find last-minute accommodation. Also, there’s no guarantee that we’d be able to recoup anything
Buy another flight to Santiago, Chile
1. Pros: we’d get to leave Bolivia sooner
2. Cons: flying to Chile would be expensive, as would the eventual flight out of Chile to Argentina

After a lot of thought, we decided to go with our 3rd option: book a flight straight to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We would cut Chile from our travels (Chile is an expensive country and flying into and out of Chile would just add to our travel expenses). We didn’t have much planned in Chile and haven’t heard too many things about the country that made us feel like we had to go there. While on the other hand, there were plenty of things we wanted to do in Argentina.

So we chalked our cancelled flights up to a really expensive life lesson and started looking for the next flight out to Buenos Aires and accommodations. I think we must’ve used up all our bad luck, because within a few hours, Jason had found a beautiful apartment in Buenos Aires that was available and I found a flight that would fly us out the next morning for an amazing price.

It was an emotional rollercoaster of a day, but by 7pm, we had finalized our plans and settled down with beer and wings in the food court to celebrate.

Food court in Santa Cruz, Bolivia airport

During our 24 hours here at the airport, we ate at every single food counter here. The place on the left served wings and beer 🙂

The travel agent who helped me book the flight to Buenos Aires even let us spend the night in the employee lounge behind their ticket counter (i.e. a secure space to store our backpacks, a comfy couch, and a huge flatscreen TV). So Jason and I settled in after our food court dinner and dreamed of Buenos Aires.

Lesson Learned: DO NOT skip any leg of travel if travelling via a multi-city airline ticket. Doing so will make any subsequent flights on the ticket null and void

Crossing the border from Puno, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Jenn

To make our way down through South America, we purchased a multi-city airline ticket which would bring us through Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina via its’ major cities. We had taken our Bogota, Colombia to Lima, Peru flight a few weeks back, but we were now near the southern-most tip of Peru. We were in the city of Puno, which is just under 150 km from the Peru/Bolivia border.

Since we were already so close to the Peru/Bolivia border, we made the (in retrospect, very wrong – but more on that in a later post) decision to skip our Peru to Bolivia flight. Instead, we would take the bus over the Peru/Bolivia border, saving us a flight back to Lima to catch the second leg of our multi-city flight.

We’ve read that crossing into Bolivia from Peru can seem a little sketchy, but if you’re prepared for the chaos, it’s actually quite okay. We had read about other travellers’ experiences that made it seem there were quite a few bus scams (i.e. purchasing an overnight VIP bus ticket from Cusco, and then being forced to switch to a rickety old local bus once you cross the border into Bolivia, being told to pay extra for the bus they were being switched to). Most of these negative experiences seem to stem from the Cusco – La Paz route. Since our trip from Puno to La Paz would be relatively short (~7 hours), we didn’t need a take an expensive overnight bus. But just in case, we read up on which bus companies to avoid (i.e. PeruTour, and/or any bus company that used Diana Tours) and went to the main bus terminal (Terminal Terrestre) in Puno to inquire about tickets for the next day.

From our initial research and after talking to a few bus companies, we discovered a few things:

There are two south shore routes from Puno to Bolivia:
- the safer, more scenic, more popular route through Yunguyo / Copacabana (most bus companies from Puno will take this route).
- the shorter, less safer, more direct route through Desaguadero (Ormeño offers this route). We read that the only reason you would take this less safe route is if you’re pressed for time. Try not to spend the night in Desaguadero and note that the Peruvian police have a bad reputation here for requiring you to pay an imaginary ‘exit tax’.
Almost all bus companies will make you switch from a Peruvian bus to a Bolivian bus once you’re in Bolivia. The sketchier ones will switch you to another bus run by a totally different bus company. We ended up going with a bus company called Tourismo Titicaca as they repeatedly assured us that the bus switch in Copacabana was to another bus run by the same company.
The one-way trip from Puno to La Paz will run you about S/. 35 (CDN $13)
Most bus companies will require you to leave early in the morning so that you make it past the Peru/Bolivian border before it closes. (Yunguyo/Copacabana border closes at 6pm Peruvian time, Desguadero border closes 8:30pm Bolivian time) Tourismo Titicaca offered a 2:30pm departure, which allowed us to visit the floating reed islands in the morning.

The next day, after visiting the floating reed islands, we caught our bus at 2:30pm. Tourismo Titicaca offers a fairly comfortable tourist bus. We picked up some sandwiches at the bus station since this bus company does not offer any refreshments onboard.

The 3.5-hour ride to the border to Yunguyo was calm and scenic. We drifted in and out of sleep until the guide woke us up by announcing instructions on how to cross the Peru/Bolivia border in Spanish. Jason and I were dumbfounded as to what was going on as people packed up their things and got off the bus. Once we got off the bus, we were met with absolute chaos.

The bus stops in front of the casa de cambio (exchange office) on the Peruvian side and drives off with our luggage, leaving us in the dust. One of the guides must have noticed our wide-eyed confusion as he came over to provide some instructions in broken English. He told us that there are exchange offices on the Bolivian side too but we had read that the exchange rate on the Peruvian side was a little bit better, so we hustled over when the guide told us to hurry.

After some more wide-eyed confusion, we were instructed to first visit the Peruvian police where they make sure you have all your necessary exit papers and documentation. Then it’s next door to the Immigration Office.

After all the paperwork, you then walk up a dirt road, weaving through all the bus traffic, diesel fumes, road vendors, and sketchy exchange stands towards the archway at the border. I’ve never walked across any country border before so I thought it was pretty cool, as we stepped foot under the archway and over the border to Bolivia. You’ll be greeted by the “Welcome to Bolivia” sign at this point. But no time for dilly-dallying. You’re swept off to the Bolivian immigration services at that point. Save time by making sure you complete your Bolivian entry form before you get there. Also, if your country requires you to arrange for a visa beforehand, make sure that’s all in order too. Currently, North Americans don’t need a visa, but US citizens will need to pay a hefty US $135 entry fee.

The Bolivian Immigration Control office – the only picture I took all day since it was so hectic.

Afterwards, some guides pointed us to our bus – which was parked patiently on the side of the road. All in all, our border crossing took us about 20 minutes in total.

