Andean Explorations – 2: Highlights
Previous post: Prologue| Next post: Toronto to Lima
Here is a quick summary of my trip:
My first day was in Miraflores, an uptown district of Lima, the capital of Peru. I was thrilled right from day one!
Miraflores and the Pacific Ocean Front
Arequipa is an artist town. I was pulled into one Christian rock show and then several people were simply jamming together with guitars, flutes, drums and other instruments at the central Plaza.
Plaza de Armas (Central Square), Arequipa
Next 2 days were spent trekking in Colca Canyon – the deepest canyon in the world.
Descending into the Colca Canyon
Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, is a quiet little town with nothing much to do other than catching some sleep and doing laundry.
View of Puno town from neighboring hill
I stayed next 2 days with Quechuan villagers on islands in lake Titicaca, the highest inhabitated lake in the world.
Islands on lake Titicaca
If you haven’t been to Machu Picchu, what did you do in Peru?
Machu Picchu, the lost city of Incas, hidden between clouds
The Sacred Valley of the Incas has several ruins and wonderful architectural and historical sites.
Pisac, a town in Sacred Valley
Cusco, the ancient capital of the Incas, is very touristy city. This was my last night in the interior of Peru and I was so disappointed to go back.
Plaza de Armas, Cusco
Lima city and its colonial quarters was where I spent my last day before heading over to Toronto.
Central Lima
Detailed posts on each of these places, and many more will follow over next few weeks. Hopefully I am able to maintain blogging pace. Thanks for your patience 
Previous post: Prologue| Next post: Toronto to Lima
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Great photos Priyank. Is Peru a tourist friendly country?
↵Dude, it was a mega journey indeed
↵Okay, these photos are too cool, love the lost city of the Incas between clouds, very nice, it’s a keeper for sure.
↵Wow !! Pictures tell me that I can expect something great in coming days. Like Prerna, is it tourist friendly ?
What are those conical ones in Titicaca ? huts ?
↵Will be looking fwd to Machu Picchu, my fav amongst these.
Priyank,
Thank you for a very interesting ’snapshot’ report. This is gonna be another fabulous series. Looking forward to the details, and will be peeping in more often now.
↵Hi Prerna, Yes Peru is very tourist oriented. Here are some statistics:
Contribution to GDP: 8%
Employment: 7%
For India, the figures are 6% and 6.5% respectively. However, Peru’s tourism industry is overly dominated by international tourists. There are lots of options catering to every type of tourist.
↵Priviet Evgeny, and it was so nice to see you here
↵Bob, that was my favorite place in Peru too. I went to Machu Picchu early in the morning. As the fog started clearing, one by one the structures appeared in view. It was divine.
↵Hey Cuckoo! Peru is touristic as well as rusty and disorganized. That combination makes my mouth water
The conical huts on the lake are actually built on floating islands. It’s incredible that people live on islands made of reeds and straw. I didn’t sleep on the floating islands overnight though.
↵Celine!: I hope to match your expectations
↵Excellent Pics Mitra…..Looking forward to the entire travelogue….
↵i think some photos are a bit dark and need some soft processing
↵Himanshu: Thanks so much
↵Prax… arey screen cha contrast vadhav na
lol no I agree, rightnow I am checking from my office computer and they dont look very well.
↵Very good photos and information.. I enjoyed it thoroghly because I cannot go over there…
↵Jawahar: Nice to see you here after a long time. Thanks for the comment!
↵Wow, very tempting indeed! glad to know you had a good time
↵GV- was this tempting
Good then you’ll like this series 
↵I have heard a lot about Machu Picchu, definitely want to be there. u r quite fortunate for u get to travel to such places, I can hardly manage to get three weeks of vacation per year when I have to go to India
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great to see u back dude, and great makeover of ur site.
↵Maverick: Thanks for your comment. Fortunate or opportunistic, I dont know. I have to plan months in advance and move things around a lot to make the holidays happen. I’m already planning for the next one!
↵Im waiting..thats all I got to say
lakshmi
↵Lakshmi: And I have started posting!
↵Pisac looks so much like an indian village!!!
↵Colca Canyon and Lake titicaca should be a lot of fun … I’m reading your entire Peru travelogue for information and stuff … planning a vacation in Nov-Dec
Harshal
↵I hope you get useful information here. Feel free to contact me.
[...] for staying with me as I traveled through Peru. The journey started from Miraflores in Lima, moved south to Arequipa, where we saw the mighty Condors and [...]
↵Hi Priyank! After a short break but a long absence, I’m finally back to the blogosphere. Today I stayed only at the highlights, which are gorgeous. My sister in law is packing to get to Peru; she must see your travelogue!!
↵Many thanks for your comments on Blogtrotter while I was off. It’s now on its way to Crete! Hope you enjoy and wish you a great week ahead!
Trotter:
↵Hey thanks for coming back. I hope your sister reads the blog, it will certainly be useful to her (I think!) cheers!