Overall, using Peru Hop is probably the easiest way to get through Peru and into Bolivia or vice versa, however, these are the things I wish we knew before setting off.
1. I don’t know if it was just the buses we were on, but the temperature control is not great. Mainly, I found the buses to be quite warm – shorts and t-shirts were enough! For the overnight buses it seemed to go from boiling to freezing and back again. They do give you blankets but layers are key.
2. On the Peru Hop app, it looks as though the drive from Huacachina to Nazca is all day. However, you’re actually at a Pisco tour until 2pm and then they go back to Huacachina to pick up more people, and then you finally drive to Nazca which is only 3-4 hours away. We decided to stay a night in Nazca as we didn’t want to be on a bus for 24 hours straight to Arequipa. If we had known the Pisco tour was more than half the day we may have made a different decision.
3. You can book all the main tours through Peru Hop but we found most of them to be slightly cheaper by booking yourself or going through your hostel. This goes the same for accommodation, check Hostelworld and Booking.com before booking through Peru Hop.
4. Try to break up your trip from Cusco to La Paz with 1 night in either Puno or Copacabana, otherwise you’re on the bus for 24 hours!
5. If you want to stay in Puno, stay at a homestay or one of the lodges on the floating islands – so much nicer than the town!
6. The 2 hour Floating Island tour wasn’t great but if you choose not to go, you’ll be sat on the bus waiting for everyone to come back anyways. There is nothing else to do in Puno at 6am so you might as well go, and its pretty cheap.
7. Same goes for the Isla del Sol trip in Copacabana, although this trip was much better than the floating islands. This trip lasts 4 hours and you can either go on it, or wait in Copacabana before travelling onto La Paz. Copacabana is nicer than Puno so if you did want to wait you could probably fill the time at one of the restaurants or bars.
8. Make sure you get both your exit Peru and entry Bolivia stamps at the border! Some people didn’t get their Bolivia stamp and it caused huge issues. You will get fined and you’ll have to go back to the border to get the stamp before you can leave the country. Officials also check your passport randomly so just don’t risk it.
9. Bring cash to book tours onboard the bus if you want to avoid the 5% card fee or don’t have signal.
10. You can probably move through Peru and into Bolivia cheaper but the Peru Hop made it so easy. Even just having someone who speaks Spanish you can ask questions to made our our trip much easier to manage.
First of all – if you can, if you have the time, funds, health etc – do it! It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in the world, none of the pictures do the landscape justice, you just have to see it for yourself.
We had a bit of a hiccup at the start of our experience as we booked through ‘Yapa Explorers’ – a company recommended not only by Peru Hop, but also BBC, National Geographic etc, so we were happy to pay quite a lot of money to go with them because we thought they were the best. To our surprise, when we had our briefing (which they were late for), the company actually taking us were called Inka Trail Expeditions. When we finally had internet again and did some research, we found that Inka Trail Expeditions would have been about $100 cheaper to book directly per person. It also had a different split of the days than was advertised on the Yapa website and therefore had different campsites. Finally, unlike most other operators, we were expected to carry all our own personal items – most other operators give you a small duffle bag for you to put your sleeping bag and 2.5-3kg of clothes etc. I’m sorry, but there was just no way I was going to be able to carry all my stuff on my back for 4 days, hiking up hill, at altitude. Luckily, our guide spoke to his boss and they agreed that we could have 1 duffle to share which the porters would carry, in addition to our sleeping bags. I felt a bit better after this was agreed and we didn’t want to fall out with our guide (Chino) too much as we were going to be with him for the next 4 days!
After the briefing, we ran out to hire sleeping bags and walking poles (we didn’t know we needed them). You can always hire these with your operator but there are tones of places in Cusco where you can hire camping stuff at a fraction of the price. We hired sleeping bags and poles for 4 days for just under £12 each while our operator was charging £30.
Top tip: even if you think you don’t need poles, get them. We are two relatively fit, young people and they came in so useful, especially for the long downhill stretches – protect your knees people! Also, you will most likely be required to bring your own water for the first day, including the evening so bring a lot – I would say a minimum of 2 litres per person.
The next morning we were up at 5:30am to get on our bus at 6am. Nearly all hostels/hotels will provide bag storage free of charge, Wild Rover did even though we had already checked out.
The drive to Pisacucho is only 1.5 hours and we stopped about an hour in to grab breakfast. Note – you will likely have to pay for this and your lunch in Aques Callientes on the last day. Bring enough cash for this, snacks on the trail and the tip for your porters, cook and guide (more on this at the end).
By 9am, we had set off on the hike. The first day was pretty easy, it was about 12km and mostly flat. Even though we were in the rainy season, we had blistering sunshine which only added to the breathtaking scenery. Our first lunch was an experience as this lunch, as well as the first nights camping, were really the only complaint we had for our whole experience. To be clear, this was not about the food, the food the entire trip was fantastic and there was always too much of it! It was the sites themselves. On the first day, both spots seemed like they were someone’s backyard, filled with animals (which meant poo everywhere) and everything was just very dirty. Lewis and I can deal with dirty – they were extra bad. When we stayed at actual campsites the facilities were much better and we suspect other operators stay at these official campsites every night!
Each evening before dinner we had ‘tea time’ (which our guide called ‘Happy Hour’) around 5pm consisting of tea, hot chocolate, popcorn and another snack. If you are a fast walker and end up at the camp well before 5pm, you may find yourself twiddling your thumbs a bit. There really isn’t anything to do, so my advice would be to bring a pack of cards – or walk slower! There is no prize for reaching the camp quickly and you may miss the views if your only focus is on walking. It’s amazing how tired we were after a day of walking and once it got dark, around 8pm, we were already tucked up in our tent ready to go to sleep.
On our second day we did the famous Dead Woman’s pass after a 5am wake-up with a cup of coca tea. This was about 4 hours of hiking uphill to a top altitude of 4215m. If I am completely honest, I was really worried about this day. I’m not really a fan of walking uphill and I hadn’t worked out since before Christmas but it was so much better than I expected. We walked what we felt was really slowly, we went in a zig-zag pattern so every step wasn’t a fight against gravity, the poles helped and I had this alcohol-based liquid called Agua de Florida you put in your hands and sniff to help with the altitude (it was the same thing our guide had on Rainbow Mountain). We made it up nearly an hour before the guide said he expected us to get there and I honestly felt fine! If you’re worried about anything on this hike I promise you you will be able to do it – there is no race, just take your time. Once at the top we had a decent break and were lucky enough to see 3 deer! A doe and her two babies.
Once we’d recovered it was 1.5 hours downhill, this is when the hiking poles are really worth every penny! With our tour we stopped at lunch time when we reached the campsite. We napped & had a freezing cold shower coming straight from the glacier above (being clean was worth the pain). With other operators you have lunch where we camped and head up the next peak – Runkurakay Pass, another 1-1.5 hours uphill and its steep!
Because we had a short 2nd day, our 3rd day was our longest but it is also the most beautiful as you move to the jungle-type environment. We both really enjoyed this day as there was a mixture of up and downhill which kept things interesting. We got to our final campsite at 3pm and had another cold shower before our final meal.
Fourth and final day – we made it to Machu Picchu! It’s a early wake up, 3:45am. We had some coca tea and a packed breakfast before heading down to the check point to wait until they opened at 5:30am. Once open, we hiked an hour to the Sun Gate – if you’re lucky you can see Machu Picchu from here. It was chucking it down the morning we got up and rained on and off until we got to the Sun Gate so we weren’t hopeful, but after about 20 mins, the rain stopped and the clouds did clear enough for us to see some of it!
From the Sun Gate to Machu Picchu is another 45 mins-1 hour. By then the sun was out and we could see it really clearly from the path. We finally made it there just before 8am where we were shown to the private viewing platform that is reserved for those who have completed the Inka trail. We got some great pictures before heading into the actual ruins. As part of our package our guide gave us a 2 hour tour around the site and then it was all over!
I have to admit, the whole thing is just a bit mental. How did they build this entire city up in the clouds in less than 200 years? It doesn’t make sense! Also, it’s so much bigger than you imagine, even the foundations go over a meter underground for the entire city. The Inka’s really were top-tier engineers.
It’s a long journey back to Cusco from Machu Picchu: 1st there is a 20 minute bus to Aguas Calientes, then you normally wait about 3 hours there for your train. This was when we realised how tired we were, we had a celebratory Pisco and I had a Pizza and then we just waited….
We paid a little bit extra for the Vistadome train which was pretty cool. They have windows all around so you can see the beautiful scenery, they give you tea and a snack and then they had a traditional Peruvian dance show and a fashion show! After 2 hours we arrived at Ollantaytambo where we had a private transfer waiting to take us back to our hostel.
Now, you may be tempted to jump straight on the overnight bus to Puno if you’re headed in that direction but dont! We booked a quiet hostel for 2 nights after the trail called Tucan hostel and it was the best decision. The beds were so comfy, the hostel quiet and it had a kitchen – it was the perfect place to rest, relax, do some laundry, catch up on admin before moving to our next destination.