Half an hour later, as the sun was setting, our bus stopped in Copacabana. Tourismo Titicaca had originally told us that we’d have about an hour to explore the city, but we were hustled off the bus and taken to another bus that was waiting for us. Unfortunately, Jason and I were the last ones to board the second bus and when we got on, we discovered there were no more seats! Our guide took us off the bus and had a frantic conversation with the lady who took our tickets when we boarded the overbooked bus. The two English-speaking guides who would remain with the overbooked bus reassured us that the lady will bring us to another bus heading to La Paz. Our first thoughts were: ‘We had read about these scams beforehand! This can’t be happening to us!‘

But we had no choice but to grab our backpacks and follow the lady. We saw a bus with the sign “La Paz” on the windshield that was slowly driving by. She knocked on the door and I would imagine said something to the effect of “We have two extra travellers that need to get to La Paz – will you take them?“ to the Spanish-speaking guide who peeked his head out. He hesitated, then appeared to agree, and took our backpacks to the luggage storage. As we boarded the bus, the English-speaking guide who would remain with the overbooked bus quickly relayed some instructions: ‘you’ll be getting off the bus at a ferry crossing about an hour from now. Make sure you take a picture of this bus so you know which bus to get back on‘. Did we just hear that correctly? Take a picture of the bus? What’s worse is that we no longer had our bus ticket to La Paz with us – the lady had taken them. We were now on a bus that we had no proof of payment for, bound for a city that we hoped would be La Paz.

As we go on the bus, we realized that this second bus was also full! The Spanish-speaking guide tried to motion for us to move down further into the bus, which would require us to step over passengers who were already sitting on the aisle floor. And then some of the passengers started motioning for us to come towards to the back of this very sketchy-looking, jam-packed bus. There were two seats at the very back of the bus, wedged between a sleeping Peruvian man and an overweight Bolivian woman. We settled in and readied ourselves for a bumpy, high-speed bus ride through the pitch-black Bolivian countryside. Every once in awhile, I would catch glimpses of the edge of a cliff as we hurtled down the dirt highway. Weren’t there a lot of Bolivian bus accidents? were one of the many questions that crossed my mind during the hour to the ferry crossing.

After we arrived at the the ferry terminal at the Straits of Taquina, we followed everyone off the bus. But while I was taking a million pictures of our bus and committing the license plate to memory, everyone disappeared. We asked the Spanish-speaking guide where to go, but we couldn’t understand anything he was telling us. One of the stragglers, a nice old Bolivian lady, motioned for us to follow her. We followed her to a ticket booth where we had to pay $b 2.00 (or $CDN 0.30) for the motor boat that would take you across the water. They pack a lot of people onto the little motor boat. As we were boarding the little boat, we noticed our bus being driven aboard a large wooden raft. The giant bus and all our luggage would cross the same water on that rickety raft. The entire ride across the water took place in complete darkness. There were no lights on the boat – so if we hadn’t already crossed the Bolivian border, I would’ve thought they were trying to smuggle us into the country. The whole operation was majorly sketchy and kind of insane. What’s more, it felt like the lady sitting next to me in the dark was trying to pick my pocket. Welcome to Bolivia.

Once we reached the other side, we waited patiently for our bus (which did, in fact, survive the ride over via the wooden raft ). While we were waiting to board our bus, we actually saw our original overbooked bus and our English-speaking guides. They recognized us and waved – although, to me, they looked a little bit guilty for leaving us behind. We reboarded our jam-packed bus but managed to score the window seat, so I didn’t have to endure another 2.5 hours of a Peruvian man falling asleep on me.

After the crazy ferry crossing and bus switcharoo, the rest of the ride to La Paz was (thankfully) non-eventful.

So here are some highlights and tips:

Try to search long and hard for a reputable bus company (i.e. highly recommended by other travellers, trusted travel guides, etc). Even though we tried our best with advance research, we still ended up with a bus company that provided a sketchy travel experience.
The ferry-crossing and bus-switching was a little more nerve-wracking since it was all in pitch-black darkness. Take an earlier bus if you want to avoid travel in the dark.
Purchase your bus ticket a day in advance and at the bus station in Puno, as buses fill up quickly.
Hang onto your ticket or ticket stub to prove you’ve paid for your entire trip to La Paz.
There’s a one-hour time difference once you cross into Bolivia. Adjust your watch forward an hour if you’re travelling from Peru into Bolivia.
Exchange your Peruvian Soles for Bolivianos on the Peru side, since the exchange rate is a bit better.
Be prepared for some chaos, regardless of how much you read up and ready yourself.

Floating on Lake Titicaca

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Jenn

Our last stop in Peru was the dizzyingly-high city of Puno. At almost 4000m above sea level, coming here straight from the coast will require you to take it easy or risk serious altitude sickness. However, we’d already spent weeks in high-elevation Cusco and Arequipa already, so we were fairly well acclimatized.

The beautiful Lake Titicaca

Puno is a chaoatic, compact little city. It’s a convenient stop for people travelling between Peru’s larger cities and La Paz, Bolivia and a gateway for those wanting to visit Lake Titicaca.

Lake Titicaca is the world’s highest navigable lake (there are a lot of higher, smaller lakes but boats are unable to navigate through them). Floating on the lake, it feels like you’re on top of the world, as the skies melt into the mirror-like lake.

The lake is also home to the unique sight of floating reed islands. These man-made islands were made centuries ago and are still inhabited by the indigenous people who constantly refresh the islands by adding new reeds to the surface, as older reeds at the bottom disintegrate. The reeds, which are plentiful in the lake, are also used to make their huts, furniture, and boats.

The reeds that grow in Lake Titicaca

We had a few hours free one morning, so we decided to visit the nearby Uros Floating Island to get a taste of what the Uros lives are like.

Uros floating islands (Lake Titicaca, Peru)

The Uros Floating Islands

We’ve read some reviews that these short 3-hour tours can seem very superficial and shallow, due to the repetitive nature of these tours. But I personally found our tour very interesting and informative.

The island ladies waiting to greet us as we arrived at their island.

The Uros islands are a group of about 70 islands grouped together – each island has its own “mayor”, who’s responsible for overseeing life on that specific island. The island we visited had 5 families living together and they eagerly welcomed us into their homes.

Our guide was very enthusiastic about demonstrating how the islands were built and maintained. The mayor, who had quite the sense of humour, was also very involved in the demonstration and it was very entertaining to watch them interact. (Mayor: “the good thing about floating islands is that, if you don’t like your neighbour, you can just pull up their island anchor late at night and then you won’t have to deal with them the next morning“)

Our guide demonstrating how the reed islands are built and maintained

We spent the morning wandering into their huts, checking out their handicrafts, and admiring their traditional clothing. At times, it was a little scary walking on the reed island – there were several spots that felt like you can easily fall right through the reeds

Jason peeking into one of their huts

Chatting with the mayor of the island we visited: “So what is your next electorial campaign based on?”

Jason picked up a piece of dried reed off the floor of the island and braided this bracelet for me – an authentic little keepsake!

