Postcards from Peru: Impressions (7)

Peru: Itinerary (1)
Peru: Lima and coastal Peru (2)
Peru: Amazon (3)
Peru: Cusco (4)

As I left Peru, my mind was full of thoughts and ruminations (and whenever I think back of my time there, the same thoughts crowd my brain). It's a fabulous country, with loads of diversity - coastal regions, deserts, dense forests, high peaks, mountain ranges, high altitude lakes and so on. There is a huge range of activities to do depending on your tastes. And I absolutely loved my time here, exploring this unique country and all it has to offer. My favourite experiences on the trip were visiting the Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick in the Amazon, hiking the Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu, partaking in the Cusco festivals, passing through the mind-blowingly stunning Andean terrain on the train from Cusco to Puno and staying on the remarkable floating islands of Uros. I left the country only wishing I could have spent more time here, in the Amazon forest and the Sacred Valley around Cusco.

Art work

I loved the people here, so simple, so humble, so friendly, so colourful, and I was amazed by their love for festivals! I liked how much humility they show while living such tough lives, at such high altitudes and with limited modernity in their lives. A bit of commercialism has crept in but not too much yet. I was also impressed by how slowly but surely the Peruvians (especially the Quechuans) are trying to bring some of their Andean and Incan heritage back, with their clothes, dances, festivals and all.  

The handicrafts in Peru were outstanding. The colours, the types of weaves, the luxuriously warm alpaca wool, wow! I bought so much from there - two alpaca shawls, a throw, a red alpaca poncho in local weave, a red alpaca sweater with local designs, a toy alpaca, four traditional weave cushion covers, a local weave headband, a machu picchu t-shirt, a red alpaca local weave hoodie, charapita sauce, painted slippers, and of course, hiking stuff for Salkantay. I don't think I would have collectively shopped so much in all my trips in the last decade even 😁.

Overall, the country is quite underdeveloped but tourism wise it's okay. Still sometimes, surprises happen or one encounters some chaos. I also wished sometimes we could have seen the country by ourselves, without depending on organised tours. As sometimes the tours felt too focused on superficial tourism, without giving one time to smell the roses on the way.

The country felt quite poor to me and seeing how (relatively) happily people went about their lives, it made me realise we have so much more comfort living in Europe. And we should try not to forget that too often 😊.


Am sharing here some random titbits, observations and impressions I had during my time in Peru. These are just some of the experiences I had noticed and jotted down, they definitely don’t capture all that I saw and experienced.


Peruvian history and culture

• Peru is quite a huge country, something we don’t realise from looking at the world map. It’s actually three times the size of Spain! Its population however is quite concentrated, with 12 of the 34 million Peruvian people living in and around Lima (about 30% of the country’s population)
• There have been many civilisations in Peru. Along the coast, there were the Paracas, Nazca and Chicha, while the Wari and Inca flourished in the mountains. Even now, more is being discovered including prehistoric cities and fossils from many civilisations (such as a lost city in Lake Titicaca) 
• The country has had many outside influences, especially visible in its food. Of course there is the Spanish effect. But the coastal parts also had massive Japanese and Chinese influences on their food. Ceviche, one of the most popular Peruvian dishes has major Japanese influence (Also, apparently it is only supposed to be eaten in the afternoon, not at night, something I didn’t even know earlier)
• The Peruvian flag was inspired by the colours in a flamingo’s wings, a bird quite common in this region
• One of the big draw that attracted the Spanish to Peru and the Incas was the vast quantities of gold they had. Apparently the source of this gold is still unknown as there are only small mines and traces of gold particles in the rivers, but no major source has been discovered yet to explain the massive quantities of gold the Incas possessed (I was told this by a guide, not sure if it's true or not but definitely makes for a mysterious tale)
• Earthquakes are quite common along the Peruvian coast. Peru suffered from a huge earthquake in 2007, which significantly altered parts of its landscape, especially near the Pisco and Ica regions 
• Overall the country felt quite underdeveloped. So many of the houses on the outskirts of Lima and other cities are just unpainted. But you can see plenty of rich people too, so the inequality strikes one quite strongly
• I found the people extremely friendly, and also naive and simple, especially in the mountains. People are shorter there, and move and speak slowly (to conserve oxygen, I guess). The Quechua women speak so slowly and sweetly, it’s a joy to hear them speak. A lot of them are seen wearing traditional dresses and selling handicrafts on the streets in Cusco. They also have their pet alpacas with them and offer photos to tourists with them 
• Overall, Peru felt like a safe place for women to be alone and walk around without fear, given how many women I saw doing that
• There were also a lot of police people walking around in all the cities we went to. Probably for the tourists? 
• There were also so many dogs everywhere in the cities. They were quite cute too 