Inka Trail Summary
In summary, the Inka trail is hard but a good amount of hard and it’s probably my favourite thing I’ve done so far on this trip, I can’t recommend it highly enough! You will not regret it.
Packing list: sleeping bag, hiking poles, 4 x tops, 2 x walking trousers or leggings, 1 x pair of shorts, 4 x hiking socks, 4 x pants, 2 x sports bras, hat, sun cream, sunglasses, beanie, gloves, thin jumper, thick jumper, rain jacket, water bottle/camelback, torch, bar of soap, sachet of shampoo, antibac, altitude and/or other medication, flip flops, 1 x outfit for being at the camp/sleeping in – I brought a PJ top, a pair of trackies and 1 extra pair of socks, portable charger, pack of cards, a couple of sweet treat snacks.
Tips: On average people tip 150 soles per person (~£30) and this goes in a pot for the porters and cook, your guide is tipped separately. We tipped ~$25 per worker as it was only us on the trip and gave our guide $40. FYI – there is normally 2 porters per person plus a cook, so we had 5 staff plus the guide!
Top tip: Take your time and enjoy the whole thing, don’t think of it just as a long walk to Machu Picchu, the trail is the nicest part.
On the way to Cusco from Arequipa not only is the landscape stunning – its so green with rolling hills and blue lakes, but it’s also very high and we got our first taste of being at altitude. Our first top at Laguna Lagunillas was over 4444m above sea level – that’s higher than Cusco, La Paz and the highest point on the Inka Trail! We tried some coca tea which although tasting like grass, seemed to help. Make sure you buy something when you stop here because they rely fully on tourism so any small amount you can spare will be appreciated. I’m not sure if they get that many tall blonde girls around there but a couple of the locals wanted a picture with me – who am I to deny them that!
Around 2 hours before getting to Cusco, we stopped in Marangani for lunch. It’s a tiny place in the hills, lovely views but nothing really here! They put on a whole buffet lunch which is nice and only for 30 soles. We arrived into Cusco at 6pm and were dropped at our hostel, Wild Rover – after having a very tame first couple of weeks we were ready to party!
Our first night in Cusco didn’t really end up being the big night we had hoped for as there was an open mic night on at the bar… saying that, the bar was full and we did have a few drinks, but it was bed at 11pm for us!
The next morning we woke up early and had a coffee and a croissant on the bar’s balcony overlooking the city which was quite a nice way to start the day. Once showered and presentable, we walked down to the main square (Plaza del Armas) and through to the San Pedro Market. Our Peru Hop guide had recommended the market for cheap authentic food, especially for breakfast. Right at the back of the market are loads of little breakfast stands – we got an omelette sandwich and a coffee each and it was 20 soles! Would highly recommend. We actually ended up going to back to the same lady (Epilania) for lunch as when we were there in the morning, a person on the table behind us suggested we try a butifarra – this is basically a pork sandwich, 100% get one of these when you’re in town.
We spent the next couple of hours wandering around the town and at 3pm we did the free walking tour with the hostel – there was only 3 of us but the tour was really good. The guide showed us all the original Inka architecture throughout the city, explained about their gods and the Inka kingdom and the impact of colonisation. At the end of the tour he took us up to Limbus Restobar for a Pisco Sour. This restaurant/bar had fantastic views of the city (and delicious Pisco!) and we would have never found it on our own.
After the Pisco’s we were feeling a bit tipsy so jumped in an Uber back to the hostel with the other girl on our tour and headed straight to the bar – you get a free mixology class at the hostel (by this I mean you make 1 cocktail stood around a table) but it was a free drink so we took it, we made Moscow Mules.
We spent the rest of the evening in the bar, playing killer pool and the pub quiz. Eventually we decided to head out into town with a couple people from the hostel and went to a club called Changos. This place was my worst nightmare – horrible music, horrible drinks and it was so loud – I only lasted about 20 minutes before I announced I was going home, so boring I know. The walk back up to the hostel was so steep and with the altitude (and the alcohol) we passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow.
After our ‘crazy’ night (asleep by 1:30am), we had a lovely long lie and only left the hostel to grab breakfast at JC’s Cafe. The food and coffee here did the job and the portions were huge! I needed another lie down after my Heuvos Rancheros. We used the rest of the day as an admin day and had dinner at Los Toledo’s Chicken – they give you a huge rotisserie chicken and chips. We then had a super early night as we were up at 2:30am the next morning for our Rainbow Mountain hike.
Rainbow Mountain
Rainbow mountain is one of the must-do activities when in Peru. Unfortunately due to land disputes in the area, the hike is a lot shorter (1 hour compared to 3) and the drive longer (an extra 40 or so minutes). It’s a long day, you’re up at 2:30am, on the bus by 3am and get back around 3pm, but it’s so worth it!
We went with a company called Rainbow Mountain Travels and I couldn’t recommend them highly enough. The reason you start so early is so that you are the first ones up the mountain so you can get great pictures, all food (breakfast and lunch) and entrance fees are included – some operators charge you for these bits in addition to your initial price. The food was great, they put on a huge buffet and it acts as a half way stop on the drive there and back.
Rainbow mountain gained its named from the numerous colours visible due to the various minerals it’s made up of. It’s really pretty and you get get some great photos from the top. You can also get pictures with Llamas/Alpacas and get your passport stamped. The hike itself is only 45 mins-1 hour depending how fast you are but it is at a high altitude, you start at around 4000m and end at around 5000m. Your guide should have some altitude sickness medicine but if you know you’re prone to feeling ill, brings some extra!
That evening we went to ‘Tacomania’ for dinner, its a bit of a wierd one as they also have an Indian restaurant within this Mexican but the food was good and cheap, which is what we were looking for. Although we were shattered from our 2:30am wake up, we popped by Republica del Pisco for one. This was probably one of the best piscos we’d had so far (although probably one of the most expensive as well). The food here also looked great and it had a cool vibe, we had been told it gets rowdy at night so it’s definitely worth a visit.
Even though I said I wasn’t going to, I ended up in the hostel bar that evening. It wasn’t a late one but I drank enough to end up singing Eminem during Karoke and Lewis sang 500 miles by The Proclaimers, how predictable.
The next morning we had a really nice coffee and breakfast at Macchiato, did some laundry (Cusco is a really good place to do laundry – cheap, fast and there are so many places) and went to the Inka Museum. It’s only 20 soles each for the museum and it’s pretty old-school but I think it’s worth a visit if you’re in town. It’s huge so you need at least 2 hours if you want to do it properly. Don’t expect flashy displays but its interesting to read about the Inka history, its amazing what they achieved for a civilisation that apparently only lasted a couple hundred years.
After the museum we went and got a fresh juice from the Jugo Ladies at San Pedro market – Lewis was desperate to try Maca, a natural energy powder, and it was actually quite nice with orange juice. The rest of the day was spent getting organised for the Inka trail as we were heading off in the morning. For dinner we went to a cute pizza place just down from the hostel called Allin trattorias, we we’re quite rushed though as needed to race back for our pre-Inka trek briefing.
Side note: I would like to point out that ‘Inka’ is how you spell it in Quechua and ‘Inca’ in English, so both are right!
Cusco Summary
Length of stay: 4 nights pre Inka trail, 1/2 nights after (9-10 nights total)
Where to stay: Wild Rover if you want to party, Tucan if you want to chill (remember you can go to Wild Rover even if you’re not staying there!)
Itinerary: Day 1 & 2- Free walking tour, San Pedro market for breakfast, explore the city & acclimatise, Day 3 – Rainbow mountain, Day 4 – Inka museum, chill/prepare for your hike, Day 5-8 – Inka Trail, Day 9/10 – Relax & recharge
Puno
We got the overnight bus from Cusco to Puno, arriving at 5:30am. Let me tell you now, absolutely nothing in Puno is open till 9am so my advice is to book the breakfast with Peru Hop – it’s your standard breakfast, bread, eggs, jam butter & coffee and its relatively cheap.
The main thing to do in Puno is visit the Uros floating islands on Lake Titikaka (Titicaca in English). The lake is the highest navigable lake in the world (3800m above seal level) and is divided between Peru and Bolivia by a pretty arbitrary boarder created in the 1800s (it used to all be Peru) and it’s name means green (Tiki) puma (kaka). The Uros islands are 100% man-made from reeds. Apparently the locals decided to live on the lake to avoid taxes and the authorities in the general and no one really seems to mind! There are a couple of options for tours of the islands but we went for the 2-hour option as it started at 6am, right after we’d arrived, and we’d booked a small lodge on the islands themselves as there isn’t much in Puno itself. The tour was basic if I’m honest, so it really depends on what you’re looking for, but we went to 2 islands, learned bout how they built the islands and spoke to some of the locals.