The bracelet Jason made for me

Who knew Jason had accessory-making skills? This guy never fails to amaze me. Maybe we can continue funding our travels through his newly-discovered skill? Would you buy one? 🙂

Trekking into the Colca Canyon

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Jenn

After a restful week in Arequipa, we were ready for another ~~beat-down~~ trekking adventure. Arequipa is a main launching point for the surrounding canyon country and Jason had been itching to trek the Colca Canyon, which is about 200km north of Arequipa.

View of the Colca Canyon from the start of the hike

The Colca Canyon is one of Peru’s spectacular natural sights, although it’s often overshadowed by the country’s other attractions (i.e. Machu Picchu). It’s twice as deep as the famous Grand Canyon in the United States and is actually the world’s second deepest canyon – just few kilometers shallower than the nearby Cotahausi Canyon.

We decided to set up our base in nearby Chivay, a popular market town that still retains a lot of its traditional country origins.

Town of Chivay, Peru

The market bustling in the mornings in Chivay, Peru

It’s a logical entry point into the canyon country, and holds it own with many hiking trails and some of the most impressive and expansive Incan farm terracing on the continent.

Incan terraces from Coporque to Yanque, Peru

Incan terraces along our bike ride

We spent our first day in Chivay on rented bikes, touring the surrounding smaller towns further up the valley.

Beautiful day for a bike ride (Chivay, Peru)

We started off making our way to the nearby town of Coporaque. There are a couple of ruins in the small town but we didn’t stop long. Out of Coporaque is a (mainly) downhill ride to the orange bridge which crosses the Rio Colca and brings you into Yanque.

Unfortunately, the downhill out of Coporaque meant a crazy uphill from Yanque back to Chivay. My thighs are burning just thinking about it.

Warning: Donkey Crossing

Just a warning to non-bikers: it is NOT a quick ride. We were told it’s a quick 2-3 hours bike tour. We took about 5-6 hours because we were not anticipating the intense uphill riding (i.e. walking our bikes uphill) we encountered at the end of our circuit.

Biking and photography at the same time!

Successfully warmed up, we embarked on our 2D/1N trek into the Colca Canyon the next day. Although almost all tour companies in Chivay offer Colca Canyon treks, it’s pretty easy to do the trek solo.

Trekking into Colca Canyon

To properly experience Colca Canyon trekking, you have to make it as far as the little town of Cabanaconde. (Only about 20% of Colca Canyon visitors get this far – most only make it to the scenic viewpoint of Cruz del Condor). The shortest way to the canyon floor is the 2-3 hour hike from Cabanaconde to Sangalle (aka ‘the oasis’).

It’s a 1200m descent on steep, zigzagging paths, where upon reaching the bottom of the canyon, you can stay overnight in basic thatched-roof bungalows (S/.15 or CDN $7/pp) or campgrounds.

The ‘oasis’ is almost immediately visible once you start the trek into the Colca, but like any desert oasis, it’s deceptively far. (and here’s hoping it’s not just a beautiful mirage)

View of Sangalle (the oasis) from afar

Getting closer to the oasis!

After 2.5 hours of watching the oasis grow closer and closer, we finally made it.

What the oasis looks like, up close and personal

Sangalle (“the oasis) is beautiful. A rich patch of green bound in by the Rio Colca and the sheer canyon walls.

Rio Colca cutting through the Colca Canyon

The little bungalows we stayed in while in Sangalle.

With no electricity, no phones, and no internet access, there was no choice but for us to relax. I even finally perfected the art of lounging in a hammock!

Thanks to Jason’s tutelage:

After a evening of candlelight dining (out of necessity, not romance), card-playing, and star-gazing, we called it a night.

The next day, we left around 8am to start the tough climb out of the canyon. We were told it’ll take 3-4 hours, so we wanted to start in the cooler morning air. I’m a slower trekker than Jason, so I decided to get a head start on the trail, while Jason was packing up.

Goodbye beautiful oasis!

As I was climbing up, I noticed that the trail seemed much narrower and steeper than the climb down. ‘How did I climb down this yesterday, with such ease?‘, I found myself wondering. Typically, the climb down requires more concentration than the climb up, since the trail is covered with loose rocks. Any momentary lapse in concentration would likely result in me losing my footing and slipping (not enough to make me fall flat on my arse, but enough to make me concentrate hard for the next 30 minutes).

Concentrating on the trek down

However, on the climb up, I was concentrating way too hard for it to seem right. After about 20 minutes up, I realized that I had taken the wrong trail (Groan!) And by ‘wrong trail’ I meant the crazy-steep, really narrow trail that perhaps only mountain goats were sure-footed enough to take. So I had to turn around, edge slowly back down, and start all over again. By then, Jason had already caught up with me! So much for my head start 😛

On top of that, (oh, you’re gonna laugh) after we trekked up for about half an hour, I suddenly realized that I had left my iPhone in our bungalow. Back in the oasis. Back at the bottom of the canyon!

So Jason decided that I should keep on going, while he turned back around to trek back down into the oasis to get it. He gave all his valuables to me, tied his backpack to a nearby post, and sprinted back down. I continued my slow ascent up the canyon. Every 10 minutes or so, I would turn around and see if I could catch a glimpse of him.

Two and a half hours later, I was finishing the last leg of the trek out of the canyon and I still hadn’t caught sight of him. I was really getting worried – until some power trekkers caught up with me near the top and told me that they had seen my husband (i.e. the only other Asian person in the canyon) further down. About 20 minutes after I reached the top, he rounded the corner into view.

And he had my iPhone with him. That’s my hero! 🙂

My hero!

Eating: (and Savouring) Arequipa

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Jenn

Our next stop was Arequipa, Peru – a beautiful city surrounded by impressive volcanoes on the country’s southern coast.

The majestic El Misti volcano that’s visible from almost anywhere in the city of Arequipa, Peru

After finishing the rather tough trek to Machu Picchu, Jason and I just wanted to sprawl out in relative comfort for a few days. So we rented a beautiful little apartment in a Spanish-style house for a week – complete with a full patio set and a fancy, modern BBQ!

Spanish-colonial house in Arequipa, Peru

Our home in Arequipa for the week!

We made immediate use of the BBQ upon arrival. We picked up some summer eats (i.e. chicken, vegetables for grilling) even though we’re in the middle of winter here in Peru.

Jason in his natural element – barbequing meat

Me, in my natural element – eating!

It was great to be able to cook up something that reminded us of Toronto in the summer – chicken on the barbeque, grilled veggies and cold beer!

Another fantastic home-cooked meal by Jason

Arequipa is a very liveable city: beautiful little neighbourhoods, an impressive main square, and clean, pedestrian-friendly streets.

