
Hola Amigos!
You must be wondering where did this girl disappear? No post, no updates for a long time. Well, I was in India and after I got back, I was swamped with a lot things. But, now I am back with a brand new post of an extremely popular destination among travelers, Peru.
Peru was one of the most exciting and adventurous trips of last year. The shortest flight to get there (Cusco) is more than 10 hours from New York, but it seemed bearable because of all the excitement to get there. I and my husband went there last fall. For Peruvians, it was the beginning of spring as geographically South America is below equator. Weather was slightly chilly in the mornings and evenings. It was a week-long trip, so we only did Lima, Cusco and Macchu Picchu. The Inca empire (early 16th century), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America and in Peru you will see a lot of its remains. Their ruins leaves you with so many unanswered questions.
The highlight of our trip was definitely Macchu Picchu (built by the Inca civilization in early 15th century and is believed to be a royal estate or sacred religious site for Inca leaders) and we saved it for the end. Our main focus in Lima and Cusco was food as Peru is famous for it’s amazing Ceviches and Pisco sour (an alcoholic drink). Cusco has some amazing Chifa cuisine restaurants, it is a fusion of Chinese and Peruvian food and believe me it was delicious.
Points of attraction in Lima: Old city: Plaza Mayor, Government Palace, Monastery of San Francisco, Archbishop’s palace of Lima. Miraflores, a fun area to hangout, good hotels and restaurants are there. Larcomar is a mall on cliff in Miraflores with great views, stores and restaurants. Amor Park is a Gaudi style of architectue park in Miraflores.
Restaurants in Lima: Mangos in Larcomar, KO in Larcomar, Tanta in Larcomar, Aston and Gastrid, and Lamar are some great restaurants.
Cusco is very picturesque and is a base area for Macchu Picchu for travelers to get use to the altitude difference while traveling. The locals suggest to drink Mate-de-coca tea at most of the times to feel comfortable and to avoid nausea and uneasiness. Cusco is such a cute little town with a lot of Inca history, we stayed there for 3 days and I still feel that we could have stayed longer.
Points of attraction in Cusco: Qoriqancha, Cusco cathedral, Saksaywaman, Pukapukara and Q’enqo. Sacred valley: Pisac. Ollantaytambo and Incan ruins are a short drive from Cusco.
Restaurants in Cusco: KION is an amazing chifa restaurant and Kusikuy are worth trying.
Aguas clientes is actually the foot hills of Macchu Picchu, from where you can either choose to hike or take an early morning 4am bus to the top to see the sunrise. We took an early morning bus, it took us twenty-five minutes to get there. The sun rise and views were spectacular, we hiked to the sun-gate, guard-hut and couple of other spots after our one hour guided tour. Spent more than 7-8 hours there and then came back to the small town of Aguas Cliente and took the evening train back to Cusco.
Make sure to keep your most comfortable sneaker and hike wear for Macchu Picchu.
So are you ready for your next adventure to South America?

















