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One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Cusco

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One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Cusco
novaira in cusco

PART II: CUSCO

From Lima we flew in to the ancient city of Cusco (the historical capital of the Inca Empire).

As you land and make your way to baggage claim, you’ll find a basket of Coca leaves. Grab one or a few and just begin to chew! Cusco sits at around 11,000 feet above sea level, so there’s a very high likelihood you will feel it. I felt it in shortness of breath and my heart started to race if I walked too fast. Strangest feeling ever! From Cusco, we did Rainbow Mountain and Machu Picchu. Read on for details!

Cusco sits at about 11,000 feet above sea level, and boy do you feel it! Make sure you take altitude medication at least a day or two before you make your way to Cusco. We spent Day 1 getting used to the altitude and just roaming around Cusco. There’s a lot to see. Check out Pachapapa for lunch or dinner. Some blogs said you would need a reservation but we were just fine without one–and there were 5 of us.

The streets of Cusco are rather hilly so be sure to wear comfortable shoes. Because of the height, Cusco is a bit colder than Lima. You can walk to the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, which is the city center. We stayed at Illa Hotel, which was really conveniently located close to most of what you’d want to see in Cusco.

RAINBOW MOUNTAIN. This is definitely a highly underrated site. Rainbow Mountain, also known as Vinicunca, is a little over 17,000 feet above sea level. We climbed to about 15,000. There was no way my body could’ve handled the tip of that mountain. Because it’s so high up, I could feel my heart beating in my throat at several points in the last 15 minutes of the climb. It’s about a 2-ish hour climb but I promise you the views are so worth it once you get to the top. My brothers and I hiked. My dad took a pony up–but he did that mostly because he saw my mom pass out at the base of the mountain and refused to do the same. You can ask your tour guide to negotiate a good rate for the ponies and the last 10 minutes you have to climb (if you want to get the gorgeous views).

We used a tour group called Rainbow Mountain Travels for our trip to Rainbow Mountain and it was well worth it! They pick you up from your hotel, take you to a bigger van, and you head out about 2 hours to Rainbow Mountain in this van with about 15 or so other people. The pick up is really early, but the advantage of that is that you are the only tour group on Rainbow Mountain. The others were climbing when we began descending. So we had it all to ourselves. Also, a brunch type meal and dinner on the way down was included. It wasn’t the best but I don’t think you want to eat heavy any way before climbing Rainbow Mountain.

Fun fact about Rainbow Mountain–it didn’t look like this until 2015 when the rock weathered away to reveal these bright colors.

  • Here’s us with our newest friends atop the mountain, the alpacas <3

MACHU PICCHU

This is what everyone comes to Cusco for, and trust me, it does not disappoint! Once again, we used a tour group because it included pick up from the hotel, drop off to the train station , the train ticket to and from Machu Picchu, and the entrance to the site. The entire trip to Machu Picchu from Cusco took about 4 hours and the train was great! Super clean, beautiful views, and there was even some on board live entertainment! There was an alpaca fashion show (you’ll see a ton of alpacas and alpaca-wear around Peru).

Cusco Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive in Cusco, tour the Plaza de Armas, grab dinner at Pachapapa, call it an early night.

Day 2: Wake up at 5am to start the drive to Rainbow Mountain. Spend all day there. Get home, order some food for dinner, and call it a night.

Day 3: Machu Picchu. Train to Aguas Calientes then a bus up to Machu Picchu. Tour group includes the ticket to the site as well. Train ride back. Ate in Aguas Calientes. Got back to Cusco late.

Eats, Personal, Travel

One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Lima

by novairendingjourney2 Comments on One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Lima
One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Lima

PART I: LIMA

Back in the winter of 2018, I organized a trip to Peru with my parents and brothers. That’s the only time of the year all 5 of us could get off from work/school/life, so we made it happen. We spent about a week or so and visited three major spots–Lima, Cusco, and Lake Titicaca. Each city presented such a unique vibe.

We did 2 days in Lima, 3 in Cusco (to acclimatize to the altitude), 2 in Lake Titicaca, and then back to Lima for 1 day for New Year’s. Sharing our experience and thoughts on each. Keep reading this 3 part series–one for each city we visited.

Lima is the capital of Peru and is pretty much like any other metropolitan city in the world. The only difference is the depth of history this beautiful city exudes. The city is also home to one of the oldest universities in the world–the National University of San Marcos, which was founded around 1551. Lima also boasts home to two of the top 50 Restaurants in the World (Central [No. 6] and Maido [No. 10]). Unfortunately, both of those restaurants were closed on the days we were there so we weren’t able to check them out. Make sure you check the dates on the restaurant websites, and make reservations well in advance, as they book up quickly.

WHERE TO STAY. We made most of our hotel bookings on Booking.com. The reviews are helpful and they give you a lot of info on walkability (which is very important to us) and safety (also important). We ended up staying at Hotel Antigua Miraflores. We picked it because it was in the Miraflores area, which was central to everything we wanted to do. The staff there was really helpful with guiding us on the basics–where to eat, how to get there, etc.

We got lucky and had two of the big rooms on the rooftop so we had our own private rooftop patio, where we played Taboo, Code Names, and Werewolf.

TRANSPORTATION. So now you have a place to stay; how do you get around? Lima didn’t have much of a public transportation system, but Uber was pretty easy to use and cheap as well. We avoided taking cabs (especially ones that didn’t have a running meter).

THINGS TO DO IN LIMA. There’s so much to see, so much to eat, and so much to love about Lima! Here are some highlights from our trip:

  1. Centro Historico. A square surrounded by beautiful yellow architecture for you to stare at in awe.
  2. Plaza San Martin. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1988 by UNESCO, this square will have you dancing in circles staring at the beautiful architecture.
  3. Barranco. The hipster part of Lima. Visit the Bridge of Sighs for cool city views. Great neighborhood to walk around in. Check out the Municipal de Barranco Park. We went for dinner in Barranco to Isolina Taberna Peruana. Peruvian food was very reminiscent of Pakistani food, with its spices and heavy doses of lamb and goat.

  • A view of the Pacific Ocean from Larcomar mall in Lima
  • Here’s me posing in the Centro Historico
  • My brothers and I, acting like we own the place
  • Centro Historico de Lima

Day 8: New Year’s Back in Lima

We came back to Lima (after Cusco and Lake Titicaca) to ring in 2019. We were able to make reservations at amaZ which was rather amaZing, if I do say so myself. Most of their ingredients are from the Amazon and you could tell every aspect of each dish was well thought out in terms of flavors, textures, and experience. Below you’ll see my favorite dish of the lot (fried fish that tasted like chicken!) and the dessert (which tasted like ice cream in between stroopwafels). Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what the dishes were because I am old and forgot. Plus, they were seasonal dishes with a pre fixe menu, so likely won’t be there when you go. But I can tell you to check amaZ out next time you’re in Lima! You won’t regret it!

  • My beautiful family, celebrating a birthday, family, life, and New Year’s in Lima.

Picarones. Essentially, Peruvian donuts. These are a must try at some point when you’re in Lima. They’re essentially made of squash and sweet potato but the texture is that of donuts. I got mine with chocolate sauce (pictured) but you can do them with powdered sugar or honey (or all of the above)!