The palm-tree lined main square of Arequipa

It felt very different from drab Lima and tourist-choked Cusco. We actually didn’t check out many of the tourist attractions while we stayed in Arequipa.. Instead, we just “lived” in Arequipa for the week: walking into the city every day, window-shopping, checking out cafes, people-watching, grocery-shopping, and of course eating food.

Eating ice cream on Calle Mercaderes in Arequipa, Peru

Eating ice cream on the pedestrian-only Calle Mercaderes in Arequipa, Peru

We spent an afternoon walking around and eating whatever looked good to us.

Ceviche: a must-have in Peru. This dish pictures here cost us 11 Soles (CDN $5)! It might be a little sketchy to have cheap ceviche, but we lucked out with this dish – so delicious and fresh!

Portuguese-style tart – as delicious as it looks!

A strange thing I kept seeing on the streets of Arequipa were these little stands that were labelled with the words “Queso Helado”. I looked up the definition – it literally translates to “Iced Cheese”. Sounds gross, yes? I tried it anyway.

It tasted delicious – sweet, light, icy, creamy with a touch of cinnamon. Upon further research, I found out that this delicious dessert had nothing to do with cheese. It uses the unfortunate description of cheese because of the way it looks when you prepare it. It actually consists of sweet milk and sometimes a touch of coconut or cinnamon for flavour.

Queso Helado stand: she scoops out the sweet, icy treat into little plastic cups and sprinkles a bit of cinnamon on top. So good!

And then for dinner, nothing says Peruvian cuisine like cuy (guinea pig). The thing to do in Peru is to try this delicacy. In Cusco, they bake it which dries it out a bit. We were advised to try cuy in Arequipa where they fry it, which helps retain some of its juices. But we were going to do something completely different: we were going to prepare our own cuy! Warning: kind of gory picture coming up!

Pre-cleaned cuy (guinea pig) from the butcher

Cuy (guinea pig) cleaned and gutted by our local butcher.

I debated awhile as to whether I wanted to try cuy in Peru. I knew it was a delicacy and people had told me about what it’s like (note: it’s a little gamey, not very meaty, and tastes like chicken). You see, I had a guinea pig as a pet when I younger. I have a personal thing about never eating any animal that I would own as a pet (i.e. dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, goldfish, cat, bunnies). However, Jason mentioned that I owed it to my blog to try cuy – since the blog is partially about our travel adventures in food. So I put my big-girl pants on and bit the bullet (or guinea pig?), and made the conscious decision to try the Peruvian delicacy.

We bought some Peruvian spices, picked up a pre-cleaned cuy from the local butcher, and some more grilling vegetables. Warning: another kind of disturbing picture coming up!

Marinating cuy (guinea pig) at home in Arequipa

Marinating the cuy. Jason kept putting the guinea pig in these little poses. Sigh.

Barbequed cuy (guinea pig) at home in Arequipa

Cuy on the barbie

The finished product: barbequed cuy with grilled vegetables.

The guinea pig was actually as described: tasted like chicken and not very meaty. Not my favourite thing to eat, but it was better than expected.

The next night, to make up for the traumatic experience of eating an animal that can be a pet, we went out for a nice, fancy dinner. Date night! Our first one since we started our travels over a month ago.

Date night at Zingaro

Travelling for 6 months means we have to stick to a pretty strict budget. Jason and I typically stick to street stalls, little hole-in-walls, or places that seem to serve mostly locals – which is totally fine by us since we prefer to eat that way. But once in a while, it’s nice to scrub the backpacker dirt off our faces and get all dolled up for a nice night out.

Bread basket at Zingaro (Arequipa, Peru)

Complimentary bread basket! We haven’t seen that at any of our meals since we left Canada. Why yes, I’ll have 5 refills please.

Our rare splurges requires quite a bit of research though, since we don’t want to walk into just any ol’ tourist-trap restaurant. We checked online for restaurant reviews, read through all the comments, cross-referenced it with travel blogger recommendations, and then cross-referenced it some more with other travel literature. Sounds a little obsessive-compuslive, eh? Well, when we only get to splurge once a month, it better be on a really well-prepared meal.

We got a prime spot where we watched the chefs at work in Zingaro. They weren’t messing around – it looks like an episode of Iron Chef in there all night.

We ended up choosing Zingaro for a few reasons: 1) we wanted to have traditional Peruvian cuisine 2) it looked like the restaurant catered to locals and tourists.

Jason and I had slightly different impressions of our the meal. He wasn’t that fond of it, I thought it was fan-frickin-tastic! I’m perhaps a little biased because seafood is probably my favourite food group.

For an appetizer, we ordered the rocoto relleno (stuffed peppers), which is made using the very spicy rocoto pepper (which looks deceptively like a normal red bell pepper). Good thing both Jason and I love spicy food, otherwise we would’ve both been pretty surprised by how spicy the pepper was. It’s stuffed with ground meat, egg, olives, and then covered with melted cheese. It was amazing. I, unfortunately, don’t have a good picture for you, since we gobbled it down before I even remembered to take a picture of it. This is what it looked like, if you’re curious.

I ordered the chupa de camerones (shrimp chowder) – but it actually translates literally to ‘suckage of shrimp’. Which doesn’t sound as appealing….but might be more accurate. Why, you ask? Because this hearty ~~bowl~~ urn of soup is filled to the brim with succulent, suck-able shrimp and crayfish. The aromatic broth seeps into the shells, heads, and tails of the shrimp – just begging you to slurp the deliciousness up with happy abandon. Then, there’s still the flavourful potatoes, corn, egg, and melted cubes of cheese to savour after all the ‘suckage’. Seriously, a bowl of heaven. (Gimme a second while I close my eyes and reminisce).

Chupa de camarones at Zingaro (Arequipa, Peru)

Chupa de camarones (shrimp chowder) – a bowl of deliciousness

Jason ordered the ceviche – which he thought was too chewy, but I adored. It was the way ceviche is supposed to be prepared – with pieces of raw fish that’s marinated in citrus and hot peppers. I’ve noticed that a lot of ceviche we’ve had uses cooked fish (which might be safer), but a really good restaurant will use sushi-quality fish to prepare it. The few pieces of sweet potato to balance the tartness of the citrus juices was perfection.

Delicious and fresh ceviche

Arequipa definitely served up some delicious delights. Some of the ones mentioned above originated specifically from Arequipa (i.e. chupa de camerones, rocoto rolleno, queso helodo), so make sure to definitely seek those out if you’re ever in this wonderfully gastronomic city.

Machu Picchu: It’s All About the Journey…

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Jenn

…and I guess, a little about the destination too.

Having started our 6 months of travel with hardly more planned than a one-way ticket out of Canada, we found ourselves in Peru without anything booked for our visit to Machu Picchu.