Once we were back from the tour, the son of the family who run Aruntawi lodge, Eddie, came and picked us up on their boat. Eddie and his family were lovely and helped us get to and from their island and made all our meals. Our room at the lodge was massive! We were so surprised, it had 2 huge beds, a dining table, sofa, bathroom and 2 terraces. The terrace out the front had a day bed and 2 lounge chairs with a lovely view of the lake.
As we were pretty tired from the night bus and as we’d done the 2 hour tour in the morning, we spent the whole day relaxing on the terrace in the sun, reading books, napping and playing cards. At 1pm the mum made us lunch which was quinoa soup (don’t knock it till you try it!), trout and more quinoa and then fruit. In the evenings it gets super cold on the islands so we headed inside until dinner. Dinner was much of the same but they gave us hot water bottles for our beds which was really sweet! That night we got into our huge bed with our hot waterbottles and passed out. They had maybe 6 layers of duvets on the bed so it was like being under a weighted blanket and it was so dark and quiet on the island – it was such a good sleep.
We were up early again the next morning as our bus to La Paz left at 8am from the mainland. It was finally time to leave Peru, Bolivia here we come!
Puno Summary
Length of stay: 1 night if you have time, otherwise continue to Copacabana or La Paz
Where to stay: On the islands. There are lot of small family-run lodges (look on Booking.com) and you can also do a home stay through Peru Hop if you prefer
Itinerary: Day 1 – island tour and chill!
Top tips: You can skip Puno if you’re short on time but if you do stay, definitely stay on the islands. Also, bring sun cream… the UV index when we were there was 11 and you’re at a high altitude, you will burn.
Now, what I wish I had known when I boarded the bus to Nazca is that on the PeruHop app, it says the bus from Huacachina to Nazca is 10:40am – 5:00pm, then if you are going all the way to Arequipa, you re-board at 6pm and get in at 5:30am the next morning.
We decided to stay a night in Nazca as we didn’t want to be on a bus for nearly 24 hours. However, what they don’t tell you is that the first 3-ish hours of the bus to Nazca is actually a Pisco tour and lunch, before going back to Huacachina to drop people off and then you go to Nazca which is only 3 hours away. If we’d have known that most of the day wouldn’t be spent on a bus, we may have made a different decision. Saying that, it was easy to fill 1 night in Nazca and we were glad we stayed in the end.
The Pisco Tour
The Pisco tour is only 20 mins from Huacachina and the tour itself lasts about 45 minutes. They tell you about how they make their wine and Pisco and then you get to try a lot of it – one guy did like 7 shots of Pisco (which is 40% alcohol)… I only had 2, one pure and one coffee crème one. If we didn’t have the rest of our travels to go, I definitely would have bought some to bring home. The tour itself is included within your Peru Hop ticket so definitely worth going.
Once the tour is finished you have lunch there, you’ll have to wait for everyone else so just get the lunch! You preorder your food on the bus and then can order drinks there.
Nazca
Around 20 minutes before you arrive in Nazca the bus takes you to the Nazca lines viewing tower. You can see 3 of the lines from the tower and there are couple of information boards about them but not much. The Nazca lines are main attraction for Nazca and when you visit you can buy flights over them but they are~£80. There is a lot of mystery surrounding the lines as they don’t really know why they were made – there are theories of offerings to the gods for water but no concrete evidence.
We arrived in Nazca at 5pm, everyone else was getting dinner before the overnight to Arequipa, but we grabbed our bags and walked 15 mins to Hostal Nazca Lodge. This is a small family run hostel – its not very pretty and there isn’t really any communal space, but the rooms were large and clean, the showers hot and the host was lovely. Our room didn’t have any aircon but it did have a large powerful floor flan so it was enough to keep us cool, even if it did feel like i was sleeping in a wind tunnel. Top tip: if you have a strong fan, point it at the wall opposite you, the breeze that bounces back is much more pleasant!
Nazca is a small desert town – it reminded us a bit of India but probably a nicer version. In the evening, on the suggestion of our hostel host, we went to a small planetarium. It was quite a random experience but nice – it’s only cost 25 soles and lasted 45 mins . When you get there the host shows you what he can see on his telescope, we saw Jupiter and its four moons, the telescope was powerful enough for you to see the gas storms on the planet which was pretty special. After that you go into the planetarium and they tell you more about the Nazca lines, how they were discovered, persevered, what their meaning may be and how they could relates to the stars. If you are spending a night in Nasca, I would highly recommend going!
We then went to dinner at La Encantada, food was good and had cold beer so can’t complain. We’ve found that a lot of restaurants do Peruvian food and then also Italian which is bizarre but at least you can always find something to eat!
The next morning we went on a tour of the Aqueducts and the Cahuachi Pyramids, our hostel host kindly set it all up for us at very last minutes notice. It was only 70 soles and the guide picked us up from the hostel, took us round the sights, showed us some of local farms and then dropped us back off – it was actually a really nice way to spent 3 hours. We grabbed some lunch at La Kasa Rustika and chilled on our hostel roof until it was time to get the bus to Arequipa.
Nazca Summary
Length of stay: 1 night
Where to stay: Anywhere really, our hostel Hostal Nasca Lodge was absolutely fine for a night, but I know there are some nicer hotels with pools.
Itinerary: Night – Platetarium, Day – Aquaducts & Cauchahi Pyramids or a Nazca Lines Flight
Top tip: If you are in a rush, you can skip Nazca
Arequipa
We arrived at 5:30am – always the worst thing about getting overnight buses! We were really lucky though and when we checked into our hostel, Selina, they not only gave us a free upgrade to an en suite room, but they also said that if we pre-bought breakfast (we only bought 2 out of our 4 mornings) that we could check in straight away! So by 7am we were all checked-in, showered and looking for a breakfast spot. Selina was a really nice hostel – good communal areas, a kitchen, pool, bar, library, cinema room etc! Our room was spacious and clean.
Arequipa is an old colonial town set in the shadow of the volcano Misti. It’s really beautiful, full of old Spanish, French and British buildings. The roads are narrow and there are so many fun bars, cafes and restaurants. The weather when we were there was perfect, 25 degrees with a light breeze during the day, cooler at night. It ended up being one of our favourite towns in Peru.
The main attraction in Arequipa is Colca Canyon, the second deepest in the world. We had planned to do a day trip but heard from others that this consisted of an 8 hour round bus trip with only 1 hour in the canyon, therefore the only viable way to do it is the 2 day trip which we didn’t have time for. Keep this in mind when planning your trip!
We went for breakfast at Eco Brunch which I would highly recommend. They open at 7:30am which is the main reason we went there, but they have a sunny roof terrace great coffee and food!
Later than morning, we went on a free walking tour – there are loads in the city so just choose one that suits you. Our guide took us round the town explaining the interesting architecture, showed us loads of places we can enter for free, gave us good food recommendations and took us into the alcapca experience – they are SO cute but watch out, you will get eaten alive by sandflies and they itch, a lot. We also tried a traditional Arequipa desert on the tour named Queso Helado – the name suggests it contains cheese but it is actually a vanilla ice cream with cinnamon. Lewis liked it but i wasn’t a fan.
After the tour we really needed a nap – not a lot of sleep was got on the bus! The rest of the evening was filled with a couple of Pisco (most places have happy hour 2 for 30 soles!) and then a few drinks at the hostel bar. We had a real Inbetweeners Movie 2 moment that evening when, sat round the campfire, a guy gets out his guitar and starts signing. After a couple of songs I knew it was time to head to bed.
The next morning, just before we got out of bed, there was a 5.3 magnitude earthquake! I’ve never felt an earthquake before so it was a weird experience. It lasted around 5 seconds but nothing really happened and I didn’t feel scared at all. After all that excitement we had breakfast in the hostel which wasn’t great so we went to find some good coffee. We found this super cute place called ‘KaffeeHaus’ which has a lovely garden and great coffee – we also saw that the breakfast looked good so made mental note to come back tomorrow.
Our main event for the day was the white water rafting. I have to admit it was really good fun and the tour really well organised, we just booked it through our hostel but you can book it through PeruHop as well. They give you everything you need so all you need to bring is a swimsuit and a spare pair of pants. This is a must-do activity.
After the rafting we were starving and taking our walking tour guides’ recommendation, went to a traditional Picanteria called La Mundial. One thing to note is there are two ‘La Mundials’ on the same street. Now, we couldn’t figure out if one was an overflow for the original but try and get into the smaller one if you can. We ordered Rocoto Relleno which is a traditional dish of fried spiced beef stuffed in a pepper with a dauphinoise style potato made with egg instead of cream. It was a huge portion and quite tasty to definitely give it a try when you’re there!
We spent the rest of the day chilling by the pool reading books and then made dinner in the hostel kitchen, Peru is not as cheap as you think it is…
On our final day in Arequipa we had a lovely breakfast in KaffeeHaus and wandered down to the central market (Mercado San Camilo) to see what it was like – I would recommend going here and getting a fresh fruit juice, there are so many stalls! The rest of the day was spent soaking in as much sun as we possibly could as for the next couple of weeks, we were going higher into the mountains and towards the rain in Cusco!
