Author: Lauren

After spending New Years’ Eve in Cusco, we headed back to Lima for the duration of our trip. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Second Home Peru. Lima is neither beautiful nor touristy, and one of our taxi drivers told us this was the best place to stay in Lima. The back of… Continue reading Lima, Peru – Part 1

History lesson: Why is Machu Picchu such a big deal? It’s a big deal because it was basically the only Inca site that wasn’t ever found/damaged by the Spanish and is therefore much more intact. It was “discovered” by non-locals in 1911, so they were wrapping up the 100 year anniversary while we were there.… Continue reading Machu Picchu, Peru

Augas Calientes is the gateway to Machu Picchu, an expensive train/bus ride away from Cusco. We took a car that had windows in the roof so you can get a better view of the surrounding terrain, including some ruins and terraces. While in Aguas, we attempted a hike up Putucusi, but were turned away because… Continue reading Aguas Calientes, Peru

While in Cusco, we took a tour of the Sacred Valley to see more Inca sites. Unfortunately our tour guide was absolutely horrible, making the day long and miserable. Luckily the price was worth the bus trip alone, as it would be extremely difficult to see all these sites without an organized tour. We began… Continue reading Sacred Valley, Peru

Oh Cusco, the land of handicrafts. By the time we left, I thought I’d die if I was offered another handicraft (I’ll have a picture of handicrafts in the next post). We stayed at the Hotel Rumi Punku, which had nice rooms and a beautiful courtyard. With the exception of one weird interaction with a… Continue reading Cusco, Peru

After a money-saving but sleepless night in the Punta Arenas airport, we began our journey to Peru. We flew from P.A. to Santiago, touching down in Puerto Montt along the way. As we flew, we saw many volcanoes out the plane window! We then flew from Santiago to Lima. The flight arrives too late in… Continue reading Peru

Our last stop in Chile was heading back to Punta Arenas, where our flight landed around 10 days before. We stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast called Tragaluz and spent some time checking out the city. The big event of our time in Punta Arenas was visiting the Isla Magdalena National Park to view… Continue reading Punta Arenas, Chile (Penguin Alert!)

After finishing our trek, we decided to stay another day in Puerto Natales. Wanting to see something else interesting, we took a boat into Bernardo O’Higgins National Park to see some glaciers. This was a pricey excursion, and we probably would have enjoyed something else more if we had done more planning from home. Instead,… Continue reading Bernardo O’Higgins National Park

Day 5 was the final day of our hike, completing the right/east side of the W by viewing the park’s namesake, the Torres del Paine. Torres means “towers” in Spanish, and Paine means “blue” in the Tehuelche Indian language. We began our day about 3:30 AM to arrive at the towers in time for sunrise. It… Continue reading Torres del Paine National Park, Day 5

We departed Los Cuernos on Christmas morning, hiking along the beautiful Lago Nordenskjöld. Then came the most I’ve ever sweated on Christmas Day! Our hike took us from Los Cuernos to Campamento Las Torres (the right/east tip of the W), and much of the day’s hike was through very open areas with no shade. Each… Continue reading Torres del Paine National Park, Day 4