Spotlight On: Peru

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Capital: Lima
Month visited: November 2008
Superlative: Most in Touch with its Heritage
Ease of travel
(1=completely lost all the time, 10=like navigating around my own neighborhood): 6
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This is the place for you if: you are a culture buff. Or just buff.

Don’t forget to: allow at least one day to acclimate to the high altitude in Cusco.

I was surprised that: my toothpaste began gushing out of its tube in Cusco, Peruvian-style Chinese food (Chifa) is immensely popular, there are nearly 4000 native varieties of potatoes, there’s a casino where people can win a bag of rice or a set of wine glasses, the staff for our trek had already walked 4 hours from their rural village to meet up with us before the trek began at 9am.

I was disappointed that: we slept through the first day because we were tired and/or sick from altitude, the condors in Colca Canyon weren’t in the mood for a show, older local women in the Andes wearing skirts and sandals left us in the dust as we plodded along with our walking sticks and high-tech hiking boots.

I had to nod ‘n’ smile when: our trek guide asked us to give her $400 in cash and promised she’d pick us up the next day for the trek –> my boyfriend got sick during the trek and had to ride the emergency horse –> the emergency horse threw my boyfriend off of its back –> our guide left us alone on a mountaintop to go get the replacement horse –> I realized after she left that our passports and money were with the staff that had gone ahead –> I sat worrying alone as my boyfriend took a nap. And yet the trek was still one of the best experiences of my life.
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Everybody’s doin’ it (but you should, too!):

• Visit Machu Picchu. All the pictures in the world cannot prepare you for the moment that you see it in person. Get there early so that you can avoid the crowds and watch the view change as the haze burns off.
• Visit local markets and bargain ruthlessly for items made from Alpaca wool. Go home and rock that knit grandpa sweater with its Peruvian village scene.
• Take a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
• Try quinoa, the Peruvian grain staple, and the large varieties of fresh ceviche.
• Drink coca tea (it’s legal and doesn’t have the drug effects of cocaine so don’t worry- or get too excited), chicha morada (purple corn drink), pisco sour (sweet lemon and brandy drink) and Arequipeña and Cusqueña beers.
• Play Juego de Sapo (i.e. the Frog Game).

If you want extra bragging rights:

• Take an alternative trek to Machu Picchu. We were late to the game booking the Inca Trail Trek, so we booked the Huchuy Qosqo Trek. We ended up on a private tour because the other people canceled last minute, and spent three days trekking [breathlessly] through the beautiful Andes mountains with a guide, two horse handlers, a chef, and three horses, not another tourist in sight.
• Take a multi-day rafting and camping trip on the Apurimac River.
• Visit the Monasterio de Santa Catalina in Arequipa at night. I dare you.
• View the eerie arrangement of human bones at the Iglesia de San Francisco in Lima.
• Watch a traditional dance performance at Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo in Cusco.
• Take the comfortable Cruz del Sur overnight bus, staffed with a well-dressed bus attendant who serves you meals.
• Stop by a local home to try homemade chicha, a mildly alcoholic drink, if you see a red flag outside indicating that it’s available.
• Get your money’s worth at one of the restaurants serving 3-course meals for $3.