NYE 2013 - Peru
From 12/21/2013 to 1/11/2014
Another epic adventure! Three awesome weeks wandering around Peru.
Spent the first few days in Lima before heading to Cuzco for Christmas. From Cuzco we did a couple side trips to the sacred valley, including climbing Via Ferrata and zip lining and two days in the lost city of Machu Picchu. We were back in Cuzco for New Year's Eve celebrations (highlight: a NYE feast of Cuy, aka Guinea Pig!) and then headed off to Iquitos for our Amazon jungle adventure.
Spent a bit over a week at the Amazonia Expeditions main and research lodges seeing all sorts of bugs, reptiles, and birds (no big cats this trip!). Spent a morning with a local village craftsman who made us blow guns (poison not included!) Even went piranha fishing and was able to eat my catch. Final highlight of the jungle was ziplining through the canopy before taking the boat ride back up the Amazon to Iquitos and our flight back to Lima for the last two days of our journey.
All of my trips are special to me, but this one is definitely in the top three!
Destinations:
Lima - Beaches, sunsets (and sunburns!) Also saw the changing of the guards and had my first Pisco Sour (no wonder it's the national drink!)
Climbing, zip-lining, cuy, and lots of hills. Beautiful city (once you acclimate to the altitude!)
The lost city of Machu Picchu. Beautiful!
The last part of this year's adventure was spent deep in the Amazon jungle. Here, we fished for piranhas, crafted blowguns, had close encounters with snakes, frogs, spiders, and even caiman, and zip-lined through the canopy. Doesn't get any better than this!