Lima On the 6th of January 1535 the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the city of Lima, and on the 29th of January 2005 Hector Yague, meaning me, landed at Lima's International Airport in the morning. I was expecting my girl-friend from London, Branimira, to land at Lima herself too that very day to travel during the following two weeks with me in Peru. Her plane was arriving late night, so I had the entire day at my disposal to explore Lima. We had decided to skip Lima in favor to the more glorious country side, so basically that would be my only day here in the capital. So, after booking a double room in a hostel downtown, I set off to beat the pavement. My first destination was the Plaza de Armas, the city's center point. As I came to note, all the towns here in Peru follow the typical Spanish pattern as far as the distribution goes: the city springs up from a central square (always called Plaza de Armas or Plaza Mayor) fronted by the cathedral and the cityhall. From such square, streets bloom out in a parallel and perpendicular web. That central plaza is quite nice and alive with both tourists and locals walking about or sitting in the benches. However, I must declare that as soon as you step out of that small central historical district, Lima loses all its appeal. I hopped in a sight-seeing bus to have a brief general glance of the city, and the bus drove us all the way a nearby hill where a disheartening 360 degrees overlook knocks your spirit down: endless fields of half-collapsed shanties clustering upon each other all over the outskirt hills are really a depressing sight to the eyes. I didn't know Peru was so poverty-strike and there's really little of interest or beauty to the visitor, just another 9-million-soul smoky, dodgy, gray non-charming city.
Plaza de Armas is beautiful enough	The governor's house. Back in the day, this was Pizarro's personal hacienda. Not bad, uh?
Downtown paved street	But once you get out of the historical center, this is the view to be expected: shaking shanties all over till the horizon line
At night, I hired a taxi to drive me back to the airport to pick Brani up. After a slight delay, we finally met at the arrivals gate. It was a very emotional meeting as we hadn't seen each other for eleven months, ever since I took that first flight outta Spain an early morning back in March 2004. We were very happy to get together again and to have the chance to travel throughout Peru for two weeks. As it was pretty late and we were grabbing a long distance bus the next morning, we headed straight to the hotel for a night of sleep. I reckon Brani didn't really missed anything out here in Lima. Oh by the way, God bless my mum! she had sent with Brani a bottle of Spanish red wine (Rioja reserva 1996), accompanied with Spanish smoked ham, sheep cheese and spicy chorizo. Man we had a lovely tapas dinner like I hadn't had in ages! Mummy, you rock!
Nazca After nine hours worth of butt-wrecking bus ride, we finally arrived to the small town of Nazca. The ride had been most weird, as the bus followed the PanAmerican highway along the coast, and such coast line is the most deserted landscape I have ever seen! I swear one could mistake it for the Sahara or something. Vast wastes of sand and rocks lay left and right the highway with absolutely nothing to be spotted. Hundred per cent arid and desolated. Occasionally, we'd spot a lonely tombstone. Why would anyone bury a relative in the middle of the a windy desert? We couldn't figure it out. Anyway, the wind was blowing so hard that portions of the highway got blocked by truckfuls of sand, and both Brani and I feared to get stuck there for the night. Hopefully, that wasn't finally the case. Anyway, the only reason to visit Nazca (yet another dirty, arid and dull town) is the world-renown Nazca Lines. You have probably seen them on TV. They are about 15 herculean animal-shaped designs carved on the ground, hundreds of meters wide and long. In fact, they are so massive that they can only be appreciated from the sky. The fact that they were created centuries ago by a civilization that, of course, had no meanings of seeing or checking their own creation (they had no planes or satellites, etc) has triggered unlikely theories such as being alien-made. It's something like Beethoven composing his symphonies despite the fact of being utterly deaf. Human creativity knows no boundaries, does it? Since we arrived there quite late in the night and we wanted to book a seat in a light plane the very next morning, we couldn't really shop around for prices and got badly ripped off by an unscrupulous turist agent. He charged us US$100 for two seats instead of the ongoing rate of US$60. Oh well, silly us! The morning after we woke up early to head to the airport where this tiny light plane was awaiting for us. Within minutes we shot off to the skies above towards the nearby desert hosting the lines. Hehe what a flight! the pilot had to pull the plane vertically-sideward for the passengers to see the designs underneath. First he'd steer the plane vertically on the right side for the passengers sitting on the right row of seats to look over the window. Immediately after, he'd follow suit on the other side for the rest of the passengers. The virulent turns were so fucking sickening that poor Brani fell sick and had to desperately make use of a plastic bag. I myself felt very uneasy too and could hardly focus to shoot pictures in my struggle to keep my insides in place! The nightmare lasted about 30 mins, and when we finally touched land, our ash-colored faces barely showed the tiniest of the smiles. The lines themselves are OK I guess, but it's sort of a paradox: in order to see the full length of it, you gotta be sky-high, but since you are sky-high the perception of their sheer size fades away. So yeah, I can say that it was disappointing in a way if you count the US$100 paid and the bloody stomach-rumble we had to endure. Oh well...
