Well this is where I am going. I booked the tour today. I also have my plane ticket purchased. I'm flying into Lima on January 10th, and back to Toronto on March 3rd. On the 17th of January I'll be setting out from Cusco on the 4 day Inca trail hike to Machu Picchu -- the place in the picture. I'm going to most likely fly from Lima to Cusco, but I'll buy my ticket (one way) down there where it will be cheaper. I'll have a few days to acclimatize to the high altitude of Cusco before going on the hike. After I get to the site I may camp at the base of the mountain for a couple days (apparently there is a 3USD/day campsite) in the tourist town. That way I'll hopefully be able to go up the mountain again or hike to other surrounding ruins. Either way, I'll travel back to Cusco for a period of time before making my way around the rest of the south of Peru, eventually hitting the west coast and taking it back up to Lima. If I have time I'll either spend it there or travel north along the coast a bit more before I fly back. That's the plan.

I've got my plan ticket and tour booked, everything else I'll be doing along the way. I'm taking a tent, but for the most part I'll be staying in hostel dorms in cities and towns. Apart from at the base of Machu Picchu it looks like there will be the opportunity to camp in Cola Canyon, a place in the southwest of Peru. It is actually the deepest canyon in the world (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon supposedly) with up to 1km drops. There I'll be hoping to spot the Andean Condor, as well as some other wildlife. I’m going during ‘rainy’ season but that seems to mean a regular downpour in between periods of wonderfully hot weather, as opposed to just raining all the time. Should be fun.

What else -- I have to get some inoculations, some malaria pills, and some 'digestion' pills for my stomach's inevitable confrontation with the local water. All my research indicates that the water I will be drinking will be exclusively bottled, but all the food I'll be eating will be washed in the local water so the battle (which will be lost) seems unavoidable. I had to send off for a renewed passport, which hopefully will come in good time before I leave. It should, if I trust in the efficiency of Canadian bureaucracy.

I'm sending off some article proposals to Verge and Outpost magazine, hopefully I'll be able to get a writing assignment with them. I'll be there anyways.

I’ve uploaded a map of Peru, which isn’t the greatest but can give you an idea of my plans. After flying Lima to Cusco I will go east towards Puerto Maldonado but probably not all the way there. The rainforest picks up somewhere in between and I’ll hopefully get to see some of it in the Manu reservation which lies between the two places. It would be great to see the wildlife (caimans, Tapir, snakes, birds, monkeys) but I don’t see how there could be a place to go without paying for a guide, so hopefully rates are reasonable.

After that I’ll be going to Puno, which is where Lake Titicaca is, the highest lake in the world, and one of the main feeders to the Amazon system (I think). There is a tourist trap there apparently where you go to some islands on the lake made out of reeds where indigenous people live as they have for the past thousand years or whatever and sell you homemade goods. I don’t plan on paying for that boat ride but the lake should be nice. After that it will probably be Arequipa ‘the white city’ where I’ll stay for a while. Arequipa is the place to be to get to Cola Canyon, and it is apparently worth going to in of itself. They call it the ‘white city’ for its colonial architecture. After Arequipa I’ll head to the coast and hopefully get off the beaten track and stay in some small fishing villages. The southwest coast is the least dangerous place, according to my research, far away from civil unrest, border disputes, and the rebels that are the reason I’m traversing the distance from Lima to Cusco by plane and not bus. Renting an ATV or moped around this time would be awesome, but we’ll see what’s available.

Eventually I’ll get back to civilization and head to Ica, where there is some great wildlife to see. There is a nature preserve and the Ballestas Islands close by. The Ballestas Islands are Peru’s version of the Galapagos, you can take a boat out and see the seals sunbathing etc, but you can’t make landing. Of course if I had more money for the trip I would take the short flight from Lima to Ecuador and take a 7 day trip to the Galapagos, but, as you can imagine, 1 day in the Galapagos on guided tour is equal to like 10 backpacking in Peru. Somewhere around this time I’ll have to visit the Nasca lines for Mark, Mike, and Emre (since they love all things UFO etc). You know those pictures of monkeys etc. in the ground viewable from air you see on the discovery channel world mystery programs? Yeah, that’s it. Maybe I will be abducted and converted from sceptic to believer. Hopefully I’ll run into some believers (always entertaining) and probably come away more convinced of Hume’s position.

On from that is Lima as previously described. The great thing about this plan is that it can (and will) be modified by the conditions I find on the ground. I don’t know any Spanish yet, except for “Querido/Neccesito ir hotel/banyo/restaurant” (I want/need hotel/bathroom/restaurant)... and that I will be called ‘gringo’ and should not be offended. Oh, that, and that I can say ‘menu’ at restaurants and they will just give me a full meal, or ‘la carta’ to actually order things. Apparently some places just serve ‘menu’ which will be interesting. I should probably invest in some more Spanish.

I don’t know if I will make anymore posts until January when the time to leave is closer. I don’t think there will be any more developments of note until then, but we’ll see. In the meantime I will try to learn more Spanish, more about the culture/history of Peru, and the anthropology surrounding Machu Picchu.

Until then,

Gareth