There are several ways to see South America’s most popular tourist attraction, but we knew we wanted to trek our way to the famous ruins. (Interesting little tidbit from our guide: most people take the train to see Machu Picchu, only about 20% trek).

The train that takes you to and from Machu Picchu (PeruRail). We opted against taking it to Machu Picchu. But there was no way we’d pass up the return trip after 4 days of trekking!

The most popular trek is the classic Inca Trail but since the Peruvian government has restricted the number of Inca Trail trekkers, only 500 people can take that trail up a day (including guides, porters, donkeys…ok, not donkeys). As a result, it has become nearly impossible to book the Inca Trail unless you’ve done a bit of planning beforehand. During the high season (which we’re in right now), the trail is booked up months in advance. And since we had no idea when we’d be in Peru when we first started out travels, we were out of luck when it came to the Inca Trail.

Luckily for us, there are several great alternative trekking routes to Machu Picchu that don’t require booking way in advance. Jason did some research and after comparing the available routes, we decided that the Salkantay Trek was right up our alley.

The Salkantay Trek

It’s a demanding, longer, and more scenic trek to Machu Picchu than the Inca Trail. Available in a 4D/3N or 5D/4N option, we naively chose the 4D/3N option thinking it may be a little easier. Wrong! The shorter trek is more difficult, we discovered – as we had to cover the same ground but in a shorter amount of time.

Our first glimpse of Salkantay Mountain from afar. We’ll be coming to within 1500m of its peak.

As for which trekking company to go with, we researched quite a few companies and read tons of reviews, as we wanted to make sure we chose an ethical and eco-friendly trekking company. There are a lot of trekking companies out there, but not all treat and pay their porters well and some do not care about keeping the environment clean and carrying all the waste back out of the trekking route. It came down to two companies that seemed to offer all the things we were looking for – the well-established Llama Path and the newer but well-reviewed Inca Trekkers. After reading up on the differences between the two companies, we decided to go with Inca Trekkers as we felt a newer company would likely ‘go the extra mile’ in terms of offering their clients an excellent experience, as opposed to a well-established company that already had the benefit of building a good reputation (i.e. comments on TripAdvisor confirmed the growing complacency of Llama Path). Looking back, we really appreciated the things that Inca Trekkers did do to go that extra mile (i.e. holding the briefing session in the comforts of your hostel, bringing you back to your hostel after the trek instead of ending the tour in Aguas Calientes – the town at the foothills of Machu Picchu).

One more bonus: on a tour that typically consists of 12-16 people, it would just be Jason and I! Score!

Oh, and If you want a more detailed itinerary of the 4D/3N Salkantay Trek, click here.

Day 1: It’s all Uphill from Here

On the brilliantly sunny first day, we started off hiking to the highest point of the trek – a breathtaking high pass of 4700m (called Salkantay Pass) right next to the spectacular, snow-covered peaks of Salkantay mountain (6270m).

At the beginning of our trek in Soraypampa with our guide, Hugo. You can see the giant peak of Salkantay looming in the background.

This scenery was magnificent – glacier peaks on our right, green mountain tops on our left. We even spotted a couple of Condors – Peru’s national bird. (It’s supposedly good luck when you spot one – so we hoped this was a good sign for the upcoming couple of days).

Approaching Salkantay Mountain. You can appreciate the sheer size of the mountain by comparing it to the people on horses at the bottom of the picture.

The 3-hour uphill battle was the hardest part of the 4-day trek. The incredibly thin air at that altitude (the highest we’d been, at that point) meant that you feel like you’re sprinting up the mountain. Your heart is racing, you’re gasping for oxygen that doesn’t exist, and your legs can barely plod forward. We had to constantly stop every couple of minutes to catch our breath. High altitude climbing is really difficult, even with all the extra precautions we took: taking pills to prevent altitude sickness (soroche, as its known in Latin America), eating chocolate to increase our blood glucose levels, sipping water to stay hydrated.

Jason posing for a Salkantay Trek ad 😛

People were not kidding when they tell you to make sure you acclimatize in Cusco (3300m) for a few days before doing this trek. Otherwise, you might have to turn around and head back down before the trek even starts.

Finally reached our lunch spot! We’re at a breathless 4200m here.

We stopped for lunch at a plateau near the top and had some deliciously hot chicken soup, avocado salad, fried trout and rice, and hot cups of tea. Quite possibly the best lunch ever after trekking in the freezing cold temperatures for 3 hours. Our chef was amazing and we had him all to ourselves!

Lunch time during Day 1 of Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu, Peru

Jason, happy as a clam, as we warmed up with hot tea during lunch.

After refueling, we put on a few additional layers of clothing to continue to climb for another hour to reach the top of Salkantay Pass (4700m) – the highest point of our trek.

Jason and I huffing and puffing at the highest point of our trek – the top of Salkantay Pass. We made it! (barely!)

Then it was downhill for another 2 hours until we reached our camp for the night. Our tent was already set up and there was hot chocolate, tea, and the best salted popcorn we’ve ever had waiting for us!

Warm water to wash up on Salkantary Trek to Machu Picchu, Peru

They provided warm water to wash up! Talk about luxury camping.

Day 1 campsite on Salkantary Trek to Machu Picchu, Peru

Our home for the next few days. Pretty roomy actually – it had a front “foyer” for us to store our muddy hiking shoes.

Our campsite was at 4200m – the air still really thin and freezing cold! Once we got into our high-tech sleeping bags, we didn’t want to come back out. I debated for half an hour in my warm sleeping bag before deciding that I really should make one last run to the washroom before heading to sleep. It was 8:30pm. When you’re camping with no electricity or even a campfire, it’s pretty much bedtime when it gets dark.

Day 2: Downhill into the Jungle

The mountain we slept under and the view we woke up to.

Instead of the usual 6:00am start time, we started at 7:00am since our guide, Hugo, decided that we were actually pretty good trekkers (based on our progress and speed from the first day). Yay! The extra hour of sleep was very much appreciated since getting out of the warm cocoon of a sleeping back and stepping out into the freezer-like temperatures outside our tent was really REALLY difficult to do.

Day 2 of Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu, Peru

Wearing every single piece of clothing we brought on the morning of Day 2

We started the day wearing every single piece of clothing we brought with us and spent the next 9 hours hiking downhill from the glacier-covered mountains into the jungle.

Cooling off at the waterfall

Luckily there was cloud cover, or the jungle would’ve felt even more tropical. We stopped every hour to shed another layer of clothing as we descended deeper and deeper into the valleys of the subtropics.

Descending into the subtropics of Salkantay Trek

About an hour into Day 2 of our trek, we were already into the beginning of the subtropics of Peru.