For dinner that evening we tried a Japanese place called Espacio Lagom. We both had the ramen which was OK but I think in hindsight the sushi looked nicer! The rest of the evening was spent packing as our bus to Cusco was leaving at 5am.
Arequipa Summary
Length of stay: 2-4 nights
Where to stay: Anywhere in the old town but we really liked Selina
Itinerary: Day 1 – walking tour, Day 2 – Rafting (or 2 day Colca Canyon trip), Day 3 – Local markets and exploring the city more/chill day (or second day of Canyon trip)
Top tip: It gets cold at night, bring trousers and a jumper
We decided to do the Peru Hop bus through the whole of Peru and down into La Paz, Bolivia. The bus is set up in a way were you an change your next bus up to 12 hours beforehand, they help you book tours and accommodation if you like (we just used Hostelworld as the prices were comparable). This kind of tour may not be for everyone, but the ease of it, and with Peru being the first stop in our trip, it made sense for us. Especially as they help with the border crossing into Bolivia and the local buses don’t look as comfy!
Paracas
Early the next morning we got our bus to Paracas, a small seaside town popular with the locals for the summer holidays.
Only after only an hour of driving, we stopped at a rest stop to get breakfast and do 2 very random activities: a traditional Peruvian horse show and Tombola. I feel as though the horse show is self expanitory but my only previous experience of tombola is the adverts for the app Tombola arcade.
I’m not sure the version we played relates to the app, but apparently it’s a very traditional game played in small towns accross Peru. The way it works is that you stand in a circle over a pit with a guinea pig inside of it. Along the edge of the circle there are holes with numbers, you pick a number and if once released, the guinea pig chooses your hole, you win!
We didn’t win but others won a horse ride, a zip line (also at the rest stop!?) or some bread. A lovely Peruvian mother won the bread and shared it with us which was sweet.
We reached Paracas around lunchtime and as we couldn’t check into the hostel for a couple of hours we walked through the town (2 streets) and grabbed some lunch. There isn’t much to see in Paracas so I would recommend only staying one night – the main attractions are the national park and Ballestas islands (generously named Peru’s mini Galapagos), which I will come onto in a second.
We stayed at Viajero Kokopelli hostel which was fine – again, it had a very loud bar which went into the small hours but had a nice bar/restaurant space and a (questionable) pool. That afternoon we went on the ‘Golden Shadows Trek’ which takes you out into the National Park. This landscape is stunning and is an extension of the Atacama desert in Chile. The sands are full of colours due to the various minerals and the juxtaposition of the desert and the sea is beautiful.
The trek was really a 1.5 hour saunter up the dunes and hanging around to take some photos at sunset. It’s pretty chilled and lasts 3-4 hours.
That evening we went for a surprisingly good pizza at Venezia, it was suggested by our hostel and the owner is actually Italian!
The next morning we got up early to get the 8am boat to the islands. You can book this through PeruHop but we ended up going with the hostel as it was TBC on whether it would be able to go ahead due to strong currents. With the hostel it was a couple of dollars cheaper but there really wasn’t much in it.
During the 2 hour trip, they take you out to the islands past some lines in the sand which nod towards the Nazca lines – they don’t know who drew them in the sand, but ~50 years they have sat there. Once at the islands, you can see penguins, sea lions and a lot of birds.
Immediately after the boat, we went on the bus tour to the national park. This tour is free within your Peru Hop ticket, you see a different part of the park to the trek and get more information on the park itself which is nice. Then we drove to Huacachina, only 1.5-2 hours from Paracas.
Paracas Summary
Length of stay: 1 night
Where to stay: Anywhere! It’s tiny
Itinerary: Day 1 – Golden Shadows Trek, Day 2 – Ballestas islands & National park bus tour
Top tips: It can get chilly at night, in the desert and on the boat so bring a jumper/jacket
Huacachina
Huacachina is a desert Oasis which according to legend was made by a woman’s tears mourning the death of her lover. It’s a tiny town with only one real street.
We stayed just outside of the Oasis at Upcycled Hostel. This was the chilled hostel we were looking for and would recommend staying here if you don’t mind the 15 min walk into ‘town’. The hostel is nicely decorated, clean, the staff are lovely, it has a pool and a decent bar and restaurant. If you’re looking for more of a party vibe, stay at Wild Rover, although you can go to their parties even if you’re not a guest.
One the day we arrived we spent all afternoon chilling – reading with a couple of beers. In the evening we walked to the Oasis and went to another hostel, Banana adventure, for drinks and food. This hostel also looked good if you don’t want to be in somewhere as noisy as Wild Rover!
We decided to stay 2 nights but you can do Huacachina in 1 if you prefer. The main attraction here is the dune-buggies and sand boarding. You can also hire boards and skis yourself if you’d prefer! If you’re only staying 1 night, do the tour in the afternoon you arrive but we decided to do it on our second day.
We spent the morning of our second day lying by the pool and soaking in the desert sun. In the afternoon, we headed into town. Before our sand boarding we walked up the dune to get the classic shots of the oasis – definitely worth doing!
The dune buggies and sand boarding tours run every day from 4-7pm so you can see the sunset at the end. This is an absolute must-do activity! It was so much fun – the buggies felt like a roller coaster and don’t be fooled by the small dunes at the start, they get much bigger as you go on! One thing to note is sand gets EVERYWHERE, so wear clothes you’re happy to get sand in every pocket.
After the boarding we went to Wild Olive for dinner, this is another nice guest house and is supposed to be the nicest restaurant in Huacachina (don’t get your hopes too high). Wild Rover had a pub quiz on that evening so we went there with some Irish girls we met sand boarding. It was good fun but I think we’re getting a bit old for some of the games they were playing.
The next morning we were up early for our bus to Nazca.
Huacachina Summary
Length of stay: 1 night if you’re in a rush, 2 if you’re not.
Where to stay: Upcycled Hostel if you want to relax, Wild Rover if you want to party, Banana adventure or Wild Olive if you want something in the middle.
Itinerary: Day 1 – Chill (& Sandboarding if only staying 1 night), Day 2 – Sandboarding
Top tips: Wear long trousers and closed shoes for the Sandboarding if you can, I wore shorts and birks and had some scratches on my knees from the board and ended up going barefoot for most of it (everything will fly off you on the board!). The last 30 mins or so waiting for the sunset can be a little bit chilly so bring a light jumper or over-shirt.
We arrived late into Lima and thankfully our hostel provided an airport transfer. It was more expensive than getting an Uber/Cabify or taking the public bus (60 soles compared to 20 soles for the bus), but it was chaotic at the airport so it was well worth the extra £5.00.
We stayed at Parawina hostel in Miraflores. Miraflores is the trendy/touristy part of the city where most foreigners stay. It was a nice space to walk around with a couple of parks (Kennedy park is full of cats for some reason?) and lots of trendy bars and restaurants.
The hostel was nice, clean and the staff very helpful – one thing to note is that it has a bar on the top floor which plays music until 12am, but if you have earplugs you’ll be alright.
The next morning we were up early due to jet lag (and the cars honking outside our window), so we headed out for some breakfast and grab some cash.
We went to a restaurant called Milenaria about a 10 min walk from the hostel They did good food and coffee, although a little pricey. Once we were fed and watered, we went to find a cash point – most of the ATMs in Peru charge you between 20-40 soles to withdraw which is a lot, and they don’t let you withdraw a large amount in one go – most we found was 700 soles (~£170). If you can find a GlobalNet or National Bank these are the ones with the lowest chargers.
I also bought a Peruvian SIM card from the hostel, for ~£10, I got unlimited everything and it ran until the end of the month which was perfect. If you are staying longer, I think you can add more money onto the card by replying to the text they send you before the end of the month – I would highly recommend getting a sim if your provider doesn’t give free roaming in Peru. We found a lot of the restaurants we were recommended didn’t have, or had very small, signs so were very hard to find and it made calling Ubers a lot easier.
Downtown (Historic) Lima
Later that morning we did a free walking tour around Downtown Lima (the historic centre). We used the company suggested by the hostel (Free Lima Walking Tour) as they pick you up from the hostel. If your hostel/hotel doesn’t have a company, you can join the free walking tour from 2 pick up points and there are different tours you can choose from. We chose to do the classic historical tour as we didn’t know much about Lima’s past.
The tour starts in Miraflores and they take you on the public bus (3.60 soles each), into Downtown Lima. The bus itself is an experience! Once you reach your destination, the tour takes you around the key sights in Lima and they guides give helpful recommendations for restaurants and things to do, the whole tour lasts ~3 hours. The guides work for tips and the average a person gave was 20 soles per person (~£5).
