Speed Vacationing in Peru

Gap Tours doesn't mess around when it comes to jamming entire countries into small amounts of time. I have been so non-stop for the last 2 weeks, that most mornings I wake up having no idea where I am. Albeit I wanted this fast pace trip, because I finally come home in just 7 short days and, of course, I wanted someone else to do all the work (that someone is Alim, our Peruvian tour guide.) Gap has also introduced me to some amazing people, including Jesse my Australia roommate and John, my fellow American who reminds me an awful lot of my cousin Robbie (we are always getting into trouble.) Although most days I feel more like a tourist than a traveller, for anyone who wants to see the world with the typical America's two-week vacation, a tour is the way to go.

Peru is the land of plenty. Although rich in natural resources and major tourist attractions, they still struggle economically, falling victim to governmental corruption. One town in Peru, Arricipa, is so rich in copper that they desperately want their independence, and have gone so far as to create their own currency and legal system, but of course it has never been formally granted. To hike Machu Picchu 4,000 - 5,000 tourists a day pay $50 USD each, but only 2% of that $200,000 a day comes back to preserve the site (after both Lima and Cusco take their cut.) While Peru sells low-cost gallons of natural gas to Canada and the US, they charge their own citizens about 10times that amount. From what I hear, unfortunately, there aren't many Peruvians that actually want to be from Peru. Needless to say, I have loved it so far; it is truly an amazing country.

Our first stop in Peru was to Lake Titicaca. Besides it having a very funny name, it is the largest navigatable lake in the world, with impressively large islands and rich in ancient history. Our first stop was to stay the night with a local family on one of the islands.
We hopped off the boat and walked to the center of the "town", first playing a game of football with the locals (where I nearly died from overexertion in the altitude), and then met our new "mama's and papa's". My new daddy happened to be a 16 year old boy, who brought us back to his small clay hut, where Jessie and I played spoons (a fun card game) with him and his siblings all afternoon. That night we all dressed up like the local people (4 layers of colorful skirts, a cumberbun/corset, black jacket, and a hat your grandpa would wear) and went to the dance hall, where I was aptly nicknamed "payasita" by the locals, which means little clown.

From there we travelled back to Puno, where that night we ate Guinea Pig (its little cooked head and teeth were pretty gross, but it basically tasted like deep fried skin), and then early the next morning headed to Cuzco.
Cuzco is the historical capital of Peru, described as the "Rome of America", and hundreds of years ago was the heart of the Incan empire. With cobblestone streets and a duomo cathedral in the center of town it was an amazing place to spend a couple of days. After a cancelled plane ride to the Amazon Rainforrest I did an afternoon ATV ride through the Peruvian mountains, which ended up feeling more like a game of Mario Kart, as we raced through patches of mud and I nearly got driven off a cliff .


The next day we finally got a cleared flight to the Amazon, and after a bus ride, boat ride, and long walk through the forrest, we arrived at our resort. Despite having no outside walls, no ceilings between rooms and no hot water, the place was high class. The highlights of our two day adventure included pirrahana fishing, a hike through the jungle at night (seeing a massive tarantula, lots of frogs and other bugs), and having spider monkeys right outside my window.


The Lares trek is the "alternative" mountaneous hike to the Inca Trail since unfortunately, the Inca trail is closed for the entire month of February. Almost instantaneously I realized our guide was angry at the world (he kept telling me I asked stupid questions and yelled at me like an angry grade school teacher when I made noise during his 20 hour speeches), but that our porters were amazing; they would set up our camp and tents, then break it down quickly and run ahead of us to have our next spot set up, and in the mornings serve us hot tea in our tents!!
Here is my summation of the Lares Trek: knee-deep mud, rain ponchos, mountains, high altitude, lots of llamas, amazing food, and lots of laughs. After the trek I even had to throw out my 3 month old sneakers, and a pair of socks. Disastrous!


Last, but cetainly not least, was my visit to Machu Picchu. After a night in the town of Aquas Calientes (which literally means hot water), where there ironically was no hot water in the showers at our hotel, we took our 4am bus (with thousands of other people) up to the top of the mountain where the Incas built their civilization 600 years ago. We luckily had the best weather EVER and since it is actually quite big, it never felt overcrowded. Hands down the most amazing sight I have ever seen!! I cannot believe I will be home in less than a week!!