We reached our lunch spot on a local farm just before the clouds broke and the rain poured! We had delicious corn chowder and a platter of protein to help heal our aching muscles.

Another delicious lunch!

Jason made friends with some of the farm’s cute little dogs. They had such wonderful little personalities.

Adorable dogs at the farm where we had lunch

Awww, we totally miss our dog, Weezer. Gratuitous shot of Weezer 🙂

Our little guy that we left back at home in Toronto

We set off again just as the sun shot out through the clouds. Perfect timing.

Our guide, Hugo, feeding the dogs on the farm at lunch

The grueling 9-hour trekking day came to an end at a small town near the base of the mountain on which the Llactapata ruins lie.

Random cows relaxing in the middle of the road.

We were hot and sweaty from the long hike through the subtropics, so Jason decided to take a dip in the frigid waters of Rio Urubamba.

Setting up camp the night of Day 2

He also brought along a bar soap since we hadn’t showered in a couple of days 😛 He said it was actually really refreshing. By refreshing, he meant his skin felt like it was on fire after dipping into the icy cold waters.

Jason debating whether to jump into the icy waters of Rio Urubamba

Before dinner, we talked with our guide, Hugo, as to whether we want to do the 7-hour climb over Llactapata the next day (4 hours up, 3 hours down in poor weather conditions). It would be a very difficult climb and descent as it was very steep and can be dangerous when it’s rainy. Jason really wanted to do it since the site of these ruins was part of Hiram Bingham’s original route, but my toes had taken a beating from the entire day of trekking downhill and were in a lot of pain. Before we arrived in Peru, both Jason and I had read an excellent (and funny) book by Mark Adam called Turn Right at Machu Picchu (2010). We had wanted to read up more about the history of Machu Picchu and the famous explorer Hiram Bingham who “rediscovered” the ruins in the early 1900s and the book provides an excellent layman’s account of Inca history and a first-person view of the Inca Trail and the alternative routes.

Plaque of Hiram Bingham (Taken at the entrance of Machu Picchu)

Having read all about Llactapata and its ruins, we both wanted to climb and see the ruins. It’s been called the “suburb of Machu Picchu” since it’s so close to the forgotten Incan city – you can actually get a clear side view of the entire site of Machu Picchu from Llactapata.

Since Hugo was leaving the decision up to us, I was leaning towards skipping the climb to Llactapata and meeting Jason and Hugo on the other side at the Hydroelectric station. However, over dinner, Hugo made the executive decision that all three of us would be doing the climb the next day. He told me that I was a good trekker and was in good shape for the climb since it wasn’t my knees that were bothering me. If I had any trouble descending from Llactapata then Jason and himself could always help me down. His confidence in me, along with the finality of his decision, renewed my own confidence in myself. I was actually excited for the climb now!

Self-portrait on Day 2 of the trek

After another incredible meal by our chef, Mario, we watched the stars for a bit before settling into our sleeping bags. It was so much nicer not being in sub-zero temperature. 🙂 We slept early knowing that we had a tough day ahead of us.

Day 3: A Steep Climb up to Llactapata

Gorgeous mountain scenery on the Salkantay Trek

We started at 6:30am the next morning after a hearty breakfast of sausage, omelettes, and bread. We got off to a good brisk start and made it up to the top of Llactapata in just under 3 hours. It was a hot, sunny day so I’m glad we started in the cool, early morning air. The view of Machu Picchu at the top was pretty awesome – our first glimpse of the famous city!

The view of Machu Picchu from Llactapata. You’ll need to squint a bit, it’s a little hard to see.

The Llactapata ruins themselves were pretty cool – it showed us what Machu Picchu would’ve looked like prior to its rediscovery and restoration.

The Llactapata ruins – overrun with flora

We sat in the shades of the ruins while Hugo gave us a little Incan history lesson.

Llactapata Ruins

We then made it back to the bottom in 2 hours (we had the ideal trail conditions – sunny and dry) and then continued for another hour along the river to the Hydroelectric station for lunch.

Trekking towards the Hydroelectric station on Day 3.

After lunch was the last leg of our trek. After all the uphill through sub-zero temperatures and downhill through the subtropics, you would think the final leg of our trek would be easy – a flat hike in a mild climate along the train tracks from the Hydroelectric station to Aguas Calientes (the small town at the base of Machu Picchu that everyone has to pass through to get to the famous Incan site). Turns out that the final 3 hours was much harder than anticipated. By then, our bodies started really complaining from all the abuse. Our muscles started stiffening up and screaming in pain and we pretty much hobbled our way through the final excruciating hours.

Railroad tracks leading from the Hydroelectric station to Aguas Calientes - Salkantay Trek

Hobbling along the railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes

We finally made it into town around 4pm where we flopped down on a patio and had the coldest, best-tasting beer we’ve ever had in our lives. We checked into our hostal, had our first shower in 3 days, and met Hugo for dinner. We cleaned up pretty well…Hugo hardly even recognized us.

Dinner at Aguas Calientes

Day 4: Machu Picchu

Some people who like to remain purists prefer to hike up from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu. After 3 grueling days of the Salkantay trek, I was so relieved that Hugo had planned for us to take the 20-minute bus ride up from the town to the steps of Machu Picchu. We lined up on a rainy morning outside the bus stop to catch the 7am bus up.

Terraces of Machu Picchu

The sky was overcast and drizzly as we entered Machu Picchu. Hugo decided not to take us out to the look-out spot yet as the entire site was still under cloud cover. We walked around the site, while Hugo provided us with wonderful little tidbits of information and history.

Perfect Incan stonework at Machu Picchu – you can’t even fit a knife between the stone blocks.

He’s actually writing a book about certain parts of the ruin – specifically an acoustic room that allows sound captured in any of the window alcoves to be clearly transmitted to any other window alcove in the room – kind of like transmitting sounds through tin cans and string but…without any tin cans or string 😛

Jason appreciating the sounds of the Acoustic Room in Machu Picchu

After the tour, Jason and I had time to wander around the site by ourselves. We waited patiently for the cloud cover to lift so that we can take a few photos of the entire site.

Waiting for the cloud cover to lift at Machu Picchu

We trekked the 20-minutes to the nearby Incan drawbridge. Pretty scary trek as there are parts that that are only 2 feet wide and then a sheer drop into oblivion. Jason, who is quite afraid of heights, caressed the rock wall the entire route there.

Jason timidly peeking beyond the drop, on the way to the Incan drawbridge

You can only take a picture of the bridge from afar now, since in 2005 a visitor crossed the bridge and sadly fell to his death.

The Incan drawbridge can be seen in the lower right part of the photo

We wandered back to the Machu Picchu ruins to discover the clouds slowly lifting! Hugo had told us that sometimes, the clouds never lift and disappointed guests have to go home without ever glimpsing the ruins in full.

