Category: Land of the Incas

Posts about my travels to Peru

Land of the Incas: Cusco

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The Incas are fascinating. I guess I should say “were fascinating” since the Spanish basically wiped them out when they “colonized” South America. Not to get too dark on this blog post, but it is impossible to talk about the Incas without talking about how their culture vanished thanks to Europeans. But I’ll get to that later. I flew into Cusco on a really nice day. Peru has local airlines that take you to a few places around the country. It is easy to catch a cheap flight from Lima to Cusco thanks to the tourism industry. You cannot get to Machu Picchu without going to Cusco. (Now, before you freak out and say “but Bryan! There are actually ways to do it!” Yes, but it’s significantly harder. So unless you’re going to spend 12 hours on a bus to take a train from another city or a month hiking through the jungle/forest, let’s just say you cannot get to Machu Picchu without going to Cusco first.) Continue reading “Land of the Incas: Cusco” →

Land of the Incas: Lima

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Lima, Peru is a modern city right on the Pacific coast. When I arrived it was pitch black, but you could smell the ocean air and the road from the airport to downtown went between the ocean and the city. Before I get into the specifics of Lima, let me tell you about some of the facts I learned about Peru in general.

First, and frankly the most fascinating to me, Peru has 30 of the 32 world climates. They have a monsoon climate, a desert climate, a tropical savanna climate, a subtropical climate, and many many more. This means you can be sand surfing in the desert, then go literally surf in the ocean within a few hours.  You can climb to the top of a mountain – say for example the mountain in the Paramount Pictures Logo (Yeah, that mountain is real and in Peru) – and then walk down to the rain forest. Unfortunately for me I only had one week in Peru and could not explore all of this despite desperately wanting to. Continue reading “Land of the Incas: Lima” →

Land of the Incas: Prologue

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A short while ago I decided I wanted to start traveling more and the result was a hastily planned trip to Peru. How hastily? Well I decided to take a trip, where to go, and bought a plane ticket all within three days. Then about 2 weeks later I packed up my trusty backpack to fly to Peru.  Needless to say I didn’t have much planned out beforehand, which is exactly my kind of trip. Before I left I only had a few set plans.

Paddington travels on the outside of the bag. Everyone knows that.
Paddington travels on the outside of the bag. Everyone knows that.

First, I was going to bring a Paddington Bear. Who is Paddington? Well he’s a bear who left Peru for England. Why was I bringing one? Because upon hearing I was going to Peru, a co-worker’s young son replied “That’s where Paddington’s from.” So obviously I had to take him along with me on my adventure. Not to get too far ahead of myself, but Paddington and I had a great time. Everywhere I went, people recognized him. He was probably the single best conversation starter I’ve ever had on a trip. People who barely spoke any English came up to me and said “Paddington!” I then proceeded to speak terrible, terrible Spanish back to them to explain what Paddington was doing sitting at a table with a random American in Lima.  Should you ever head to Peru, I highly recommend bringing Paddington. You’ll meet more people through him than you will through your meet up app on your phone. Continue reading “Land of the Incas: Prologue” →