Once the tour was done we were starving so took one of the guides recommendations and went to the central market. This is a proper working food market but don’t be put off by the fishy smell, if you walk to the back of the market there are a couple of tiny restaurants, well more like counters. We went to La Chiclayana – we were the only non-Peruvians there but the owner was lovely and helped us order and gave us free drinks to try and an extra portion of ceviche – we had the ceviche de peccadilloes (fish ceviche) and Seco de Pollo (chicken and rice). The food was delicious and inexpensive, I would highly recommend.
Now that we were full, it was time for some Pisco Sours! We walked back to the main square and had our first Pisco in Peru at the ‘Pisco Museum’ – don’t be fooled, it is a bar and not a museum!
We had some time to kill so bar hopped for the rest of the afternoon until walking down to the Circuito de Magico del Agua – the Magic Fountain show. If you’re in town and want to see this, i would suggest getting an Uber as its about a 30min walk down a highway, so not the most picturesque.
The 20 minute show runs every night 7:15, 8:15 and 9:10 and costs 4 soles to enter the park. There are restaurants on the street parallel and a lot of street vendors so my advice would be to go down in plenty of time and make a night of it. The show uses lights and lasers combined with an actual fountain to tell a story – I have no idea what the story was but it was fun to watch!
After all of that we were exhausted so headed back to the hostel for a beer (local beer Pilsen is lovely!) and an early night.
Miraflores & Barranco
On our second day in Lima, we had a quick breakfast in the hostel before walking down through Miraflores to the coast. They have a lovely coastal walk where you can get a coffee, watch the surfers and paraglides, have lunch or go shopping if you fancy. We walked all the way along to the lighthouse, through Parque del Amor and then back up into Miraflores.
Using another one of our walking tour guide’s recommendations, we went to La Luhca Sangucheria for lunch. As the name suggests its a sandwich shop, but they are really good – we also had the frozen drinks, the passion fruit one is to die for!
In the late afternoon we got a taxi to Barranco – the artsy, hipster part of Lima. Here there is a lot street art to see, stalls to browse and galleries to wander through. It’s a really nice area of town.
If you have time head to El Muelle for dinner. It’s a non-imposing local seafood restaurant but it shuts at 6pm so you need to go early! Their Pisco were cheap and the food lovely – I had a combination of ceviche and then fried calamari, delicious!
Lima Summary
Length of stay: 2 full days/ 2-3 nights depending on arrival and departure times
Where to stay: Anywhere in Miraflores but Parawina hostel was great
Itinerary: Day 1 – Downtown Lima, Day 2 – Miraflores & Barranco
Top tips: Get cash from Banco de la Nation, have spare USD if you can, get a Peruvian sim & enjoy as much of the food as you can!
We got the bus to Santa Marta which cost us 45k – It wasn’t a great journey but that was our fault, we were the last ones on the bus so got stuck with the bad seats. Luckily it only took around 5 hours and our hostel, La Brisa Loca, was only a 10 min walk from where they dropped us off.
We loved this hostel. Our room was huge with a mezzanine level with another double bed. They also had a club on the roof with great parties Thursday – Saturday. After reviews from friends, we didn’t have high hopes for Santa Marta, but were pleasantly surprised. The main area of bars and restaurants on Calle 3 near la Parque de Novio has loads of nice places and we had a fab Mexican there. The best club at the weekend is apparently our hostel, you could hear the music for miles and that’s where we spent the rest of the night.
The next morning, after breakfast in the hostel, we checked out and got the bus to Mica. The bus is only 8k COP and leaves every 20 minutes, it was a really easy journey. The good thing about Colombia is the people are so lovely. If you are foreign and look confused, they will do their best to help you. It may feel like you’re being hurried onto a random bus, but I promise it will be the right bus!
Once we got to Minca, to get to Casa Elemento where we were staying, you either had to hike uphill for two hours, go on a motorbike taxi or get a very expensive jeep. The moto-taxis are 20k and the jeep’s 120k so if you have 6 people, get the jeep! If not ask for a helmet and get on a motorbike. I was a bit scared at first, especially with my huge backpack, but after the first minute I was fine, they do this run a million times a day and it was actually pretty fun! As soon as you get off the shuttle in Minca people will be asking if you need a ride up to Casa Elemento.
The hostel is famous for its huge hammocks and great views, but apart from that isn’t special. We just chilled, drank, played cards & pool and got some good insta shots. The sunset was amazing, the sky was on fire. If you have longer in Minca than us there are lots of hikes, waterfalls, motorbiking and other outdoor activities to do during the day.
Getting to our next stop (El Rio Hostel) was a bit of a hassle, we had to get back down to Mica, then back to Santa Marta and then a bus to Palomino. Finding the bus was easy but it was just a hot a sweaty journey on a public bus.
El Rio is a hostel on the Buritaca River about 20 mins outside Palomino. There’s a sign on the side of the road and you just need to ask the bus driver to let you out there. It’s then a 10-15 min walk down a dirt track till you get to the hostel. El Rio was started by two English guys and it just packed with travellers. It’s almost like a super-budget resort with a bar, table tennis, volleyball, yoga classes and the river is so lovely to swim in.
That night we partied hard! It was the first time we’d be surrounded by so many other travellers and everyone was on great form. We arrived on a Saturday because that’s when we heard the biggest parties were and we were very thankful for this advice! Our other two nights weren’t nearly as fun.
As expected, we were a bit hungover the next morning but we all went tubing. You can take a cooler with beers in it with you which would have been great if I could stomach it – it didn’t seem to bother Lewis, however! It’s about a 40 min walk to the start of the tubing and then it takes around 2 hours to get back to the hostel. It was a really fun day and a great way to meet people. We chilled by the river for the rest of the day and had a chilled evening. The next day was much of the same. We chilled by the river and had a few beers in the evening, two nights would probably have been enough unless you’re in a big group.
The next morning we checked out and got the bus back to Santa Marta which sadly meant the trip back home had begun. We stayed at Rua hostel, it had a nice room with good AC and location but we definitely preferred La Brisa Loca. We were pretty tired so just went for dinner and then headed home. We ended up at Radio Burger on Parques de Novio which had fantastic, juicy burgers and great milkshakes.
We got a very good sleep that night and woke up ready for the journey home. After lunch, we headed to the airport (30k in taxi or 2k on a local bus). Thankfully the flight to Bogota was on time and easy, we had a Colombian version of Five Guys for dinner in the airport called El Corral. It was pretty good!
After dinner, we got a 10min taxi to our hostel, Bababuy. It is very close to the airport, which is why we chose it, it was OK at best. Their doorbell was in the tune of ‘jingle bells’ and continuously went off during the night as people came and went. It definitely wasn’t one of my best night of sleep but I put in my earplugs and eye-mask and hoped for the best.
The journey home
When the day came to leave, I really couldn’t believe it. I was definitely done with sweating the entire time but was not done with being away, or with Colombia. The tan was only just starting to form! Our flight was only delayed by an hour which I guess is good by our standards. We managed to get into the United Lounge during our layover in Newark, which was a nice ending to our journey home, we even landed early in Edinburgh.
Final thoughts on Colombia
We loved Colombia and would highly recommend it to anyone thinking about travelling there. We didn’t find safety an issue, it’s the same as anywhere – keep your wits about you, listen to advice on where to go and be smart! The people are lovely and although some will try to scam you, most are trying to help.
Try and learn some Spanish before jetting off! We only did duo-lingo but even that small amount helped a great deal. Also, people are a lot more receptive and patient if you try! Google translate will be your best friend.
Travelling in Colombia is very easy. We didn’t book any buses in advance and although some were a bit uncomfy, if you book the longer journey’s 48 hours before wanting to travel, you’ll be golden. Also, if you’re getting money out while your there, use BBVA Colombia – it doesn’t charge you although you can only withdraw 300k COP (roughly £75) per transaction.
We only had three weeks but got to see a lot of the country, but you could definitely stay longer. There are treks such as the Lost City Trek that takes around four days based in Tayrona National Park, more islands and more towns to visit. For example, we didn’t spend any time in Palomino, San Agustin, Jardin,Mocoa or travel to the Amazon basin.
Do some research and see what suits you best! But 100% go. I’m not sure where I’ll travel to next but this will not be our last trip to South America, that’s for sure.
We got a taxi from the bus station (Terminal de Sur) to our hostel called Selina in El Poblado. It only cost us 10k and should have only been 8k so make sure you don’t pay any more than that. Most travellers stay in El Poblado as it’s a little bit richer and safer than other parts of Medellin.
We had high hopes for Selina as it looked really cool online but were left quite disappointed. It’s huge and despite having a cool bar there is absolutely no atmosphere at all. We also paid to stay in a private room which honestly was the size of the bed, it had no aircon or a fan and faced the road so when you opened the window it was obnoxiously loud. Other private rooms seemed to have aircon so maybe we just got the short straw, but we were less than impressed, especially for the price. At least the guy at the cafe downstairs did do good iced coffee.
That night we went out for a casual drink at El Social. El Poblado has so many nice places to eat and drink so if you just wander around the streets and an area called Parque Lleras, you’ll find something. We spent most of the evening just getting our bearings as it was a Tuesday and not too busy. We also got a taco from a taco stall called Criminal Taqueria they were pretty good and a great bit of drink munch!