Fog lifting over Machu Picchu (finally!)

Another selfie in front of Machu Picchu

The views are really quite spectacular up there. The clouds that linger around the mountain tops lend such a mysterious aura around the entire lost city. It’s interesting to think that experts are still trying to accurately figure out why this place was built in the first place.

Mysterious cloud-covered mountains near Machu Picchu

Even with the crowds of tourists swarming around the site, Machu Picchu still manages to remain mysterious and full of secrets.

Eating: Nazca Street Food

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Jenn

I would never have guessed that Nazca would be such a good street food destination. Jason and I were reminiscing about our honeymoon in Vietnam and how the street food there was so delicious. We missed being able to walk down a street, stop at a stall to gawk at what the locals were eating, and then order whatever they were having. Colombia and northern Peru didn’t have much of a street food scene – which happens to be our favourite way to sample local food.

However, when the sun dipped below the horizon in Nazca, street food vendors started coming out of nowhere and setting up shop along the main streets (much to our surprise and delight!).

The first vendor we saw setting up at twilight was a woman who was grilling mystery meat. We ordered a skewer and was surprised by how delicious it was. Super tender and tasty! Yum!

We followed our noses down the street (FYI, all the street vendors were within a 2-block radius of each other), and discovered a guy grilling more mystery meat. This time, the street vendor was serving miscellaneous grilled chicken parts (i.e. liver, feet, hearts, etc). It was really tasty, but Jason wasn’t too fond of the crunchiness of the cartilage. I thought it was delicious though.

Grilled chicken everything (Nazca, Peru)

Grilled chicken everything (feet, cartilege, heart, kidneys)

My favourite street food find was a Chicken Noodle Soup (Caldo de Gallina). Her stall was packed with people. so we knew that was a good sign. She served the huge bowls of noodle, chicken, and hard-boiled egg in a delicious herbed broth, along with a bowl of maize kernels, and homemade hot sauce. At this point in our travels, I was really craving noodle soup like crazy (noodle soup being one of my favourite meals). And this really hit the spot. Really reminded me of Vietnamese street food actually. Steamy, delicious goodness.

Caldo de Gallina – Chicken noodle soup

Our last street food stop was a woman who had set up a deep-fryer on the street. She was deep-frying rings of dough into the lightest, fluffy, homemade doughnuts. She included a packet of honey, which you drizzled over top of the crispy delights. She was even cool enough to pose for my picture 🙂

The woman made the most addictive donuts right on the street. Fluffy, light, and crispy on the outside.

The amazing street food experience in Nazca definitely upped the overall appeal of this sunbaked little town.

Nazca Lines vs. Sandboarding Cerro Blanco

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Jenn

The natural look-out point in Nazca

We were told that visiting Nazca without seeing the Nazca Lines is like visiting Cuzco and not seeing Machu Picchu.

Or for a more Canadian reference, it’s like visiting Toronto and not seeing the CN Tower (But that’s actually very difficult to do since the CN Tower is pretty impossible to miss if you visit Toronto, so that’s probably not a great analogy).

Anyways, Jason and I have indeed managed to visit Nazca and not see the Nazca Lines. Which we did not regret at all.

Little plaza in Nazca

Nazca is a small, sun-baked town in Peru’s southern coastal region. Its star attraction is the Nazca Lines, a series of mysterious lines forming various animal and geometric shapes (like the monkey, spider, or hummingbird) – some as big as a football field. You can only really see them clearly from the air, and the town is full of airline companies waiting to take you on a 40-minute flight over the lines.

View of the Nazca desert from the PanAmerican Highway

Panorama of Nazca desert

During the high season, the cost of a flight over the Nazca Lines is about CDN $90/pp. While Jason and I both share the belief that, when traveling, you shouldn’t let costs prevent you from doing something you really want to experience – after weighing the benefits vs. costs of seeing the lines from the air, we both came to the conclusion that we were totally okay with skipping the Nazca Lines flight. We did some additional research that confirmed our suspicion that, although the sight of the lines during optimal conditions are pretty amazing, there were a lot of discouraging stories of crowded planes, poor context-setting by the guides (if any), crazy motion sickness on the tiny aircrafts, and just a general let-down after seeing the lines.

Mirador viewing tower

We found out that you can catch a (slightly askew) glimpse of three of the Nazca line figures from the Mirador viewing tower just 20 minutes out of town, so we caught a local bus and paid 2 soles (CDN $0.70) to climb to the top of the tower.

Mirador viewing tower – the next best thing for viewing the Nazca Lines

Nazca Lines from the Mirador Viewing Tower in Nazca, Peru

Our view of the Nazca Lines from the top of the Mirador Viewing Tower.

The view of the lines wasn’t that great but we could definitely appreciate the enormity of the shapes. The landscape of the desert itself was worth the trip to the Mirador viewing tower.

Awesome desert scenery

The next day, we used the money we saved on something we both really wanted to try: sandboarding on Cerro Blanco – the world’s largest sand dune! Standing at an impressive 2078m, it’s just roughly 100m shy of Whistler Mountain in British Colombia, Canada.

Near the peak of Cerro Blanco

Our trip started at the ungodly hour of 5:30am, where we were driven to the edge of the mountains that surround the sand dune. Inaccessible by sand buggies, we would have to hike at least 3 hours to get to the top of the behemoth.

On our trek to Cerro Blanco. You can see the Cerro Blanco, the highest sand dune in the world, far off in the background.

Combine searing desert heat with the high elevation, it’s quite a dizzying hike up to the top. It takes about 1.5 hours just to get to the base of the sand dune and as you look up to the top of monster sand dune, it takes every effort just to not turn around and go home.

Approaching Cerro Blanco. Trust me, it’s a lot bigger in person! (TWSS – for you, Kpoo)

Cerro Blanco looks like a small pile of sand behind us. To accurately picture its size, imagine a sand-covered version of Whistler Mountain in the background.

But as we neared the top and starting taking in the eye-popping views, we were glad to have soldiered on.

Climbing up the sand dunes on Cerro Blanco

Climbing up one of many sand dunes

The smooth sand dunes against the dry Andean mountain ranges made for some surreal landscapes.

Gorgeous view from atop the sand dune

On our way to the top, we practiced on some smaller dunes.

Trying not to fall

Trying not to eat sand

When we finally reached the top, we strapped in for the crazy vertical drop.

Finally! We made it!

Our guide quickly made the sign of the cross with his hands before dropping off (what seemed like) the edge of the earth.

At the top of the highest vertical drop on Cerro Blanco

Smiling to hide the intense fear!

