PERU

The first place they visited in Peru was the beach town Mancora situated less than 300 miles from the border. This town as well as all the peruvian west coast is in the desert. They slept in the car there and continued their trip to the south in the morning. The road in the deserted area was in great condition and in a straight line which allowed them to drive a long distance. They arrived to Trujillo in one more day and its surprising messy traffic: cars making absurd turns and blocking traffic and completely ignoring right of way, for instance. They were amazed they didn't see any car crashes amongst all that disorganization. They slept in a very simple hostel and left to Chimbote for some grocery shopping in the morning. When they were about to get in the city they were stopped by a transit cop who tried to convince them they had just made a speeding traffic violation and would have to pay a ticket, or give him some money instead. After a while denying the infraction or paying a "carino", "registro" and "contribuicion" - like they prefer to name extortion - the cop gave Pat's documents back and let them go.

West coast desert

The straight and fast road of the desert gave way to one with no pavement and filled with rocks where they would enter the Cordillera Blanca range. The road started to show some signs of pavement when they got to Huallanca, which improved the speed a bit. They passed by rivers, waterfalls and many tunnels before getting to a touristic town called Caraz. It was there that they noticed the right rear tire was flat, the first time since they left California, and spent the afternoon and part of the evening searching for a mechanic shop to plug it. Despite the problem they were lucky to have made it to Caraz where there was auto service shops and was one of the few beautiful towns they drove through in the country. Also the town is the starting point to get to Laguna Paron and its turquoise glacial water coming from the highest mountains of Peru.

Rough road scenery towards Cordillera Blanca

Popular Peruvian fashion

Lake Paron in the morning

They slept in the car and in the morning took the really slow and damaged road towards the lake. When they arrived Pat decided to hike up a nearby mountain to get a panoramic shot with his video camera while Debora stuck with the trail near the lake. The weather wasn't very good for the first couple of hours so Pat couldn't get a good view, but at least he could see some snowfall at the top while Debora walked in the rain trying to take some still pictures below. The weather cleared up and made way to a beautiful and sunny afternoon when they were returning to the car. After that they drove to Carhuaz from where they would drive to Punta Olimpica, the highest pass of the Cordillera Blanca at 4,890 meters above sea level. The road and its surroundings was almost exactly like the road to Paron with its plantations, sheep, cows, llamas, dogs, chickens and village people traditionally dressed. After driving by valleys, rivers and waterfalls and admiring the mountain peaks, especially Mt. Huascaran, the highest in Peru reaching 6,768 meters above sea level, snow started showing on the sides of the one lane road. They now could see glacial water lakes and views of mountains and valleys from the top. They got to the Punta Olimpica and decided to go back down the same path instead of continuing over the mountains to the next town since they would have to drive even longer on bad roads.

Cordillera Blanca Range

Glacial valley runoff

At the top in Punta Olimpica

Snow in the peak of summer

Huascaran

Breakfast cooking spot view

After leaving the Punta Olimpica road they continued through the main road - paved but completely full of potholes - to Huaraz that has a lot of tourists and facilities, but can't compare to the charming Caraz. They slept again in the car and took off towards the coastal road in the morning trying to void the slow and damaged roads.

A little after dark they arrived in Paracas which is a touristic location due to the Paracas Natural Reserve and specially the Ballests Islands. The couple didn't do much there, only walked around town, ate ceviche, slept and bought the first small gifts before reentering the andes that would take them to Cusco and the awaited visit to Machu Picchu.

They went to Nasca, not to visit its ruins but to take the road to Cusco which seemed to be the most direct and efficient way to it according to the map. This road was long and took many hours of driving although it was all paved it was loaded with sharp turns, ups and downs. The towns on the way they thought could have hostels or safe places to park and sleep were tiny and undeveloped, very few of them had electricity. The villages lacked public services were very separated from each other, but one thing remained the same: people traditionally dressed with wool clothing, women with their long black braids and hats, llamas, alpacas, goats, cattle, dogs all over the place, some on the road very far from civilization.

Thirsty sheepy

Curious alpacas

Floating island fashion

After driving near 2 hours into the night they passed a toll booth and decided to sleep by it. Early in the morning they cooked breakfast and continued towards Cusco where they arrived in the afternoon. A lot of people say that Cusco is one of the most magical and special places they have ever been to, they are probably not talking about the city. After driving around in search of a nice area and find a hostel and not finding anywhere very pleasant, they finally found the colonial neighborhood, which is where the touristic conglomeration is and therefore is nice. They found a good hostel with internet so they could make better research for Machu Picchu, write blogs, and take showers.

As they already were expecting Machu Picchu would cost a considerable amount of money and they had stipulated US$ 150,00 for each to spend with admittance fees. After researching they agreed that they wanted to take the Inca Trail because they didn't want to just see the ruins, but the trail according to internet and personal research would cost about US$ 400,00 a piece and required reservations to be made beforehand. Not believing that it would be too hard to do the trail they went to Ollantaytambo to look for local tourism companies that might have vacancies and a better price. In a hurry, because he was leaving to his 2 hour lunch break, the tourist information center worker told them there weren't any companies in town.  They would have to go back to Cusco to make a reservation or take the train direct to Machu Picchu ruins.

