5 week South American itinerary for Peru & Colombia

all the above photos are Cusco area because that was the best part

OUR ITINERARY

DEC

26th - Land in Cusco early, check in to hotel

27th - Visit Sacsayhuaman with a Guide, then the other 3 sites on the ticket alone (Altitude sickness)

28th - Horseriding in Cusco

29th - Take 8am train to Aguas Calientes, check in to hotel, spend afternoon in the hot springs

30th - 5am bus to Macchu Piccu, climb Wayna Piccu

31st - Vistadrome party train to Ollyantaytambo, visit the Ollyanantambo ruins, collectivo bus back to Cusco, New Years Eve watching the firesworks from the rooftop of our hostel

JAN

1st - Rest day

2nd -Hike in a loop around the back of Sacsayhuaman, shopping at the Central Artesanal Cusco Market on Av. De Sol

3rd - Check out of Hostel, afternoon 2 hr horseride around 3 free ruins, 9.30pm Peruhop bus to Puno

4th - Arrive Puno early, check in, attempted hike around Titi Lake, late bus to Arequipa

5th - Arrive Arequipa 4.30am, check in to hotel, own breakfast & day walking around

6th - Arequipa, then night bus to Nazca

7th - Arrive Nazca 8am. Paid 40 soles for a shower in a room. Collectivo bus to see the Nazca lines, evening checkin to Huacachina desert Oasis

8th - 4.30 sunset sand buggy and sand-boarding, 6.30pm bus to Paracas to arrive 9.30pm

9th - Paracas (Had to find new hotel because Paracas Backpackers had 'forgotten' our booking

10th - Paracas and Ballistas island tour [take your raincoat and a ziplock bag for your mobile phone]

11th - Day in Paracas, evening bus to arrive Lima same evening

12th - Full day in Lima

13th - Morning in Lima and evening flight to Cartagena, Colombia to arrive midnight

14th - 16th - In Cartagena, on 16th a Collectivo van to Santa Marta, then 1 hr on public bus to Mendihuaca Beach

16th - 20th - Staying on Mendihuaca beach, on 20th Pick up 2 motorbikes from Adrenaline Addicts

20th & 21st - 2 days of riding bikes, with the night of 21st In Minca

22nd & 23rd - Stay at El Rio Hostel (where I volunteered last year as yoga instructor & social manager

23rd Jan - 4th Feb - Check in to Casa, around 25th go horse-riding

4th Feb - My parter flies home and I stay on to the last week in March to work remotely

TIPS

1. Get to Machu Picchu on the first bus to enjoy the place with few people and the early morning mist

2. Try the 'Vistadome' Train - party on a train!

3. I would stay way longer in the Cusco and sacred Valley area and just skip everything we saw on the journey to Cusco, maybe with the exception of Arequipa. Between Cusco and Lima just seemed to be very touristy, long overnight busses for little reward and plenty of spending. We had a lot of unprofessional stuff happen like incorrect bus schedules given to us, hotels confirming bookings and then saying 'Oh but we had a lot come in from booking.com.... so uhhhh'.

WIFI - most important for location independent workers!

Almost every hotel and eating place we went in Peru had adequate to good wifi, even to watch a movie most of the time in the hotels or hostels. Most now have menu's which you open with a QR code, so they happily hand out the wifi password too. However the overnight busses didn't seem to have an wifi that worked - so if you want to work on the bus, download what you need in advance. Bear in mind though that we were mainly in cities and popular tourist places, so that might be different in small towns & villages.

IN CUSCO

I planned to have 3 days to acclimatise us both to the high altitude in Cusco before going lower to the sacred valley where Machu Picchu is, and since the train is about 5 hours from Cusco, we did the train the day before the Machu Picchu visit, and we walked down the mountain back to Aguas Calientes (much nicer, but bring insect repellant) and had an evening in Aguas Calientes and a sleep before getting a return train the next day, and were really glad we did.