The spider	The monkey
Brani, if you are reading these lines: atencion amigos... la ballena!!! (blaaaarrrgghh!) - haha oh dear (just an inside joke guys, never mind me)...
Arequipa Watching out the bus window we confirmed what we had observed on our way from Lima to Nazca: villages laid along the southern Pacific coast of Peru are in blatant bad shape with their unpaved streets, roofless houses built of dried mud, street dogs sniffing into meter-high rubbish piles, etc. However, traveling via local chicken buses granted us the chance to see another side of Peru which is to see how Peruvians life their daily life. Birth rate must be astronomical as every young woman over 18 was carrying her own child, and often two or even three kids slept soundly on her parents' lap, making that up to five human beings sharing two narrow seats. Also fun is how, every time the bus stops to drop or pick up passengers, food vendors hop on the bus selling olives, figs, sandwiches and a large array of foodies. Anyway, so here we took yet another long ass bus ride across the coastal desert to Peru's second largest city, Arequipa, sitting right next to the very imposing volcano El Misti. Arequipa is an interesting town. While not particularly pretty nor especial, it's quite alive and emanates activity through every pore. Brani and I walked up and down the main drags (also networked like Lima starting from a central Plaza de Armas), visited colorful local fruit markets and observed its UNESCO cultural heritage-declared historical district. Yeah, quite a cool town for a day or two.
Arequipa overshadowed by volcano El Misti	The very cute Plaza de Armas
Colorful fruit market	Nice bum!
One of the multiple churches	Just a pretty picture
The real reason as of why we came here was to take an excursion up the world's deepest canyon, the Canon de Colca, about 160 kms away from Arequipa. Apparently, this is an excellent spot to watch the magnificent condors and their 3 meter wide wing-span flying over your head. In order to reach the canyon summit at dawn (the best time for condor-spotting), we woke up at 1:30 am to join the shuttle bus going there, which we shared with a friendly USA-relocated Peruvian family. Well, the drive up there was something I would never want to repeat. Sleep-deprived, we drove for five continuous hours over the bumpiest gravel road you could imagine. Seriously, you cannot imagine the havoc a five hours ride over such a rocky road inflicts to your kidneys. Also, the road climbs up to 4800 meters altitude and some of the members of the Peruvian family felt the unpleasant symptoms of altitude sickness. Thanks God Brani and I had taken some preventing medication the day before so were alright. I certainly didn't feel the altitude sickness any near as bad as I had in Tibet when I hauled my ass over 5200 meters to the Everest Base Camp. Anyway, eventually we reached the canyon summit alive. Admittedly, the sight from the lookout point over the frightening depths of the canyon is heart-stopping (that's a 1200 meters deep canyon, mind you!). We sat at the lookout waiting for the condors to show up, however we were not to be that lucky. The thing is that the wind was non existent that day, and condors seem to need the assistance of wind in order to raise their hulky body upwards. So, after two hours waiting, and when we were about to leave, a very kind american fellow spotted out a condor flying down there and we borrowed his binoculars: there it was, a black with white wings adult condor soaring effortless the sky in circular motions, I assume searching for a carcass to devour (condors are scavengers). Even though being a few hundreds meters away, I could definitely note the mastodontic size of that animal, rightfully nicknamed by locals as the lord of the skies. So, after following the condor on its flight for a while, we got back to the shuttle bus and guess what? yup, another five hours of kidney torture driving back to Arequipa! Picture on the right: El Canon del Colca.
