Make sure to visit these amazing countries.
Great food, ocean sunsets, meeting interesting people, and exploring places I’ve never been before. I love traveling and it’s hard for me to imagine that there are people who don’t.
Over the last years, I was lucky enough to see some pretty amazing countries. When I travel I always try to go for at least three weeks so I get the chance to really experience a country’s culture and lifestyle.
Overall, I’ve probably been to around 20 different countries and it’s safe to say that I enjoyed every single trip. Although every trip is different, each one gives me a similar feeling of excitement and joy.
Even now, years after some of the trips took place, I catch myself smiling when I think about them.
This article is the first part of a small series where I would like to show you my top three travel destinations, starting with number three: Peru.
Although Peru makes the top three of my list, it was one of the toughest trips I had. It’s just a raw country, and that’s exactly what makes it so special.
When you decide to travel to Peru, it feels like you are not visiting one but three countries at once. First, you have the long coastline. Second, you have the breath-taking Andes and third, you have the wild Amazon rainforest.
Before we dive into my experience in more detail, here are the most important facts about Peru:
- Inhabitants: 34 million
- Area: 1.3 million square kilometers
- Capital: Lima
- Currency: sol (PEN)
- Language: Spanish
I visited Peru together with my girlfriend and we stayed for about five weeks. While this was enough time for us to see a variety of different places, I think you can easily spend half a year there without ever getting bored. So here’s what you can expect:
The Coastline
The coastline is wild, raw, and beautiful. I do not recommend Peru when you are looking for a nice and sunny beach holiday. Peru is a place for adventure seekers.
While the coast doesn’t offer the best conditions for a beach holiday, it certainly has some great waves for surfing, including the world’s longest wave. Chicama is legendary in the surfing community because it offers a sheer endless ride. On good days, the wave can be ridden for more than 2.000 (!) meters. Absolutely insane!
We skipped Chicama and surfed in the Punta Hermosa area. The conditions were tough, the water was cold and the weather was bad.
It was the only time in my whole surfing life when I voluntarily left the water earlier, simply because I was freezing and couldn’t move my arms anymore to paddle. The good thing about conditions like that: hardly any crowds. You can enjoy the cold on your own!
Hiking
The second main activity on our trip was hiking. We did a two-day trip through an amazing Canyon and a four-day trip to Machu Picchu which is called the Salkantay Trail (highly recommended!).
The Salkantay Trail was an amazing experience. It’s a four-day trip starting at Cusco and ending at the famous Inca site Machu Picchu. Although Machu Picchu can get crowded and is anything but a secret tip, you simply have to go. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and part of the New Seven Wonders of the World for a reason. A truly magical place.
Honestly, for anybody who’s into hiking Peru is the place to be. It just feels so wild and raw when you’re high up in the mountains and the Andes are the most impressive mountain range I’ve ever seen.
Because of the high altitude and the tough weather conditions, I highly suggest you hire a guide or a tour company since you will need some local knowledge to get the best out of your trip. Finding such a company is easy, especially in Cusco which I would consider Peru’s hiking and adventure center.
Cusco is a lovely town. Even when you’re not planning to book a hiking trip you should still check it out. It just has this unique Peruvian vibe to it and the mix between local culture and backpacking tourists creates a truly special flair.
Generally, Peru is packed with culture. Its history spans ten Millenia and the country was home to the famous Inca Empire before it was eventually conquered by Spain in the 16th century.
Today you can still feel the Inca vibe in the whole country. The clothes, the music, the food, and, of course, alpacas. I just love alpacas! Aren’t they just the cutest and funniest animals?
If you like them too, and I’m sure you do, you will have a good time in Peru. There are alpacas pretty much everywhere you go. Everywhere? Well, no, probably not in the Amazon rainforest, which was our last big stop on our trip.
The Amazon rainforest
Up to this day, this is the travel experience I remember best, simply because it was so unique and special. In Peru, trips in the rainforest usually start in a town called Iquitos. You can’t get there by car so you’ll need to catch a flight.
The town itself is ugly at best and disgusting at worst. It’s the location that makes it special. It’s right in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, making it the perfect place to start your big adventure.
Again, I highly recommend hiring a guide. I don’t think you can get into the rainforest on your own. We decided to do a four-day trip with a survival guide called Humberto. Spoiler: He was funny but crazy.
We slept in tents, right next to a river full of crocodiles. We went looking for Anacondas (and found one), caught some Piranhas in the river (and had them for dinner), and had to find our food. There was no electricity, no showers, no beds. It was such an authentic experience.
I’ll be honest with you: While it was the most unique travel experience I’ve ever had, it certainly isn’t for everybody. The heat and the humidity are insane. I was sweating like crazy, but there’s one worse thing. Any guesses?
Right, mosquitos. You can’t imagine how many of them there are. Imagine a lot of mosquitos. Got it? Now imagine ten times more and you might be close to the actual number.
It’s just crazy. Many people gave up after one or two days because they couldn’t handle the bites. I ended up wearing my rain jacket. In the rainforest. At least it helped (with the mosquitos, certainly not with the heat and humidity).
Mosquitos were not the only challenge though. Midway through our trip, we ran out of drinking water. I mistakenly assumed that our guide would have more water stored somewhere since he can’t actually think that I’d bring enough water for four days.
I drank as much water as I’ve never drunken in my life to bear the heat and cope with the humidity. Together with the limited supply of available drinking water, this was kind of a bad combination.
So when the unavoidable happened, our guide had a simple solution. Just drink the water from the Amazon river.
Now, for those of you who have never seen the Amazon river, you have to know that the water is brown. And with brown I mean brown brown. It looked more like mud than water. So, naturally, I wasn’t too keen on drinking it.
But, after going some more hours without water, our guide Humberto eventually convinced me that it’s safe to drink. So we made a fire to boil the water and kill the bacteria and then I drank it. It tasted better than it looked, but it was still disgusting.
Looking back, the Amazon river proved itself to be helpful. It was the place where we “showered”. It was the place where we hunted for food and it was also the place where we went for a swim (after Humberto preventively tried to scare away rays and anacondas with a wooden stick).
Anyway, I don’t mean to scare you away. Peru is a great place when you are looking for adventure and it’s amongst the most diverse countries I’ve ever seen. Especially the Andes and the Amazon rainforest are places you need to see. They are magical, absolutely unique, and a little bit challenging.
So, for those who skipped right to the end of this story: What’s to know about Peru?
The good:
- Incredible diversity (coast, mountains, and rainforest)
- Machu Picchu and the Andes
- The Amazon rainforest
- Great hiking
- A lot of culture to explore
The bad:
- Food. I know, they say it’s great. As a vegetarian, I certainly can’t confirm that since I mostly ate rice with avocados.
- Hardly any English. It’s still possible to get around, but a little Spanish definitely makes your trip much easier.
- The weather and the climate. If you’re looking for a sunny and relaxing beach holiday, Peru is the wrong place for you.
Secret tip: Spend a night with a local family on one of the small islands on Lake Titicaca. That’s about the most authentic Peru experience you’ll get. No electricity, no cars, and no wifi.
Stay tuned for article number two, in which I will show you my second favorite travel location of all time!
What about you? Have you been to Peru? What’s your favorite country?
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