Land of the Incas: Cusco

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

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

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”

Backpacking Around the World: Top 5 Tips

It has been awhile since I’ve posted anything here and I’ve done a bit of traveling. Over the last six months I’ve spent five weeks traveling in 8 countries on three continents and lived out of a 30L backpack each time. All of that and I haven’t shared a thing. Well my goal is to change that. Before I get into specific stories about my travels, I wanted to talk about backpacking in general. Some things I’ve learned the hard way and things I’m glad I learned before I left. So here it is, my top five tips or take aways from backpacking “around” the world with a small pack. Continue reading “Backpacking Around the World: Top 5 Tips”

East Coast Road Trip – The Beginning

The original plan for my trip to the Smokies was to spend the entire week in the mountains.  The Smoky Mountains are known for their beauty and diverse plant life – something like 130 different types of tree live in the Smokies.  However, after a full day of hiking and two nights of camping in the high humidity I was having second thoughts. I burned myself out on the hike up to Rocky Top because I went way to fast.  Now, the day after that hike, I was feeling the consequences of it.  My feet hurt and my legs were sore. I had no desire to hike back up to the AT, so I made a decision to leave the Smokies in search of other adventures. Continue reading “East Coast Road Trip – The Beginning”