Patiently waiting at the lookout point for the condors to show up	Local woman carrying her baby on a wrapped up piece of cloth over the shoulders
Being completely frank, Peru so far had not been that exciting for Brani and I. We were finding towns lacking, and we hadn't had much luck so far with the events we took part of like the Nazca lines or the Canon del Colca. Moreover, we had been traveling at a furious pace because Brani only had 2 weeks of vacations, so fatigue and uncomfortable long-distance bus rides were taking their unforgiving toll on us. Fortunately, our next destination was the fabled Lake Titicaca, of which I had heard wonders of its unparallel beauty. So there we went, hoping things would start to get more interesting soon...
Lake Titicaca After another long bus ride, we arrived late night to Puno, a mid-sized town by the lake shore. Funnily, there had been a power-cut that night across the entire central neighborhoods, so finding an operating hostel at midnight was sort of tough hehe. Anyway, Puno itself has really little to write home about, but it's usually used as the gate point into the lake for its convenient location. And, of course, as the bus was approaching the lake we took notice of the change in the scenery from rocky, flat and arid into green and hilly. Much more like what I had expected from Peru. One funny anecdote: Brani and I had to walk in, sit down, wait 15 minutes and frustratingly stand up and walk away from four coffee shops in a row searching for a morning coffee. It was hysterical: we would order a coffee and the waiter would disappear to never show up again haha! By the way, if you order a coffee with milk in Peru you literally get a mug of milk with a minuscule side-pot with a handful of drops of coffee. Reputedly, Peruvian coffee is very good but it's all exported abroad and what stays is low-quality stuff. Tough shit for coffee addicts like Brani and myself! Just for the records: the Lake Titicaca is, at over 3800 meters altitude, the world's highest navigable lake. And also for the records before I forget: according to the mythological Inca lore, the first Inca emperor was created here in the Lake Titicaca by their white bearded God, Viracocha. By the way, that is why Spanish conquerors where believed to be Gods by some pre-colombian civilizations, because just like their legends predicted they rose from the open seas boasting thick beards on their white faces. They were soon to learn the cold-truth about these newly arrived "deities" though... Puno city facing into the Lake Titicaca     The next morning, we joined a boat tour visiting the main islands in the lake. Settled right between the Peru-Bolivia border line, the Lake Titicaca has got around 30-something islands and only a handful of them have accepted tourist visits, while the large majority of them have preferred to remain isolated in their traditional life-style passed generation after generation. Interesting, isn't it? Firstly, we visited the Uros islands, home of the Uros. Firmly holding onto their Inca roots and speaking Quechua instead of Spanish, the Uros are unique in the world because they craft the islands they live on. Yup, you have read correctly, they bloody craft their own islands! There is this bamboo-alike reed naturally growing all around the lake's outbound limits and which is collected by the Uros. Then, they assemble tons of it in a fashion reminiscent of a cobweb. They press them up until a two meters thick paddy floating platform is created. Finally, they harvest more and more of that plant, expanding the size of such floating platform until it is large enough to host a small village composed by a dozen or so of huts. That reed, named totora, is interwoven with the very core of their society, as not only they use it to craft the islands they live on, but also their huts, their boats and ultimately as food (pretty tasteless by the way I reckon). Another thing we learnt there is that the Uros anchor their floating islands piercing them up with long sticks into the lake ground and so they keep the island from sailing away directionless. Once the rainy season turns up, the water level raises up and thus the sticks are not long enough anymore, so the Uros release the islands and off the entire town sails to shallower areas. Amazing shit, ain't it? Seriously guys, very interesting stuff!
