This series will go country by country through my two-year trip. I plan on sharing some experiences, thoughts, and photos of each country that I visited.

Country by Country 24: Peru

I think I've got a little problem. Last week I was in Vietnam and I'm busting at the seams, wanting to start posting about it, but I can't leave this series unfinished. I wanted this series to be 1 post per country and I want to finish this series as quickly as possible. But I've got too many good photos of Peru. I've tried trimming the fat and reducing the number of photos, but I've still got more than 200 of them in my folder. I really don't want to make 2 Peru posts, but I think Peru deserves it. So I'm going to have to delay posting about my Vietnam trip while I try to finish up these last Country By Country posts. I hope you enjoy!

The plan was to go to Venezuela from Colombia, for New Year's Eve. I discovered that the visa requirements had been changed and wasn't issued a boarding pass. With my Colombian visa close to its expiration date, I bought a ticket to Cusco Peru.

I knew that I liked Cusco as soon as I arrived. The place itself didn't look very impressive with many buildings and infrastructure appearing somewhat run-down. It was the people and the sense of safety that I noticed, and appreciated, as soon as I arrived. Bogata was a nice city in Colombia, but I had Colombians and Venezuelans telling me to take a taxi 5 blocks back to my hotel because the city was too dangerous after sundown. I don't know about you, but when a Venezuelan tells me that a street is too dangerous to walk down, I take them at their word. In Cusco, lots of people were walking around after dark and people seemed pretty warm and friendly.

Here are some of my Cusco photos.

A church in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco.

Every hotel that I used in Cusco had free coca leaf tea. You just put the leaves in hot water and drink it. This is the plant that cocaine is made out of.

Plaza de Armas, Cusco.

Surprise surprise! It's a photo of beer!

The big church in Cusco.

A street in Cusco.

It looked like a craft fair was happening in this little plaza.

I saw a lady selling these and bought one to see what it is. It's called a "pepino dulce" which means sweet cucumber.

The flavor wasn't very strong, though it was fairly sweet. The inside had a texture similar to a peach, but there were holes inside that looked a little bit like the empty spaces inside bell peppers.

A procession that went by my hotel room. They marched out into one of Cusco's busiest streets.

A random street in Cusco.

When I arrived in Peru, they gave me a 90-day visa. It was great because I wasn't sure where I wanted to go. The 3-month visa gave me an opportunity to take my time and linger in places. I spent a week or two in Cusco, getting used to the altitude. Altitude sickness is a legitimate concern in Cusco. Expect to be winded after simple things like walking up one flight of stairs.

Once I got good and acclimated, I made arrangements to go to Machu Picchu. My transportation to the site was unnecessarily brutal. They picked me up at the crazy hour of 03:00. We drove all over Cusco, picking up other people. Then we drove for a few hours to the train station where we waited for the train. The train took us to Aguas Calientes where we all waited for hours for our guides to tell us to go up to the entrance to the park. At the entrance to the park, I waited for an hour or two for an English speaking guide. Then we went into the park. I told someone in my group about my experience. He told me that he got picked up from his hotel in Cusco around 06:00 or 07:00! So if your transportation to Machu Picchu tells you that you'll be picked up at 03:00, argue with them. Seriously.

Here are some of my Machu Picchu photos.

A statue in Aguas Calientes.

Us waiting to be told to go somewhere else to wait.

There was rain and fog when I was waiting to enter the park, but once we got inside things cleared up nicely and there wasn't any rain.

Me.

The guided tour took an hour or two, then we were released and could spend as much time as we wanted to wander around the site. By the time noon rolled around, I was already bored. I think Angkor Wat ruined other sites for me. Machu Picchu is very small compared to the Angkor site, and there really isn't much to do after you've taken your photos. I had made a friend with someone in my group and the two of us walked down to Aguas Calientes for some food. Then we found a train and made our way back to Cusco. We hung out a couple of times in Cusco.

I'm going to end the first half of my Peru post here, at 40 photos. I hope you've enjoyed some of my photos, and I hope you'll join me soon for part 2 where I'll visit Arequipa, Lima, Huanchaco, and Mancora as I make my way north towards my final country, Ecuador.