We were woken up the next morning at 7am by the traffic and absolutely sweating. As we were up we decided we might as well get breakfast and had nice food, albeit very slow service (get used to it, you’re in South America) at a place near the hostel called Commo pez en el Agua. In the afternoon we got a taxi to Museo Casa de la Memoria (House of Memory Museum). It was free and had information on Medellin and it’s dark and violent past. A lot of it was in Spanish however, they had some bits in English but really try to learn some before you go! By the time we got back from the museum I was ravenous and we had lunch at a place called Bastardo, it was pretty good! That evening we found a bar called 37 Park which actually ended up being one of our favourite places. It has the cutest outside area, decent drinks and good nibbles. The pisco sour was decent and the barrata delicious!
The next day we had booked an early free walking tour so just grabbed a coffee and pastry from the hostel and headed to the metro. I would recommend going on one of these tours, it was super interesting and showed you around the city centre! We booked ours through ‘Real City Tours’ – they have a number of free tours on their website, you just need to book a day in advance.
The metro system in Medellin is super easy to operate. You say how many trips you would like on your card and they load it up for you. The people are very proud of the metro and therefore it’s very clean and very nice way to move around the city.
While you’re in Colombia you have to try and Empanada. I personally like the ‘carne’ (meat) ones with a bit of hot sauce! That’s what we got for lunch this day during the tour.
Once the tour ended, we got back on the metro and headed for a cable car. Medellin has four different cable cars that take you up the mountains at the edge of the city where the majority of the slums are. We went on the ‘West’ one because it runs very close to the houses and the slums and gives you great views of them. The other one recommended to us was the one in the ‘North’. I think you can get off that one and walk around some form of park.
For dinner that night we headed to Marcado el Rio which is basically a huge hall filled with different restaurants and bars. We stupidly walked there from the hostel and found ourselves down some street that was a little bit too dark and too empty – I would advise a taxi! The food there is great though and with so many options everyone will be happy.
After dinner, we headed back to El Poblado and tried out a number of different bars. Finally, we ended up in La Octava which is a bar with an outside courtyard in the back and a ball pit! We stayed there for quite a while, it’s full of travellers and we really enjoyed it.
We were so glad that our final night in Medellin was a Friday! We had heard it’s a mental night out during the weekends, so we made sure we weren’t hungover for it. We went to D’Andre Gourmet for breakfast, we had wanted to go to Burdo on recommendation from friends but it doesn’t open till 12pm on a Friday and we were starving. We had a pretty chilled day – had a long breakfast, did some washing, had a couple iced coffees, read our books etc.
We went to Gusto for dinner and it wasn’t great, there are so many places in the area I would advise just doing some research! After that, we went back to 37 Park for a giant margarita with 2 coronas in it and then headed to La Octava where we met a lovely group of Dutch girls and an Irish guy. Finally, we went to a very Colombian bar called Buena Vista. It had salsa music and dancing and was the perfect way to end our time in Medellin!
The next morning, I died. The journey to Cartagena felt like it lasted years. That taxi was the longest and most horrible drive of my life. It was only an hour but it was winding and uphill. By some miracle I made we made it to the airport intact and managed to board our flight to Cartagena.
The first thing we noticed when we landed was the heat. Jesus Christ. It was at least 10 degrees hotter than Medellin (which is described as the enteral spring). Preempting the fact we’d be hungover we had booked ourselves into a fancy hotel called Estelar in the almost Miami-looking part of – Bocagrande). The hotel was so nice and the room not only big but cool, the AC was amazing with a big, comfy bed. It was exactly what we needed. We were starving by the time we landed, so went to the hotel restaurant – Lewis’s pasta was alright, my pizza was not. It was SO disappointing but by this point, I really didn’t care! That night we both had the best and longest sleep we’d had since leaving the UK.
We woke up feeling refreshed and the amazing buffet breakfast was all I could think about. Wanting to make the most of our only day in this hotel, we spent most of it lying by the pool although we did venture out for lunch and had some really good seafood at a local restaurant. That evening we walked into the walled city and went for dinner at a lovely restaurant called Montesacro Resto. We even shared a bottle of white wine! It was a bit expensive but after so many failed meals in the past couple of days, we thought we deserved it. We explored the city a little bit after dinner and then headed back for bed, the next day would be an early start!
Our alarms went off at 6:45am, we left our bags at the hotel and walked to the harbour. Today was one of the only things we had actually planned for our trip! Casa en el Agua. It’s a hut out the in middle of the Caribbean sea where you can swim, kayak, do little trips, eat the freshest seafood (we saw them taking the live crab and lobster to the kitchen) and drink! You have to book in advance as it gets full really quickly, you can book two months in advance.
Our boat was at 9am but you have to get there early to check-in, pay entrance to the park and get your return ticket. By the time we’d got to the harbour I was already melting. It was only 32 degrees but the humidity combined with the lack of wind had it feeling like 40. There was hardly any shade as you moved from queue to queue and I was absolutely dripping. I can honestly say I have never felt that hot or sweaty in my entire life! Eventually, we got on the boat and typical, I’m sat in a seat with my arm in direct sunlight. Thankfully, Lewis swapped seats with me after 20 mins but my arm and shoulder were already burnt.
The boat to Casa en el Agua was 2 hours long and we were greeted with the staff and guests doing a choreographed dance to ‘Welcome to my house’. It was equal parts cheesy and endearing.
Once we’d checked in and got sorted we got our first beer. It wasn’t even 12pm yet and that kind of set the tone for the day! We drank and swam, did some snorkelling and played games with other people in the hostel.
We even had a Casa en el Agua Olympics – you had to be in teams of four and one person in each team had to do one activity. I had to swim around the house with a life jacket on, Lewis had to a trick dive, Caroline (Irish girl we met) had to do a belly flop and her friend Megan (Scottish) had to dive for a weight that had been thrown into the sea. We ended up coming second which I was pretty impressed with, although Lewis did win us the majority of our points, including the paddleboard tiebreaker.
That night I had the most amazing mixed ceviche, we all played drinking games and had a bit of a party. By 11pm I was dead and crawled up to our room which was BOILING. It was quite windy outside so when a gust came through our window it helped a lot but at 2am the wind completely stopped. I woke up with beads of sweat running down every inch of my body – not the best sleep I’ve ever had in my life.
Cartagena
In the morning and feeling a little rough we boarded the boat back to Cartagena. Just as we expected, when we arrived it was roasting. The breakfast wasn’t very substantial on the Casa so we walked straight to the Burger King near our hotel – the thought of a fat burger and an AC room was the only thing keeping me going on the 25min walk in the raging mid-day heat. As bad as it sounds, that was probably one of the best meals we had! We were so hungry, the burger was so tasty and the chips so salty. After we’d be sufficiently fed we grabbed our bags from Estelar and got a taxi to our hostel, Makako Chill Out Hostel in the walled city. It wasn’t nicest looking hostel but it’s run by this lovely young couple and the atmosphere was great. In general, when in Cartagena you want to stay in the walled city. It’s beautiful and soaked in history, there are loads of great hostels and definitely something for everyone.
That night we went on a party bus called the Chiva bus which although super sweaty, was great fun. You drive around town for a while with a band in the back seats drinking beer and rum. Then we stopped at a local park to try some food, had a fab hot dog although the hot sauces combined with the heat and humidity meant I was a river personified. Lewis wiped the sweat off my back, turned around to put the tissues in the bin and it was back again. I actually had to buy a fan just to survive the night! We went to two clubs, our favourite was Eivissa because it played music other than reggaeton and it had proper AC.
The following morning, we went to a great place called Stepping Stone for breakfast. It’s run by some Australians and has your typical smashed avo and iced coffee but is also aimed at helping employ disadvantaged young people in the city. Definitely worth a visit! We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city with periodic rests in the AC. It really is so hot and being Scottish, my body couldn’t cope.
We chilled in the shade of the hostel in the afternoon and read our books. That evening we went to watch the sunset at Cafe del Mar (get there early to get a seat) and then for dinner, we finally found a good pizza! After that terrible one in Estelar, I’d been craving one for days. It was at a placed called La Diva Pizzeria and was the best pizza we’d had in Colombia. That night we did the salsa class in the hostel and had a few beers. We only had a chilled one as we were heading to Santa Marta the next day.
It was really nice to have a lie in for once! We went out for a dosa breakfast, bit embarrassing that we hadn’t had one yet but we really enjoyed them.
It did feel nice to be in a city again though. We even had a Starbucks! I know, I know, basic bitch, right? But after 2 hours of walking, I had earned my frappuccino. I was also getting hangry with the lack of sugar so, really, getting me one was the right call for everyone. We chilled in the hostel for the afternoon and then went out for some dinner – I actually put on a dress and make-up for the first time in 2 weeks!