See? that's a floating island made out of pressed up totora reed. Also note the reed boat and the pristine mirror reflection of the clouds upon the Lake Titicaca
Totora hut
The totora reed fields the Uros harvest day in and day out	Tailoring and selling colorful handmade blankets
This woman is the village's cook	Manually milling corn to produce bread
General lookout over an Uros floating island. See how low the cloud line is? I noticed this phenomenon in Tibet too: since you are at 4000 meters altitude, you get the feeling of being very close to the sky
Another island we visited is Tequile Island, right in the center of the lake. Tequile Island is fairy-book beautiful, with green slopes rolling down to meet the intense blue waters of the Lake Titicaca. And even cooler than the island itself are the people who live in it and their elaborated dressing code addressing a whole bunch of info about the person itself. For example, different colors and patterns on the hats indicate different social status as well as whether the person is single or married. Oh! The Tequile Islanders are not of Quechua origins; they are Aymara. Brani and I sure enjoyed a pleasant walk up and down hilly Tequile Island and its wide-open vistas over the lake. Really really pretty! Picture on the right: green plantation terraces overlooking into the immense Lake Titicaca. Beautiful! Pictures bellow: local people with their exclusive dressing code.
Yup, Brani and I were very glad we visited the Lake Titicaca. Seems like Peru was getting better after all! Upon arrival back at Puno, we casually met in a bar a very friendly Spanish couple, Mariano and Eva, with whom and their local friends we went out to see how the inhabitants of Puno performed their traditional dancing choreographies. The thing is that we had incidentally arrived in Puno the week before the yearly local celebration takes place and apparently the entire Puno was getting ready to go ape during that week, with people dancing and drinking in the streets all night long. Shame we didn't get to see it because that next week we'd be in Cuzco already, but non-the-less we had an amusing evening with that Spanish couple drinking pisco (Peru's traditional spirit - strong as hell) and watching Punians dance their folklore. Picture on the right: Brani and I at a restaurant in Puno.
Cuzco Well, after the whole week traveling at a frenetic pace, we finally arrived to our main and final destination in Peru, the mountain-fringed city of Cuzco. We had the whole week left and we sure appreciated the slow down after so many consecutive long distance bus rides, specially Brani who, being completely honest, is a devoted city bug (she lives in London) and is not used to rough it backpacker-style. Let's face it: backpacking is exciting and very rewarding, but it ain't confortable by no means. Picture on the right: As you approach the highlands, the landscape dramatically turns into a lush and green valley galore. These lands are definitely rich in natural resources with towering mountains, white-water rivers and vast cultivated fields abound. Here and there, small agriculture-based villages shyly dot the surrounding scenery. Me likes!
Once the heart of the Inca empire, and right after Atahualpa defeated his brother Huascar in a civil war, history tells us how the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro tricked and captured Atahualpa offering some horses or something (can't exactly remember, my grandma told me the whole affair when I was a kid) and proceeded to loot and exploit the uber-rich assets of the poor Incas, dismantling the nearby Inca temples to erect christian churches and Spanish haciendas. Not long after, Lima became the capital of the Spanish settlement and Cuzco therefore lost its prime importance. Leila, a good friend of mine, had labeled Cuzco as the most romantic town, and I can just but agree. Landlocked among hills, steep cobblestone streets fronted by colonial-style houses host handicraft shops or cozy cafes while herds of tourists walk about at slow pace, chatting and letting the afternoon slip away. Indeed, one can clearly see that Cuzco has been beautified exclusively with the tourism industry in mind. It just stands eons apart, and ahead, from the rest of Peruvian cities.   Shoe-polishing stall Quick! Five bucks if you can pronounce that now! hehe many of Cuzco's streets carry a Quechua name	Typical cobblestone street. It's a delight to wander about Cuzco without rush   Vista over Cuzco from one of the nearby hills. I could definitely perceive its Spanish architectonic heritage
The very charismatic Plaza de Armas at dusk. This photo is taken from a coffee shop terrace where Brani and I had some lovely cappuccinos
So what did we do that week we spent in Cuzco? well, we took it really easy to be honest, visiting nearby Inca ruins, people-watch behind an early evening cafe latte and handicraft-hunt at the local galleries. And, of course, we paid tribute to the utterly mind-blowing Machu Picchu. But let's go step by step...