We had no choice but to follow him. From the top to the bottom, it takes 25 minutes going at top speed. We took over an hour to get down 😛

The view up from halfway down Cerro Blanco. It was so steep!!

Sandboarding is not at all similar to snowboarding (with the exception of strapping a wooden plank to your feet). The wooden board sticks to sand like ‘a fat kid on cake’. Our guide gave us a piece of candle to apply wax to the bottom of the board. Every couple of minutes, we would come to a standstill – requiring us to unstrap our boards and re-wax the board. The clunky board is also pretty difficult to control.

Re-waxing my board halfway down Cerro Blanco

Spending more time sitting on top than cruising atop the sand

We also had to constantly remind ourselves to keep our mouth shut, lest we wanted mouthful of sands when we fell. It’s pretty difficult to remember to keep your mouth shut though, when you’re screaming your lungs out as your hurtle down the monster sand dune.

I half-expected to be a superstar sandboarder (you know, since I’m a superstar snowboarder back in Canada..haha), but my expectations were quickly quashed when I realized that I would be spending more time rolling around in the sand than cruising atop it. I got sand in places I never thought possible (and continued to discover bits of sand days later!)

Love the contrast of the sand dunes against the clear blue sky

Regardless, it was a really fun (albeit grueling) experience. In total, we spent 3 hours trekking up, 2 hours sandboarding, and another hour trekking out of the desert to where a car picked us up and dropped us back at our hostel. I’m glad we tried sandboarding, for our first and likely last time. At least until they install ski lifts that take you to the top.

To mend out aching muscles, we decided to gorge ourselves on protein and ordered a monster platter of meat and a couple litres of beer when we got back in town.

Our pile of muscle-healing protein

Ok fine, the litres of beer had nothing to with mending our muscles. It was more for rinsing the sand out of our mouths.

Sandboarding on Cerro Blanco in Nazca, Peru

Our last time sandboarding 😉

Eating (and Experiencing): Lima

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Jenn

We were advised by my friend’s co-worker (who happens to be Peruvian) to not spend any time or money on Lima, the capital of Peru.

Our first glimpse of Peru, flying over the dry Andean mountain ranges

In the winter months, Lima is a pretty depressing city to be in. It’s a city of grey – crumbling concrete buildings in the poorer areas, a sky that is terminally grey and overcast, even the ocean looks grey. It’s damp and cold from May until the end of November. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a big problem here during the constant cloud and fog of winter.

We were also warned that Lima can be dangerous – with pockets of poverty so extreme that those areas have been designated as no-go zones for tourists and travellers. But after looking over our shoulders and mentally preparing for armed muggings for almost a month in Colombia, we felt like Lima was a breath of fresh air. We spent a lot more time out and about after dark, which we wouldn’t really dare to do in the bigger cities of Colombia. It helped that we stayed in the more modern and cleaner neighbourhood of Miraflores, which is known for its great restaurants and beautiful seaside bluffs.

The impressive bluffs in Miraflores

Winding paths and beautiful parks along the bluffs in Miraflores

Winding paths and beautiful parks lined the bluffs in Miraflores. The government is investing a lot into beautifying this part of the city.

One of the biggest reasons for spending a few days in Lima is the food. We’ve read the Peruvian cuisine is amazingly diverse, using its indigenous cooking as a base and drawing from Spanish, Chinese, Italian, African, and Japanese influences. On top of that, Lima is said to have world-class food. So after the disappointment of Colombian food, we were ready for what we hoped would be an ecstatic food experience.

And we were not disappointed. Food in Lima was everything we had hoped for.

Our first stop was ‘El Enano’, a very poplar, open-air sandwich restaurant that served delicious, greasy sandwiches. They also had a huge selection of fresh fruit juice concoctions served in huge glass pitchers to wash down the greasy sandwiches. We both ordered the “El Enano” sandwich – a meatlover’s delight. Ham, bacon, pork sausage, and melted cheese sandwiched between toasted hotdog buns.

Heart attack on a bun

The next day, we took the modern Metropolitano bus service (a quick, easy, and safer way to get around Lima) up to the sketchier area of Central Lima.

Most buildings in Central Lima were grey – to match the whole grey vibe of Lima in the winter.

There’s a huge complex of individual clothing and shoe stalls called Polvos Azules (just southeast of Estacion Central). You can find cheap, branded clothing here but the area is full of pickpocketers so it’s best to go there earlier in the morning with only the money you plan to spend.

We bumped into an American i-banker, straight out of business school, who was here in Peru for work for a month. He told us about the phenomenon of chifas (Chinese restaurants) that served huge inexpensive portions of Chinese dishes that were similar to those that you’d find in food courts back at home (i.e. Manchu Wok). He joked about how Peruvians rave about chifas and insisted that he had to go and try the food there – but since he’s from San Franciso, he can have Americanized Chinese food at almost every street corner back at home.

I was craving some familiar flavours, so we decided to try out a chifa. I have to admit, it was pretty good, but it’s hard to go wrong with tamarindo (Peruvian version of sweet-and-sour) pork and chicken fried rice 🙂

Chifa (or Peruvian version of Chinese food) in Lima. Sweet & sour pork and fried rice.

The next day, we decided to make our way over to Barranco, an artsy and Bohemian neighbourhood in Lima. It took us awhile to get there because we kept stopping at cafes along the way. We tried some delicious churros with a side of hot chocolate for dipping.

Crispy churros and hot chocolate. Delicious, crispy, and sweet bites of heaven.

One of our favourite meals so far in Peru has been in a small open-aired ceviche stall, hidden near the back of a little market on Union street in Barranco. This mom and pop eatery was a hidden gem – very well hidden actually.

Husband & wife ceviche chef team (Lima, Peru)

The wonderful husband & wife chef team that made the best ceviche meal I had in Peru

The friendly owners greeted us warmly and right away offered us pisco sours (Peru is very proud of their national beverage, pisco – a potent grape brandy)

Pisco Sour – made with pisco, lime juice, egg whites, ice, and sugar. Very delicious and surprisingly strong cocktail.

Lima, being right on the edge of the Pacific, is a great place for fresh ceviche. And unlike La Cevecheria in Cartagena, Colombia, this place definitely did not disappoint. It was probably the best ceviche I’ve ever had in my life. It was so fresh and tasty, with just enough tartness from the lime juice, and heat from the chilies.

The best ceviche I had in Peru. The flavours were sooo intense!

We also ordered the mixed seafood soup. Wow, flavour explosion!

Savoury and tasty seafood stew. SO good.

If our first stop in Peru has been this delicious, I am anxiously awaiting the gastronomical delights the rest of the country has to offer. Stay tuned!

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Category Archives: Peru