Chimu Adventures travelers – Ben and Josie Benoit – embark on a fantastic journey around South America and the world. Below tells of their adventures in Peru:

“10 days in and it feels like we’ve been away forever – and what a fantastic start to our adventure…a bonus upgrade to Business class on the flight out; the crazy, hectic city that is Lima for a 24-hour rude awakening to Peru; 3 blissful days meandering the streets and ruins of Cuzco; 4 energetic but immensely rewarding days doing the Inca Trail Tour to the stupendously beautiful (and fortunately really sunny) Machu Picchu; 1 day basking in the sun on an unforgettable steam train, journeying through the Andean countryside from Cuzco to Puno. We thank our lucky stars that we’ve seen (almost all of) the highlights of Peru.

24-hours in Lima

We won’t gloat any more about the flight upgrade but arriving in style to Lima really helped – they don’t let the other passengers off the plane until Bus. Classers have collected their luggage. Here we witnessed a cow parade, a brass band fanfare, a group of school children salsa-ing in the playground, a football match in the middle of the motorway, the fattest squat sweet corn plugged by the street vendors on every corner, tones of building work and an incredible church made from mud.

Cuzco

The afternoon flight to Cuzco was incredible – a 10 min, 20,000 feet, 180 degree descent into the town’s bowl, with spectacular mountains either side. Cuzco was much bigger than we expected but 3 days gave us ample time to explore and, of course, acclimatise to the 3,600 m.a.s.l. (metres above sea level) altitude. We stayed in a beautiful hostel (Amaru, on the San Blas), feasted on avocado, alpaca (tough), ceviche of trout in lemon juice (yum), guinea pig (questionable) and nachos, huffed and puffed up the steep, narrow roads to the “Sexy Woman” ruins, watched the world go by with a rocket-fuel coffee on the balconies overlooking the main plaza, took a day trip to the tall ruins and vibrant towns of Ollantaytambo and Pisac (via beautiful, sparse landscapes) and supped pisco sours and our first delicious South American wine. Our Cusco tour certainly was one not to be forgotten.

Inca trail

The time had finally come to embark on the Inca Trail – between us and Machu Picchu were 45 kilometers, ~25 hours of trekking and a great deal of sweat and resilience. We awake a little nervous at 0530 to head off to the “KM82” point, where the trail begins. Our guide is a softly spoken 25-year-old called Washington. He is barely capable of growing a beard and should be sitting his GCSEs rather than guiding us up the mountains of Peru – but he turns out to be extremely knowledgeable. We are in a group of 3 with our guide, and part of a larger group of 10 (plus 2 other guides and 9 amazing porters). Our other companions include a quiet Brazilian couple, a pessimistic Belgian couple (50 years old! – awesome stamina during the ascent), 2 lovely Irish honeymooners and 1 aloof Frenchman.

Day 1 of the hike is pretty comfortable. Ben’s knee has a dodgy moment, locking on the descent to lunch, but this is the only worry he encounters for the entire trip. Key-hole surgery is truly miraculous – his op. was 3 weeks before the trip! For our first lunch, we feast on asparagus soup and beef, tomatoes and rice in a small ‘dining’ tent. We arrive in a peasant village in Wayllabamba, in the shadow of a mountain called Veronica (nearly 6,000 metres high). We’re basically camping in the back garden of some farmers, and are woken up at 4am to a donkey depositing his ‘gifts’ at the opening of our tent and chickens pecking our guy ropes. Already getting back to grips with a flashlight torch and hole-in-the floor toilet training…

Day 2 is the hardest day of the trek. A continuous 1,200 metre ascent to the “Dead Woman’s Pass”, followed by a steep 600 metre descent to the camp, all before any lunch!!! We kick off at 0500 for brekkie, are on the road for 0615 and arrive at Paqaymayu camp at 1330, having battled serious wind and rain. We spend a soggy evening in our water-logged tent, tempered only by the warm Andean rum punch (hot water, lemon, cinnamon, lime and rum) provided by Roger, the other guide who used his mafia-esque connections to procure alcohol and change our train tickets for an earlier departure on the final day. We love you, Roger!

Day 3 is spent trekking in and out of the jungle in an eerie mist punctuated by lovely Inca ruins, all building nicely for the main course of Machu Pichu on the final day. Day 3 is also the first opportunity we have for a warm shower. Well, that was true for one of us – they’ve upgraded the ladies’ showers only at camp. The site has a bar and a bit of music so we enjoy some seriously strong G&Ts before dinner. Day 3 is also most memorable because (a) the toilet situation has seriously improved, and (b) we get to meet all the porters who have carried our tents, food and cooking equipment all the way from “KM82”. Their job is probably the most unenviable in the world as they lug 25kgs of stuff up and down the Inca steps at breakneck speeds to arrive at camp, set up our tents and cook our food before we arrive. It was humbling to hear about their families and lifestyle. The least we could do was continually thank them, buy them a beer and offer them an appropriate tip.

Day 4 We leave camp at 0500 to peg it up the mountain to the Sun Gate to get the first glimpse of Machu Pichu. We arrive at 0615 and luckily, the sun has just risen and we get perfect views of the Lost City. From this distance, Machu Picchu is looking pretty small, but once we get down to the ruins, the views are stupendous. We dump the loathed rucksacks and embark on a 2-hour tour with Washington, to learn about the King’s habitat for himself and his 400!! children, the result of several (100s of?) concubines, and the Sun Temple’s geometrically-aligned windows, allowing light during the summer and winter solstice to hit the same point on some special rock: a symmetry that, today, astrologists still marvel at.

Once the tour is over and we’ve finished gazing in wonder at this place, we head into Aguas Calientes for a well-deserved lunch. Jossie is brave enough to order a barbequed guinea pig, complete with head, paws, teeth and organ appendages. That’s officially our last encounter with the “Cuy” – not enough meat, and far too graphic to dissect. We chug back to Cuzco on a 2-hour train and 90 minute break-neck bus drive, enjoying the amazing landscape and feeling that we definitely earned the right to see such a modern wonder of the world.

And so to Puno…

Today is a completely different experience: as we write, we are meandering through fantastic countryside from Cuzco to Puno on the Andean Explorer, Peru’s equivalent of the Orient Express. Greg, an avid ‘trainer’ from the UK, tells us that this is the world’s most beautiful train journey. We kick off with pisco sours at 10am, have a silver service 3-course meal for lunch and afternoon tea with champagne cocktails. But best by far is the open-air, gold-railed final carriage, where we watched the world go by, sitting in the sun, and took thousands of photos of Peruvian life – farmers herding lamas, children playing by the railway, and the occasional manic town (Juliaca) selling anything from spare car parts, rope, books, fruit and veg by the side (and sometimes actually on!) the rail track.

So..1 more day left in Peru before we transfer to Copacabana for a different perspective of Lake Titicaca from the Bolivian side – it’s been a fantastic 10 days and we’d recommend Peru to anybody.”

Chimu Adventures offers many Peru tours including the Inca trail Tour, Highlights of Peru Tour and Lake Titicaca Tour. Visit our website for more details.