There is a town nor too far away from Cuzco called Pisac, barely an hour away by colectivo (Spanish for chicken bus). It was an amusing ride: the bus was fucking packed beyond physical capacity. Plenty of passengers, us included, were on their feet cramped up against each other. Well, at one point the woman right in front of me, and I mean like 10 inches in front of me, suddenly popped up her breast to feed her baby, right in front of my nose tip. I got a bit embarrassed silly me hehe. There were two reasons as of why we went to Pisac: one is the Inca ruins 10 kms up the hill from the town and the other is the bustling sunday market the Lonely Planet guide recommended to visit. The market itself, alas touristy, was fun as hell. Brani had the uncontrolled whim of buying a handmade jersey made of alpaca wool (alpaca is sort of a small llama, a hairy mountain bovine). It took us like a full hour to spot and bargain the perfect sample from the dozens of stalls offering them, but we finally got it for 8 euros, which is a gift in my opinion considering its 100% made of natural wool. Picture on the right: these guys were at the market that sunday, dressed up with their traditional costumes. This picture is one of my favorites from the whole trip around the world.
The ruins of Pisac are also very worth visiting. After walking for more less 20 minutes along the mountain side, you reach the numerous consecutive plantation terraces and, at the summit, lay the ruins proper. The panoramic views from up there are breath-taking as you have a wide vision upon the deep valley underneath. Veeeeery cool sight! Picture on the right: Pisac ruins atop the plantation terraces and overlooking the entire valley. Terrific, isn't it? Picture bellow left: local kids playing in the fields. Picture bellow right: who the fuck is that girl blocking my picture line of sight! hehe it's Brani, of course.
When we arrived back to Cuzco late afternoon, we were victims of the fervent locals when it comes to carry their celebrations. Apparently, we had arrived to the area in a very special date when the name of the game is soaking the shit outta each other with water, using filled-up balloons or simply an ole'good bucket. Well, so here we got off the colectivo and this group of kids gang-banged our asses, throwing bucketfuls of waters on us! Wet like hell, I grabbed my 2 liters bottle of mineral water and emptied out on the offender. That will teach'em! Hehe no really, they go mental with the water game, which lasts for the whole day, and everyone, their mother and their second sister is soaked to the bones, and they even throw water to passing-by cars and buses. Good laugh.
Machu Picchu After a couple of days in Cuzco, we decided to visit Machu Picchu, number one tourist destination in Peru and probably in the entire Latin America. I had wanted to do the Inca Trail, which follows during four days and exclusively by foot an ancient Inca highway across the mountains. Unfortunately, there were several factors that kept me from doing it: firstly, we were not too sure Brani would be fit enough, having just arrived from the city, to undertake the peregrination. Secondly, and due to the incrementing damage dealt by hikers on the trail, the number of permits granted per day has dramatically been reduced, so you gotta wait few days till you get your turn. And thirdly, the trail is closed every february to get cleaned up. So, we had to go the cheesy way, meaning by train. There are different price sets for the train from Cuzco up to Aguas Calientes, the last stop and the jump-point to the ruins, ranking from US$70 to US$24 depending on the wagon class. Guess which one we took? hehe. In order to get the 24 bucks deal, we had to go by chicken bus to the village of Urumbamba, and from there commute to Ollantaytambo, the town from where the cheap train was departuring from. We didn't really care to go through all the hassle because there are some interesting ruins in Ollantaytambo and we figured we could visit the ruins in the morning and grab the train at 8pm. The thing is that the ruins at Ollantaytambo, despite being cute, are rather small thus you are done within the hour, so we had like six hours to kill until the train would take off. Thanks God we met this really cheery guy called Charley (from Holland) with whom we spent the day. We sat at a bar and started knocking beers back for the rest of the afternoon while we waited, and funnily enough we got caught in the drinking business or something because we had to fucking run to the train station or else we would have missed it! Can you believe this shit? six hours at our disposal and we barely made it there right as the clock ticked 8 pm! Anyway, Charley proved to be a cool fellow and we laughed a good deal with him, so we arranged a meeting the next morning at 5 am to walk the 6 kilometers from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu in order to make it up there by opening time.