Tourism tips

• Overall, the tourism experience in the country was great. There are tours available for everything, with a fully functioning system running behind it. The guides here speak in English and Spanish almost simultaneously 
• Though things are not always perfectly organised. It’s good in one way, as there is more flexibility and customisation possible. But coming from Europe, some of the disorganisation irritated me a bit. A lot of information isn't available clearly on websites. And one figures out some things only after arriving there. In fact, that is the best way to explore overall. So it helped that we hadn’t booked too many things beforehand. Once there and after understanding the lay of the land, we had more flexibility to go with the flow rather than have to go with our pre-booked plans
• Also I must say, even though they have many organised tours, they were all flexible enough. And did not feel as restrictive as the tours in Vietnam. I actually did not mind them much. Other than one thing of course!! Waking up early in the morning every day was just too much for me. I think most tours start at some insane hour of 4 or 5 or 6am at the latest. That I definitely minded 😃
• Hotels could go either way. Most of them were good and convenient, well set up with tourism in mind. However, we did have some crazy experiences where we stayed. Our ecolodge in the Amazon had open bathrooms and no facilities for when it gets cold! Our floating lodge in Uros had very limited bathroom facilities. And the El Balcon hotel though more expensive was not even close to as good as the Tika Wasi Casa hotel. So it's still a gamble how your hotel experience turns out to be
• Also I think money has changed the ways of the people here already. I could see a lot of commercialism in the behaviour of many of the people involved in tourism activities, which clashed with the simplicity of others. Some people definitely behaved more greedily than others, trying to rip you off. This difference was too visible. Also everyone in the travel industry expects tips from travellers, everywhere! That is definitely a sign of increasing commercialism
• The weather in Cusco shifted between extremes every day! It would be 23 degrees and sunny during the day, and drop to low single digits at night. This was quite difficult to get used to. And even if we didn't need it all, we had to carry a lot of warm layers in our bags all day, just in case we needed them! 
• We took medicines made of natural herbs to acclimatise to the high altitude, as well as ate coca candies regularly, when in Cusco. We also drank coca leaves with hot water every few hours in a day. Am not sure if they work, but they definitely worked as a placebo
• Peruvians love their hammocks, they are everywhere. At camps, coffee plantations, houses, restaurants, hotels, and so on. And I think tourists love them too. After the long days of walking we did to get to Machu Picchu, they were always welcome. And I was always in one whenever and wherever I found one 😃
• Many ATMs charge $5-10 fees for cash withdrawal. In fact, we found it much cheaper to exchange Euros in shops in Cusco - they gave a better rate than the prevailing exchange rate even and definitely better than credit cards
• The check-in at Latam airlines which we used for domestic flights is quite digital. With self service baggage tags and self service check-ins. I was pleasantly surprised by it 

Food in Peru

• Peruvians love their food. And it varies by geography. The food on the coast is completely different from the one in the mountains which is different from the one in the forest - they almost feel like completely different cuisines. And you can start chatting with any of the locals who would happily tell you how their food is different. Apparently, Lima is home to many world famous restaurants as well as apparently the most expensive restaurant in the world! I don't think I have enough knowledge or space to do justice to the uniqueness of Peruvian food
• They also grow some 250 varieties of corn and 3000 types of potatoes in Peru. I saw some of them in the local markets, but of course not all of them! Also a lot of their food is made up of quinoa, potato and avocado, most of which trace their origins to the Andes. In terms of drinks, my favourite was the chicha morada, a purple drink made with purple corn. And the other new drinks were the chicha, a yellow coloured drink and the chilkano, a local alcoholic cocktail
• Peru also has many fruits which I had never tasted before. The list was long, but I tried the following, all which I liked
• Chirimoya
• Lucuma
• Aguaymanto
• Camu camu
• Tuna (not the fish)
• In terms of chillies also, the variety there was unexpected. My friend shared a list for us to start with
• Ají limo (Used as base of ceviche)
• Ají amarillo 
• Ají panca (Used mostly for cooking)
• Rocoto 
• Uchucuta
• Charapita (Found in the Amazon)
• Ají de cococona (Found in the Amazon)
• Pipi de mono (Found in the Amazon)
• The coca plant is the lifeline in the Andes. The locals eat and drink it all the time. And we also used the herbal altitude medicines, as well as coca candies the entire time we were there. Guess they may have helped us with dealing with altitude sickness, who knows

As I said before, I totally loved the country. And can’t wait to be back. I would love to stay a month in Cusco at some point in life, let’s see if it happens.