Don't get discouraged by this introduction. As I said, Peru is stunningly beautiful and it is definitely worth a visit. However, if you plan to go there, I would suggest that you learn from our mistakes and plan your own trip better than we did.
Our vacation in Peru was only 18 days long, which meant that we could not go everywhere we wanted. For example, I would have loved to go hiking in the Cordillera Blanca, but it did not seem feasible to do it during this short trip. We made a decision to travel exclusively in the southern part of Peru, as I'm of an opinion that it is better to explore a few places in more detail, rather than many superficially. In consequence, we missed out on several interesting sights like Nazca Lines and the Cordillera Blanca. That might have been one of the mistakes we made while we planned our trip. Most famous tourist attractions are concentrated in Southern Peru, which means, unfortunately, that most of the tourists concentrate there as well.
That said, we still had a really good time travelling there. We saw a number of interesting places: Machu Picchu and other Inca sites, the Amazon Jungle, Lake Titicaca and its famous floating islands, the Colca Canyon–the deepest canyon in the world, beautiful historic cities of Cuzco and Arequipa, and Andean Condors–the largest living birds.
The uncontested highlight of our trip was a visit to the Amazon Jungle. It was both Anil's and my big dream to go there, so we were thrilled that we were able to organize it even though the rainy season had already started. We spent four days there and we loved it! Anil even expressed an interest in going back there for a month or so in the future . . . Of course, I would be in favor of that as well :)
We loved our trip to the Amazon Jungle because of the unspoiled nature, numerous interesting plants and animals, a knowledgeable guide, great weather, the opportunity to do white water rafting and zip lining, and, most of all, the feeling of being far, far away from all other people . . . So if you are looking for a bit of solitude and pristine beauty, the Amazon Jungle is just the right place for you.
In the following posts, I’m going to share more information on traveling in Peru, as well as tell you about several interesting adventures we had there.