Cusco was our favourite place in Peru, it's absolutely beautiful. You can see that it evolved over time in the way that an old Italian town does. We spent our first 3 nights in Kokopelli Hostel in a double room with en-suite. It was fine in every way, however they charged 230 soles, not 165 for the last night because it was the 28th Dec 'Holiday times' and that was a nasty shock (around €50 Euros for the night in a place where the average cost is €24/ night with an ensuite, balcony and view).

Machu Piccu entry ticket here - or here

[Note that in usual tourism times you might have to book your ticket 5 months in advance]

Train from Cusco to Machu Picchu booking here

When I booked our return train there were only trains which stopped in Ollyantaytambo, but that turned out to be great, because the quite expensive return train turned out to be 'the party train' where you are ushered into the carriage behind the engine which has an open air train balcony and a peruvian dancer in bird-like colourful costume with a band. There was also a fashion show which was interesting, but we knew we'd pay 10-20% of the price in the Artesanal market in Cusco, so I just got ideas for what I wanted to buy later.

THINGS TO SEE IN CUSCO

Acueducto De Sapantiana

Train and bus to machhu picu - use this link - about $108 USD for 2 people return

Limbus Restobar - I found this online, it shows great views with food, but we didn't visit since we found great takeaway at Green falafel and we already had amazing rooftop views in our hostel Samay Wasi.

Horseriding

RUTH - Based just behind Sacsayhuaman - +51 967 031 828 - we did a 2 hr slow horse tour of 2 small ruins for 40 soles each for 2 of us.

DARIO - +51 984 477 346 - I arranged a personal tour with galloping on a nice Paso horse for 1.5 hours for 100 soles (1 person only)

'Aguas Calientes', Hot springs - 13°09'02.7"S 72°31'16.7"W

In Aguas Calientes, start waiting in line at 4.30-5.00am. The earliest bus leaves at 5.30 and the latest at 15.30. A one-way ticket costs 12 dollars

Locals call Ollantaytambo by its nickname instead: Ollanta

Ollantaytambo is a village in the Sacred Valley of south Peru, set on the Urubamba River amid snow-capped mountains. It's known for the Ollantaytambo ruins, a massive Inca fortress with large stone terraces on a hillside. Major sites within the complex include the huge Sun Temple and the Princess Baths fountain. The village's old town is an Inca-era grid of cobblestoned streets and adobe buildings

Bus from Ollantaytambo to Cusco

No need to book in advance, there are loads of collectivos there all day, we got a ride for 10 soles each on 31st December. Some of the prearranged ones are 45-60 soles, so don't bother with them.

See Manu park from Cusco

From our bed we could see the city lights, watch sunrise and hear train whistles choo-chooing in the distance

IN AGUA CALIENTES

We stayed at a really cheap place just to sleep, I can't really recommend it, there was mould in the room and the window opened to a hallway, so not much fresh air, but I knew most of that when I booked it and got what I expected for the price. The most important thing was that we had an en-suite not a shared bathroom so that we didn't have to que for the bathroom at 4.30am.

AT MACHU PICCHU

It's much better to do the 5 hour train journey one day and see Machu Picchu the next day early so that you can avoid the crowds, see Machu Picchu in the early morning mist, and be up at the top of a mountain by about 8.30am. having sweated up in the cool part of the day. We went up Huacha Picchu, also known as Wuayna Picchu (or similar). We found it really hard to work out from Berlin when booking what mountain we would end up. But this mountain is the really pointy one that you see behind the photos that you see on most tourists photos. We loved climbing Huanya Piccu, also because there were also ancient buildings at the top, and really amazing views that seemed to be 3km straight down vertically to the 2 rivers.

IN CUSCO AGAIN

31st, and 1st Jan, 2nd Jan - Samay Wasi Youth Hostel, Calle Ataoqsaycuchi 416, Cusco, 8003 Peru

Our Favourite place to eat was Green Falafel - vegetarian and vegan with really tasty felafels, but also Pizza from 6pm in a proper pizza over right in the sitting area, which is cozy with the cold Cusco nights.

