Peru
And then the finale - Peru. My sister and brother-in-law joined us for the final leg of our journey. Starting in Lima, we spent the day walking along the beach and through the colorful streets of Miraflores and Barranco neighborhoods. My sister and I particularly loved JFK Park which is famous for the amount of cats that live there. Lima definitely took the award for the best food of the trip, our favorite meal was at Barra Maretazo where we were treated to complimentary Pisco Sours. The incredible seafood, ceviche, and fusioned cuisines made it a little too easy to overeat, so we did just that.
That same piglet behavior continued during our time in Cusco. Luckily we had a tough physical challenge to combat this with our hike to The Rainbow Mountain. Only accessible in the last 5-10 years, Rainbow Mountain is a colorfully striped mountain located a few hours outside Cusco. The hike took us up to 16,000 ft. - that’s 3x higher than Denver so it was definitely tough on our lungs, but the views were totally worth it. From the top you can see far off into the distance and even catch of glimpse of a glacier. The best part was the hike down. It felt like we had the entire place to ourselves, a truly rare feeling at a popular tourist destination.
No trip to Peru is complete without a trip to Machu Picchu. We didn’t know much about its history when we arrived, but it’s essentially and Incan resort town/retreat. Machu Picchu looks exactly like all the pictures we had seen, and the surrounding landscape is incredible with clouds hanging between mountains and lush, green mountains in every direction.
The altitude hikes and 4am wake up calls caught up to us, so we spent the entire next day enjoying our hotel, Tambo del Inka. The day consisted of cocktails, hydrotherapy, and naps by the pool.
After saying goodbye to Meghan and Nick, we headed to the Amazon. We landed in scorching heat at Puerto Maldonado before hopping on a bus to our little bright blue, flat-bottomed boat. Our 3 hour boat journey down the Tambopata River showed us capybara, macaws, Puno Mountain, and a slight rainstorm before we arrived at the Tambopata Research Center. Open since 1989, the TRC is the only lodge located within the Tambopata National Preserve, making it one of the most remote lodges in all of South America.
On our only full day of activities we did a 5 hour hike through the different ecosystems of the Peruvian Amazon. We trekked through muddy swamps, bamboo forests, large trees, and the real highlight - the 5 foot waters of the bowl - a deep, biodiverse lowland that is completely dry at some times, and up to your neck in others. Luckily no anacondas were found. What TRC is most famous for is the Macaws. If you wake up early enough, you can watch them feed off the clay walls of the Amazon. If not, they can be heard all day with their very distinct and VERY loud squawk. Similar to our experience at Mashpi, it was educational and inspiring to learn about the different nuances of nature and how it’s evolved over time. It’s incredibly brilliant and far more sophisticated than we could even imagine.
As we wrap up our month-long trip it’s amazing to think about all the increible things we’ve seen and done, and all the amazing people we’ve met that we can now call friends. By far our most active vacation (only 3 of 28 days were spent in cities), we learned so much about the world around. It was the perfect trip to close out or gap year and feel incredibly lucky, inspired, and refreshed as we head home to LA - with Kallie!!