We went to a place called the Goose and Gridiron. It was a nice enough place with an astroturfed outside area and some fairy lights. We had our first (and only) Bombay Sapphire in Bombay – not that there is actually any relation.
Bombay in Bombay
The next morning we got up early to check out and go on a slum tour. We had a great breakfast at a cafe called Theobroma – my first mocha in India. We got an Uber to the train station where we were supposed to meet our tour guide. We waited and waited but the guy was a no-show. When we eventually got through to the hostel (after an hour of waiting) they said that there was heavy rain to the guy wasn’t going to make it… well thanks for letting us know! I was a bit gutted because I really wanted to go but never-mind.
Instead, we headed over to Dhobi Ghats – the largest place in the world for washing clothes. They hold the Guinness record for most amount of people washing clothes at one time. It was pretty impressive to see, not particularly a place I’d like to get my clothes washed or work in, however. What’s concerning is that this is where all the hospitals and hotels get their linen washed! There was a sort of ‘section’ for all the ‘waste’ that comes out of the hospitals but these guys were scrubbing the clothes with intense chemicals with bare hands – I can only imagine what it must be doing to their skin.
After that, we went to Marine Drive to walk along the beach. It was a disgusting beach. It was full of rubbish and the walk was hot and sweaty. Our long walk was rewarded with a Baskin and Robbins ice cream at the end which took me straight back to my childhood.
That evening we got the overnight train to Goa. The train actually left on time and although it arrived a little late, it was really no bother at all and I quite enjoyed it – I slept most of the way anyway!
We got a taxi from the train to station our hotel in Agonda (about an hour south or Margoa). Our hotel, Cinnamon, consisted of about 20 beach huts and a nearly-there restaurant. It was rustic but cute, the only real downside was that there were SO many mosquitos! Luckily the bed had a mosquito net. Agonda is really quiet most of the time and was in all honesty, completely dead when we were there (who comes to the beach during monsoon season anyways!?)
We still managed made the best of it though. We had a small terrace outside our hut so bought some beers, played cards and read our books. We ended up just eating in the hostel as it was chucking it down and no other restaurants were open!
I woke up starving the next day and luckily the hotel had a free breakfast of eggs, toast, and coffee which did me perfectly. We chilled for a while by our hut as it rain but then Lewis started to get antsy so we hired a bike and drove to the nearest town with any life at all – Palolem.
We managed to just miss the rain the whole ride! When we did arrive (about a 20 min drive) things were actually open! A huge improvement from the boarded-up shops and tarp-covered beach huts that littered Agonda.
We stopped into a cafe called the Bombay Duck for a spot of lunch and a beer (well I had a beer because Lewis was driving). Lewis wasn’t feeling great so we went back to the hotel and he slept for a bit while I read my book. Later in the evening, we drove back to Palolem for dinner. We went to a beachfront restaurant called Dropadi. We had a really nice meal apart from I ordered a curry that was way too hot for me! That’s what I get for being cocky.
On our drive home we encountered a few problems:
Our bike lights didn’t work, which meant I was holding a torch over Lewis’s shoulder off into the vast blackness which constitutes the Goan countryside
We ran out of petrol about halfway home
Okay, it might have been slightly my fault. Lewis did ask if we should get petrol before we left (our petrol gauge didn’t work) and I said no, we’ll be fine! And you know what, we were fine in the end… We only had to push the bike for 5 minutes before someone stopped to help.
YAY! The time had finally come that we were going to a real hotel. We woke up and had a quick breakfast before getting a taxi straight to Caravela Beach Resort in Varca, about an hour north of Agonda. I couldn’t even contain my excitement when we arrived – there was actually a driveway, bel boys, welcome drinks – I was ecstatic.
Once we’d checked in (and we’d been upgraded!), by some miracle the sun was actually shining. We headed straight to the pool. Of course, I needed a margarita as soon as we arrived and the one from the pool-bar wasn’t half bad. We spent the rest of the day working on our tans until we realized that I was actually so burnt already. Why am I so white?
We went back to the room so that I could get out of the sun and to get ready for dinner. The only downer was that Lewis wasn’t feeling well so wasn’t up for much of a drink but despite this, we had a really lovely evening.
The next morning we went for breakfast and it was phenomenal! Like a real hotel buffet breakfast with an eggs station, a pancake and waffle station, obviously every pastry you could think of and decent coffee – I was in my element. As you might have guessed, all we did in Caravela was eat, drink and tan and that suited me just fine.
Goa to Delhi
The day started off well. We chilled in the room after breakfast until check out. Then tanned by the pool, had some lunch and got our taxi to the airport. The airport and flight itself went off without a hitch things only started to go downhill when we got to Delhi (surprise, surprise).
First of all, it’s 11pm, we are tired and crabby and just wanted to sleep before our flight home tomorrow. Two different Ubers canceled on us, so we decided to get a tuk-tuk, then this guy couldn’t find our hotel and tried to get more money out of us ‘for the long journey’, no thank you.
THEN we go to check in and our booking had been canceled and now the hotel was fully booked. Um, excuse me!? We hadn’t been told by the hotel or booking.com that it had been canceled, they claimed it was because we arrived after 8pm – absolute rubbish, their site even claims 24hour reception! Anyways, I may have lost my head a bit at this, Lewis remained calm but he’s a slow burner, so by the time we found another hotel, checked in and made it to the room he was fuming but I was calm again. The hotel we checked into was grosser than the one we booked but it had a bed, provided breakfast and was near the airport so I was happy.
Delhi to Edinburgh
The day had finally come, we were going home! Luckily we both woke up in better moods than the night before! The hotel breakfast was actually decent and getting to the airport was easy. The flight home was long but as expected and it felt good to walk out into the crisp air once we’d got to Edinburgh airport.
India was a fantastic experience and I’m so glad I did it with Lewis. I had a great time (despite everything!) and I can’t really believe how much we saw and experienced in just under a month. Looking back, we really did enjoy our time there and it is definitely a once in a lifetime experience, probably because we now know what India stands for: I’m Never Doing It Again.
If you’re planning on going to India and want any tips or suggestions please get in touch!
This is going to be the last blog post for a while as I’ve now started my masters and unfortunately can’t just swan around the world anymore on a permanent holiday – so this is Backbackbradie singing out! (For now).
We arrived in the small, religious town of Bundi in the afternoon, checked into our Guest House (Hotel Bundi House) and went out to explore. Bundi is a really tiny town, it has a lake, a fort (surprise surprise) and a palace. It’s very quiet but not as nice as Pushkar.
We hiked up to the palace which was pretty cool considering it was up a hill and build in the 1600s. All thanks to elephants I believe. The hike to the palace was bad enough, the hike up the fort was a whole-new kettle of fish.
Garh Palace and the Elephant Gate
It was SO hot. Hottest I’d been so far and the hill with its crumbling, barely-there path was steep. I haven’t done any exercise since Sydney and that combined with the fact I hadn’t really eaten in the past 4 days meant that I was one sweaty and unhappy chicken. I huffed and puffed all the way up there while making angry comments at Lewis because he was the one that wanted to go see it. It’s another fort! Not even a nice one! It was just a decaying old building. The view from the top was alright but not worth the pain.
View from the fort
When we finally got back down we (well Lewis) had dinner overlooking the lake – I still have no appetite at all. Once again we went to Trip Advisor’s number 1 restaurant which consisted of some plastic furniture on a piece of concrete next to the lake. Saying that, Lewis said his curry was tasty so at least it wasn’t a complete waste of time! The plan was to spend the rest of the evening in the comfort of our AC room (India was starting to get to me already) but Lewis forced me out of the room up to the guest house’s rooftop.
To give credit where credit is due, it was pretty nice up there. I managed to eat some dinner and we played cards and got speaking to a lovely Spanish couple. Just as we were getting ready for bed, the guy running the hotel came and knocked on our door. It was his birthday and he wanted everyone in the hotel to be there while he cut his cake – the whole thing was pretty cute.
Bundi to Udaipur
Okay, so this was the day from hell. I kind of blame myself because out of the two of us, I’m definitely the more assertive side of the relationship and I shouldn’t have fallen asleep and I should have left Lewis to sort it out but I did and that’s why a 3-hour journey turned into a 12 HOUR ONE.
Manjeet took us to Jaipur, not Udaipur, which is 4 hours in the wrong direction. I kind of slept the whole way to Jaipur – guess I still wasn’t 100%. When we got there I asked Manjeet why we were in Jaipur and he didn’t really have an answer.
Long story short, he had messed up big time and when Lewis had told him he was going the wrong may he just didn’t really give a response. To be fair, I kind of half knew what was going on but I just assumed he knew something we didn’t. In the end, we made it to Udaipur. I didn’t mind the journey that much to be honest, I’d rather have sat in that car, on Indian roads than visit another fort. Lewis really struggled and came out of the car in a foul mood – what a rookie.
Our hostel, Bunkyard, was really nice with fantastic views of the lake. We were supposed to be in a dorm room but Lewis in his bad mood changed us to a private and I was definitely not complaining.