IN PUNO

Horrible, just horrible, don't go there! We avoided the Floating Islands Tour because we heard it was adapted for tourists and expected a hard-sell tactics which others on our tour confirmed when we met up later. The whole town reaks of sewer and the seafront is construction sites and smacks of the movie 'District 9' (no offense to the locals however). e walked north of the town to a small island connected to the mainland by a thin road and were able to walk around this bird sanctuary and put up our hammock for half an hour before the afternoon winds got really chilly. It was a total waste of our day.

IN AREQUIPA

Arequipa has a beautiful old town which we heard was flattened in an earthquake and all the amazing buildings in Plaza del Armas etc were rebuilt.... We enjoyed a couple of rooftop bars with a book on the rainy afternoon we were there. Since we'd had 2 night busses in a row, we weren't in the mood for the Canyon or other tours. The ATMS there charge 15-25 soles per withdrawal for only 400 soles per day. We coudn't use my card again on either day after the first withdrawal, so take plenty of cash there and pay on credit card in hotels etc where possible.

Casa Margott Hotel, lovely place in a very old building with arched or vaulted ceilings and a beautiful candelabra in reception. They let us check in early at about 5am, which was AMAZING after 2 nights on overnight busses. We had an ensuite bathroom and a balcony overlooking Plaza del Armas and the mountains.

Another good hotel, on AIRBNB

LeFoyerAQP, Calle Ugarte 114, Arequipa, Arequipa

AREQUIPA TOURS (We didn't do any, just notes)

Campiña tour (3 hours)

Sillar Route (3 hours)

Rafting Chili River (4 hours)

AT NAZCA LINES

Hmmm, nice to see, but I expected something else TBH after reading about them quite a bit

HUACACHINA DESERT OASIS

We stayed at Bananas adventure. Av. Ángela de Perotti, 229. They have a small pool and a garden which goes right on to the oasis. Dorms are clean with modern bathrooms. Quite expensive for a dorm bed, but this is an oasis after all.

I really enjoyed the Sanddune Buggy & Sandboarding Tour, but if you don't like getting bumped around in a Buggy you might not like it.

IN PARACAS

Wasn't impressed, very expensive for everything, busy, lots rubbish on the beach. National park is a desert, we thought we could cycle around it, but figured we'd get burned to hell, so did a driven tour to 3 lookout points instead. TBH it's missable

We booked at Paracas Backpackers a week in advance, all confirmed on email and on arriving at 10pm were told they had given our room away. Really unprofessional, so after being forced to take 2 dorm beds and use their dirty blocked drain bathrooms we moved to Willy's House the next day and for 15 soles more got a clean en-suite bathroom, clean fluffy towels and a nice double bed, breakfast and a peaceful patio area. We liked Willy.

We also did the speedboat tour to the Ballestas Islands. BE WARNED!! (which we were not) Leave your valuables at home and wrap your phone carefully in a plastic bag if it's not waterproof. If you're in the last 3 rows of seats in the boat, you will get absolutely drenched from the spray which is like having buckets of water thrown over you for 30 minutes each way. Our passports and vaccination books and hiking boots were almost ruined. Bring a waterproof jacket, wear flip-flops and dirty clothes which are ready for the wash. The tour was OK - calling it like the Gallapagos islands is probably a huge stretch, but since I haven't been to the Gallapagos, I can't say.

IN LIMA

We got the 20% off second booking deal at Kokpelli Barranco which I basically booked from not wanting to spend ages researching something else, and Kokopelli seems to be a brand you can rely on for at least the basics in hospitality, and often much more. Keep your wristbands from the first stay to show at subsequent stays for the discount.

