Chris & Elaine's Postcards from Peru 2014

Travelling to Machu Picchu to see the temple of the Incas has been on our travel wish list for a while, but once we started planning, we realised how large Peru is, made up of some 3000km of coast, the sierra behind where the Andes form the backbone of Peru and finally the jungle between the foothills of the Andes and the Amazon basin. It is also home to the Atacama desert which may well be the driest and oldest desert on Earth, Colca Canyon just over 3000m deep which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, Lake Titicaca, the worlds highest navigable lake 3850m above sea level and Nevada Mismi whose glacial streams are the furthest source of the Amazon. And the Incas are just the last in a succession indigenous cultures, many of which have left their mark, followed by the colonial buildings of the Spanish, and modern Peru where a third of the 30m population live in Lima. Starting in Lima, we plan to travel around 2000km mainly by coach down the coast and into the highlands (including Machu Picchu of course) then 1000km by air from Cusco to the jungle and back to Lima. We are also hoping to drink pisco sours and coca tea, eat ceviche and guinea pig (well not Chris as he's a veggie), see birds including penguins, condors, and parrots, as well as beasts such as alpaca and llamas and even watch a football match! Most importantly, we want to take our time to clamber up hills to enjoy the view, wander round markets and barter for handicrafts and hopefully see the Peru behind the tourist trail. We hope you enjoy the postcards along the way!

Planned Dates

Aug 30, 2014 to Sep 27, 2014

Countries

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