The couple went to the train station to find out the cheapest fare would cost US$ 30,00 each way per person plus almost US$ 60,00 each to enter the ruins. From the train station they walked around town while thinking what to do. They met a local who was offering transportation to Cusco and told him they had just arrived and were trying to figure out what to do about hiking the Inca Trail which at that point seemed hopeless. The man assured that they didn't have to make reservations or have a guide, all they needed was camping gear, drive to kilometer 82 and start hiking with a group. The couple immediately overflowed with joy, thanked the man and started making plans. For a moment they thought the man could have mistaken it with a different trail, but no, they had been very specific about hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and why they were having problems, so they decide to follow his advice.

Ollataytambo

They drove to kilometer 82 and packed, but the weather started to get ugly and they decided to stay and sleep in the car that night and start hiking the next morning. Because the (probably) 10 inhabitants of the town had already seen the travelers around - due to the fact that tourists can't blend in with how the locals look and dress -  they noticed what they were trying to do. When they woke up in the morning the couple was very excited about the hike and were finishing packing when they were interrupted by  two locals wearing blue jackets. The men said that they couldn't go by themselves, would have to go back to Cusco, hire a guide through an agency then go back to the trail. Debora and Pat tried to ignore the negativity and go nonetheless. When they were about to start the trail another man in blue jacket came rushing to say they weren't allowed to go plus the same old history.

Discouraged they took the trail by the train tracks towards Machu Picchu. Soon enough they realized that it probably wouldn't be good enough to walk for days along the train tracks if they could just take the train and see the same things. Also they were closer to the ruins now that they had drove to kilometer 82 and figured the train fare would be a lot cheaper. One of the maintenance workers said that the fare to the ruins from there costed only US$ 3.00 and it would be coming in the next couple of hours. Of course the price wasn't for tourists as made sure of another warning local. For tourists the price would still be US$ 30.00 so the couple got very irritated and chose not to help the organized crime against the tourist and just leave the area. Instead of paying a fortune to people that hadn't built the ruins they used it to buy souvenirs to family and friends. After all that confusion and disappointment they got to a decision of never going anywhere unless they made a detailed research about paths and prices beforehand. 

As they already were on that side of the country and had seen Manu National Park amongst the best places to go in Peru they decided to try to go, but first would look up information online.

They couldn't find any internet before Pisac when they saw the first sign. They stopped to use it but the town was out of electricity and the owner of the internet place offered to give information. He said that Manu was gorgeous, the road there had recently been paved and it was cheaper than Machu Picchu. They believed him because he was very nice and travelled and took the road towards the park. Unfortunately it wasn't new, it was still being built. They drove through the dirt and muddy road for nearly 3 hours before they arrived to Paucartambo where they finally found internet. Even though they were expecting it to be a tourist town because the map showed an airport on it, there was none. Instead all people were residents and still traditionally dressed and again it was impossible for the travelers to blend in and go by unnoticed. A local drunkard accompanied by a sober friend invited them to a volunteer firefighter party to celebrate their 13th anniversary. They went for a little bit before searching for a hostel, because they didn't feel safe to sleep in the car there. The only 2 hostels/hotels smelt bad and weren't clean. They agreed on driving back during the night from where they came from since their internet research didn't end up well: a visit to the amazonian park would be as expensive as Machu Picchu and reservations were required. 

Even after all the frustration they still wanted to visit other touristic places such as Arequipa and Lake Titicaca. After sleeping in the car in San Salvador they discussed going to Arequipa, which even though seemed to be gorgeous in pictures it was way out of the way. They resolved to go straight to Puno, the city itself isn't attractive at all but it is the take off point to the man made Uros Floating Islands and the main attraction on the peruvian side of the lake.

After sleeping at a hostel near the lake they walked to the ticket booth sales in the morning to buy their entrance to the islands. They got the tickets that supposedly included all the tour, when a man dressed in a blue jacket said they had to buy another ticket also to be admitted in the islands. When they arrived to the first island they watched a little presentation about how the islands were built followed buy sales of crafts. After that they were basically forced to pay extra to take the handmade boat to the next island. They did and when they got to the next island there were more people begging to buy their crafts and a small restaurant to buy some food. During the 45 minute wait in the tiny island they talked to a few peruvian tourists who assured them the fee the man in blue jacket made them pay was barely optional and they shouldn't have to pay.

"The islands are very interesting and cheap but the misleading and cheating of the touristic industry is revolting. The full tour price at the beginning  doesn't mention the extra pay to go from one island to the other, and doesn't warn the tourist the 3 hour tour in the islands takes you to only 2 islands and is long just because the boat is a snail or that the boaters are lazy to take you anywhere else.", says a disappointed Debora about the lack of consideration towards the tourist in the country.

From there they left towards bolivian Copacabana, which border they would cross the following morning.

Puno

One of the Uros islands 

Man made boat

TRICKS

- Research well before trying to go anywhere.

- Don't buy too many souvenirs in Peru if you are going towards bolivian border, because you can find the same things for half the price.

- If you decide to buy souvenirs in Peru the largest variety is in Cusco even though it will cost a little more.  Compared to Argentina and Chile, Peru has crafts a lot cheaper if you know how to bargain.

- Try to blend in with a group if you are gonna poach the Inca trail. For more advice on poaching Machu Picchu go to: http://travelogue.travelvice.com/peru/sneaking-into-machu-picchu/ 

- Ask for "menu" at small restaurants. It is a super cheap and very good deal and comes with a starter and main dish.

TROUBLES

- People begging for you to buy their stuff.

- People begging for money, not because they need it, but because you are a tourist.

- Flat tire due to rocks on an unpaved road. 

- Disappointment with difficulty and price to visit Machu Picchu.

- Dishonesty of many people involved with tourism.

- The worst traditional music in the world trophy goes to the peruvian.