The train was, as expected, packed with backpackers in their way to Machu Picchu. Upon arrival to Aguas Calientes I couldn't help but taking notice of how the towns revolves exclusively around tourism due to its privileged location, hosting plenty of quality restaurants and lodging. It was late in the night so Brani and I went straight to book a budget hotel room. The next morning we woke early as planned to meet Charley at 5 am. The climb-up was way more extraneous than we had expected but we did manage to drag our sweaty asses up there. The view from the summit over the Aguas Calientes valley is something to not ever forget. In fact, the whole region is just awe-inspiring. Picture on the right: the river navigates its way around massive mountains. It truly is as spectacular as it looks like in the picture!
Upon payment of the US$20 entrance fee (ouch!), we entered the Lost City of Machu Picchu... Ladies and gentlemen...
Yup, I agree.
As I stared for the first time over Machu Picchu from the Caretaker's Hut (the point from where the above picture is taken) I fulfilled one of the main goals I had with this journey around the world. Machu Picchu, along with the likes of Angkor Wat or Petra, had been in my must-see list since the very beginning when I was planning the trip sitting on the couch at my living room back in Spain. There goes another one I can finally tick off the Places-I-Got-To-See-Before-I-Die list. Once again, let me dip you in a brief mythological introduction: the Gods had ordered the first Inca to search for the belly-button of the world. This guy diligently shot off in his quest, traveling extensively around the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands. One day, he finally arrived to this valley and, glancing towards the menacing skies, he cried: I'm knackered! I'm staying here!. The last part is sort of my own invention, mind... The most outstanding characteristic of Machu Picchu, rather than the ruins themselves, is the natural setting where it's been settled. The city is 360 degrees wrapped up by peaks. In fact, it sits in the center of a salad bowl-shaped valley, with the Huayna Picchu (the peak right behind) proudly body-guarding the site. Don't get me wrong, the buildings and complexes are indeed fantastic, but the real kick comes from the unsurpassed surroundings Another peculiar characteristic is the unpredictable weather here. Clouds roll over Machu Picchu just as fast as they depart minutes later. One minute you are walking in a thick mist, and the next one the sun beams muscle their way through. Very interesting! By the way, thanks God we decided to come early in the morning because at around 11 am the ruins gets assaulted by fuckloads of tour buses puking herds of japanese tourists all over the whole damn place!
Detail of a lonely tree in the center of the courtyard	Llamas freely wander in peace around the ruins
That's an Inca house. Wonderful views!	Like I said, the mist rolls over Machu Picchu lightning quick
But then again the sun shines back again	Brani goofing around, backed up by the imposing Huayna Picchu
That's the dwelling area where Incas used to live
Oh by the way, the Spanish conquerors never ever discovered Machu Picchu. Otherwise I'm sure they would have defiled it away razing its assets like they did with the other sites. Fucking barbarians, there goes my middle finger to the lot of you! In fact, Machu Picchu remained forgotten to the world till one American folk called Hiram Bingham re-discovered it in 1911. Could you imagine what must have been for this guy to be casually hiking in the mountains and, all of a sudden, climb over a summit, look down upon this secret valley and stare in disbelief at such magnificent and undocumented wonder?
We also decided to climb up Huaya Picchu, despite the fact that I was about to chicken out. The trembling track hugs tightly the mountain side leaving a 300 meters free fall in the other side, and that's a one meter-wide track, mind you! Anyway, I pumped up my shaking ego and decided to give it a go following Brani and Charley to the top, which was another hell of a tiring climb.
This is the view from the top of Huaya Picchu: on the left-end, the white-water river that licks Aguas Calientes few kms upstream. In the center, the gravel road sneaking up the steep slope. And on the right-end, Machu Picchu. Glorious view isn't it? The three of us sat up here for at least half and hour treating ourselves with a Mars chocolate bar and enjoying the moment.