Reserved kokopelli 180 sol with 20% discount = 144.. for 2 nights in 7 bed dorm 2 ensuites

https://www.hostelkokopelli.com/barranco-spanish

LIMA NIGHTLIFE

https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/peru/articles/the-ultimate-nightlife-guide-to-lima-peru/

https://www.myguideperu.com/nightlife/ayahuasca

CARTAGENA

SANTA MARTA & on to the TAYRONA NATIONAL PARK area

MENDIHUACA BEACH

Mendihuaca Surf Shop - Tobias is an excellent and friendly surf teacher and you can just hire a board too

Horseshoe Horseriding - Nicely treated horses - info@horseshoe-colombia.com - book a week or two in advance to get the day you want

Night of 20th Jan in Minca

Walking to Los Naranjos via the Monkey Walk (find it on the app maps.me - the trail starts by St Martins restaurant on the east side of Tayrona Park) and for food at the Luxury hotel Casa Tayrona los Naranjos for moderately priced food with a beautiful view in the closest restaurant

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Sat 26th Feb - 1st March BARANQUILLA FESTIVAL

https://www.carnifest.com/barranquilla-carnival-2022/

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CURRENCY (Jan 2022)

Just x by or divide by 5

€1 = 4.5 sol

€5 = 23 sol

€10 = 45 sol

10 sol = €2

50 sol = €11.11

100 sol = €22.22

GETTING AROUND

Public busses in Peru are amazing with horizontal VIP seats - see - https://www.cruzdelsur.com.pe

and others, depending on the trip you want as far as I can tell.

KNOWLEDGE

When I sent this photo to my friend, she replied "Oh no, what happened to you?!" Bahaha

How to tell the difference between an Alpaca and a Llama - a pretty fun article.

How to buy 100% Baby Alpaca products and not 'mixed' or 100% Acrylic Products

Baby Alpaca feels cold to the touch for longer. We had the luck to be shown into an expensive shop by our Sacsayhuaman tour guide (yes this was a hard sell moment, but we learned what we could from it, and even gave them a tip at the end because it was interesting and we didn't buy)

We were given several wool products to touch and hold. When you have them all lined up together, it's easier to tell. Acrylic products can feel soft, but they quickly heat up in your hand (say in 10 seconds). When you then hold on to a baby alpaca product, it feels softer, AND it stays cold in your hand. When you wear it however, it warms up with your body heat over time and keeps you way warmer than acrylic wool.

Because of that, I was able to go to the Artisan market in Cusco, and I could tell when the market stall owners were telling the truth. Many products there are about 80% Alpaca and mixed with Polyester or acrylic, despite the '100% Alpaca labels'. The store owner I bought from told me this, even though I already suspected it. I am also really 'into' fabrics, and I care a lot what my clothes are made from - perhaps you don't mind so much.

Another way to tell, is that acrylic is often brightly coloured, but the baby alpaca is always far more muted colours (because real hair can't take dye like plastic can)

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TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS JAN 2022

Ecuador land borders are closed, entry by air only - with PCR test or vaccination

CHECK HERE FOR TRAVEL BANS

https://airheart.com/travel-bans/from/germany/to/ecuador

https://pe.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-rewards/airlines-cruises-countries-require-covid-19-vaccination/

MONEY

I used the N26 You card at €9.90/ month to get the best ATM withdrawal rates with no fees on the German end. Fees can be charged in the countries you visit, but if you shop around you can usually find a no fee ATM. Best to look for Mastercard signs on the ATM's.

Alternatively try wise.com

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THINGS WE DIDN'T GET TO DO BECAUSE OF COVID TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

LIM to somewhere close to Banos (Guagaquil gives option to go to Montañita later)

Banos to Cartagena (from Cuenca (CUE)? or via Bogota?

---BANOS / QUAYANQUIL / COAST AREA

See Amazon rainforest - https://www.freetour.com/banos/ayahusca-and-banos-de-agua-santa and https://almahealingcenter.com/

Banos is the self-proclaimed adventure capital of Ecuador.

This small mountain pueblo is home to a broad range of activities, including:

climbing nearby Tungurahua Volcano

canyoning

whitewater rafting

paragliding

mountain biking

bridge swings

hot springs

waterfall tours