Udaipur
After the previous days’ disaster, we were really looking forward to our cooking class. It was taken by this lovely lady called Shashi who’s story was as great as her cooking. She’d had a very hard life but has come out on top and is now the number 1 cooking school in Udaipur.
Sashi’s cooking class
We made so much food I thought I was going to explode. The day started with chai and then how to make pakora, a number of different chutneys, 3 different types of curry and about 5 different types of chapati and naan – who knew you didn’t need a tandoor oven to make naan! The whole thing was excellent and I would 100% recommend doing this class if you’re ever in Udaipur. We did the class with another English couple and after it, we all went to the Monsoon Festival. It was basically a huge school fair around the perimeter of the lake and was mostly for children – with loads of toy shops and rides, but it was still nice to see. It was ‘women’s day’, so no men were allowed (obviously foreigners were fine) so the whole place was a sea of vibrantly coloured saris.
Monsson Festival
We were the only white people there so we got a lot of attention (and selfies). We ended up getting coerced into going on this manual swing/merry-go-round thing that was definitely meant for the under-10s but the locals thought it was hilarious, especially the kids, so it was worth it for 50p. I also think we gave that guy a good amount of business because while we were on it quite the crowd had gathered around with all the children asking their parents if they could have a go.
He loves it
Once we’d got back, Lewis and I went to the museum to see the dance and puppet show they put on each evening. You have to queue for about an hour before to get tickets and a good seat but it’s worth it, the tickets are only £1.50 and the show only lasts an hour. The show included some traditional Rajasthani dancing – a lot of woman balancing things on their heads while twirling at great speeds, it was impressive. Even the puppet show was brilliant, the guy really knew what he was doing and I found myself laughing out loud with the children when he got the puppet to bounce its own head from hand to hand to bum to hand. We were having such a nice time in Udaipur that we decided to stay an extra night.
Look at her go
We had a slow morning for once with breakfast on the rooftop (Indian’s love rooftops, well to be fair it’s not like you could sit out on the street I guess) and then went for a walk around the lake to get closer to the Jag Mandir palace which is in the centre of it. Following that, I convinced Lewis to do a silk painting class – I was such an Art Attack kid and I love arts & crafts. I painted an elephant and Lewis a peacock and I was seriously impressed with what we produced. We had a little bit of help from the guy – drawing an elephant is seriously difficult but all in all, I’m definitely claiming it as a Bradie original. We spent the evening playing games with a couple G&Ts in the hostel and got ready for the journey to Jodhpur the next morning.
The drive to Jodhpur was uneventful (thankfully) and when we pulled up the hostel, HosteLaVie, the first thing we noticed was the heat. It was about 38°C. We checked in and had a genuinely good coffee in their cafe! After that, we went to the main clocktower and markets. We definitely bought more than we needed – scarfs, shirts & spices but oh well!
Market stall & the clock tower
Once we’d walked around we were hot and hungry so went to the Haveli Hotel‘s restaurant, Panorama 360. We were treating ourselves to a real restaurant for once, it had a brilliant view of the fort and the tandoori chicken was delicious.
Happy Bunnies
The next morning we made our way to the fort. It was unbelievably hot and obviously, I moaned the whole way up – why couldn’t we have just got a tuk-tuk!? Anyways, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Bundi so I guess I’ll just count my blessings.
The Mehrangarh fort was the best fort we visited in the whole of India. It’s expensive (around £6) but includes an audio tour (knowledge is power) and is definitely worth it. The fort is also actually set up for tourists, with a pre-planned flow of where to go and what to see instead of wondering endlessly through corridors and rooms without any idea what they actually are.
Love me an audio tour
There is also a zip-line at the fort. It’s £20 but great fun and gives you fabulous views of the ‘Blue City’. Once we’d done all that I was so thirsty I couldn’t think about anything but water. My mouth was sand. We were so gross, tired and sweaty by the time we got back to the hostel that we just lay star-fished in our AC room for a couple of hours trying to regain some strength.
Zip-lining and The Blue City
Once our body temperatures had returned to a normal range we went for lunch at a small place called Cafe Royal by the clocktower. The family that owns this quaint cafe are so lovely. We had the ‘Clocktower Sandwich’ – it was simple but tasty and was exactly what we were looking for.
This was our last day with Manjeet! It had come around so quickly (even if the first few days seemed to go on forever). We arrived at our final city in Rajasthan just after lunchtime and said a not-so emotional goodbye to Manjeet (don’t think he even said thank you for the tip). Our first obstacle was finding the hostel, we walked up and down the road several times but we just couldn’t spot it! Eventually, some guy popped his head out and said this is Swan Hostel – well at least it used to be. We hadn’t been told that the hostel had recently moved location! We were in the desert and the heat was insufferable.
Bye Manjeet!
When we eventually got to the actual hostel we were pleasantly surprised, our room was lovely and the AC was powerful. The only downside was that because they had so recently moved they were missing some key things – like fans on their rooftop. The rooftop might have been hot but the beers were cold.
Beers & cards
For dinner, we went to Jaisal Treat, a 10-minute walk from the hostel. The food there was fabulous. I was craving chicken and the curry we had there was arguably one of the best we had.
The next morning was the day Lewis had been looking forward to since we’d booked our flights – the camel safari with an over-night stay in the desert. It was pushing 40°C and if I’m completely honest, I was dreading sitting on a camel for an hour and a half in the baking sun.
We got to the safari company ‘Trotter’s‘ office after lunch, put our bags in the lockers and jumped in a Jeep. It was so hot I could feel my eyeballs inside my skull. Our first stop was to an oasis. It wasn’t much to write home about looks-wise but I guess an actual oasis in the desert is a pretty cool thing to see. The second stop was to the ‘Empty-City‘, a village out in the desert that was abandoned overnight 200 years ago.
The final Jeep stop was to the camels themselves! It was an hour and a half through the desert to the ‘camp’. If you’ve ever ridden a camel you’ll understand that they are probably the most uncomfortable animals you can ever ride and my old woman hips were not agreeing with me!
Lewis had envisaged this romantic night of us sleeping out beneath the starts so the camp was, how should I put it… rustic. Personally, I would have gone for a bit more luxury, maybe a tent with a bed in it but this was his thing and I wasn’t complaining. What our camp consisted off was a mud-hut for storing the bed frames and a piece of tarpaulin on the sand.
When we arrived we were instructed to sit on the tarp and relax, beer in hand. This was genuinely nice for about 2 minutes before a sandstorm decided to hit us – including mini sand-tornadoes! So our relaxing beers turned into me sipping it under the scarf that was draped over my face. It then suddenly started to rain. We ran inside the hut to find a family with a baby already hiding in there from the sand and the rain – who brings a new-born baby to something like this!?
Eventually, the rain passed and we managed to sit outside and chat with the other campers for a bit. We couldn’t see the sunset (or the stars) because it was cloudy but I didn’t mind as long as it stayed dry. I spoke too soon.
This time it really started to rain, meaning all 12 guests were huddled inside this tiny hut. To put this into perspective, this is the first time it has rained in 3 years. Excuse me!? The rain lasted so long that we even had to eat dinner inside the hut. It was getting hotter and hotter inside there that Lewis and I decided that standing in the rain would be better. Luckily for us, we’d brought an umbrella! I mean, it was meant to keep the sun off us but there you go, who’d have thought you’d need an umbrella in the desert.
Once it had finally slowed, they set up the beds outside and told us that if it started raining again they were just going to put some plastic over us, that didn’t sound sweaty at all. Even though it threatened to chuck it down several times in the night, the most we got was a drizzle – a blessing I suppose! Now, just because it didn’t rain doesn’t mean I got a good nights sleep. There were wild dogs running around our beds and barking, camels grunting, beetles flying and last but not least, a 7year old child screaming at 5am that he wanted a camel ride. Once that kid was up, so was I.
My bed was covered in sand. I had never been so sandy in my life, I could hear it crunching between my teeth! When I got up I shook all the sand off of it and declared it a ‘sand-free zone’ which Lewis was allowed nowhere near and subsequently found hilarious seeming as we were literally in the middle of the desert.
The sunrise, however, was stunning – it made the whole sky a glorious pink which was in sharp contrast to the rolling golden dunes. We were given a simple breakfast and jumped on the camels for the ride home. Luckily, the ride back was considerably shorter than the ride there!
Once we were back in Jaisalmer all we wanted was a cold room and a shower. Luckily, Trotters have their own guest house which they let you use to shower and chill in for as long as you want, free of charge. That evening we boarded our flight to Mumbai with a change in Jaipur and actually landed a bit early. We got an Uber to the hostel, Backpacker Panda Colaba, which was an hour away (the Uber cost £6! – can you imagine if they were that cheap in the UK!?). The hostel was nice but expensive and our bed still had the plastic on the mattress which was weird! Luckily we were too tired to care and fell straight asleep.
Backpack Bradie 