I am so glad I have had the chance to see this with my own eyes...   After waving good-bye to Charley (to whom I might see again in Bolivia as he is following a similar itinerary), Brani and I went in the evening to the nearby natural hot pools few minutes away from Aguas Calientes. In case you don't know, "aguas calientes" is Spanish for "hot waters". It was a God sent as we relaxed ourselves silly after a long day trekking in Machu Picchu. And, since we had to wake up at 5 am again to catch the first train in the morning, we went to bed pretty early. Posterior entry: I did meet Charley briefly in Uyuni (Bolivia) a couple of weeks later.
Back to Cuzco After returning from Machu Picchu we had three days left in Cuzco before Brani was to fly back home on the 12th of february. One of them we visited the Sacsayhuaman ruins, just 6 kms north of Cuzco. This site used to be huge in size, but now a days only 20% of its former glory remains as the Spanish settlers used the rocks to build their own houses in Cuzco. Original Cuzco's layout is said to have been designed as a giant jaguar, and the Sacsayhuaman complex was meant to be the head. In fact, today we can still obverse the king-sized zig-zag corridors portraying the jaguar's teeth. Picture on the right: see the zig-zag shaped street? that, back in the day, would have been the teeth of an imaginary jaguar. These Incas certainly were creative!
Apart from that, we didn't do much really. By then, I was getting ruined out and anyway we had seen the most significant ones already, so we basically spent two quiet days hanging out in Cuzco sipping cappuccinos, going to the movies and shopping handicrafts and souvenirs. I swear Brani has bought more souvenirs in the one country she has visited than me in the previous 21! Yeah, she bought plenty of tokens for relatives and friends, and also a silver ring with black carvings for me (it's gorgeous, thanks darling). Cuzco is heaven for souvenir hunting, specially colorful hand-made cloth pieces and beautiful paintings. And they are so cheap! Lastly, we also tasted local Peruvian cuisine and we found it quite lovely. The main ingredient is trout, but they also have some interesting dishes like the regionally-grown cereal called quinea, or also the alpaca meat, or the rocoto (stuffed red peppers) or my personal favorite: ceviche, which is a dish composed by marinated fish, onions and lemon sauce. Delicious! And we also had lunch at the San Pedro market, a very busy indoors market where you can find any local product or have a filling lunch for as little as 75 cents of a euro! On our last day, we decided to treat ourselves with a king-worthy meal: roasted lamb and a bottle of red wine. Plus, once we got back to the hostel room, we got more-than-tipsy with a bottle of pisco hehe!
Brani digging into a ceviche dish...	...and me following suit!
And that's about it. Like I said, we were quite lazy those last two days. The morning of the 12th of february I dropped her at Cuzco airport after a very emotional farewell. She had a long day ahead because she was to fly first to Lima airport, wait few hours there, commute to another plane and then another 12 hours flight back to Europe. I myself booked a seat for that very evening on a long ass 16 hours bus ride linking Cuzco with La Paz, capital of Bolivia, and so therefore concluded our adventures in the land of the Incas.
Having had the chance to see Branimira again after almost a full year!
Machu Picchu, of course. A world-class mankind wonder Cuzco is a remarkable town: pretty, charismatic, with plenty of sites nearabout, etc. Best town in Peru by far! The Lake Titicaca, its islands and its micro-societies are also terrific Peruvian people's folklore, specially their costumes and traditions. So interesting! Peruvian cuisine is pretty good Pisac ruins and the sunday market. That was a good day I reckon Cheap ass country to travel, specially food, accommodation and transportation. Really, it cannot get any cheaper.
Lima and actually most of Peruvian towns are dishearteningly ugly and unattractive. Head straight to the more virtuous country side Nazca lines: not worth the pain to get there, the money for the light plane flight or the stomach uneasiness. Skip it and simply buy the postcard The drive all the way up the Canon del Colca. The views atop are impressive, and the condors flying are cool too, but I would never repeat such horrendous drive. Peru is a large country and we only had 2 weeks total, so we missed out splendorous areas like the snow-capped Andean mountain ranges, plus we over-worked ourselves during the first week traveling at an insane pace. Visiting Machu Picchu is expensive if you add up the train ticket, the entrance ticket, etc. Worth every penny though!